Music Center Receives an Offer It Can’t Refuse

Longtime Music Center supporter David H. Murdock has issued a $200,000 challenge to patrons of the premiere fund-raiser L.A. Alive!, “The L.A. Dinner Party,” June 6.

At a kickoff in the Brentwood home of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rockwell Schnabel and wife Marna, Music Center president Esther Wachtell revealed Murdock will match the profits of the party he and his new bride Maria Ferrer will host at their Bel-Air home.

Co-chaired by Anne Johnson and Joy Fein, the affair--auction, dinner and dancing and a tribute to community leaders Marion and John Anderson--was sold out April 17 to 450 guests at $500 per couple. The goal is $500,000 net. Artists such as David Hockney and Frank Gehry are creating items for the night.

Prominent at the kickoff were Steve and Kitty Moses, David and Mary Martin, Michael and Susy Nivin and Billy Al Bengston.

ON VIEW: Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Mandrell could barely grab a bite of lunch. It seemed nearly all of the 1,400 guests at the Childhelp 28th “Woman of the World” awards luncheon gala were hovering for autographs and asking to be photographed with them.

It was a starry affair, with Georgette Mosbacher telling the Child-help story about how Sara O’Meara Sigholtz and Yvonne Fedderson launched their efforts for child abuse 33 years ago. Some heart-warming moments came when honorees Winfrey and Mandrell put their arms around children on stage as Robbie Britt sang “Love Makes the World Go ‘Round.”

On stage, too, were Jo Ann Klauer and Cathy Rawitt, the event chair and co-chair; also June Haver MacMurray, Anne Jeffreys, Joe Penny, Melissa Gilbert-Brinkman, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Ann Blyth, Bill Hayes and George Lopez . . . .

Said Malcolm R. Currie, retiring chairman and CEO of Hughes Aircraft, as he received the Achievement in Excellence Award at the Century Plaza: “The social contract that binds all of us together is rooted in education . . . only in education can we reverse the trend toward a welfare state.” Gov. Pete Wilson joined in the toasts as it was revealed that his wife, Gayle, takes over the presidency of the center. Donald R. Beall chaired the event . . . .

If “Fairy Tales Do Come True,” the benefit by that name for Hillsides Home for Children will net $100,000. Among supporters were Sherm and Marge Telleen, Andrew and Peggy Cherng, Becky and Bill Garnett, Jennifer and Rich Muirhead, Ray and Sandra Remy and Eileen and Fred Schoellkopf . . . .

At the request of Marilyn Gilfenbain, president of United Hostesses’ Charities, designer Mary McFadden put in a personal appearance at the dynamic Saks Fifth Avenue fashion show luncheon featuring McFadden’s fall designs.

The event saluted Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center. Spotted in the crowd at the Beverly Wilshire were Rhoda and jeweler Norman Weinstein (she was honored for her volunteer efforts); Cartier director Maryan Saghatelian; Celia Petkin, benefit chairwoman; Rikki Rosen, Nancy Kipper and Cheri Yousem. Hostesses have raised $7 million over the years . . . .

The lowdown from the Mayfield Junior School “Hoedown,” say chairwomen Debbie Lanni and Mary Grace Kaufman, is $120,000. That translates net.

OLE!: Carman Zapata led the crowd through a conga line after Jose Greco, master of the Spanish dance, received the “El Angel” Lifetime Achievement Award. Robert Erburu presented the award at the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts benefit at the Biltmore Hotel.

KUDOS: To Kathleen McCarthy, who receives the Spirit of Voluntarism Award from the Los Angeles Junior League Tuesday . . . .

To Jack Quinn, recipient of the esteemed Shattuck-Price Memorial Award for dedication to high principles in the legal profession, at the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. luncheon at the Los Angeles Hilton . . . .

To Robert Wycoff and Dr. Kenneth Senter, Humanitarian Award recipients at the California Medical Center luncheon at the Biltmore . . . .

To Mary Byrne, receiving an Angel Award from St. Anne’s Maternity Home for her 20 years of volunteering . . . .

To Bee Canterbury Lavery, Los Angeles chief of protocol, honored at a Biltmore luncheon celebrating her appointment as regional director, Office of Foreign Missions for the southwest U.S.

AMBASSADORIAL: Ambassadors were in abundance Thursday evening at the Regency Club. Ambassador to Jamaica Glen Holden and his wife Gloria hosted a dinner in honor of Jamaica’s former prime minister Michael Manley and his wife Glynne.

And former U.S. representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council Lester Korn and his wife Carolbeth hosted a prominent group for Mexico’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Jorge Montano and Luz Maria Valdes de Montano. Some of the guests found themselves darting to and fro between the two events.

CIRCLE RED: Now that Joan Irvine Smith has become a major collector of California Plein Air artists, she’s putting her paintings on exhibit when she and her mother Athalie R. Clarke host their Grand Prix Luncheon Sunday in San Juan Capistrano to benefit the National Water Research Institute . . . .

“ChaChaCha” with Caribbean flavors and steel band rhythms will punctuate the tropical twilight at Adam and Penny Bianchi’s Pasadena villa Saturday. It benefits Pasadena Mental Health Center . . . .

Sandpipers “Design House ‘92,” continues through Sunday at 2116 Paseo Del Mar in Palos Verdes Estates.

HONORED: Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev, with the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award by the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation at the Waldorf Astoria in New York . . . .

Actor Robert Stack, with the “Distinguished Citizen” by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge at the Century Plaza Tower.