Alzheimer’s Assn. Spends a ‘Night at Sardi’s’

Moving, personal stories of despair, frustration, love and hope were the essence of the Alzheimer’s Assn. of Los Angeles’s benefit dinner Thursday night at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.

The event, billed as “A Night at Sardi’s,” featured selections from the Broadway musical “Guys and Dolls,” plus celebrity presenters and honorees. Original caricatures from the famous New York restaurant decorated the ballroom.

But it was the heartfelt, sometimes tragic stories of family members that set the tone of the evening.

“I came to the organization because my mother was diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s,” said actress Shelley Fabares, chairman of the event and also an honoree.

“I had heard the word, but that’s all I knew about it. I called Information, and they got me to the organization. And they were so helpful to me that I said if there was ever anything I could do, and that began the last few years of my life.” Fabares has traveled around the country to other chapters and testified before congressional committees.

“The thing about Alzheimer’s disease,” she added, “is that it makes you feel so helpless because you can’t do anything for this person you love. And being able to work has given me the feeling that there is something I can do.”

Other honorees were Home Box Office, cited for its special “Losing It All: The Reality of Alzheimer’s Disease,” and KCET, which produced “Giving Care, Taking Care,” a documentary about the needs of care-givers. Paul A. Teslow, president and CEO of UniHealth America, was given an award for his support of services for Alzheimer’s victims.

The association, involved in funding research, education and advocacy programs, was careful in choosing the lineup of star presenters. “All of them are people who have been affected by the disease,” said L.A. chapter executive director Peter Braun. “One of the things we’ve worked at is building a relationship with people in the entertainment industry who have been touched, who are just finding us.”

“America is getting older,” said Jim Goyjer, board president. “Over 50% of people over 80 get Alzheimer’s disease. There’s a tremendous amount of people who can be affected. And it’s a disease that takes a long time before the person dies. So we’ve got to do something about it now before America gets old.”

There were emotional speeches by Fabares and Parker Stevenson and his brother Hutch Parker, who told about losing their father last year to Alzheimer’s. James Burrows and sister Laurie Burrows Grad read some wry lyrics by their father, Abe Burrows, another victim of the disease.

The “Guys and Dolls” show featured the Ray Charles Singers, Peter Gallagher, Dinah Shore, the McGuire Sisters, Pam Dawber, John Raitt and Ken Page. Others who attended the event included Stevenson’s wife Kirstie Alley, Bonnie Franklin, Richard Moll, Roy Firestone, Florine and James Sikking and Lorraine and Sidney Sheinberg.