Mixing Popcorn and Furs for Cedars-Sinai : Guild Holds Fund-Raiser

Unfortunately, there are only two places a Hollywood hedonist can get away with nibbling buttered popcorn while wearing a fur coat--furtively at home, or with all the pizazz of show biz at the annual Cedars-Sinai Women’s Guild’s movie premiere.

For the past 32 years the Women’s Guild premiere has been the one gala when it’s cold enough, formal enough and glitzy enough to take the mink to the movies. “This is the night you buy the new ball gown for,” said Guild President Marcia Ziffren. “You break out the jewels and put on the fur.”

What 1,100 guests were sumptuously gowned, jeweled and furred or black-tied for Wednesday night was the benefit premiere of Tri-Star’s “Family Business” that began with a screening, chaired by Jackie Foster, at the Cineplex Odeon followed by dinner in the Century Plaza.

This was a dinner where, in the words of premiere co-chair Nancy Zarif, “you get popcorn as an appetizer”--and then a main course of sirloin slices served in a ballroom transformed into Manhattan by dozens of translucent back-lit sets from TVI. Entertaining the guests, who included two of the film’s stars, Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick (Dustin Hoffman was performing “Merchant of Venice” on Broadway), was a fiery 18-piece orchestra complete with three torch singers.

Among those dining and dancing were Marvin Davis with wife Barbara (who had at least one twirl around the dance floor with People mag’s “sexiest man alive,” Connery); Creative Artist’s Agency’s Mike Ovitz with wife Judy, who was supper chair; Sony’s dynamic duo, Jon Peters and Peter Guber; Universal’s Tom Pollock with wife Peggy; the film’s producer, Larry Gordon; Leonard and Wendy Goldberg; Kirk and Anne Douglas; Danny Glover; and directors Brian DePalma and Barry Levinson.

By midnight, the plug was pulled on the band, $600,000 had been raised for Cedars, and a flock of furs were on their way back to storage.