The Scene: “Ghostbusters II” premiere Thursday night...

The Scene: “Ghostbusters II” premiere Thursday night to benefit Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center, with a screening at the Chinese and a party after at the Hollywood Palladium. (Tickets warned, “Be there or be slimed!”) Columbia Pictures execs cruised through the evening with dollar signs in their eyes, thinking of a great Sequel Summer. The movie seemed to put everyone in a good mood as they entered the Palladium, whose lobby resembled Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride. Many party-goers (paying $350 a ticket) dined and dashed, ensuring they headed out while the party was at mid-peak, or even pre-peak. The $500,000 that premiere chairman Judy Ovitz hoped to raise will go toward buying a Selectron Remote Afterloader (sounds like a “Ghostbuster” prop) for the Cancer Center’s radiation therapy department.

The Buzz: “Ghostbusters II” got a thumbs-up from the audience, which appreciated its PEV (pure entertainment value). Head-swiveling and deal-making were rampant at the screening and the party, as was chatter about who had seen the Rob Lowe tapes. The assigned-seating dinner had some grousing about where they had been placed in relation to where others had been placed.

Who was there: The movie’s stars--Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts; director Ivan Reitman; Weaver’s dad Pat; James Woods and Sarah Owen; Paula Abdul; Bobby Brown (he performs on the sound track); Columbia chief Dawn Steel; Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr.; Kevin Bacon and a pregnant Kyra Sedgewick; Jon Lovitz; Phil Hartman; Sally Field and Alan Greisman; Norman Lear; Penny Marshall; Candy and Aaron Spelling; Tommy Schlamme and Christine Lahti; Barbara and Marvin Davis; Catherine O’Hara; Sydney Pollack; CAA chief Michael Ovitz; and a handful of nuns from St. John’s.

Dress mode: Industry casual--a sea of suits and horn-rimmed glasses; women opted for uptown pants suits, horn-rimmed glasses and serious hair. Singer-choreographer Paula Abdul managed to change clothes between the screening and the party.

The food: Along Came Mary catered a family-style dinner (everyone serves himself from huge platters) that included jumbo prawns with apple cider and mustard sauce, boneless breast of chicken stuffed with ricotta sage filling, baby asparagus, yellow squash and mushrooms and a peach and blueberry feuillette with puff pastry shells, creme Anglaise and vanilla ice cream. Thankfully, there was no theme food, like slime punch.

Entertainment: A big band played on stage through dinner followed by Howard Huntsberry (he played Jackie Wilson with dead-on accuracy in “La Bamba”), who appears on the “Ghostbusters II” sound track. Dan Aykroyd also did an impromptu number on stage, drawing cheers from the audience.

Overheard: At the screening, a man said to his friend, a party novice: “Now remember, the movie is not the thing, the food is not the thing, the atmosphere is the thing.” Gee, and we always thought it was how fast the valet got your car. At the Palladium, Steel watched the throngs saunter into the party and remarked, “I feel like we’re at a bar mitzvah receiving line.”

Favor Rating: Exiting guests were handed a “Ghostbusters II” paperback book, a thermal mug with the “Ghostbusters II” logo, a logo pin and a weird toy that makes horrible high-pitched noises. Presumably, it can be used when the car alarm is on the fritz.

Th-th-th-that’s all, folks: A sweaty, portly Aykroyd, when asked for a comment, declared: “I’ve done all the press, I have nothing to say, I had a good time.”