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SHARE Avoids a Boomtown Bust

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Dudley Moore got a movie deal. Allan Carr got the flu. One of the star chorus girls was struck down by a detached retina. Another was bitten by a Doberman. And, even worse, the gala for “The Phantom of the Opera” was scheduled for the same night.

Never mind. The 36th annual SHARE Boomtown party wasn’t a bust. There may have been some intense biting of Juliette-manicured nails before the trail of limousines began lining up at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Saturday night, but, then, it comes down to the wire every year. And every year, somehow, the self-proclaimed “ladies of SHARE,” an acronym for the charitable organization Share Happily And Reap Endlessly, pull off a Western party and two-hour-plus all-star show.

“Dudley Moore got a movie on Friday . . . “ sighed event co-chair Pam Korman. He had been scheduled to headline the show. “Let’s see, what other catastrophes?” she said trailing off in her black, rhinestone-studded Ultrasuede cowgirl get-up, the new SHARE uniform.

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The search for stars to work gratis began in January, and in the end there were 28, including Siedah Garrett, Don Rickles, Lorna Luft, “Roger Rabbit” (Charles Fleischer), Toni Tennille, Martin Mull, Louie Belson, Stan Getz, Lou Levy and Tony Bennett. But that morning, strings were being pulled to replace Allan Carr, felled with the flu, who was to have introduced the grand finale, a tap-dance number that would have done Busby Berkeley proud. Dick Van Dyke got the job.

SHARE, a charity founded in 1953 by five Hollywood wives in order to raise money for the mentally retarded, isn’t just a party. It falls into the realm of Hollywood Tradition. The Boomtown party was so-named for its Western theme, menu (always plenty of chili) and dress code. As legend has it, folks like John Wayne, tired of wearing tuxedos, wanted it that way.

Boomtown is also one of the year’s biggest fund raisers, reaping $1.2 million this year. The money now goes to support the Exceptional Children’s Foundation, a new SHARE Disability Center at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and several other organizations.

This year, as president Shirley Turtletaub announced, the show went on even though three members died this year: founder Marge Chandler; Lucille Ball, a SHARE lady for 29 years; and Ruth Berle, a two-time past president and tireless supporter. The evening was dedicated to Berle, and her husband Milton sat front row center.

The sell-out crowd (956 people, reported co-chair Roni Sue Malin) included Cristina Ferrare and Tony Thomopoulos, Quincy Jones, Juliet Prowse in the shortest denim skirt of all, Cyndi James and Louis Gossett Jr., Candy and Aaron Spelling, Marvin and Barbara Davis, Danny and Rosemarie Thomas, Cornel Wilde, Ann Miller, Marjoe Gortner, David Nelson, Paul LeMat, Robert Mitchum, Linda Gray (in her “Dallas” chaps).

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