No Ordinary Carnival for a Heroic Benefit

It was just your ordinary Sunday afternoon carnival--except tickets were $1,000 apiece, and the game booths were staffed by the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Barbra Streisand. The stars turned out for “A Time For Heroes,” the third annual fund-raising carnival for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, held at the Mandeville Canyon estate of Ken Roberts.

Pediatric AIDS Foundation founder Elizabeth Glaser, with co-chairs Susan DeLaurentis and Susan Zeegan, put the carnival together. The $1.5 million raised by the event will go to the foundation’s new Ariel Project, which will fund research into blocking HIV transmission from mothers to newborns.

Glaser, the wife of actor/director Paul Michael Glaser, contracted HIV in August, 1981, from a blood transfusion and unknowingly passed it to her two children--Jake, 7, and Ariel. Ariel Glaser (for whom the new project is named) died in 1988.

There was an upbeat spirit at the carnival, and parents and children alike were having fun. Among the big names staffing the games of chance were Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Mariel Hemingway, Christine Lahti, Howie Long, Jon Lovitz, Ali MacGraw, Cheryl Miller, Dennis Miller, Rhea Pearlman, Keanu Reeves, Fred Savage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martin Short, Christian Slater, Tracey Ullman and Robin Williams. Many celebrities brought their children; Maria Shriver and Robin Williams were among those with offspring in their backpacks.

A beaming Magic Johnson was trailed by dozens of children wherever he went, but it was “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Luke Perry who attracted their older sisters--specifically a crowd of teen-age girls who lined up for photos and autographs. Their mothers did the same thing for Mel Gibson. Meanwhile, the dads hung around a basketball booth, waiting to shoot a little one-on-one with “Basic Instinct” star Sharon Stone.

Also attending were former President Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who have been supportive of Glaser’s fund-raising efforts. Glaser visited the White House in 1988 when she became convinced that the Administration wasn’t doing enough to fight the disease.

“There was no AIDS policy in the Reagan Administration,” Glaser said on Sunday afternoon. “But I’ve spoken to Mr. Reagan many times since then, and he’s been great. Look,” she added, “I’m not saying the Reagan Administration did right. They didn’t. But now, I think, they want to do something.”

The Reagans smiled and posed for photos in an art area where children were expressing their feelings about AIDS with crayons and paper. Reagan drew a picture of a cowboy, and gave one admirer a warm handshake when the man approached and identified himself as “the only Republican in Santa Monica.”

Among the artworks on display was a picture of a U.S. flag, with a quote from Dan Quayle: “What a terrible thing to lose your mind . . . or not to have a mind . . . how sad that is.” The picture was signed by “Murphy Brown” star Candice Bergen, who has previously refused to comment on the vice president’s recent remarks regarding her television character’s unwed motherhood.

Tracked down at her post at one of the game booths, Bergen was asked why she hadn’t joined in the public fracas over Quayle’s comments.

Speaking softly but firmly, Bergen said: “First of all, I was speechless. Then I thought enough people were speaking out on the issue, and I also thought that Diane English’s statement said it all.” (English, the creator of “Murphy Brown,” used the controversy to issue a statement supporting a woman’s right to choose an abortion.)

Smiling, Bergen added, “I was deeply flattered to have been attacked by the vice president.”