‘Voices’ Finds Aid Comes With Western Accent

Legendary cowboy actor Gene Autry was not back in the saddle again last Saturday, although his name at the top of the invitations to the “Foot Stompin’ Madness Goes Hollywood” benefit was sufficient to draw about 600 guests to a Texas-size cattle call that invited would-be cowboys, cowgirls, cowpersons, cowpunchers and cowpunks to star in a mock Hollywood horse opera.

Autry and his wife, Jackie, signed on as honorary chairman and chairwoman of this year’s fund-raiser for the Voices for Children Auxiliary and sent words of encouragement along with a pair of autographed movie posters from the era when Autry reigned as king of the singing cowboys.

Some of the guests looked to be nursing saddle sores (or could it have been their boots that made them walk funny?) after wrangling their two-seaters over the dusty trail that loops and twists, like a cowboy ballad, to the heart of Ramona Sahm’s sprawling spread on the Wild West side of this rural community. This is the second year that Sahm has turned over her estate to the “Foot Stompin’ ” crew, and Saturday she vowed to make it three in a row.

“I just love having all these people here, and of course I’ll be doing this again next year,” said Sahm, planting her booted feet firmly on a carefully tended lawn that, just for the day, had been transformed into a Western stage set. “We’ll earn at least $100,000 for Voices for Children, which isn’t shabby.”

If the figure wasn’t shabby, neither was the setting, which included non-polluting wooden cows grazing amid bales of hay, saloon girls prancing about in a lot of feathers and a little satin, chuck wagons spilling out such hors d’oeuvres as Colorado chili and crab tostadas, and guests costumed from boot heel to Stetson as gen-u-wine or rhinestone cowfolks.

“Most of these people pull their Western duds out of the closet once or twice a year,” commented one observer, adding, “But then, there are some Texans on busmen’s holidays, too.” Quite a number of tennis-toned necks reddened under the relentless Rancho Santa Fe sun, but because the redneck persona was the motif du jour , no one seemed to mind in the least.

“I’m out of character, I guess, but I guess I’m a character anyway,” said chairwoman Mary Allan of her all-white cowpoke duds while, nearby, a Bluegrass group called High Ground picked out the “Orange Blossom Special.” Allan added, “I was almost born in the saddle, but while I started out riding Western, I now ride hunters.”

Allan’s co-chairwoman, Claudia Munak, responded by wearing a totally black outfit. “We wanted to create the Hopalong Cassidy black-and-white look,” she said.

Munak and Allan set out to create more than a Western effect. Through events such as “Foot Stompin’ Madness,” the Voices for Children Auxiliary provides funds that pay for the recruitment, training and supervision of court-appointed special advocates for abandoned, abused or neglected children. At court hearings, the volunteers in effect become the “voices” of the youngsters they represent.

The success of the “Foot Stompin’ ” benefit, which annually generates unusually high returns for a party at which the top ticket costs $150, depends partly on the vast scope of entertainments. Saturday’s hoedown included a couple of shoot-outs staged by the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, a menacing-looking collection of mounted gunslingers drawn from medical and law enforcement offices in East County; a Wild West cancan show; Al Turner and the KSON Flatbed Show; The California Band; wagon rides; games of skill, and even consultations--in a tepee, no less--with psychic readers.

A special added attraction at Saturday’s event was a parachute drop in which of a pair of sky-divers raced each other to land on a small lawn covered with nailed-down paper plates. Each plate had a guest’s name scrawled on its back, and the first to be picked up by a parachutist would win a luxury weekend at a local resort. The prize went to decorations co-chair Liz Smith.

After the sky drop, guests moseyed over to yet another lawn for more music (several guests claimed that one favorite tune, “All My Ex-es Live in Texas,” accurately described their own situations) and a buffet of arroz con pollo , carne asada , Cajun catfish and--no fooling--something called Tom Mix salad. After the meal, the event continued in the tented casino, which artist Craig Keenan lined in a continuous pastiche of hand-painted, cartoon-like Western characters.

The committee included Georgie Blatz, Mac Canty, Linda Owen, Betty Mabee, Barbara Malone, Judi Strada, Syd Youngson, Barbara ZoBell, Jeannette Cabot, Mag White, Inez Weymiller, Karen Nugent, Karen Cohn, Judith Harris, Audrey Kaufmann, Pam Allison, Gerri Griffin, Berneice Copeland, Patti Mix and Julie Sarno.

Among guests were Joanne and Frank Warren, Betty and Al DeBakcsy, Jane and John Murphy, Judy and Chuck Bieler, Sally and Dennis Bucko, Joy and Jim Furby, Barbara and Joe Harper, Marge and Paul Palmer, Virginia and Jack Monday, Carrie and Pete Rozelle, Sue Stephens-Cox, Elizabeth and Bill Zongker, Connie and Jack Baer, Junko and Larry Cushman, Nancy Ann and Hap Chandler, Midge and Ord Preston, and Virginia and Glenn Napierskie.

SAN DIEGO--The Makua Auxiliary to the Children’s Home Society, the group that in the past has brought the city such clever midsummer soirees as “Makua Hangs Ten” and “Makua Vice” (held on the eve of the opening of the new San Diego Police Department headquarters on Broadway), Saturday entertained more than 500 members and guests at “Hernando’s Hide-Away,” a Spanish-themed, open-air fiesta given in the courtyard of Balboa Park’s Spanish Village.

Gayle Eales and Sue Sharp co-chaired the benefit, which offered dancing under the stars to a band called Magic, flamenco performances, roving llamas, palm readers, a lambada demonstration and costumed Makua members--their tradition demands something distinctive--posing as coy gauchos.

Decorations incorporated not only Mexican and Spanish themes but took advantage of the artwork displayed in the studios and shops that surround the courtyard, most of which stayed open late for the affair.

According to Jon Tibbitts, the state chairman of the board of the Children’s Home Society, the organization is the oldest not-for-profit children’s support group in California; it will observe its centennial in 1991. Funds raised by the Makua Auxiliary remain in San Diego to support such programs as foster care, group care homes, shelters for runaway youths and counseling to troubled families.

Among those attending the Makua party were Phil and Margie Ward, John and Dulie Ahlering, Don and Jill Young, Craig and Chris Andrews, Scott and Linda Wilson, Bruce and Linda Blakley, Jack and Dossy White, Jerry and Jeani Burwell, Rob and Sue Todd, Jeff and Kay Davis, Jay and Martha Shumaker, Bruce and Cathy Frost, Ken and Marlene Shook, Mike and Marie Huff, and Will and Nora Newbern.