The 1st String of USC Fetes

Dozens of festivities surround the inauguration of USC’s 10th president, Steven B. Sample. Cornell University President Frank Rhodes will speak at the event, to be held Sept. 20 at Alumni Park, and USC trustees chairman Forrest Shumway will conduct the investiture.

The meticulous handwritten minutes of the meeting that launched the university in 1880 were among artifacts unveiled last week, by USC’s library at its “milestones reception.” The top hat and vest of George Finley Bovard, the university’s fourth president, and the swagger stick of Rufus B. Von Kleinsmid, its president from 1921 to ‘47, also were on display.

Some 5,000 “official delegates” are participating in the pageantry. Prelude festivities include the USC Associates gala next Thursday at the Beverly Hilton, where Sample and his wife, Kathryn, will be lauded. Three former USC presidents--Norman Topping, John R. Hubbard and James H. Zumberge--plan to attend.

WONDERS: A treasure chest of art and antiques--$250,000 worth, including an extraordinary white jade Chinese buckle with two dragons--will be up for bid at Pacific Asia Museum’s Festival of the Autumn Moon fine art auction and gala headed by Georgianna Erskine.

The Oct. 5 gala gets an early launch Monday with a patrons’ party headed by Marilyn Brumder and Margaret Jagels and hosted by museum trustees; it will be on the Viennese Terrace of the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington.

The adjunct event, an annual open house and silent auction of 250 items (headed by Jackie Galperson) on Sept. 22 at the museum, will precede the gala (chaired by Nancy Neal Davis and Betty Whiting) in Pasadena’s Doubletree Hotel Grand Ballroom.

At the gala, the museum’s founding president, Peg Palmer, will be honored, and Sotheby’s Lisa Hubbard will be auctioneer. George Brumder heads the museum’s five-year, $23-million building campaign.

The museum is celebrating its 20th anniversary, according to David Kamansky, director.

OOH LA LA!: The Junior League of Los Angeles transforms the Beverly Wilshire ballroom into a French casino for its “Ooh la la, L.A.!” benefit Nov. 16. President Heather Shuemaker and chairman Andi Anderson O’Leary hope to raise $100,000 with a two-tiered affair: a high tier ($175) for the silent auction, French dinner, Gump’s jewelry show, live auction, casino party and cabaret, and a low tier ($75) for the cabaret with champagne and dessert.

They start the fun Sept. 20 with cocktails at Tiffany’s and a preview of the Tiffany Signature Jewelry Collection. In October, the league has scheduled a fashion show at Neiman Marcus (to view ball gowns) and a cocktail reception at Gump’s in Beverly Hills to celebrate its sponsorship of the benefit. Barbara Ringhofer, Linda Slonacher, Ann Zimmerman and Carrie Shea Tilton are all involved.

ESCALATION: Nadine Carson, wife of First Interstate Bancorp Chairman and CEO Ed Carson, hosted more than 50 for lunch in the Regency Club’s penthouse to honor Gretchen Willison, whose husband, Bruce, is the new chairman and CEO of First Interstate Bank of California. Invited: Pam King, Carolbeth Korn, Joanne Kozberg, Sandra Ausman, Mary Ann Heidt, Maggie Russell, Judith Miller, Lois Aldrin. . . .

Four boyhood pals in Hancock Park were “in the same boat,” according to the invitation to a party last weekend at Sandyland, near Carpinteria. For 50 years they’ve stayed afloat--friends in fair and stormy weather. Partying into the night, with a rock band, in celebration of their 50th birthdays were Bruce Meyer, Richard Rogers, Lew Whitney and Pete Jackson--and several hundred well-wishers at a beach barbecue. . . .

Pepperdine president David Davenport hosted luncheon at the campus Brock House to honor George C. (Bob) Bales and his wife, Peggie. Bales, capital development officer, retires after 20 years with the university. . . .

Gay Bryant was honoree at the luncheon hosted by the Museum Council of the Newport Harbor Art Museum at the Four Seasons. . . .

Bella Lewitzky introduced Ruth L. Eliel, new general manager of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company, at a reception hosted by the May Co. and the Biltmore in the Biltmore’s Emerald Room. . . .

Thomas Ennis, president of the French Foundation for Alzheimer Research, has announced the election of William H. L. Burnside to the board of directors.

PLAUDITS: Pouf hairdos, Beatle boots and mini-dresses were prevalent among the roughly 400 guests at the sizzling “Souls of the ‘60s” benefit for Sojourn Shelter for Battered Women and Their Children. At Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel that night, the net was $75,000 for emergency shelters, and tributes went to Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason, the talents behind CBS television’s “Designing Women”. . . .

Childhelp USA will announce the dedication of the Alice C. Tyler Village of Childhelp East (for children in Culpeper, Va.) on Oct. 1 at a luncheon in Washington. First Lady Barbara Bush will be special guest. Georgette Mosbacher is honorary chair. Childhelp co-founders Yvonne Fedderson and Sara O’Meara of Los Angeles expect to be there, too. . . .

The always-successful Rape Foundation brunch--to be held Sept. 22 at the home of Marilyn and Barron Hilton in Holmby Hills--boasts Sally Field and Quincy Jones as honorary hosts.

DASHING: The society fashion whirl has been abuzz: Neiman Marcus Vice President John H. Martens hosted a lunch to fete designer Joseph Abboud (guests included Ann Johnson, Joan Burns, Mary Lou Hicks) and presented Giorgio Armani collections, along with Linda Balahoutis and Jerry Bruckheimer, at a benefit for the Westside Children’s Center. . . .

The National Arts Assn. hosts a luncheon today to preview couture at Neiman Marcus; president Maria Hodson presents her new board. . . .

Today, Jenny Rutt gathers her friends for a Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills fashion lunch to preview Emanuel Ungaro’s new line, Emanuel. The Music Center’s Fraternity of Friends hosts cocktails next Thursday to preview the designer’s men’s collection at Sulka on Rodeo Drive (Al Capone, Gary Cooper and President John F. Kennedy adored Sulka haberdashery).