Dispensing Some Good Medicine

One could be forgiven for declining to associate hospitals with hospitality, but the fact remains that the chief entertainments of the past weekend were sponsored by the auxiliaries of Scripps Memorial-La Jolla and Children’s Hospital.

There’s enough tinsel floating around town in this season to make the sunsets look as if they were forged at the Homestead Mine, but the Scripps Memorial auxiliary still achieved something of a coup by gold-plating the 63rd edition of the annual Candlelight Ball, given Saturday in the San Diego Ballroom at the San Diego Marriott.

This second most venerable among San Diego big deals (the Charity Ball retains grande dame status) was dubbed El Baile de Oro, or “The Golden Ball,” not so much to suggest an all-that-glitters theme as to introduce, with admirable subtlety, the notion that local endeavors increasingly will rely on cross-border participation. El Baile de Oro quite specifically and rather boldly invited the involvement of prominent Tijuanans, a number of whom responded with unreserved enthusiasm. If this was the first Candlelight Ball to cast its rays South, it can be said to have found the venture illuminating.

The Mexican motif restricted itself largely to the event’s subtitle, since the main theme took the point of view that anything that could be gilded should be gilded (by and large, committee members’ husbands escaped the decree, although a few seemed to bask in the golden glow of their wives’ grand success).

Quite in the 24-karat line were the centerpieces--built by the committee in co-chair Lyn Krant’s garage--of Christmas tree-like constructions of pine cones, sprayed with a double-thickness of gold paint to reflect the candlelight that by long tradition warmed the ballroom. There was, in fact, an elegance to the evening that some recent events have lacked, typified by such details as the intricate weavings of branches and holly berries that wreathed the doorways and set a quietly magical tone.

If the event was more noticeably glamorous than some given in this recession-wracked year, it also enjoyed a more notable success.

Nearly 500 attended, and chair Elisabeth Bergan estimated that proceeds might approach a most respectable $150,000. Funds are earmarked for three specific purposes: A pilot gift to inaugurate the refurbishing of patient rooms at Scripps Memorial-La Jolla, a grant to update information systems at the Community Resource Center of the Schaetzel Center for Health Education, and funding for the International Education Program, which disseminates medical information to physicians and nurses throughout Mexico.

Bergan said that given the Candlelight Ball’s long tradition, selling tickets was not that great a challenge--but the Tijuana connection was dreamed up to ensure success.

“This event has a life of its own, and you could almost send out box tops two weeks beforehand and still sell all the seats,” she said. “But when I started to plan this ball last January, I realized that these are basically rotten times, and because of the free trade agreement (when approved, the North American Free Trade Agreement will remove trade barriers among the United States, Mexico and Canada), I decided it was time to start courting the Mexicans. Thus ‘El Baile de Oro’ is an attempt to come to terms with the fact that San Diego is becoming a binational megalopolis,” Bergan added.

James Bowers, president of the Scripps Memorial Hospitals Foundation and a long-standing attendee of the Candlelight Ball, put the event in historical perspective. “This used to inaugurate the holiday season in La Jolla, and I think it remains the city’s major Yuletide event,” he said. “It always has attracted the support of people who aren’t otherwise involved with the hospital.”

Times may be difficult, but the ball’s Champagne toast nonetheless was offered in Veuve Clicquot. The menu took a similarly lavish tone and proceeded from cream of mushroom soup baked under puff pastry domes to mango sorbet, a double entree of beef filet bearnaise and salmon with dill sauce, and a palette-like dessert of chocolates and other sweets garnished with a chocolate paint brush. The event also featured two bands, the Bill Shreeve Quartet and, for the after-dinner rock ‘n’ roll session, the Heroes.

Bergan’s committee included Lorenza Padilla de Salcedo, Rebecca Ewton, Alexis Wesbey, Marie Olesen, Eva Hough, Claudia Knorr, Sandy McCreight, Judith Omens, Carol Shively, Gayle Silverman, Nancy Sedwitz, Midgie VandenBerg, Maria Vasquez, Kelly Kupfer, Kathleen Pieslor, Maria Trepcyk and Jan Ricci.

It took the 1,450 members of the Children’s Hospital Auxiliary working in concert to produce the sixth annual “Fantasy of Trees,” a multiple-event benefit given over three days at the Town & Country Convention Center.

As might reasonably be supposed, the focus of this sylvan celebration was a collection of trees decorated not so much in the home-spun fashion of 99.9% of America’s Christmas trees, but according to the fancies of professional designers and the inspired whims of amateurs. The greenery starred at repeated functions from last Wednesday through Friday evening, when the trees sold at auction at the black tie gala that capped the benefit. Sponsors estimated that total net proceeds would exceed $60,000.

Some trees breathed professionalism, like the “Northern Exposure” fir hung with Alaskan Indian handicrafts and baubles, but none were as touching as the “Children for Children’s” tree. Appropriately diminutive, the branches of this evergreen were garnished with ornaments made by patients at Children’s; among the more clever were those constructed from medicine cups and tongue depressors.

While the 300 guests wandered among the foliage, they refreshed themselves at international buffets that featured the cuisines of China, Mexico, Italy and even the United States (roast beef starred). The Westwind Brass, formal in tails and brassy in a restrained sort of way, serenaded during the guests’ peregrinations.

“This is an auxiliary-wide event that requires the work of every member to be a success,” said Debbie Dulgar, who co-chaired the event with Joan Sundstrom. “It took a year out of our lives, but we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” In 1992, the auxiliary anticipates earning some $500,000 from various activities, and designates how those funds will be spent at the close of the year. Auxiliary funds raised in 1991 paid for the furnishing of the new Parents’ Lounge at the hospital, as well as other projects.

The youngsters who ultimately will benefit from the “Fantasy of Trees” were present in spirit only, but hospital President Blair Sadler said that this and other auxiliary efforts have an unmistakable impact on their lives.

“Christmas is a sad time for kids who are sick,” he said. “Not only this event, but the auxiliary’s other projects in December, such as decorating the hospital and bringing in special gifts, helps make a tough time better. It gives them a sense of hope, a sense that there will be a Christmas next year.”

Among the many serving on the event committee were Jan Baranowski, Sharon Guadagnola, Barb Zinser, Hyndie Steck, Joanne Stevenson-Bake, Mary Lou Hart, Susie Johnson, Dianna Broady, Gale Fenton, Jacque Morris, Carol Youmans, Sunny Golden, Joy Frye, Cathy Brown and Rae Merhar.