Local Developers Feted by First Couple at ‘Grand Old Party’

“She remembered!”

Orangewood is what First Lady Barbara Bush remembered on Wednesday during the dinner honoring Team 100--donors of $100,000 to the Bush campaign--at the White House. “She is just incredible,” said developer Kathryn Thompson Owen, who gave Barbara Bush a tour of the Orangewood home for abused children last year.

Owen, attending the fest for about 300 with her husband, Gus, was among five Orange County developers--including Donald Bren, William Lyon, George Argyros and Jim Baldwin--who dined on chicken fricasee, beef tenderloin, apple tart and pumpkin mousse in the flower-filled East Room.

“The Bushes are absolutely wonderful,” said Owen, who wore a pearl-studded black silk chiffon by Galanos to the affair. “She is just the warmest human being I think I’ve ever met. She walks in and says: ‘Here I am! Hello everybody, my friends!

“Then, at dinner, she spoke before the President spoke, and when she introduced him she went: ‘dooooo do dooooo!’--created a little fanfare. She is absolutely darling.”

Before dinner, the mega-donors enjoyed a cocktail reception at the home of social cyclone Georgette Mosbacher and her husband, Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher. “Their house is beautiful,” said Thompson, who noted Georgette--an international fashion trendsetter--wore a chic black suit with vivid pink and lemon lapels (and a huge lemon enamel pin shot with diamonds).

On Halloween night, Team 100 partied at the home of Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife, Marilyn. “The house was decorated beautifully,” said Willa Dean Lyon (who wore a smashing black velvet and lace dress by Oscar de la Renta to the White House). “Gorgeous flower arrangements and lots of pumpkins. The youngest Quayle children were all set to go trick or treating, and, when we left, a busload of children pulled up to visit the Quayles. The Quayles had invited them, but the Secret Service looked uneasy.”

William Lyon called the chance to dine at the White House “a special opportunity to be part of history. The White House is a wonderful, exciting place, a place for everyone, not just for a chosen few.”

Did he invite the President to visit him at his white home in Coto de Caza? “No, but he’ll be out there sometime,” Lyon said.

Decisions, decisions: It’s been a socialite’s dream--the chance to sweep into New York’s Plaza Hotel to attend an uppity ball chaired by society queen Ivana Trump and the chance to soar off to Saudi Arabia to be wined and dined by royalty. Such has been life in the faster-than-the-speed-of-sound lane for Lois Aldrin, wife of former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, recently. But there was one little hitch: “I don’t know what to pack!” Lois wailed earlier this week. “All of my formal dresses are a little see-through, and the Saudi prince (Prince Sultan Bin Salman al-Saud) has told me I must be covered, be opaque from head to toe! Oh, I’ll figure out something.”

Before the ball at the Plaza on Thursday, the Aldrins popped by Malcolm Forbes’ New York office to present him with an autographed copy of Buzz’s new book, “Men From Earth.” (“I’d sure like to get on his party list!” Lois piped.)

Earlier this week, the Aldrins convened with pals aboard John Crean’s yacht at the Balboa Bay Club to film a segment of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”

“I told them,” Lois said, “we may be famous, but we’re only trying to get rich!”

Start spreadin’ the news: “Ruta Lee said it all at the Thalians Ball in Los Angeles last week,” said Fortune 500 entrepreneur John Crean on Monday. “Wealth is like manure. It doesn’t do any good unless you spread it around!” Crean is spreading it around, all right. His and wife Donna’s donations in theater-arts circles are legend. And so is the 45,000-square-foot, Tara-esque compound they’re building in Santa Ana Heights. You see, the Creans plan to live in but 1,800 square feet of it. The rest is strictly for family and friends. Which brings us to our point: The Creans have decided to formally open their manse next spring to benefit a charity. “But we don’t know which charity yet,” John said. “We’ve received sooooo many requests.” Meanwhile, the couple will move into their new digs in time to celebrate Christmas. And there’s talk that Buddy Ebsen, Donald O’Connor and George Murphy will show up to christen their polished maple dance floor soon.

Morsels: Hamburger mogul Carl Karcher (Carl’s Jr.) and his wife, Margaret, returned Tuesday night from a whirlwind Roman holiday with Forbes 400 developer Don Koll and his wife, Dorothy. The highlight of the trip, arranged by Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles: attending a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in his private chapel. On Nov.11, the Karchers will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends in their Anaheim home. On Nov. 17, the couple plan to fly to Cabo San Lucas--where the Karchers are building an 8,000-square-foot dream pad (they purchased the property from Koll)--to spend Thanksgiving with their family at the Palmilla Hotel. . . .

Actor William Devane of television’s “Knots Landing” will be best man Saturday when Arabian horse broker Phil Hatfield marries Christine Pavlo at Moss Point, the lush Laguna Beach estate once visited by President Woodrow Wilson. . . .

“They want me back!” says socialite Suzanne Pierce, who appeared recently as an “atmosphere person” on an episode of television’s “Golden Girls.” Pierce, who lives in Newport Beach, won the chance to appear on the popular sitcom at a charity auction last year.

This week, Pierce has been in New York, kicking up her heels at Hotel Pierre (where, incidentally, billionaire Don Bren and his step-mum, Claire Trevor, have apartments). Pierce sure knows how to get there : For her flight to New York, she boarded the equipped-to-the-nines Boeing 727 owned by MGM. “The MGM plane is heavenly,” Pierce said. “I always take it to New York. It has fat swivel chairs, food served on tables , carpeting, indirect lighting, compartments for sleeping, a beautiful bar, cooked-to-order food, two baths--one a huge powder room.” The price tag? “Nineteen-hundred-and-something round trip,” she said.

Pierce zipped back from the Big Apple on Wednesday so she could attend a birthday bash held Thursday for Kitty Kobrin at Carmelo’s Italian bistro in Corona del Mar. Among those helping Kitty blow out the candles on her birthday cake: hubby Jerry, and nears and dears Pilar Wayne, Jolene and Tom Fuentes, Carolyn and Vick Knight, and the restaurant’s owner and namesake, Carmelo Manto, and his wife, Judi.