Eligible Singles of Both Sexes Sell Out to Help the Homeless

For those who have never attended one, bachelor auctions are versions of “Love Connection.” So it was with the third annual Bachelor Auction for the Spare Change Project held Thursday night at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey. (For the first time, it was a co-ed event, with women as well as men being auctioned.) The Spare Change project benefits the Family Assistance Program for the homeless.

KTWV-FM deejay Randy Thomas served as emcee, and the bachelors were auctioned off by Cyndy Garvey and producer-director Garry Marshall.

Bidders were supplied with a catalogue listing the bachelors’ vital statistics (including astrological signs and hobbies). Comparisons to Playboy Playmate profiles were inevitable. Examples: “Jerry loves action, people, CNN, parties, networking.” “In her spare time, Maxine enjoys walking her dog Rocco . . . laughing, listening and helping people.”

A group of non-celebrities shared the stage with a few names from movies and TV. Actors Matthew Lawrence, Alan Campbell, Joanna Johnson and Forest Smith were among those on the block, but it was Family Assistance Program chairman Mark Harris who got the biggest take: two dates for a total of $3,300.

About 300 people paid $35 each to attend. The bids ranged from $600 to around $2,000. Considering that some of the dates included weekend vacations, many of the packages were a bargain. Organizers estimated the event earned $33,000.

There were a few organizational glitches--temperamental microphones, bidders who left early. The unexpected wrinkle: Since the bachelors were of both sexes, the bidders were too. So much interpersonal networking went on in the audience that auctioneers had to regularly beg for quiet, and Garvey said, “If you meet someone in the audience, come up and write a check anyway.”

Several of the eligible bachelorettes and bachelors were auctioned in absentia because they were unable to attend. Others, however, just didn’t show up. In a time and place where even the semi-famous seem desperate to show their empathy for every possible social ill, it’s worth noting that their concern doesn’t always stretch to using the telephone when they can’t make it.