Designer Scaasi Uses His Famous Flair to Dress Up CHIPS Affair
Where else but Los Angeles--a sequined wedding dress in zebra stripes. Well, New York. East Coast designer Arnold Scaasi, famous for his fanciful concoctions, found a perfect match for his wildness last week--the vivacious Colleagues Helpers in Philanthropic Service.
“I count 16 wearing Scaasi dresses,” quipped the designer during cocktails before the dinner and show at the Beverly Hills Hotel. CHIPS President Jenny Rutt and her husband, Loring, turned the affair into a fun-for-all. And after the menu of pasta with sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese and pine nuts; the chicken piccata, and the confectionary bird’s nest with fresh fruit and chocolate, the ladies in the crowd still could have slid into Scaasi’s silver zebra and gold leopard togs.
Prominent: Ronald and Margaret (party chair) Preissman, Don and Lucy Hromadka (they’re moving their family to Santa Barbara), Irene and Phil Fowler, Scott and Dannine Sheridan, Raylene and Bruce Meyer, Lyn Vandegrift and William Benchhouse, Carla Kirkeby, Mary and Reese Milner, and John Maher (Helen Maher was recovering from illness). Representing the Colleagues were Laura Lee and Robert Woods; Jenny Rutt’s mother, Mary Marshall, and husband Boyd, and Natalie and Gwynne Robinson.
ILLUMINATING: The Vision Award for outstanding contributions to society was given to the multifaceted Robert Erburu, chairman and CEO of the Times Mirror Co., last week at the Luminaires Founder Chapter gala fund-raiser at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.
The recipient called for compassion and attention to the needs of the city. He was introduced by Dr. Simon Ramo. Stan Chambers emceed.
Dinner chairman Marilyn Burdge and Luminaires President Ruth Harbour had arranged for Phyllis Diller to entertain, but at rehearsal that afternoon, the comedian said she had inadequate space on stage for her routine. She returned her honorarium to the group, although she did appear briefly. Proceeds go to the Doheny Eye Institute.
CITY WHIRL: Michael and Susan Connell hosted a reception in their Pasadena home to honor Peter Sellars, who is producing Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale” at Friday night’s opening of the Ojai Festival. Sellars is using inner-city children in the cast. . . .
Malcolm S. (Steve) Forbes Jr.; his brothers Bob, Kip and Tim, and Forbes magazine publisher and former U. S. Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger invited more than 500 for the UCLA reception to celebrate the magazine’s 75th anniversary and promote the Forbes documentary, “Happily Ever After? The 20th Century Struggles for Democracy,” which premiered in New York earlier this month. Elizabeth Taylor was honored for her work in AIDS research. . . .
Erika and Bob Brunson staged a reception at the Bistro Garden to fete newlyweds David and Maria Murdock. . . .
Jackie and Bernie Warschaw hosted 350 in their garden to aid the Rainbow Guild of the Amie Karen Cancer Fund at Cedars-Sinai. . . .
Jan and Bob Kahn entertained at a May dinner party at their Pacific Palisades residence. Guests included Bruce and Jane McNall, James and Holly Brooks, and Justine and Robert Bloomingdale. . . .
For Charles Luckman’s 83rd birthday, it was a “Picnic in the Sky,” hosted by wife Harriet at their penthouse.
NEW: A group, mostly 30 and under, has launched “This Little Light” to support Childrens Hospital. The first benefit is June 6, at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel. Involved: Ranlyn Tilley Hill, Henri de la Chapelle, Larry Thrall Jr. and Jennifer Angeloff.
CIRCLE RED: Flora Thornton has lent her support to the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus celebration concert starring 100 young voices Monday at Ambassador Auditorium. . . .
Gene Hackman, Robert Guillaume and Whoopi Goldberg are in the lineup for today’s reception launching the “Spirits in the Stone” Shona Sculpture benefit at the Natural History Museum. . . .
Phyllis Diller’s Brentwood garden will be the site for “Remembering Jim Backus--the annual Celebrity Art and Memorabilia Auction” Sunday benefiting the National Parkinson Foundation.
PEOPLE PERFECT: Jane Pisano speaks Sunday at the Five Acres dedication of the W. M. Keck Foundation Education Center. . . .
Tom and Katherine Pike will be honored today with “Lunch at the Ritz” by the Friends of the Pasadena Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency. . . .
TRIPOD, a charity aiding deaf children, gives Friends’ Awards today to Linda Bove, Mary Lloyd Estrin and Dr. Ruth Sinay at a J. W. Marriott Hotel luncheon. . . .
Reeve Lindbergh Tripp, daughter of Charles and Ann Morrow Lindbergh, joined Charles A. Lindbergh Fund directors at the Caltech Athenaeum to honor Dick Smith, producer of the Australian Geographic Magazine.
Lynne Cheney, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, keynoted Pepperdine University’s 16th annual Associates dinner at the Century Plaza.
