Inviting Barbara Bush? Not a Bad Idea : Brain Imaging Center Benefit
It figures that the daughter of former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater would think big.
Really big.
So it comes as no surprise that Peggy Goldwater Clay, president of the support committee of the Brain Imaging Center of UC Irvine’s College of Medicine, would think of the First Lady when she started dreaming up a gala event for the group.
“A month ago, I invited Barbara Bush to be our honorary woman of the year,” said Goldwater Clay on Tuesday night at the center’s Holiday Boat Parade party on private Linda Isle. “She and President Bush have deemed this decade the ‘Decade of the Brain.’
“I haven’t heard yet,” said Goldwater Clay, decked out in glittery holiday sweater for the affair. “I know Mrs. Bush must be very busy now. I gave her an open date--asked if perhaps she would visit sometime in the next two years. She would be honored for furthering the cause of brain research. I see the event as a huge gala, full of celebrities.”
Jean Liechty, founding president of the support committee, said that, in general, the public has not had a lot of sympathy for people with brain disorders. “I guess people just think they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” she said. But they need understanding and help, especially in the area of diagnosis.
And that’s where the Brain Imaging Center comes in. Via sophisticated scanning devices and research, the center “is proving there are organic causes for these problems,” Liechty said.
“And finally, people are beginning to recognize certain (brain) diseases because we’re able to look at the brain in a way not possible before.”
Party-goers also included hosts Lois and Jim Hines; Douglas Liechty; Bob Clay; UCI Chancellor Jack Peltason and his wife, Suzanne; Dennis Catron; Kathy Millett; Dr. Richard Kratz with his wife, Carmen; and Dr. Thomas Noyes with his wife, Dr. Barbara Noyes.
Eyes on the sun: Talk about a timely anthem. The audience at the Performing Arts Center got a mega-dose of “Annie” optimism when Adrienne Stiefel of Laguna Hills belted out “Tomorrow” in Segerstrom Hall on Tuesday night.
“That song has always moved me, but now more than ever because of the Persian Gulf Crisis,” said one choked-up theatergoer during intermission.
After the production, Stiefel, looking very grown up in a velvet dress with white lace collar, swept into Birraporetti’s for the post-performance bash. The Irish-Italian bistro was decked out in “Annie”-red tablecloths for the party, with glittering silver stars dotting each table. Stiefel, 13, said she loved playing Segerstrom Hall because it’s “big, pretty and close to home.”
Gretchen Wyler, who portrays the wine-swilling Miss Hannigan--matron of Annie’s orphanage--said she wasn’t used to playing such wild-eyed roles. “But I thought, if I’m going to play her, I’m going to play her like an old stripper,” she said.
Wyler was at once sexy, swaggering and graceful in the production. “Well, remember, I played ‘Sweet Charity,’ ” she said. “I’m a dancer.”
The robust Daddy Warbucks--John Schuck--towered over guests at the bash, who tossed down Irish coffee and pizza while they mingled with the cast. “The thrill for me in this musical is to say ‘I love you’ to Annie at just the appropriate moment. The longer you keep up that tension, the better the evening is.”
By the time Warbucks decides he will cast aside his quest for mega-bucks for the love of a child, the audience is emotionally on the edge of its seat, Schuck said. When he finally confesses he loves her, “that’s the last piece of the emotional puzzle--all is well.”
The show continues through Dec. 23.
More parties: Nina’s, the hot dance club in Newport Beach, staged the first night of its seven-nights-in-a-row fund-raiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation on Monday night. The idea is to watch the Newport Harbor Boat Parade and dance, dance, dance while raising funds. . . . Link Matthewson’s beautiful home on Harbor Island was the site of a very posh boat parade-watching party Tuesday night when members of the Interior Furnishing and Design Assn. held their annual Christmas bash. This talented group has its eye on raising funds for blood disease research via an organization dubbed the Design Alliance to Combat AIDS. . . . Dolores Milhous’ bayside Linda Isle home will be the site of tonight’s boat parade bash for supporters of the Laguna Art Museum.
* A review of the play is on Page 11 of OC LIVE!