Dinner for Project Angel Food

The scene: Fourth of July party, sans firecrackers, with aural pyrotechnics provided by Lily Tomlin. The music wasn’t Sousa, but performed by Sally Kellerman. Saturday’s event at the home of physician Peter Kraus, who underwrote the dinner, raised funds for Project Angel Food. Its supporters provide free meals and deliver them to the homebound suffering from AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses.

Who was there: Many of the volunteers who deliver meals, as well as some of their clients, plus photographers Michael Childers and Berry Berenson Perkins, author Patti Davis, actress Beverly D’Angelo, model Pat Ast, composer Paul Jabara, actor Allen Garfield and Los Angeles Center for Living (Project Angel Food’s parent organization) president David Kessler.

The real estate: The host, an internist specializing in AIDS, said he bought his Laurel Canyon house because it had “flow,” meaning rooms flowed into each other, and he instantly envisioned it as a place to hold parties and fund-raisers accommodating several hundred people. He subsequently installed a permanent disco with flashing colored lights and a fog machine in the living room and hung portraits of stars on the walls including Brando, Dietrich, Presley, Ciccone.

Patriotism point/counterpoint: “I am feeling patriotic--this year I’m very into Boxer and Feinstein and Clinton. If they win they could change the whole outlook for AIDS medical research,” said Michael Childers. Countered Beverly D’Angelo: “Feeling patriotic implies being proud of the current government. I don’t feel patriotic.”

A message from the cultural elite: “At the door they mistook me for Marilyn Quayle, but luckily one of the volunteers told them as a kid she used to see me on ‘Laugh In,’ ” quipped Lily Tomlin.

The numbers: Project Angel Food is now serving 400 meals daily. The party raised $33,000. Of that, $595 was added when Sally Kellerman passed a hat during her act.