Having a Ball : Groups Find More Than One Good Cause to Throw a Glamorous Party

The glorious galas: The Philharmonic Ball; Vista Del Mar Associates’ theater gala surrounding “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway”; the Jewel Gala for the USC School of Fine Arts; the Westside Guild of Childrens Hospital’s Deck the Halls dinner and dance; the Hollywood Salute to Dennis Weaver.

On Tuesday, 550 of the city’s elite dined and danced on stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. White chrysanthemums rose from silver Champagne buckets on silver stilts. Vodka accompanied the cold caviar soup. Dessert came as white chocolate grand pianos filled with berries. John Williams conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in music ranging from waltzes to Glenn Miller.

Everyone loved it, giving president Liz Sobelle and co-chairs Joan MacLaughlin and Susan Rhoades high marks. The night was a special tribute to Philharmonic Executive Vice President and Managing Director Ernest Fleischmann. Kudos were heady--from Stanley Beyer, Michael Connell, Fred Nicholas, Esther Wachtell and Gordon Davidson.

The locally and internationally prominent were there: Priscilla and Curt Tamkin, Rocco (Eisenhower’s personnel adviser) and Marion Siciliano (her art tribute was titled “Music in Ernest”), Donn and Peggy Miller, Francine Bardo, Glenn and Martha Mitchell, Dorie and Joe Pinola (off to the Taj Mahal), Keith and Bill Kieschnick (down from Napa), Count and Countess Frederic Chandon (who supplied the Moet & Chandon Champagne), Budd Calisch, Ferrucio and Massimo Ferragamo (opening the new Ferragamo shop on Rodeo Drive), Bob and Connie Abell, David and Ginger Ludwick.

The Vista Del Mar gala drew more than 1,000 guests to dinner at the Century Plaza and to the Shubert Theatre for “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.” Good news: the party grossed $500,000 for family mental health services.

Sandy and Betty Sigoloff hosted five tables of guests, including Joy and Josh Lipman and Sondra and Sy Strasberg. Paramount were Vista’s president, George Konheim, and his wife, Eve, co-chairs Pam Schuman and Sylvia Mathes, and Vista Associates President Jean Leserman.

At the Jewel Ball chaired by Frances Franklin and June MacMurray, Ed McMahon received the Lifetime Achievement Award. His fiancee, Joanna Ford, threw him a kiss when he revealed plans for a January wedding.

Jewels from the Diamond Information Center, Faith Porter’s whimsies, and fashions from Fred Hayman, David Hayes and Nolan Miler were among the highlights at show time. Later, Rudy Varon and His Orchestra played for dancers. Dean Lynn R. Matteson, who heads the beneficiary, the USC School of Fine Arts, said the scholarship fund from the Jewel galas now has an endowment of more than $1 million. Matteson also noted proudly that USC quarterback Todd Marinovich is an art major. Big donors Eric and Mattie Stanieck were in the audience.

Christmas decorating ideas were rampant at the Westside Guild’s benefit in Brentwood. On preview night, members and their husbands made high bids on silent auction items. Holiday greens were everywhere in rooms decorated by Polo Ralph Lauren, Williams-Sonoma, Neiman Marcus, Gumps, Terra Cotta, Silver Birches, Foster-Ingersoll and Geary’s. Giorgio Beverly Hills staged a fashion show on the pool diving board.

Prepping for the holidays were Sandy and Turner Smith, Dayle and Kenneth Roath (Roath, CEO of Health Care Property Investors, is listed in the new Business Week as one of the top 1,000 corporate elite), Charles and Jessie Cale, Barbara and Lee Danielson, Marianne and Norman Sprague, Jim and Nancy Birdwell, Dennis and Brooks Holt, Liz and Dick Sobelle, Terry and Connie Lynch.

Roast master Stephen J. Cannell, helped by an all-star cast including John Denver and Dorian Harewood, popped the goodwill barbs to Dennis Weaver. Nine-hundred joined in a Hollywood Salute to Weaver’s 40th Year in television and raised $200,000 for Love Is Feeding Everyone (LIFE).

INTERNATIONAL: Six hundred attended Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany Cornel Metternich’s reception at the Music Center Plaza . . . .

Walter Momper, the mayor of Berlin, and his wife, Annegret, were toasted by 400 at UCLA . . . .

Consul General of Spain Eduardo Garrigues and his wife, Pilar, opened their Hancock Park residence to celebrate Spanish National Day . . . .

The popular late Cardinal Tomas O’Fiaich of Ireland was remembered for his humor and love of life at a Mass given by Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and Bishop Michael Smith of Meath, Ireland, at St. Vibiana Cathedral and at a New Otani Hotel reception arranged by Pam and Peter Mullin.

KUDOS: To City of Hope’s newest support group, Accent on Hope, fund raising aboard the Regentsea Yacht at Marina del Rey, and to the Webb Schools in Claremont, hosting a dinner and dance to announce they have exceeded a $7-million goal.

STELLAR: Westridge School inaugurated its ninth headmistress, Fran Norris Scoble . . . .

Santa Monica Museum of Art honored founding president Richard G. Hirsch . . . .

YWCLA Leader Luncheon chair Linda Griego kicks off plans for the May 2 event with a buffet today at Engine Co. No. 28 (she’s managing general partner) . . . .

Bettie Bearden Pardee, Marlborough and UCLA graduate, author and mail-order catalogue entrepreneur, revealed secrets of party-givers for Friends of Banning Park this week . . . .

Pre-eminent pediatric surgeon Morton M. Woolley was spotlighted at a dinner for 400 commemorating his retirement as chief surgeon of Childrens Hospital . . . .

Dr. Elizabeth F. Neufeld, professor and chair of the biological chemistry department at UCLA School of Medicine, becomes the first woman named California Scientist of the Year by the California Museum Foundation of the California Museum of Science and Industry. She will be honored Oct. 30 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, as will James A. Collins, California Industrialist of the Year . . . .

Loyola Marymount University gives its Hal Roach Entertainment Award Nov. 1 at the Universal City Hilton to comedian Bob Hope, with proceeds going to the College of Communication and Fine Arts . . . .

John Ferraro, president of the Los Angeles City Council, is the recipient of the Los Angeles Heritage Award from Project Restore. The project is dedicated to the restoration of City Hall and headed by architect Albert C. Martin, whose grandfather was the architect for City Hall.

TOWN TOASTS: The National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis has honored Paul F. Glaser with the Torch of Friendship . . . .

The Los Angeles chapter of Childhelp USA takes over the George C. Page Museum Nov. 3 to honor Jane and Bert Boeckmann and raise funds for abused children . . . .

Young Musicians Foundation boasts a command performance from honoree Carl Reiner Nov. 2 at the Beverly Hilton.

Joe Moshay and his orchestra played for the Bel-Air Guild of Childrens Hospital at its 40th ball, chaired by Vivian Fountain, honoring Dr. Howard P. House.