Spring Galas: When It Rains, It Pours

Before the heat really rises, Angeleno party planners are packing in the galas. It’s not uncommon for half a dozen biggies to be scheduled on one night. For instance, May 9. The 39th annual SHARE (Share Happily and Reap Endlessly) Boomtown Party featuring Broadway showstoppers Carol Channing, Tyne Daly and George Hearn will command Stage 3 of the CBS/MTM Studios. Rosemarie Stack chairs.

Also that night the Pasadena Art Alliance fund-raises with its biennial “A Light-Hearted Affair” auction at Art Center College of Design.

In addition, the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation stages an evening at the Greek Theater with Carr. Mayfield Junior School stampedes to a “Hoedown!” at Warner Bros. Studios. The Junior League of Los Angeles inaugurates its Polo Classic at the Equestrian Center. In the afternoon, Crittenton Center stages a 100th birthday celebration at the Bel-Air Country Club.

Apologies to those not mentioned.

Circle these dates in red, too: Michael Ovitz, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner and Dr. Mitchel D. Covel chair the Aesculapians Ball May 14 at 20th Century Fox for the UCLA School of Medicine. Jay Leno will emcee; Robin Williams and Michael Bolton will perform . . . .

The same night, Jose Greco receives the El Angel Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts at the Biltmore with Byron Allumbaugh gala chair . . . .

On May 29, Ella Fitzgerald, toasting her “seventysomething” birthday, joins in a jazz bash with some of the artists who go back with her to the Savoy in the ‘30s. Van Alexander, co-composer of the Fitzgerald hit “A Tisket, a Tasket” will conduct an ensemble. Louis Bellson will be on drums and Gerald Wiggins on piano. Herb Jeffries and Joe Williams star, too. It’s all for the USC School of Music Celebration at the Beverly Hilton . . . .

Sunday Joachim Splichal of Patina Restaurant, brings together seven superchefs for the Newport Harbor Art Museum trustees’ dining experience at the Four Seasons, Newport Beach. Daniel Boulud of Le Cirque, Debra Ponzek of Montrachet and Matthew Tivy of Restaurant X (all in New York) and Celestino Drago of Drago in Santa Monica, Nobu Matsuhisa of Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills and Michel Pieton of the Four Seasons, Newport Beach vie for culinary supremacy.

GALA: Co-chairs Patricia Kennedy and Ruth Shannon and vice chairs Donna Kamin, Suzanne Tennenbaum, Susan Rothenberg, Elizabeth Hirsch and Joan Burns are in full action to launch the Joffrey Ballet’s inaugural season at the Wiltern Theatre.

At a cocktail reception hosted by Gump’s Kirk Gerou, Joffrey supporters championed the Patron Connoisseur Ticket Series--a prime double ticket for the opening night May 8 and the Patron Connoisseur evening May 18.

For the May 8 party, the Coconut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel will be reopened and the palms will sway. Nancy Reagan is honorary gala chair.

WITH LOVE: Fred Hayman defined glamour as “fascinating personal attraction” when he stepped up to receive the Fashion Achievement Award at the Otis/Parsons School of Art and Design gala Saturday evening at the Beverly Hilton. The fashion show featured the future’s young designers (Otis senior students), unafraid to be brashly creative. Everyone had a good time.

Trustees chair Elaine Goldsmith, with her banker husband Bram applauding, announced $300,000 was raised for scholarships. Taking tributes were co-chairs Karlene Garber and Marina Day (escorted by attorney Paul Livadary), Otis president Roger Workman and trustee Cleon T. (Bud) Knapp, who underwrote the expensive first commemorative journal. Among the city’s best dressed watching the show were Anne and Franklin Johnson and John and Joan Hotchkis.

Said Hayman: “If we all get back to great ethics and hard work, we will be a country second to none.” The crowd left with his spray colognes.

FLOWERY: Las Floristas honorary chairman Carroll Shelby-- noting “that turtle did not get himself up on the fence post by himself”--put a lot of financial support into the Las Floristas “Carnivale” Floral Headdress Ball Friday night at the Beverly Hilton. A lot of floral designers put a lot of flowers and braces (to support Las Floristas mannequins’ backs) into the affair, and mannequins all but broke their backs wearing those tall 30-pound headdresses.

The night, chaired by Marlene Chumo and Carolyn Stockwell, brought in $350,000 for clinics serving handicapped children. Mannequin Patricia Frandson, in a concoction designed by florists Mark Held, Cynthia Smith and Chris Thompson of Sherman Oaks, took Sweepstakes for the best headdress.

ESCALATION: Topsy Doheny and Carol Inman teamed to stage the Los Angeles Orphanage Guild “Gathering of Angels” and a delightful Sunday evening dinner at Chasen’s. Puff Laverty bid $7,000 for the Sea Goddess Caribbean cruise donated by Cunard. The evening benefited Maryvale Orphanage . . . .

Chef Wolfgang Puck will be in the culinary spotlight for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art “Culinary Masterpieces III” evening Friday at the Four Seasons Biltmore, Santa Barbara . . . .

The AAF Rose Bowl Aquatics Center and the Pasadena Foothill Valley YWCA co-sponsor a fund-raising diving demonstration featuring America’s Olympic hopefuls. It’s Sunday at the Aquatics Center . . . .

Italian designer Mariuccia Mandelli and her husband Aldo Pinto have been in Los Angeles for the opening of their Krizia boutique at Two Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills--and for whirlwind appearances including the Blue Ribbon Committee luncheon at the Music Center Wednesday . . . .