Orange Blossom Ball Is ‘In’ Event for Elite

Just drop “The Ball” and cognoscenti know of which gala you speak.

Yes, the ball--the Orange Blossom Ball that benefits the Orangewood Children’s home--has become the glitzy night out that is de rigueur for the county’s social elite, the Board of Supervisors and a smattering of senators and congressmen.

And it’s a mere babe of 5. How have they done it?

According to William Steiner, it’s been a piece of cake. “Because we have an incredibly good cause that is recognized by the entire community,” said the director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation. “And we’ve had incredible catalysts--ball chairwomen such as Judie Argyros, Kathryn Thompson and Willa Dean Lyon.”

In 1985, when the ball was brand new, $68,000 was raised. In each of the next two years, it netted $100,000. Last year, proceeds more than doubled, with a staggering $203,000 realized.

“That’s almost a 300% increase within four years,” Steiner marvels.

How did it make the megajump of an additional $100,000 last year? The underwriting party staged at Willa Dean and Gen. William Lyon’s mansion made the whopping difference. One month before the ball, Orangewood supporters shared a regal night out with cocktails served up in the Lyons’ automobile museum and dinner served up under the stars.

Afterward, a laid-back auction was conducted with supporters bidding on chances to pay individual ball costs.

The good news: On May 6, supporters will gather again at the Lyons’ to bid on the ball’s underwriting expenses.

The bad/good news: Even without an invitation in the mail, the June 10 gala at the Irvine Hilton and Towers is a sellout.

A Yankee Doodle Dandy: She likes to play the celebrity down, keep a very low profile. But Theresa Cagney Morrison, niece of actor James Cagney, has begun to take some baby steps on the local social circuit.

Recently, the Newport Beach resident was spotted at a Roundtable West event at the Balboa Bay Club. And only last week she was among the dressed-to-the-nines crowd at a fashion show in Irvine staged by the Sophisticates, a support group for the Assessment and Treatment Services Center.

Corner her for a second, and she’ll share a memory or two of her famous uncle. “I spent several summers at Martha’s Vineyard with him--from 1965 into the ‘80s. He was a caring person--about the environment and about people. Actually, he was one of the first crusaders for the preservation of the environment.”

The supremely polished superstar came from a hungry background, Morrison said. “His parents died early. So the children (Cagney, his three brothers and Theresa’s mother, Jean) had to really pull together as a family.”

That hunger was something Cagney never forgot and something his niece is helping to assuage among the poor in Orange County. She serves on the board of directors of the Food Distribution Center in Santa Ana. And yes, her uncle’s deprived childhood is one of her reasons for becoming involved.

Thanks for the memory, Ruth: Few will forget Shirley Temple’s visit to Orange County last November when she appeared at the Irvine Marriott to sign copies of her autobiography, “Child Star.” The Thanksgiving-themed event--attended by a galaxy of Temple’s co-stars--was the highlight of the holiday social season.

But the benefit for the American Cinema Awards Foundation might not have been so memorable if it hadn’t been for comedian Milton Berle’s wife, Ruth, who died of cancer last week at the age of 67.

Learning that the gala was so oversold that committee members planned to divide the crowd into two rooms at the Newporter Resort, Ruth flipped. She said: “Noooooooo way!” according to John Crean of Newport Beach, co-host of the event with his wife, Donna.

Ruth knew a house divided would rob the starry night of its magic. After all, guests had signed up to hang out next to the stars, to break bread right beside them in one glittering ballroom. And besides, how could her dear Uncle Miltie be expected to run back and forth, telling gags in one room and repeating them in another?

“She insisted we move the event so we could all be together,” John Crean said.

It wasn’t easy. Hundreds of “we’ve moved” notices had to be hustled together and mailed, and arrangements had to be canceled and then made again.

But it was worth it. The star-struck crowd absolutely wallowed in 5 hours of sublime togetherness. And they departed with stacks of signed books in their arms and thanks-for-the-memory smiles on their faces.

Thanks for the memory, Ruth.