Palm Springs Boasts Social Scene

It just seems that everything happens in Los Angeles. However, the Palms Springs area has a winter social season that may shorten the golf day and cause deep snoozes in the sunshine by the pool.

Take a deep breath:

That dynamic team of Southland shopping center developer Ernest Hahn and his wife, Jean, receives tributes Jan. 29 for the Bob Hope Cultural Center’s calypso-themed benefit to raise funds for operating expenses of the McCallum Theatre at the center. The party site is La Quinta Hotel’s Salon De Fiesta. Benefit chairman Elizabeth Williams and Rabbi Joseph Hurwitz, Erna Schulhofer, Judy Gelfand, Lori Prim and Marilyn Tennity have set tickets at $1,000 each.

Then, Feb. 9, the Palm Springs Desert Museum has booked rising jazz star Harry Connick Jr. (“When Harry Met Sally”) to headline entertainment for its gala, “In Honor of the Great Ladies of the Museum.”

Saluted will be Luella Maslon and Kay Waycott, long-time trustees and benefactors, and two staff members--Dr. Janice Lyle, director of education, and Katherine Plake Hough, curator of art. It’s another $1,000-per-person night. Tony Rose’s orchestra will play for dancing at the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage, and Murray Korda Strings will be there too.

The tempo changes for polo Jan. 27. Barbara Sinatra and her followers are thinking knickers and chukkers for the North American Cup’s tournament finalists featured in the Polo Classic II. The event at the Eldorado Polo Club in Indio benefits the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical Center. Co-chairing the classic are Nelda Linsk and Lee Penkhus and Barbara, who is president of the children’s center’s board of directors. More involved are Judy Gelfand, Lynn Malotto, Cal Wilson, Pat Hope, Jacque Coveny, Dorothy Tenney, Bob Lotwalla, Joy Anderson and Pat Oygar.

Robert and Cheryl Fey, co-chairmen of the Americana Ball IX March 27, are announcing the event will fete his father, Roy Fey, accountant/builder/banker whose name is synonymous with desert causes and charities. Previous honors have gone to former President Gerald R. Ford, Gene Autry and former Ambassador to the Court of St. James Walter Annenberg. The ball will bounce at the Radisson Palm Springs Resort Hotel and Conference Center in Palm Springs. Tickets are $175.

And, keeping up. Earlier this month Buddy Rogers was the star of the salute in his honor benefiting the Variety Children’s Charities of the Desert Tent 66. Columbia Pictures chairman emeritus Leo Jaffe of New York was in on the planning with Catherine Fisler, Marge Halperin and Buddy’s wife Beverly, who provided some glimpses of rare and early films from both the Buddy Rogers and Pickford foundations archives.

Allan Keller, honored in Palm Springs in December for his philanthropy, has been puttin’ on the ritz with a glamorous weekend of parties for the Palm Springs Youth Center.

And last, we’re told the cost of the grand opening of Gerard Alexandre’s exclusive luxury salon on El Paseo in Palm Desert, billed as an “event extraordinaire,” was $500,000.

So, the desert is thronged with party-goers.

MASQUERADE: Father Maurice Chase didn’t wear a mask of feathers when he was named Host of the Year for his charity work on Skid Row by Les Dames de Champagne at their Twelfth Night Bal Masque at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. However, almost everyone else did. In black feathers was party planner Wanda Henderson (off the next day with Harriet Luckman to Washington to be on hand when Barbara Bush gave her Inaugural gown to the Smithsonian).

ALL HEART: Not to be outdone, Carolyn Miller of Pasadena chairs the annual Valentine Heart Ball Feb. 9 for the American Heart Assn., Greater Los Angeles Affiliate. She hopes to raise $300,000. Vocalist Natalie Cole, surrounded by musicians and singers, will star at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. Co-chairing the dinner committee are Peter Mullin of Brentwood and Richard Ferry of Century City.

On the Valentine gala circuit too, the Cultural Society, the major support group of the Cultural Foundation (its purpose is to develop plans for and raise monies to build and support cultural facilities in the San Fernando Valley) will look romantic at the “Stairway to the Stars” gala Feb. 10.

MAVEN OF FASHION: The internationally acclaimed couturiere Mary McFadden should draw all the biggies of the Costume Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art together Jan. 22. Particularly known for her Marii pleated gowns, she’ll speak on “Symbols of the Ancient World: Symbols of Design” and then be feted at a reception in the Times Mirror Central Court at the museum. Christie’s is sponsoring the council’s annual lecture series.

IN MONTEREY: Celebrity chefs from afar are cooking up a storm at the 1990 March of Dimes Gourmet Gala’s “Gourmet Gala Sails Away” Jan. 20 at the Monterey Sheraton. Prestigious chefs include Jaclyn Smith, John Clark Gable, Bill Agee and his wife, Mary Cunningham Agee, and Brooks and Kate Firestone of Los Olivos.