NAMES IN THE NEWS : Me and Roger and 325 Others

Singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme helped retired General Motors Corp. Chairman Roger B. Smith say goodby to hundreds of friends at an opulent bash featuring smoked duck and $120-a-bottle champagne.

“It was one of the most elegant functions like that that I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been to quite a few,” said David Cole, a University of Michigan official and son of the late Edward Cole, former president of GM.

“I would have traded my salary for what it would have cost to put that on,” Cole said. “I’m sure it was an expensive proposition.”

Sunday’s get-together became known as “the $5-million party.” GM officials said that figure was “ridiculous,” but declined to say how much it cost.

“This is the usual party we have for retiring top executives,” GM spokesman Jim Crellin said.

There were 326 people on the guest list, including seven of Forbes magazine’s 400 richest people in America. No one from Ford Motor Co. nor Chrysler Corp. was there.