LIFE ON THE CIRCUIT : TV News, ‘Color Code’ Reign at Benefit

Lunch Lines

A quick-witted L.A. newscaster and a sweetly proselytizing psychologist entertained a lunch bunch at Le Meridien on Tuesday, courtesy of the Spyglass Hill Committee of the Orange County Philharmonic Society. About 300 women and maybe 10 men attended the $50-per-person benefit, raising an estimated $12,000, according to event chairwoman Cathy Udall. Before food and table-side modeling of Adrienne Vittadini fashions came two pre-lunch lectures--first a riotous, punch-line-pocked hour from KNBC’s Kelly Lange, then a jokey, heart-tug sermon by local behaviorist Taylor Hartman.

Intros

First at the podium was Erich Vollmer, executive director of the Philharmonic Society, with a Bartlett’s-like quote from Emerson--something about the influence of good women. (The luncheon was dubbed “Celebrating Women Today.”) Next up was Lydia McCroskey, who read an introduction written in rhyming couplets, including the verse: “For quality and class we all trust Kelly Lange/To start off our program with a megaton bang.”

Lange Bang

“Newport Beach-- pul-eeze! “ Lange began, sounding more than a little like Joan Rivers and launching right into what it takes to be “women today”--never mind the “celebrating.” At breakneck speed: “We’re bringing up children. We’re bringing up husbands. We do the hair and the nails and the clothes and the exercise, half an hour a day. We asked to be liberated and look at us now: We’re pooped!” There followed an almost seamless hour of autobiography and wickedly funny behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the 19-year-veteran of TV news shows. Highlights included:

* An image of Lange in the late ‘60s beginning her career as a helicopter-riding traffic reporter. Her bosses had renamed her Dawn O’Day. “Sounds like a stripper, doesn’t?” And they made her wear--in those bad old pre-feminism days--a silver lame jumpsuit. “Can you imagine this? It took six men and a boy to get me into that thing every morning.”

* An image of Tom Snyder standing on a news desk in Bermuda shorts, full of fury, cracking a bull whip while a shocked crew and news staff looked on in silence.

Forty minutes into Lange’s talk, McCroskey, sitting at a front table, signaled that Lange’s time was up. “What?” said Lange, not missing a beat. “Please finish? Well, I’ve been thrown out of some pretty good places, but none as good as this!”

Not to be rushed from a speech going as well as it possibly could, Lange finally stepped down 20 minutes later, put on her sunglasses and left the banquet room.

Heart to Hartman

Next up was O.C.-based psychologist Taylor Hartman, who has written and self-published a book called “The Color Code,” which categorizes personalities as red, blue, white and yellow. Hartman explained his theories with generalizations such as, “If you are married to a Red, you’re either gorgeous or have lots of money.” And, “Blues have unrealistic expectations. Nobody gets lied to as much as a Blue mother.” Toward the end of his 45-minute talk, Hartman said: “If you only knew the power of what I just told you, you’d know that I came to change your life. If you’re humble enough to see it. . . . “

Hostessing

Committee members Terri Newman, Margaret Clark, Anna Hilliard, Holly Fredensberg, Phyliss Meyer, Serene Stokes, Elaine Schirmer, Bobbe Geigele and Pat Jones.

Quote

If you pretend you know what you’re doing, people think you do,” Lange said. “And pretty soon you do . It’s amazing how that works. Men have known this for years.”