RSVP : Frankly, My Dears, They Gave a Lot
Dozens of Scarlett O’Hara types, and a few swashbuckling Rhetts, came together Saturday for a “Gone With the Wind” gala at the Tara-esque San Juan Capistrano estate of Art and Gaye Birtcher.
More than 320 Southern belles and gentlemen attended the third annual fund-raising gala staged by members of the South County Community Clinic Auxiliary. The $150-per-person event raised more than $100,000 for the community clinic, which provides health care services to the needy in South Orange County.
Southern Hospitality
A Rhett Butler look-alike greeted guests at the magnolia-lined entrance to the estate. The party-goers strolled past tables filled with items for a silent auction while being entertained by a Dixieland band from Disneyland.
Men costumed in Civil War uniforms, some in gray and others in blue, agreed to put down their swords and enjoy mint juleps, plantation angel biscuits and Maryland crab cakes.
“I’m originally from Ohio and my relatives would turn over in their graves if I wore gray,” said Joe Lippincott, who wore a blue uniform and carried a sword.
Jerry Baker stood nearby dressed in the gray uniform of the Confederacy.
“I always wanted to be Stonewall Jackson, and this is my chance,” he said. “Being from Texas, I couldn’t go any other way.”
Anita Houston wore a replica of the green and white party dress Scarlett is seen in the opening of the film classic.
“We got stares driving down the street,” she said.
Like Scarlett, auxiliary founder Gaye Birtcher made her blue plaid gown out of drapery fabric.
“But I did not rip it off the windows,” she said.
On the Plantation
The gardens where guests gathered for dinner looked like something out of a fairy tale.
The Birtchers’ 17th-Century French-style home, called Chateau Tranquill, served as a romantic backdrop. Tables draped in pink cloth and glowing with tall pink candles were set up on the lawn.
Guests sampled a buffet that tested the tight bodices of those Southern gowns.
The fare included roasted Angus chateaubriand with bourbon sauce, creole catfish with hush puppies, rabbit jambalaya, Kentucky spoon bread, blue crab claws and bayou oysters on the half shell. For dessert they could choose from red velvet cake, chocolate-covered bonbons, pecan pie and a cascade of fresh fruit surrounded by bite-sized fruit served with a chocolate amaretto fondue.
Scarlett would have loved it.
Serving the Needy
The South County Community Clinic in San Juan Capistrano will serve an estimated 14,500 patients this year, a figure that has climbed steadily during the recession, according to gala chairwoman Anne Crawford.
“The clinic is for anyone who can’t afford a doctor,” Crawford said. “This year we’re seeing more middle-class people who can’t afford health insurance.”
Guests included Barbara McRitchie, auxiliary president, co-chairwoman Marianne Lacko, Wayne and Mamie Mertes, auxiliary vice president, Murray and Murel Brown, Betty Rush, Leon and Betty Sarian, Robert and Sandra Teitsworth and Karen Voss.