Some Party Animals Just Monkey Around

Talk about party animals.

Julianne the llama, Jojo the monkey and Zuma the parrot were among guests living it up on New Year’s Eve at Gustaf Anders restaurant in Santa Ana.

Extraordinary fare just isn’t enough when the last night of the year rolls around, thinks William Gustaf Magnuson, owner of the bistro with chef Ulf Anders Strandberg.

So, guests got handshakes from Jojo while they tipped their Laurent Perrier bubbly, “I love you’s” from Zuma while they savored their golden caviar, and batting eyelashes from Julianne while they polished off their salmon.

“We used to have just a few balloons on New Year’s Eve,” said Magnuson, who brought his restaurant to South Coast Plaza Village from La Jolla last April. “Then we got the idea of having Lady Godiva march through the restaurant on horseback when the clock struck 12.”

But Lady Godiva got stuck in a blinding fog that year, Magnuson said. So the dapper restaurateur (fully dressed, of course) ended up riding a white steed through his fancy restaurant. “Everybody went crazy! So we’ve been playing ‘can we top this?’ ever since.”

Also on the zany scene Sunday was Nicholas Night, a fire-eater who thrilled guests as he spewed forth flame after flame. “The trick is breath control,” whispered Night, who sported a “film strip” tie covered with the faces of movie starlets.

How did Night light his fire? “Tonight, I’m using Coleman fluid,” he said. “Sometimes I use Ronson. And sometimes I use kerosene, but it leaves a horrible after-taste.”

Also on the scene: Ambassador Bill making madcap balloon chapeaux ; a Pee-wee Herman act-alike passing out rock candy rings, candy chokers, and plenty of his famous “errrrhhhhhhh” squeals; a ventriloquist, and a magician who blew party-goers’ minds using his version of “ESP.”

“Mentally select a card and don’t say a word,” the magician told one guest, fluttering the deck in her face.

The magician took a card from the deck and plopped it, face down, on the table.

“Is the card you selected black or red?” he asked.

“Black,” she answered.

He turned over the card. It was the ace of spades, exactly what she had selected.

Amazing .

Next, he told a male guest: “Mentally select a card and don’t say a word.”

Sure enough, before the guest could say “abracadabra,” the magician had turned over the 10 of hearts, exactly what the guest had selected.

“Happy New Year!” the magician said, waltzing off to amaze other guests.

“Errrrhhhhhhh!” Pee-wee Herman squealed. “Errrrhhhhhh!”

A Winter Carnival: Mickey Mouse turned 60, the Assistance League of Anaheim turned 50, and the community ended up with more than $20,000 last week when the league staged a benefit around a performance of “Walt Disney’s World on Ice” at the Anaheim Convention Center.

After dining, buffet-style, in the center’s Anaheim Room, about 500 league supporters watched the performance, which highlighted the famous mouse’s six decades in show biz.

“We wanted to do something different for our anniversary,” said Peggy Hoag, who handles publicity for the group. “Something for the whole family.”

Among the league’s projects are Operation Sight Saver, which benefits visually handicapped children in Anaheim elementary and high schools; Operation School Bell, which helps clothe deprived children, and Operation Hug, where league members furnish cuddly bears to the Anaheim Police Department for children who are in temporary custody after a traumatic incident.

Chairing the benefit were Theresa PawlowskiCQ and Mary Bouas. Also on the committee: Gloria Nepp; Ann Johns; Ellen Bengston; Mary Jane Mallory; Gloria Simmons; Barbara Wade; Marlene Millard; Eilen Pauly; Maggie Queyrel; Fran Mauck; Jean Stewart; Florence Mitchell and Marlus Fowler. Joan Hoyt is league president.