Petal Power Blossoms for St. Jude
Hosting galas for longer than most Orange County cities have existed, Damas de Caridad pulled out all the stops and hoisted their weighty tops Saturday for their 30th annual Bal Masque benefit. As tradition has it, the party featured a pre-dinner stage show in which eight support group members paraded in 10-foot, 30-pound floral headdresses while the black-tie crowd hooted and wolf-whistled like so many fight fans--voting with their vocal cords. That bit of high-spirited business done, the 700 guests at the Disneyland Hotel dug into plates of scampi and beef filet. As tradition has it, they also helped raise a good chunk of change for St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, beneficiaries of the Damas’ philanthropy. With a $150 ticket price, no-host cocktail hour and other donations, net proceeds were $70,000, according to Bal Chairwoman Pat Perkins. The money will be used to support the hospital’s mobile pediatric unit, which supplies basic medical care to poor children in North County.
Flower Power
Each “mannequin”--as the group calls its headdress models--works for months with a local florist to create her headpiece and learn to walk with a contraption the weight of a preschooler balanced on her head. (Secured, it should be added, with a steel rod down the spine and a form-fitting corset.) So she’s had flowers on mind for awhile.
Guests might have been surprised by the abundance of buds--those on the headdresses as well as the lavish decor. The cocktail area was decorated with huge sprays of calla lilies, anthurium, roses and silver tea leaves. The ballroom was aglow with pastel petals, from the unbroken row of flower boxes lining the stage area (roses, carnations, orchids and lilies, woven with spidery ferns and blinking white lights) to the dramatic centerpieces topped with black masks.
Memories
Sandy Pearson was new to the group last year when, as a mannequin, she won the grand prize sweepstakes. Sipping a cocktail before dinner, she recalled her husband’s attitude when he learned she would be in the show.
“He said, ‘Honey, this is like the Rose Parade, and you’re just like the truck .’ Then I won, you know,” said Pearson. “And later when we watched a videotape of it I could hear my husband (on the tape) screaming ‘ Way to go, honey! ‘ He was really into it.”
Geri Spencer was a mannequin three times. This year her daughter Cara became the only second generation mannequin in Damas long history.
“Once you’re picked (to model), it’s like a party every week, getting together with the others and having a great time,” said mama Spencer. “I did it three times--not because I wanted to have 25-pounds of stuff on my head, but for the camaraderie.”
Said daughter Spencer before the show: “I’m scared!”
In the Spotlight
Themed “Future on Parade,” this year’s headdresses included a fanciful interpretation of the deep sea, huge harlequin’s masks, a feathered phoenix rising from smoke and an outer-space get-up complete with twirling planets and a model of Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise.
Under pounds of cut flowers were mannequins Janny Catlin, Ruth Mehlman, Emily Johnson, Briceida Christy, Kara Garner, Carol Rodriguez, Nadine Leyton and Fran Gaglio.
Gaglio, wrapped in a phoenix designed by Modesto Busto of Fountain Valley, took the top honors.
Faces
Fast-food tycoon Carl Karcher and his wife, Margaret, were honored for their many years of generosity and support for St. Jude’s.
Among committee members were Linda Baker, Ardie Davis, Nancy Dahl, Shirley Kerstner, Doretta Wedin, Corkey Winters and Beverly Swanson.
