Justice Is Served at Biltmore Luncheon

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was supposed to speak to the Res Publica Board of Governors and Claremont McKenna College supporters in the Tiffany Room of the Biltmore last Thursday, but the reservations just kept pouring in, and finally McKenna President Jack Stark moved the luncheon to the Biltmore Bowl.

The justice sat at the head table with Donald Russell of Newport Beach, chairman of Res Publica (Latin for public affairs) CMC’s premier fund-raising group. At the same table were Marian Miner Cook (who gave the Athenaeum at Claremont), Maggi Craig, Ralph Rossum, Jack and Jil Stark and Edward Gould, whose family foundation, the Shirley and Benjamin Z. Gould Family Foundation, last week gave $2 million to put the college’s $50-million capital campaign over the top.

ESCALATION: Anne and Kirk Douglas will be in the spotlight Friday at the Ritz-Carlton in Rancho Mirage. The event is the Palm Springs Desert Museum’s spring gala, and the couple will be honored for their contributions to the museum and the cultural life of the area.

KUDOS: To Sybil Brand, receiving the Nelle Reagan Award for distinguished community service, Saturday at the Olive View Medical Center Foundation’s opening of its poison prevention exhibition at the California Museum of Science and Industry. . . .

To the World Children’s Transplant Fund and its president, Mark A. Kroeker, L.A. Police Department deputy chief, at the receiving line for a cocktail reception at the Music Center hosted by Mark Wittcoff, president of the Spinnaker Foundation. . . .

To Mayor Tom Bradley, being honored Friday at the Beverly Wilshire at the third annual UCLA Black Alumni Assn. dinner. . . .

To Albert H. Gersten Jr., installed as 13th president of the Western States Region of the American Friends of the Hebrew University. . . .

To Maxwell E. Greenberg, recipient of the Maimonides Torch of Justice Award from the legal services division of the United Jewish Fund at the Century Plaza.

TWENTIETH: The Founder’s Circle of the Right to Life League of Southern California moved from Chasen’s to the California Club to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Ann Blyth McNulty, Patrick and Geri Frawley, Dorothy and John Shea, Clair and Gil Shea and Sally and Paul Conn were among those sitting around the soaring tulip and forsythia bouquets and hearing from Gloria Griffin, chairman, Licia Nicassio, assistant chairman, the Rev. Donald Merrifield, S.J., Walter Trinkaus and Timothy Cardinal Manning.

Among those on the participating committee were Jane Ackerman, Patty Burschinger, Kathleen McCarthy and Jane Sullivan. When the evening was over, the crowd wouldn’t part. They headed for the television in the bar for the basketball finale between Santa Clara and Loyola.

PLAUDITS: To Richard Van Voorst, president of the USC Alumni. At the Alumni Awards Dinner at the Century Plaza, the top accolade--the Asa V. Call Achievement Award--went to philanthropist Ronald Stever. Merit awards went to architect Frank Gehry, Los Angeles chief administrative officer Keith Comrie, astronaut Col. Charles Bolden, author James Dobson and president of the Seoul Olympics Seh-Jik Park. . . .

To William H. Nolan and Courteny Marculescu, receiving Lifetime Achievement Awards from Five Acres, the Boys and Girls’ Aid Society of Los Angeles.

MIDAS TOUCH: Diane Becket and Beverly Cruse must have a Midas touch. They cozily squeezed 850 ladies and 50 Trojan gentlemen into the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton for the USC Town and Gown scholarship benefit (150 students will receive scholarships from a fund totaling $500,000 this year).

Then they asked Rod Dedeaux, USC’s all-time winningest baseball coach, to discuss golden moments. (Largely because of him baseball will be in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.)

Then they turned to couturier Nolan Miller for a “Golden Dynasty” fashion show of his newest fashions plus a run-through of his starry stuff that has been worn by Linda Evans and Joan Collins.

Trojan husbands were prominent and included Don Becket and Marcel George (husband of Town and Gown president Joanne George). Chairman Becket brought out her Alpha Phi sorority sisters in droves: Joan Puddy, Joy Sabol, Jean Bowman, Allison Blackman, Eileen Maloney, Tracy Hirrel and Kathy Richards.

PAST PERFECT: ERAS, which aids learning-disabled children and adults, gave its Friends of the Children Awards to the Ladies of SHARE Inc. (Share Happily and Reap Endlessly) and to Stephen J. Cannell. A “Best of Beverly Hills” fashion show went with the luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. . . .

The Affiliates of the Webb Schools in Claremont dined and danced at the Los Angeles Athletic Club Saturday evening to raise funds for the science curriculum. Dr. Lucy Keele was auction chairman. . . .

Sherman Teller received the Humanitarian Award from the California Chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation Inc., at the Beverly Wilshire. . . .

Italian Consul Alberto Boniver led political dignitaries attending the Salute to Italian Americans in Motion Pictures dinner at the Sheraton Universal. Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America Inc., was there too. . . .

Five major supporters of the Leukemia Society were in the star salute in the JW Marriott’s Grand Salon. They’re Councilman Richard Alatorre, Ralph Clare (founder of the L. A. chapter), Dr. Robert Peter Gale, and Marty Ingels and Kevin O’Connell, co-hosts of Leukemia televised events. . . .

In the name of the Children of War, a group working through youth for world peace, Annie O’Neill-Chiang and Pam Fong headed a fashion luncheon in Hollywood.

PAST TOO: Virginia Love paced Los Angeles Alumnae Club of Pi Beta Phi for a Win Day at the Races at Santa Anita to benefit the Crippled Children’s Society. . . .

Toshio Sugasawa, Hoya Crystal artist, was spotlighted at a reception at Bullocks Wilshire to kick off the ARCS Foundation Scientist of the Year dinner. . . .

Young patients from Orthopedic Hospital mixed with Pinafores of the League for Crippled Children at their annual Egg Roll at the Beverly Wilshire. Jann McCord was chairman. . . .

The English Speaking Union and the Shakespeare Globe Centre, Western Region, watched budding Shakespeareans compete in recitations at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, then honored them at dinner.

FOR HARVARD: Mary Ann Shoptaw and Vicki Whitney co-chair the Harvard Roundup Sunday. Lots of Harvard parents are involved: Linda Adams, Suzi Given, Sally Field, Peter O’Malley, Joe Mandel, Carolyn Starkman, Dr. Mary Lou Ozohan.