The Social Scene Was Shaking, Too

Three seismic events shook the city over the weekend: the two quakes Sunday morning and political satirist Mark Russell at a KPBS benefit the night before.

Russell gleefully portrayed various politicians and contenders for office as all too visibly arrayed in the emperor’s new clothes, while the quake tales, related at Sunday’s 14th anniversary celebration of the Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art, gave an unexpected inside glimpse at how some San Diegans dress when they turn in--or when they suddenly turn out, as it happened.

Saturday, at an open-air concert at University of San Diego given as the first event in the scheduled year-long observance of “Celebration 25,” the 25th anniversary of broadcasting by KPBS, it was said that, in presidential election years, the candidates need fear just three things: The voters, the issues and Mark Russell. Russell, perhaps the only major comedian actually to reside in Washington has made political satire his only topic--and his tour de force --through a long career, and that evening, he capped a fund-raising tour de force that netted about $50,000 for the public broadcasting station.

The concert audience included about 120 top ticket benefactors who opened the day with an early cocktail cruise and dinner aboard the yacht “High Spirits,” built as a companion vessel to the former presidential yacht, the “Sequoia,” and now owned by KPBS patrons William and Donna Lynch. William Lynch amused the audience by announcing, during a brief, shipboard formal program, that “High Spirits” had belonged to one-time savings and loan kingpin Don Dixon, until it was seized by federal regulators.

“The savings and loan crisis was produced on this boat,” said Lynch. “But we’ve had it fumigated and disinfected, and no viruses have survived.”

Of his participation in the fund-raiser, Lynch said several upcoming KPBS anniversary events will be given for the benefit of abused children and will dovetail with efforts supported by his William D. Lynch Foundation for Children.

The guest list brought together several celebrities, politicians and educational figures, including novelist Joseph Wambaugh, San Diego Sockers coach Ron Newman (a number of players also signed on for the cruise), artist Barbara Weldon, Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer, USD President Author Hughes and his wife, Marge, and San Diego State University President Thomas Day and his wife, Ann. KPBS figures included Gloria Penner, general manager Paul Steen and Darlene Davies, who will chair the principal KPBS 25th anniversary gala, to be given Sept. 26.

As the boat slipped away from its Coronado moorings for a cruise up San Diego Bay, Steen recalled his arrival at KPBS on June 1, 1967, or 24 days before the station first signed on the air. “In some ways, those were the most fun days,” he said.

Neither Steen nor the other guests discounted Saturday’s fund-raiser from among the station’s “fun days.” Following the cruise, guests drove over the bridge for the 8 P.M. Russell performance, given under the stars on USD’s hill-topping West Point Field, opened by military pageantry and closed by an early Fourth of July fireworks display.

Russell, displaying typical form, chose major targets for his jokes and concentrated his humor primarily on President George Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, unannounced presidential candidate Ross Perot and, almost as an afterthought, presumptive Democratic nominee Bill Clinton. He did warm up the audience, however, by shooting a few barbs at his locale:

“Here I am in the great city of San Diego, where every baby’s first words are ‘Our weather’s perfect year-round.’ ” Later, he added, “When the rioting was going on across the country and all the big cities had a curfew, you didn’t need one, because a curfew is redundant in San Diego.” The audience repaid Russell with several standing ovations and lionized the comedian when he obligingly showed for a post-performance reception on USD’s Camino Patio.

Conversations inevitably revolved around Sunday’s twin quakes at the Mingei benefit, at which 150 guests had the rare opportunity of knowing exactly what all their fellows were doing at 5 a.m.

The better stories related to details of bedtime dress--or the utter lack thereof--and the resulting inconveniences when the shakers caused many to flee their homes. Guest Dorothea Cronogue probably captured the mantle by recounting--and she insisted this was true--that she had been wearing pajamas on the occasion of the first quake, but changed into a black satin and lace negligee just in case there was a second quake, as in fact happened. “When the first quake happened, I said to myself, ‘If I’m going to be found in the rubble, I want to be found in lace and satin,’ ” she said.

The evening’s events were more sedate but also considerably more festive than those of the early morning. The location, the relatively new, quite handsome and distinctly hidden Rancho Santa Fe Farms Golf Club (which actually is in the city of San Diego but identifies itself as part of the tony rural community), was a novelty for many guests, although many said they could easily grow accustomed to the lavish setting. The proceedings included a silent auction during the reception under the club’s porte cochere (certainly an unusual location), dinner, dancing and a live auction of artworks and folk art-related items.

Vicki and Haley Rogers, who chaired the first and third of the museum’s anniversary galas, reprised the role Sunday; Vicki Rogers designed a theme of “Country Elegance” that related to the semi-rustic milieu in a specific way. “It’s a laid-back Sunday, black tie but comfortable,” she said.

The gala honored philanthropists and vintners Sally and John Thornton, whose Culbertson Winery sparkling vintages were poured before dinner; the meal itself was accompanied by wines from Chateau Montalena, partly owned by Mingei benefactors Ernest and Jean Hahn. Jean Hahn recently retired as president of the museum’s board.

Her successor, Dr. Roger Cornell, said that his institution stands a little apart from other local cultural venues. “All the museums in San Diego are great, and they all need our support,” he said. “But, if you really think about it, San Diego has huge ethnic diversity and I think a folk art museum serves a real purpose in this town.”

Guests included Colleen and Dr. Hugh Greenway, Alice Zukor, Katy and Mike Dessent, Bradley Smith, museum director Martha Longenecker, Eleanor and Art Herzman, Harriet and Richard Levi, Joanne Hutchinson, Elsie and Frank Weston, Susan Crutchfield and Tom Alexander, Burt Aginsky, Jan and Bob Loomis, Lynn and Fritz Marston, Anne and John Gilchrist, and Judith and Walter Munk.