The Elegance of the London-Los Angeles Connection

Amid all the fanfare of the Globe Royal Gala in London this past week, the Southland has its own elegance this evening at an intimate dinner for 80 at Hotel Bel-Air. Acclaimed actor-director Derek Jacobi will be featured in “A Conversation on the Terrace.”

It all revolves around the breathless pace for the International Shakespeare Globe Centre now rising on the banks of the Thames. (This is His Royal Highness Prince Edward’s pet interest, and tickets in London for “The Merchant of Venice” benefit starring Dustin Hoffman at the Phoenix Theater and the royal gala dinner at the Savoy Hotel were 500.)

British Consul Gen. Reg. Holloway and his wife, Anna, will be at the Los Angeles dinner.

ON THE GLOBE: Donors Robin and Gerry Parsky and Joan and John Hotchkis are missing this round of Old Globe fun. The Hotchkises will be en route to the Mediterranean before a stop in Venice (that’s where John proposed) and then a flight to Ireland for partying at Ashford Castle, with the Parskys, Craig and Jane Gosden, Richard and Fritzie Roeder and John and Jane Campbell (who have moved to Pebble Beach).

DRAMATIC: Those promises of Willa Dean Lyon for brilliance in her “Dramatic Directions” benefit Saturday for the South Coast Repertory major gala exceeded expectations.

Gen. William Lyon’s vivacious wife is stationing the party in the asymmetrical space of the ultramodern lobby of Irvine’s Park Place. Gala supporters, including Patty and Hubie Clark, Jan and Roger Seitz, Margaret and Carl Karcher, Marilyn and Frank Lynch, already have been honored. The committee’s goal is $170,000 for the SCR Annual Fund. Devotedly laboring are Barbie Hoyt, Kathy McLarand, Kathleen Allen, Bonnie Kremer, Dot Clock, Sherry Van Meter, Pauline Brower and Jean Wenke, Lois Daily, Catherine Thyen and Janice Johnson.

EXCELLENCE: Craig (director of the Natural History Museum) and Elizabeth Black host cocktails Friday at their home in Hancock Park to honor M. Habib Boulares, Tunisian Minister of Information and Culture, and M. Abdelaziz Hamzaoui, Tunisian ambassador to the United States. The evening before, the Natural History Museum governors and trustees plan the black-tie opening of “Carthage, A Mosaic of Ancient Tunisia” at the museum.

SOCIAL SCENE: Those youthful Spinsters of Los Angeles, who wrap charitable and cultural activities around their careers (ranging from law to art and PR), have had a heavy summer. The newly elected president Angelica R. Kusar of Pasadena was paramount at the board members brunch at the home of Franny Harvey in San Marino, joined by Davon Anderson of Toluca Lake, Mary Legallet of Manhattan Beach, Hilary Crahan of Los Angeles and Katherine Thompson of Newport Beach.

Also in the coterie were ball chairman Betsy Ross of Newport Beach and assistant chairs Victoria Eastus of Los Angeles and Melinda Pfenning of Newport.

At another do, the Spinsters opted for some fun at the popular DC3 restaurant and also a nautical barbecue at the home of Kim Wilder, where they donned crisp shipboard attire.

GLASNOT BOWL: President James and Marilyn Zumberge, undaunted that the USC/Illinois game wasn’t played in Moscow’s Dynamo Stadium, hosted a luncheon with a Russian flavor--blinis and Russian folk songs--before the game Monday in the Coliseum.

Dining on Ukrainian dumplings and filet medallions with Romanov sauce were the Trojan loyals--Richard and Connie Van Vorst, Gen. William and Willa Dean Lyon and the General Alumni Assn. president-elect Otis Healy and his wife, Betty.

SOCIAL KICKOFFS: Tova Borgnine, who is luncheon chairman of the YWCA Los Angeles’ Leader Luncheon XVI next April, believes in an early start. She got acceptances this week from Anne and Jimmy Murphy, Paula Kent Meehan, Elise and Marty Pasetta, Adrienne Hall and a host of others for the cocktail party in her home to launch the event. . . .

And Frances and Sid Klein had their jewelry shop on Rodeo Drive glittering for USC Friends of Fine Arts’ kickoff of the Jewel Gala on Oct. 6. Frances Franklin, gala chairman, and June Haver MacMurray, co-chair, lunched at the Bistro Garden this past week, and, wouldn’t you know, for the party honoring Cesar Romero, they’ve christened the affair “Copacabana!”

ELEGANCE: Sophie Mastor’s idea of an elegant tea means serving fluted scones and stuffed quail eggs while previewing the luxurious linens from Frette in her Bel-Air home. She invited a bevy for just that--Suzanne Marx, Joan Selwyn, Carol Mancino, Jane Eisenberg, Donna Kamin, Virginia Kazanjian, Diana Bolero, Judy Ruderman, Helen Lambros and Dina Oldknow.

KUDOS: To Premiere Patrons of the American Cinematheque honoring Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna at DC3 restaurant. . . . To devoted Arthritis Foundation leader David D. Green, who receives the Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award at a black-tie dinner-dance Friday in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton.