Arts Patrons Kick Up Their Heels at French-Themed Fete in Newport

They knew they could could. So they did did. With cancan.

The Carmen chapter of the Guilds of the Performing Arts Center tossed a French-themed party Friday night that drew 170 guests at $65 each and raised an estimated $14,000.

“Soiree Parisienne” kicked to life in the ballroom of the Sheraton Newport Beach.

“ Bonsoir !” said chairwoman Genevieve Ray, greeting her friend, Maite McGregor. “ Comme ca va ?”

Ray, a native Parisian who has lived in the United States for more than 40 years, dropped phrase-book French into her conversation all night--an infectious habit that inspired a chorus of bonjours and mercis and voilas around the room.

At cocktail hour, guests browsed silent auction tables to the sounds of Piaf and other easy-listening tunes performed by the Lynn Willis Trio. (Willis also emceed the live auction). A mime and a caricaturist plied their silent trades and a leggy line of cancan dancers scissor-kicked in front of the bandstand--a preview of the cancan-ing to come.

Adding to the Moulin Rouge mood were murals and paintings in the style of Toulouse-Lautrec. The artworks were an extracurricular project of Elsie Van Alstine’s visual arts class at Loara High School in Anaheim. Party chairwoman Ray taught French at Loara for 20 years before she retired in 1982, “and she still has a lot of friends there,” Van Alstine said.

Carmen chapter chairwoman Eileen Crouch said she was pleased that the fund-raiser--their fourth big bash--was almost completely underwritten.

“Everything but the food was taken care of. We had a certain angel give us a very big check,” said Crouch, naming Gerald Klein as the donor with a halo.

Helping Ray pull her fete together were committee members Helen Susman, Loretta Freund, Mary Ann Kandel, Bea Amburgey, Johnnie Houser, Jo Ann Casson and Ariela Gallen.

Dinner included Caesar salad, asparagus topped with bearnaise sauce, chicken with crab meat, and vanilla almond ice cream for dessert.

Also attending were Marilyn and Bryan Houchen, Jeanne Plocher, Jeannette Burton, Mary Garibotti, Linda Robertson and Edna Bradley.