Tact Masters Keep O.C. on Social Map

Call them architects of social history or call them diplomats--Billur Wallerich, Mary Jones, and Joe Gatto are three who make Orange County tick.

When Wallerich, public relations director for Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island, learned that Georgette Mosbacher was headed for Newport Beach to promote her skin care line, she cooked up a power tea.

On May 14, Mosbacher--wife of Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher and pal of Barbara Bush and Marilyn Quayle--will mingle at Neiman Marcus with some of Orange County’s most prominent socialites, many with Capitol Hill connections.

You can bet these women and their porcelain teacups will make a society splash. Affairs such as these put Orange County on the national society map.

For years, Wallerich has been fashion guru to Orange County’s most powerful women. During her career as a fashion coordinator at Saks Fifth Avenue, she organized and narrated some of the county’s most dramatic fashion extravaganzas, helping bag mega-bucks for big-name charities.

As Orange County’s chief of protocol, Mary Jones makes it her business to know the right places. When Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu dined with a coterie of Chinese dignitaries at the Center Club in Costa Mesa recently, it was Jones who had tipped off the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles which bistros would be appropriate.

When Kaifu broke bread the following night at Antonello at South Coast Plaza Village, Jones had made the suggestion. In fact, always the diplomat, Jones suggested two public and two private facilities for Kaifu’s proposed nights on the town. The Ritz restaurant and the Pacific Club in Newport Beach were her other recommendations. All of the facilities have private rooms that can be secured. Jones knows these things.

Last week, when Yuzhen Ma--the newly appointed Chinese ambassador to Great Britain--was in Fullerton to attend a dinner staged by the Orange County Office of Protocol, it was Jones who made sure that he was properly introduced to guests. And it was Jones who greeted the ambassador at the curb, a humble gesture that promotes goodwill, she says.

During the 11-course meal at the Lotus Court Restaurant, Jones, who wore red--good luck to the Chinese--made sure that the guests of honor were introduced individually and accorded their proper titles.

And recently, when she learned that the mayor of Budapest might come to town--that he was anxious to meet local developers and city planners who could advise him on modernizing his city--Jones culled the appropriate guest list.

During her tenure with the Office of Protocol, Jones has maintained diplomatic relations with 65 consulates in Los Angeles and 13 consulates in San Francisco. “Before we established our protocol offices,” she says, “consuls didn’t call on Orange County. But we’ve had 30 visits by consuls during the past three years.”

Speaking of visits. Center Club manager Joe Gatto didn’t even blink when he learned that Margaret Thatcher would dine behind closed doors in the Chairman’s Room last month. He had been through Big Nights before.

In the past five years, Gatto has rolled out the Center Club’s red carpet and supervised the preparation of elegant meals for Swedish royalty, British royalty, and the ever-present quasi-royalty that frequent South Coast Metro’s most popular club. It was Gatto who worked with A-hostess Renee Segerstrom to ensure that the white blooms in the crystal beakers didn’t wilt before the Iron Lady arrived. That the table linens were the color of vintage champagne. That members of Scotland Yard had an elegant repast of their own.

And it was also Gatto who oversaw the fish medley cooked up for Kaifu when he dined at the Center Club. And Gatto--though surprised at the request--supplied the ashtrays requested by the Japanese so that they might puff their way through dinner.

The Buzz: The arts circuit is wondering who will perform at Segerstrom Hall on Sept. 25, the night the Orange County Performing Arts Center kicks off its fifth-anniversary celebration with a $500 to $2,500 per-person gala romp.

Motown queen Diana Ross is a consideration and so are superstars Whitney Houston and Michael Crawford. As yet, no one has signed on the dotted line.

Good news: Ten couples have reserved $25,000 tables for the gala. Among them: Dick and Jolene Engel; Marvin and Pat Weiss; Gus Owen and Kathryn Thomson; Roger and Janice Johnson; Rick and Nancy Muth; and Joyce and Tom Tucker.

Costa Mesa, Flat-Out: Songbird Bernadette Peters wowed ‘em at Segerstrom Hall on Saturday night, appearing in a figure-hugging, flesh-toned sheath splashed with brown bugle beads.

Not to mention her flip one-liners: “I see your Performing Arts Center has its own sign on the freeway. And your hospital, too.”

And: “Cos-ta Mes-a means a big flat piece of land near the water. There, don’t I make it sound beautiful?”

After her vampy performance of classics such as “Pennies from Heaven” with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra (sung straight, then in Pig Latin), Peters swept into the Center Club on the arm of conductor Don Pippin for a party with concert-goers.

Overheard: “I bet when (conductor) Carl St. Clair returns he’s going to find that stage a lot hotter than when he left!”

Among guests waiting for the curvy singer were the parents of comedian Steve Martin. “We haven’t seen Bernadette for five years,” said Glenn Martin. “We miss her. She dated our son for five years.” “She was wonderful tonight,” said Steve’s gorgeous mum, Marylee.