Music Center Begins New Fund-Raising Round

The amazements of charity fund-raising never cease. The Music Center raises $14 million in one year, and it begins all over. No wonder William A. Carter, amidst all his accolades from Music Center chairman of the board and first Interstate Bancorp chairman Joseph Pinola for Carter’s leadership success in this year’s triumph, was kidding Maurice DeWald, who must raise $15 million as Campaign ’90 chairman. “We are woefully behind,” joked Carter.

But if Carter, a Southland resident of only three years (he’s vice chairman of Ernst & Young), can do it, so can DeWald, managing partner of Peat Marwick Main & Co. and formerly of Chicago and Orange County. And, as DeWald says, “Most of the chairs are in place.”

They and their wives--Carolyn Carter, Dorie Pinola and Carolyn DeWald--were definitely the centerpieces of the thank-you party Esther Wachtell, president of the Music Center, and the troops hosted the other evening--dinner in the Grand Hall of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and “Phantom of the Opera” at the Ahmanson.

The crowd of about 200 couldn’t wait for the show. “This is the fourth time we’ve seen ‘Phantom’--London, New York and opening night,” said John Grundhofer (vice chairman, Wells Fargo Bank), grabbing brownies with wife Beverly for the walk across the Plaza to the theater. He’ll become a vice chairman of the campaign with James Thomas (of Maguire, Thomas), taking over from John E. Bryson (executive vice president, Southern California Edison) and Roger A. Kozberg (vice president, Johnson & Higgins).

Everyone dined heartily on Chinese pork dumplings and roast beef sandwiches, stamina for the emotions of “Phantom.” It was a happy crowd: Latham Williams and his mother Joan, Kenneth and Linda Docter, Robert and Debra Egelston, Stuart and Carrie Ketchum, Nancy and Alan Livingston, Frances Muir, Sydney and Jackie Rosenberg, Marlene Billington and Deborah and Tom Tellefsen.

TRAVEL WINDS: Quite a group of Diadames accepted Nancy and Corwin Denny’s invitation to visit their Teton Pines resort at Jackson, Wyo. Art and Lois Linkletter were among those on the Snake River float trip, admiring the moose and eagles; Mary Davis and Margaret Spillane opted for the white-water trip. Louise and John Goode and Midge and Bob Clark trekked to Yellowstone. Diane and Robert Anderson, Julie and Bill Bergin, Joni and Clark Smith, Emily and Andrew Westham, Mary and Stuart Davis, Donald and Mary Lou Hicks, Kay and Tom McKay, Mary and Charles Skouras, Sue and Tom Somermeier, Marcia Adams and John Hessel hit the golf course, tennis courts and Jackson Hole art galleries . . .

The French Consul for Cultural Affairs Alexandre Tolstoi, great grand nephew of Count Leo Tolstoi, is off on a new assignment to Istanbul, Turkey, with his wife Nicole and daughters Natacha and Tania...

Stacy and Piero Salvaggio and Leonard Pennario were in the crowd for the Del Mar Race Track’s opening week.

GET ENERGIZED: Take a deep breath. You’ll need it for fall. September will be especially heavy. The Palos Verdes Peninsula people--Jean Juell, president of the Peninsula Committee of Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and Marion Scharffenberger, Joan Hanley, Jody Murdock and Robin Serfass--clued us in over a luncheon at the California Club on the 32nd annual Portuguese Bend National Horse Show to be held Sept. 8-10 at the Empty Saddle Club in Rolling Hills Estates. They’re talking about “jumping hurdles for children,” a catchy phrase to promote their top-rated equestrian event. Funds will endow a pediatric cardiology chair at the hospital.

Right now, organizers are recruiting everyone from their kids to elders to staff booths, drive tractors, park cars, sell ads, recruit patrons, design brochures, paint fences and scrub portapotties. Show chairwoman Ann Cullen expects that by the finale, they will have logged 14,000 volunteer hours.

CIRCLE RED: The trustees of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. have set the zoorifically casual Beastly Ball for Sept. 9 . . .

The Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center Foundation’s big fund-raiser will be at Filmland Nov. 5 (top donors got recognition at a dinner at the Bel-Air home of John and Chantal Kilroy). Lucie Arnaz will entertain and developers Don and Ray Watt, foundation directors, hope for a $100,000 net . . .

The Volunteer League of the San Fernando Valley fall benefit, “An Evening Under the Stars,” at the Universal Amphitheatre with the Pointer Sisters and alfresco dining for community service projects is planned for Sept. 9. . .

The Holy Cross Medical Center “Celebration ‘89” dinner dance will be held at San Fernando Mission Sept. 16.

KUDOS: To Goldie Hawn, who’s said yes to be the honoree for the Big Sisters Guild third annual comedy gala “Alive with Second City” Dec. 9 at the Hollywood Palladium. A special merit award will be given to the Krok Sisters--Arlene, Sharon Krok Feuer and Loren--whose company, EPI Products, has donated $100,000 to underwrite the show.

DEBS: Gretchen Schlegel, Patricia Hadfield and Rosemary LaLonde chaired the mother-daughter debutante announcement luncheon hosted by the Coronet Debutante Ball Board at the Bel Air Country Club. Pink was the color of the day--pink dresses, pink tablecloths, pink carnations, pink coronets. The ball is Nov. 25.