Top-40 Shower Debut
The Scene: Tuesday night’s baby shower for disc jockey Casey Kasem and his wife, Jean. Five hundred friends packed the ballroom at the Regent Beverly Wilshire for the “Power Shower” with a ‘50s theme.
The Buzz: It was the culmination of 10 years of trying to conceive, according to Jean, who was wearing a maternity poodle skirt and Nike saddle shoes. “We were in the first test group of a very experimental program at UCLA, and I’ve been in bed resting for months,” said Jean. “That’s why we’re having one megashower instead of several small ones.”
Who Was There: Valerie Harper, Ron Kovic, Martin Landau, Gloria Allred, Clifton Davis, Lou Ferrigno, Gary Owens, Ken Kragen, Barbara Lazaroff and Mr. Blackwell, who has made Jean Kasem a fixture on his annual worst-dressed list.
The Decor: ‘50s all the way, complete with a replica of a juke box and lots of pink and blue neon. Stork statuettes dressed in studded leather outfits made the fowl look more like Hells Angels than heaven’s delivery birds.
Dress Code: Levi’s, letter sweaters, bowling shirts, fake tattoos, ponytails and leather jackets. Mr. Blackwell topped off his gray suit with brown shoes.
Chow: Drive-in food--rendered vegetarian in accordance with the Kasems’ tastes: vegetables, tofu dogs and meatless burgers.
Entertainment: Vintage pinball machines were set up around the ballroom, and Billy and the Beaters kept people dancing with vintage rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues.
Noted: Baby Kasem is scheduled to be born on July 4. In keeping with the delivery date, the child will be named Justice if it’s a boy, or Liberty if it’s a girl.
Triumphs: The evening gave several hundred men their first glimpse at what really goes on at that mysterious female ritual, the baby shower. It appears the women dress like extras from “Grease” and hang out with leather storks.
Quoted: One prominent restaurant critic, known for his love of barbecued ribs, turned up his epicurean nose at the buffet and sniffed: “This is food for people who don’t like food.”
The Party’s Over: As guests left, they saw hotel employees loading dozens of gifts from the cloakroom onto mail room carts. There were so many that the Kasems should have thank-you notes written by the time baby leaves for college.
