Zoo Gala Takes Wing, Raises Funds for Birds
In the dog-eat-dog world of fund-raising galas, Saturday’s Diamond Zoobilee took on the aura of a mad success despite the inescapable fact that, as parties go, this one definitely was for the birds.
The lives of the Tahitian blue lorries, rainbow lorikeets, wompoo fruit doves, cockatoos and parrots that will come to roost in the planned Australasia tropical rain forest aviaries at the San Diego Zoo were brightened immeasurably by the more than $200,000 netted by this eighth version of the annual RITZ (Rendezvous in the Zoo).
The rare birds’ good fortune was greeted as good news by the 1,000 patrons who trooped through the zoo’s turnstiles not long before dusk. Arriving guests were welcomed by a scarlet macaw; a boa, but not the feathered kind; an Andean condor, altogether a more appropriate greeter for this avian adventure; a shy, sheepish-looking llama; a Siberian lynx, which crept along on size 20-D cat feet; a miniature stallion named Hound Dog that once belonged to Elvis Presley, and the more than 40 male voices of the Sun Harbor Chorus, who crooned “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain” as the sun dropped into a canyon.
Later, Carol the elephant, paraded up the promenade with Zoobilee decor chief Liz Smith proudly perched behind her ears, but for the moment, the party belonged to the two-legged throng that streamed up avenues of hors d’oeuvre tables. Among them was Gayle Wilson, whose husband, Gov. Pete Wilson, had been expected to speak at this celebration of the zoo’s 75th anniversary, but who remained in Sacramento to wrestle with the Legislature over the proposed state budget.
As much a production as a party, Zoobilee proceeded according to a tight schedule written--and enforced--by Dick Ford, the designer of several past RITZ events who on the eve of Father’s Day redefined the role played by men in gala-giving by serving as the first male chairman of any of the city’s handful of preeminent events.
Caught more or less on the run, Ford said that, because the gala observed the zoo’s diamond anniversary, “I wanted to make the whole evening sparkle, so that it would glitter like diamonds.”
How well he succeeded was noted near the evening’s close by the number of guests that declared Zoobilee the party of the year. Ford’s wife, Annette, a former Jewel Ball co-chair, said, “The 1990s will be the decade of the male chairman, no doubt about it.”
This unprecedented male involvement extended to co-chairman Ken Unruh, the spouse of former Jewel Ball chair Dixie Unruh, who said the work was eye-opening.
“Any guy who wants to try this better listen to his wife when she talks about her experiences as chair. This has been tough. I used to be amused by chairmen who went on vacation immediately following their party, but all I’m going to do for the next seven days is golf.” (Dixie later commented that, “Women will never be on the sidelines, but I think every husband should be a chairman at least once. The respect they give you when they learn how hard you work is hard to believe.”)
The abbreviated cocktail hour was designed to get guests into the open-air ballroom on the employee’s parking lot in good time for a dinner scripted to be as much show as meal. Ford dispensed with the chairman’s traditional prerogative of riding into the RITZ ballroom atop an elephant, and also banished the traditional parade of animals among the dinner tables and lengthy Joan Embery welcoming speech in favor of more conceptual and imaginative entertainment.
Ford, Smith and a sizeable decor committee created a rather gorgeous ark--walled by trees, roofed by stars, bounded by dance floors and band stands--for the 500 couples at Zoobilee. Hummingbird figures with the wing-spans of condors hovered above the center of the ballroom and at the sides of the stages’ backdrops, both capped by stylized diamonds. The birds, crafted in jewel tones from glittering “ice” paper, seemed ready to swoop among the strands of miniature lights that hung like diamond-drop earrings from the palm trees. Arrangements of white flowers, set on tall columns, glistened with multifaceted crystals that guests later were instructed to carry home as favors.
Trumpet fanfares announced the clever parades that preceded each course of the dinner, designed by Martha Culbertson and Audrey Geisel and catered by the Sheraton Harbor Island, which sent a staff of 150 to cook and serve the four elaborate courses. At the first fanfare, a troupe of young women bearing fluttering Japanese fish flags emerged from the kitchen to presage the woven sea bass and salmon in sorrel sauce; they reappeared later in sleek bird costumes to announce the rack of lamb, and again in hilarious lettuce, tomato and Brie head dresses as prelude to the salad and cheese.
The Sun Harbor Chorus presented the chocolate Jubilee cakes invented for the evening, offered after the performance of a new birthday song written for the occasion by Betty Meads. The mousse cakes, topped by croquembouche cones of miniature cream puffs stuck together with white chocolate, were illuminated from within by soft blue lights.
RITZ did not proceed without speeches, but another, widely welcomed Ford innovation was the scissors lifts that briefly elevated the speakers, like jack-in-the-boxes, above the perimeter of trees that surrounded the ballroom. Ford warned that he would have his finger on the switch of each lift to lower any speaker who ran over the minute or so allotment, and speeches were brief.
Zoo president Al Anderson, who popped above the tree line so suddenly that guests swiveled wildly to locate the source of his voice, raised his glass from on high in a toast to the guests and the institution.
“When you look around and see this magnificent zoo, there’s only one reason for it: It’s because of you. A very, very happy 75th anniversary to your zoo. Salud!”
Later, zoo executive director Douglas Myers led an elevated toast to his predecessors, beginning in 1916 with founder Dr. Harry Wegeforth, and board member Betty Jo Williams offered a final toast, after which a giant, green (and jolly) “75” in stationary fireworks exploded.
Through the evening, the Bill Green Orchestra and Columbus alternated on the stages at either end of the ballroom, pausing only for the food parades and speeches.
Among those attending were Neil and Barbara Kjos, Paul and Ione Harter, Bruce and Mary Hazard, Ivor and Edele deKirby, Larry and Junko Cushman, Paul and Jinx Ecke, Judson and Rachel Grosvenor, Art and Eleanor Herzman, Donald and Darlene Shiley, Charles and Judy Bieler, Merl and Joy Ledford, Bill and Nancy Norgren, William and Susan Rick, Mark and Judy Sander, Jim and Dolly Poet, Gary and Betty Biszantz, Wally and Barbara Doren, Mac and Billie McKnight, Bill and Martha Ehringer, Suzanne Moore, Jim and Jewel Bonner, Keith and Vicky Adams, Jack and Patti Vars, Paul and Kay Black, Ron and Cheryl Kendrick, Cliff and Yvonne Lindroth, Bill and Barbara Fox, John and Sally Thornton, Tom and Jane Fetter, Lew and Alice Silverberg, and Dallas and Mary Clark.
