Lyon’s Lines Leave Gala Goers Giggling

He did it again, cracked up a crowd of gussied-up gala goers.

When William Lyon stood before guests at Saturday night’s stately Orange Blossom Ball, he explained that he was the gala chairman, and, as such, had searched high and low for the perfect ball gown.

As serendipity would have it, he found exactly what he needed at the Amen Wardy boutique in Newport Beach (where, it so happens, his wife, Willa Dean, selects her billowing Oscar de la Rentas and her blinding Bob Mackies).

But after enduring several “fittings,” Lyon joked, he decided the gown just wasn’t “me.” The 750-strong crowd collapsed with giggles.

“It was the best part of the party!” said the fun-loving Deeann Baldwin, a dream walking in a lemon-yellow Mary McFadden glimmering with bead-encrusted sleeves.

Perhaps Lyon should have shopped at the Orangewood Boutique in Corona del Mar. That’s where KNBC-TV newscaster Vikki Vargas found her glorious gown, a revealing ruby red and black chiffon number with matching ostrich-trimmed scarf.

During the cocktail hour, Judie Argyros--a show-stopper in an emerald-green figure-hugger--admired the gown Vargas wore. When Vargas thanked her and told Argyros that she had purchased it at the second-hand boutique that makes money for the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, Argyros stopped dead in her tracks. The gown had looked familiar. Come to think of it, she was the one who had donated it to Orangewood! (Saks Fifth Avenue fashion director Billur Wallerich, also at the soiree, remembered selling the gown to Argyros--wife of Forbes 400 developer George Argyros--several years ago. “A lovely gown,” Wallerich said.)

Between the milk-fed veal and the hazelnut ladyfinger charlotte, William Steiner talked about the staggering ball proceeds: $1.4 million. “I’m thrilled,” said the executive director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation. “That amount makes a dramatic statement. It validates Orange County’s commitment to Orangewood’s children.”

Perhaps Kathryn Thompson, breathtaking in gold-spangled black silk, summed it up best: “We’re creating hope for children who once had nothing to hope for.”

Who’s that girl? It was hard to miss model-entertainer Julie Eastman when she popped into South Coast Repertory on Friday night to take in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow.” Startlingly beautiful in a black Chanel suit and upswept platinum hair, she looked like Madonna, the play’s co-star when it opened on Broadway. Heads turned. Tongues wagged. But Eastman, soon to take her nightclub act to Japan (where she will model during the day), kept her cool.

Theatergoers such as Jim Vandeberg, vice president of Carter Hawley Hale (a corporate sponsor of SCR for 12 years) sipped champagne before the play.

When SCR producing artistic director David Emmes introduced Mamet’s tale about behind-closed-doors Hollywood, he talked about the theater’s recent tour at the Singapore Festival of Arts. “We carried the SCR banner and waved it proudly,” he said.

After the play, the actors--Gregg Henry, Joe Spano and Kamella Tate--mingled with the audience at a bash staged by SCR’s Theatre Guild.

Also on SCR’s date book: its 12th annual end-of-season auction, set for June 23. Themed “Hot! Hot! Hot!” it will feature a silent auction with al fresco buffet and a madcap live auction followed by an opportunity drawing for a 1990 Mazda Miata. Restaurants participating in the mega-feast include Bangkok Four, Caliente, Turro Mare, Alfredo’s and Gustaf Anders.