Gala Crowd Will Score Points for Youth
How’s this for a motto? Participation is victory.
That’s the upbeat, bottom line of the American Kids Sports Assn. in Irvine. And if you participate in its $500-per-couple fund-raiser set for April 16 at the Irvine Marriott, you’re bound to come out a winner. For starters, the Beach Boys will entertain. Donny Osmond will emcee. And a $5,000 donation will get you an A-table and entree into the VIP bash before the Big Splash.
The association “teaches values,” said Chuck Foster, who is developing a weekly television series called “Sports Kids.”
“We want kids to know its OK to love mom and dad, to say ‘yes, please,’ ‘thank you,’ get good grades--the basics! And we use sports and fitness as the attention-getters.”
Proceeds from the black-tie event will be used to help underwrite the association’s operating expenses and cover the cost of Earth Games International, Olympics-type games for kids that will be staged in Baja California this summer. Olympian Bob Mathias is president of the association.
Top fun: If it was good enough for Tom Cruise, it’s good enough for the Laguna Art Museum. During the filming of “Top Gun” at the Miramar Naval Station, Cruise got used to the fillet of beef flavored with Stilton cheese at Gustaf Anders restaurant, an upscale bistro in the heart of La Jolla. “He and Kelly McGillis and Anthony Edwards would come in almost every night,” said Wilhelm Gustaf Magnuson, Anders’ co-owner (with Ulf Anders Strandberg).
Well, get ready for some top fun. On April 10, beginning at 6:30 p.m., 350 museum supporters will attend the $175-per-person preview opening of the new Gustaf Anders restaurant at South Coast Plaza Village. On the menu: platters of golden caviar served with creme fraiche and, you guessed it, fillet of beef served with red wine sauce and flavored with Stilton cheese.
How woodsy can you get? It was out of the woods and into the woodwinds for the cast of “Into the Woods” at its post-performance bash at Birraporetti’s on Tuesday night. Instead of the semi-serene atmosphere that usually prevails ‘round midnight at the Irish/Italian bistro, there was a whole lotta’ shakin’ goin’ on. (A rock-out group was in ear-splitting progress on one side of the room.) “I’ll talk to you only if I don’t have to raise my voice above that band ,” sniffed Cleo Laine, the Grammy Award-winning and lozenge-sucking star of “Woods,” looking as if her eyes were ready to roll. And then, in a whispery voice, she said: “Yes, the Performing Arts Center is wonderful, huge, but then, I’ve played there before. Have you forgotten?” Also on the scene: co-star Charlotte Rae, wide-eyed and gushing that the Center was “glorious”; and Center activist Georgia Spooner, who beat it toward the sound of the sax the second she waltzed into the nightspot. “Ooops, don’t see any familiar faces here,” she said, turning on her heel. “Our party must be on the other side.”
No “immediate plans” for the Ueberroths: With Peter Ueberroth ready to wrap up his stint as baseball commissioner the end of this month, locals are wondering if he and his wife, Ginny, will begin to kick up their heels on the society scene. “We have no immediate plans,” said Ginny earlier this week (and that includes an announcement of a gubernatorial bid by Peter). But there is one upcoming “scene” that Ginny is helping champion: the April 5 brunch at Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach for Circle 1000, a women’s support group of the new George Hoag Cancer Center. “When I had my bout with cancer, I was at Hoag Hospital,” said Ginny, who had a mastectomy in 1976. “The people there were great.” Ginny hopes to attend the brunch, which will feature speaker Betty Rollin, author of “First You Cry.” Tickets are available to the public at $50 per person.
Pack the Polaroid: “This is something I said I would never, ever do again in public,” said Erich Vollmer of his Orange County singing debut set for April 14 in Laguna Niguel. But, Vollmer--the very tall, gray and handsome catalyst behind the Orange County Philharmonic Society--will trill for the Laguna Committee during its annual fashion show and lunch at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point. His opening number? “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails,” Vollmer said. “Fred Astaire was my idol.” You mean you’re dancing too? “Oh, I’ll strut a little bit--fake it,” he promised.