They Enjoyed Being Left in Limbo

When the Spinsters started doing the limbo, their 64th annual ball became a very, very good party.

It was just past midnight Friday at the Beverly Hilton when the calypso-themed gala shifted into high gear.

The steel band was blasting, twentysomething men in white-tie and dexterous, intrepid women in strapless gowns were navigating their way under the limbo pol. Then the party let loose with the energy expected on a Caribbean cruise where passengers hijack the Love Boat.

The night began in leisurely fashion with cocktails at 8, dinner at 10-ish. It picked up steam at 11 when two male Caribbean dancer-acrobats bounced across the floor.

They were followed by a fire-eater/juggler who left in his wake a cloud reeking of lighter fluid; maybe it was this haze of petroleum distillates that enlivened the crowd.

By the time the three, feather-plumed female dancers had brought the mood of Brazilian (via Las Vegas) Mardigras to the room, the 600-strong crowd was primed to dance.

“We wanted something lively,” said understated Betsy Ross, who with Victoria Eastus and Melinda Pfenning had put together the ball. (Angelica Kusar is the group’s president.)

Why was the event’s liveliness so remarkable? The Spinsters are old-line, traditional group. They’re young, working, single women who could be called Debs Who Don’t Marry . . . Yet. Or in the words of committee member Kimberly Wilder, “It’s like a sorority after college. Call us ‘Debs With Careers.’ ”

But they managed the difficult task of keeping a party begun in 1926 in tune with both tradition and the times. And as the dancing went on until 2 a.m., one wondered why they would ever want to marry and stop being Spinsters.