DARE Beats Drums for Benefit Concert

Structure it right, and you can make $1 million. At least, that’s the intent of Bruce A. Meyer, president of Geary’s and chairman of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education fund-raiser Sept. 10.

He’s got a fighting chance; last year’s DARE benefit raised $850,000. This year it has nabbed the opening night concert by Chicago (80 million albums sold) at the Universal Amphitheatre and will couple it with a gala dinner.

DARE has become such a well-known byword nationally, it’s easy to forget it was founded right here in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District. It places a specially trained police officer in fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms for a 17-week semester to teach students how to refuse drugs and alcohol and follows up with junior and high school classes.

Meyer promises that every dollar contributed to the cause will go straight to the classroom to foster drug awareness for both students and parents. Columbia Savings Charitable Foundation will underwrite the event.

STAR-STUDDED: The CEO of Dior, Madame Beatrice Bongibault-Dhjan, is opening the first major Dior boutique in America Sept. 12 at the new Two Rodeo Drive complex in Beverly Hills, and Wendy Goldberg, Lili Zanuck and Nancy Vreeland have been picked to co-host the gala arrival. It should be a social highlight: The streets of Rodeo Drive will be lined with 50 top models wearing the best of the Dior 1990-91 collection. The New York boutique will open in November. The Beverly Hills boutique will mirror the company’s Avenue Montaigne Paris headquarters with the same canopied beveled glass door and signature dove-gray and white colors on Louis XVI-style furniture. After the cocktail opening, Madame Bongibault will host a dinner at the Bistro Garden.

BRAND NEW: With the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Associates of the California Institute of Technology and the upcoming Caltech centennial in 1991, the board of directors of the Associates has voted to form a new membership classification for individuals under 40. Two dynamos--Gordon Pashgian and Joe Regan, both Associates board members--lead the young group. First event is Sept. 22. Members will take their youngsters on a tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and follow with hot dogs and hamburgers.

NEW CHAIR: CONCERN II’s big concern is funding children’s cancer research in the area of immunology. Since 1981 it has raised $1.7 million. Now, members announce they’ll establish their first research chair at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles (in 1986 they founded the brain tumor research laboratory there). Thus, they’re gung-ho on their biggest fund-raiser ever Sept. 15 at Cary Grant Pavilion at Hollywood Park. Event chairs Barry and Sue Brucker and David and Connie Oliver, and a committee including Pam Roberts, Ruthie Katz, Marla Duboff, Dan Furie, Nancy Powell and Debbie Hovesepian, have designed a futuristic evening of scrip wagering on taped horse races, plus a casino, international buffet, dancing and a grand prize trip for two to Scotland.

CARLA: U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills will be back in her hometown here Sept. 6 to address the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on “America’s Trade Agenda.”

KIDS: The Kids Benefit Committee is introducing its inaugural Christmas and holiday card line. The cards are designed by children who are patients at UCLA Medical Center and suffer from life-threatening illnesses. Josselyn McAdam, benefit chair, and Susan Armistead

are pushing the effort. Personalizing is also available; order at (213) 206-6032.

THE CIRCUIT: Couturiere Pauline Trigere was the center of the Champagne reception launching her fall collection at I. Magnin in Beverly Hills last week. . . . Metropolitan Associates hosted its final evening of movies and picnic suppers last week, raising funds for opera performances for children at the Music Center and for in-school performances. Garden hosts this summer have been Mary Kay and Boyd Hight, Nadine and Bob Skotheim, Joan and Jim Caillouette and Alicia and Ed Clark. . . . Lawrence and Julianne Feuerhelm hosted the silvery moon waltz party for National Charity League of San Fernando Valley debutantes and their fathers. Now everyone’s in step for the Nov. 24 ball at the Beverly Wilshire. . . . Bridge aficionados were in quartets led by Marilyn Burdge by early morning at the Bel Air Bay Club this week for Angels Attic’s summer bridge luncheon featuring George Winter and “My Best Bids.”

AT CHECKERS: Maestro Gerard Schwarz of the Seattle Symphony and former head of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra was the focus along with his 125 musicians for a cocktail reception at Checkers Hotel hosted by DELOS International Inc., the Seattle Symphony’s recording company, and Checkers. The Seattle orchestra, at the Hollywood Bowl last week for three nights, was welcomed by donors, including Don Mullane of BankAmerica Foundation and Eugene R. Wilson, president of Arco Foundation.