Hopping on the Big Band Wagon

Black and white and red-hot on the dance floor: The Pacific Symphony hosted a ‘30s-themed gala Saturday that drew 280 guests at $175 each and raised an estimated $75,000. This year, party planners wanted “pizazz”--that’s what they all said, and that’s exactly what they got when they hired renowned bandleader Peter Duchin. Parking himself at a piano onstage at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel in Costa Mesa, Duchin led his six-man, one-woman band through its paces, starting before the appetizer (“essence of woodland mushrooms”) and playing till well after dessert (“spring berries in an almond tulip”). “Let’s Dance,” the invitations beckoned. Guests took the hint.

The Peter Duchin Story

Well, part of it was told in the movie about his dad, “The Eddy Duchin Story.” Duchin the Younger was born into New York City society (his grandparents’ Newport, R.I., manse was the set for another movie--”The Great Gatsby”), married society (writer Brooke Hayward) and regularly sings for his supper at galas for Presidents, British royalty and the titled somebodies a few rungs down the social ladder.

In Costa Mesa for the night (between a San Francisco gig on Friday and a flight home to New York on Sunday), Duchin was the picture of relaxed attentiveness as he swept into the ballroom before dinner. He greeted various eager guests with a “Howya doin’?” or a “What’s happening?” He flourished a pocket square pattered with “a Bach violin concerto.” And he kidded, ever so pointedly. Had he been to Orange County with his orchestra before? “Oh sure!” Duchin said, grinning. “I came here for a few parties--but now my clients are all in jail!”

On a more serious note, he said he “turns down 800 jobs a year” but likes to do what he can for arts groups. “Because, of course, I love the arts.”

The $15,000 fee for Duchin and his orchestra was underwritten by Donna and John Crean.

The Program

For the first time in its 12 years, the annual ball featured a silent auction, so before dinner, guests toured the tables. Mingled with the standard meals and gifts and whatnots were some novelties. “Fly the pleasant skies with your favorite tuba player!” boasted one tag line. (It seems symphony principal tuba player James Self also owns and pilots a plane.) For the fiscally adventurous there was a portrait of Mozart framed with a swatch of paper he used to address a letter to his father. (Asking price: $77,000. No one ventured a bid.)

As soon as the ballroom doors opened, Duchin and his orchestra got cranking, beginning with Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” and working for the next four hours from Gershwin and Jerome Kern to “The Phantom of the Opera” hits and Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love.” The musicians took a few quick breaks for announcements and live auction bidding, including a trip for four to Paris (air fare and lodgings in the posh St. Germain des Pres district) nabbed by Barbara and Bill Roberts for a thrifty $5,500.

Dress Up

Shirley Kerstner, president of the ball committee, wore a white waltz-length lace gown encrusted with pearls. Lynda Gome, who chaired the event, chose a beaded white dress patterned with gold and silver lilies.

Barbara Roberts matched her black velvet cape with a little velvet cap “to make the outfit ‘30s-ish and fun.” Johanna Armentrout wore a lipstick-red taffeta Scaasi gown. DeeDee Hickman joked of her open-back sequined dress: “It looks like a piece is missing back there, right? I hope I’m wearing this thing in the right direction. . . .”

The committee dressed the ballroom in Deco black-and-white, from the movie star blowups at the entrance (Bogey and Bacall, Fred and Ginger, Marilyn) to the skyline backdrop onstage and the calla lily centerpieces. The look was simple and elegant--a New York style to suit the night’s main attraction.

Faces

Among party sponsors were Anne and Tom Key, Nadine and Gene Leyton, Arlene and George Cheng, Marcy and Maurice Mulville, Jeanette and Harold Segerstrom, and Julia and Irving Rappaport.

Committee members included Sharlene Strawbridge, Joyce Olson, Nancy Sawyer, Pat Nyborg, Grace Hunt and Marjorie Musser.