Guests All Dolled Up in Adolfos
Even if the weather had been hot and muggy, they would have turned out in their favorite Adolfos, wool or otherwise, to pay tribute to Adolfo at the CHIPS (Collegiate Helpers in Philanthropic Service) fashion show and luncheon last week at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.
When the show was delayed because the models had been given the wrong call time, chairwoman Jenny Jones Rutt exercised her executive prerogative and announced that lunch would be served first. “It reminds me of Girl Scouts,” Rutt said. “You’re ready to go to a movie and it rains.”
Harriet Deutsch was in a blue-and-white checked Adolfo, Barbara Davis in a white one. Guests, anticipating the fall social season, were taking notes, making choices.
CHIPS President Marcia Hobbs was up front. Marion Jorgensen was at the center of a troop of pals: Betty Wilson (Marcia Hobbs’ mother and the wife of former Vatican Ambassador William Wilson), Betty Adams, Virginia Milner, Chardee Trainer and former U.S. Chief of Protocol Lee Annenberg. Opposite were Jenny Rutt’s mother, Mary Jones Marshall; Arletta Tronstein, and Barbara Bakewell and Dagmar Hegland, who drove down from Montecito.
Style aficionados Joni Smith, Helene Irvin, Patty Burschinger, Annabelle Heiferman and Kelly Gilmore all liked Adolfo’s longer jackets and metallic glitter, and Irvin stepped backstage later to tell Adolfo so.
IN STYLE: Elsewhere, typical of the fall scene, fashion luncheons are bunching up by the dozens. Friends of the Julia Ann Singer Center will show off Michael Novarese’s fashions Sept. 13 at their 27th annual benefit luncheon in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. They will raise funds for abused, emotionally disturbed children. The Auxiliary of Hathaway Children’s Services will host an afternoon tea and showing of Diane Freis’ fall collection Sept. 19 at Hotel Bel-Air.
CROWDS: September presents a crunch. Wolfgang Puck and Vincent Price will combine chefs and winemakers for the American Wine & Food Festival Sept. 15, with 1,000 expected to attend the Western set cookout at Universal Studios. Organized by the Wolfgang Puck Charitable Foundation and sponsored by Martell Cognac, its goal is to raise $350,000 for Los Angeles Meals on Wheels.
In a benefit for the Sojourn Shelter for Battered Women and Their Children, honorary dinner chairs Jane Fonda, Mariette Hartley, George Wendt, Joyce Van Patten, Allyce Beasly and Larry Carlton will pitch in for a foot-stompin’ “Sojourn at the French Quarter” dinner at Orleans Restaurant Sept. 22. Kudos will go to a trio for their interest in child abuse: Lucille Roybal-Allard, Shirley Fredricks and Sandra L. Joseph.
STELLAR: How to top the closing of USC’s $641.5-million fund-raiser, the largest campaign (launched in 1986) in the institution’s history? With the “A Magic of Giving” gala Sept. 12 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. Many multimillion-dollar donors will be among the 800 guests.
ELLIS ISLAND: Angelenos will be at the Saturday reopening of Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Suzanne Marx, David and Gloria Wolper, Lady Dodge and Tina Backenbush plan to preview the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and attend a black-tie dinner-dance, as well as the midday dedication next Sunday. A highlight will be Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Chairman Lee Iacocca’s private reception and brunch for dignitaries. President and Mrs. Bush are expected to attend.
SLEEKED UP: A chance to window shop at Gumps and adopt a pet is the idea behind the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Champagne reception Wednesday. Gumps’ new executive director, Kirk B. Gerou, and Penelope J. von Kalinowski have corralled celebrities and animal lovers for the event. They will also announce Paloma Award honorees.
Steeds are being groomed for the 33rd Portuguese Bend National Horse Show at the Empty Saddle Club in Rolling Hills Estates, a benefit for Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. Competitors will perform in equestrian events Friday, Saturday and next Sunday. The show features the prestigious Pacific Coast Horsemanship Assn. Medal finals and more than 70 hunter, jumper and junior classes. By event’s end, the committee headed by Carole Diestel and show chair Jody Murdock expect members of the sponsoring Peninsula Committee of the Childrens Hospital will have logged 14,000 volunteer hours.
BRAVO: Susi McConaghy, president, and Shirley Goldsmith, benefit chairwoman of the Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee’s Pasadena Showcase House, gathered friends to announce a $250,000 donation to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, bringing their total contribution over the years to $3.7 million.
WELCOME: Bill and Eileen Zimmerman invited friends to meet Uwe Christiansen, the new director of the Huntington Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena. He’s purchased a home with a pretty flower garden.
