The Season of Holiday Open Houses

‘Tis the season of open houses, sit-down dinners, cozy fireside tete-a-tetes , white-tie debutante balls. The social crowd is billowing in new frocks and puffy starched shirts. Guests arrive with tinseled packages--jams and Christmas ornaments by the gross--for hosts and hostesses. At the front doors hundreds of damp look-alike black umbrellas are pointed on the doorsteps, waiting for their rightful owners to claim them, and dozens are carried off by adoptive owners.

More serious, is the mix-up of furs. Full-length dark mink coats come in a variety of hues, most monogrammed inside with initials, and carry different price tags; but at the end of the evening, do they look alike piled on the king-size beds and chaises or crushed in the rented racks? Later, the phones jangle. “I think you have Mrs. So-and-So’s fur.”

SO MANY: Pretty parties--Pam and Peter Mullin in Brentwood carved an Olde Fashioned Christmas Celebration for nearly 400 at their December sit-down dinner/dancing fete. Hugs and kisses abounded as the crowd supped on gazpacho in Christmas cups that were later washed and stacked on the dining room table for favors as guests left.

Dancing the night away were Liz and Gordon Anderson, Sue and Fred Christie, Si and Pat Lorne, Ginger and David Ludwick, Morgan and Lee Harris, Lynn and Hugh Evans, Walter and Darlene Gerken, Richard and Dee Sherwood, Russell and Jeanne Smith, Freeman and Dottie Gosden.

ROMANTIC HOLIDAYS: A few nights later Maude and Dick Ferry, who left Pasadena for the Westside high-rise life style this year, transferred their traditional at-home party to Jimmy’s for “the romance of the holidays” dining and dancing.

Gathering black-tie at one table were Dorie and Joe Pinola, Warren and Marie Christopher, Carol and Lod Cook, Esther and Tom Wachtell and Shel and Sandy Ausman. Close by were Kim and Bob Rollo, Tom and Kathleen McCarthy, Bill and Marilyn Shulte, Ed and Nadine Carson, Pam and Peter Mullin and former Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Lester Korn and his wife Carolbeth--some dancing up a storm.

OPEN HOUSES: The crush of open houses, with luminarias lining the driveways and mistletoe hanging from chandeliers at the entries have been warming on chilly nights. Beverly and Larry Thrall had all the fireplaces going for their huge Christmas cocktail buffet in Hancock Park. They welcomed William Simon, former secretary of the Treasury; former Treasury assistant secretary Gerald and Robin Parsky; Preston Martin; Craig and Jane Gosden; Louise and Steve Griffith; Mary Morton and her son Hughes and Clark and Kathryn Porter, among the many . . .

Phoebe and Joe Vaccaro hosted cocktails in West Los Angeles. . . .

Ed and Gloria Renwick invited friends for cheer in Pasadena. . . . Norvel and Helen Young entertained at their annual open house in Malibu.

HOLIDAY CHEER: Elizabeth and Thad Up de Graff hosted carols and cheer and bountiful mounds of shrimp and seafood and a sumptuous dessert table with rum balls in Bel-Air. Their daughter Teresa and her friend Tripp Power and daughter Lisa welcomed good friends, among them Phil Homme, Ed and Clarise Ellis, Bev and Sid Adair, Clayton Williams, William and Harriet Plunkett, Dotty and Jim Meyler. . . .

The same evening, over the hills, Bonnie and Arthur McClure and their son Mark had the parking valets at their Beverly Hills front door for friends winding up the hill. As always, the chili con queso was stationed on the Queen Anne slant-front desk in the living room, and it took Tony Liebig and David McIntyre only a few seconds to round the corner to find it.

Peter and Kathleen McCoy arrived with their handsome two, Patrick and Mary Shane; Cheryl and Bob Baker were there, and going to another Westside festivity; Mary Ann and John Sturgeon came before skipping on to a major Eastside black-tie do. More crowding the entrance were Ellen Stuart, Mark Thorsen, Fritz Griffin, Carol and Jerry Patterson, Suzanne and Fred Rheinstein . . .

And at Barbara and Charles Schneider’s cheery party in Beverly Hills, the buffet was elbow-to-elbow for the yummies. On the circuit that evening were Suzanne Marx, ultra yule in the same red Oscar de la Renta suit she wore for the recent reception Nancy Reagan hosted in Washington. Also there were Richard and Kathy Schlosberg III and their daughter Debbie, en route to the theater; Robert and Lois Erburu, Donald and Sharon Wright, Lloyd Cotsen and Walter and Pat Mirisch, who were adamant that they would limit their holiday party-going to one party per night.

THE TEAS: Joan Traitel put up the tree, the wreath and the holly early for her Christmas tea. The glorious tea table with its chicken and cucumber sandwiches and lemon bars was a Christmasy mid-afternoon revival from shopping and rushing for many including Lorna Reed, Harriet Plunkett, Jane Taverner and Marilyn Roberts and Joanne Albrecht, the new grandmothers of twins born to Richard and Cythnia (nee Roberts) Albrecht . . .

Ann Longyear and her daughter Teresa Jarvis Longyear hosted a pretty at-home tea with children in velvet and organdy tumbling among the antiques while mothers and grandmothers sipped tea and coffee. Mimi Howes was an honored friend asked to pour tea; her daughter Dana Anderson was kept busy with young Madeline and Clementine Anderson, the red bows slipping off their heads, while their great-grandmother Maxine Howes beamed.

CHRISTMAS EVE: We hear Harry Hamlin, Cristina Ferrare, Rita Moreno and Jack Klugman will be among the 350 volunteers when the Los Angeles Mission on Skid Row serves 5,000 traditional Christmas Eve dinners to the homeless.