Artistic Merger Aids L.A. Art Museums

There was a truce in the cross-town rivalry--if such rivalry exists--between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, at least for one high-impact evening.

For the first time, the two cultural institutions merged resources, trustees and patrons for a joint fund-raiser. Tuesday’s premiere of the romantic comedy “L.A. Story” was held on neutral territory (the AMC Century 14 Theatres in Century City). Each museum netted about $50,000.

So how did it happen? “Steve came to me and Danny went to Richard,” explained LACMA director Earl Powell III. Steve is Steve Martin, the movie’s star, writer and executive producer as well as a LACMA trustee. Danny is Daniel Melnick, a producer and MOCA trustee. Richard is MOCA director Richard Koshalek.

Not only did the merger work, but the key players promised more of the same in the future. Melnick called it “a burst of ecumenicalism.” LACMA trustee Richard Sherwood deemed the whole thing “very logical.” MOCA chairman Fred Nicholas predicted “the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship.” And Koshalek declared, “Rusty and I are friends and have been friends and continue to be friends.”

The event turned into an only-in-L.A.-mingling of art curators, trustees, artists, actors, agents, producers and dozens of Hollywood publicists.

The mix included Ed Ruscha, Neil Simon, Billy Al Bengston, Cybill Shepherd, Michael Douglas, Carl Reiner, Tom Hanks, Paul Mazursky, Oliver Stone, Richard Gere, Mario Kassar, Renny Harlin, Laura Dern, John Lithgow, Alan Levine, Brian Bosworth, Peter Norton, Richard Serra, Dan Aykroyd and the inseparable Steve Martin (in white) and his wife and “L.A. Story” co-star, Victoria Tennant (in black).

Not surprisingly, the “L.A. Story” barbs about private museums and scenes of Martin roller-skating through LACMA’s galleries elicited insider approval. (Some, but not all, of the paintings were replaced with facsimiles during filming, curator Howard Fox said.) Following the screening, the mass of 1,200 squeezed into the Century City Marketplace for a junk-food frenzy, which found Diandra Douglas downing pepperoni pizza, LACMA trustee Stanley Grinstein swallowing his second pastrami sandwich, MOCA trustee Douglas Cramer in line for a Johnny Rockets cheeseburger, LACMA board president Rob Maguire inhaling gourmet potato chips, and “L.A. Story” star Marilu Henner washing down French fries with Miller Lite. “French fries cooked in vegetable oil are the only thing I can eat here,” she said. “I’m a vegetarian.”