A Glittery, Million-Dollar Party of a Lifetime for 1,000 Close Friends
Great parties are not like trolley cars or men. If you miss a good one, another one is not likely to be by in a short time.
So too bad if you missed the massive, maddeningly marvelous (and probably close to a million-dollar) bash Fred Hayman threw Saturday night. Always a perfectionist and a stylish showman, Hayman brought together 1,000 of his closest friends, a handful of California’s best restaurants, took over an entire sound stage, added the sets from the film “Phantom of the Opera” in the entrance way and gave away a $25,000 door-prize-of-your-life vacation at Paris’ Plaza Athenee.
“This is a party you won’t see twice,” said a Chaneled Jane Nathanson, who should know because she hosted the multiacclaimed Armani party at the Museum of Contemporary Art last January.
“I’m so glad I’m here,” said Jill Halverson, director of the Downtown Women’s Center, to May Co. veep Jim Watterson, both of whom are active with Hayman on projects for the homeless, to which Hayman has contributed more than $1 million in the past two years.
“Here, let me spray you!” ordered Patti Skouras, one of the cabal of the cognoscenti who were the “fragrance panel” for Hayman’s new scent, 273. The launching of the perfume, plus the renaming of his landmark Rodeo Drive store as “Fred Hayman Beverly Hills,” was the purpose of the party. Brilliant yellow with a red signature appeared on balloons, tables, sweat shirts of the valet parkers and even the tulip centerpieces.
“This reminds me of Berkeley in the ‘60s,” quipped investment counselor Jim Birdwell, making his way through the crowd with his wife, Nancy.
“Where’s Chasen’s?” said Barry Kaye to Jimmy’s Peter Luda. Jimmy’s, the Bistro, Bistro Garden, Spago, La Scala, the Grill and, of course, Chasen’s had all provided their specialties, and their regulars patiently queued up, unmindful of black-tie and spangles.
For one night only, Hayman, there with steady Betty Endo, had managed to transform a Universal sound stage into a little, diamond-crusted piece of Beverly Hills. And he assembled the most mixed-media guest list since the Olympics. Top party-goers were on hand--Virginia and Gerald Oppenheimer chatting with Maude Chasen and Henry and Jayne Berger, Ellen and Bernie Byrens (she in a knockout Bill Blass) greeting Teddy Orgell, Richard and Geri Brawerman (in a spangled Bill Blass jacket copied from a Matisse) and Henry and Sedge Plitt.
Glamour girls like Shirlee Fonda, Frances Bergen, Altovise Davis, Vanna White and Connie Selleca were there, along with Jackie and Sydney Rosenberg, designer Jack Lowrance, Doris Fields Heller with the Westwood Marquis’ Jacques Camus, who is hosting Franco and Anne Marie Cozzo of the Plaza Athenee, who came from Paris just to present the door prize.
And, for those into social fortunetelling, the drawing was a symbolic end to the Reagan era. Bernice Brown came up the winner of the UTA first-class air fare for two to Paris and a week in a suite at what Hayman described as “the most wonderful hotel in the world.” As her husband, former Gov. Pat Brown, cheered, Bernice went on stage. “Oh my God,” Hayman greeted her, with a look of happy surprise, then shook his head vigorously as she asked: “Do you want to take it back?”
Other well-known Democrats were in attendance, like songwriters Marilyn and Alan Bergman (who, with Marvin Hamlisch, wrote a special song for the occasion, “We Go So Well Together”); Roz Wyman (with Republican John Berl) talking with Bob and Sally Burkett; Mickey Ziffren (in a slinky black dress) with her brother-in-law, Leo; Atty. Gen. John and Andrea Van de Kamp chatting with Marc Nathanson; Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and his wife, Judge Diane Wayne; State Comptroller Gray and Sharon Davis, and Lisa Specht and Ron Rogers.
Maureen Reagan, in pink, headed the list of well-known Republicans. (Earlier in the week, Hayman had sent Nancy Reagan the first bottle of 273, with a note welcoming her back to the neighborhood.) Mary and Brad Jones were there, as was Giney Milner with Jim Wharton.
Publicist Wanda Henderson was there in a feathered hat and boa: “I molt at midnight, darling.” Elaine Goldsmith was in a striking black and red gown, the one she, as a faithful board member, bought at the Otis/Parsons student fashion show last year.
Downtown types were there: City Council president John and Margaret Ferraro chatted with attorney Neil Papiano and Sharon Thralls. Entertainment types: Ricardo and Georgiana Montalban and Columbia Television’s Gary and Anne Lieberthal, Charlton and Lydia Heston, Henry and Ginny Mancini (after their successful Music Center party Friday night), and Alan Carr with Wendy Stark, as well as Burt Sugarman and Mary Hart.
And, of course, the restaurant mavens: Jimmy and Anne Murphy (she in a purple ruffled gown “which Fred did”), the Bistro’s Kurt Niklas and Ini Asman, lining up for some Spago food from Wolfgang Puck (perhaps the happiest man in attendance, because his glamorous wife, Barbara Lazeroff, expects their first baby in May).
Political consultant Joe Cerrell, with the warm smile he gets at the approach of the USC Marching Band, asked cutely: “I want to know if anyone ever has seen the UCLA Marching Band?” Everyone at the party had a special connection to Hayman. Cerrell said that when Hayman was at the Beverly Hilton, he did all the Democratic political dinners: “He even did Lee’s and my wedding on Nov. 17, 1963. And he left the Hilton the next day.”
As the big band left the stage, as the jazz club was set up in a tent where the Beluga caviar and Chasen’s chili were served as appetizers, before the dozen-plus “dirty dancers” did their routine, and the quartet of rock ‘n’ roll women singers took over the stage--Fred Hayman thanked his friends “for a brilliant evening.”
This is, he said, “the American dream.” And there was probably not a party-goer who would argue with that.
