Fashion Will Be in the Center Ring at Hospital Benefit
Patrons of Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s upcoming “Under the Big Top” fashion show got a sneak preview of the event on Sunday at the Center Club.
Guests enjoyed brunch and watched models parade spring fashions from Mi Place, Mykonos, Alex Sebastian/Alex Sport.
Clowns wandered about, handing out colorful balloons to patrons, who included Tom and Karen Jones, Dr. Harriet Opfell, Dr. Geni Bennetts and Charles and Nora Hester.
Proceeds from the fashion show--which will have a luncheon production on April 1, and a luncheon and dinner production on April 2--will benefit the hospital’s outpatient clinic. Festivities will take place at the Anaheim Marriott. Lula Hatfield and Andrea Northcote are show co-chairwomen.
Bye-Bye VIP Room: Forget the for-members-only VIP room at the new Roxbury nightclub in Santa Ana. Owner Eli Samaha has decided to make it a lounge for everyone. “When it fills to capacity on a given night, then nobody else can get in,” says Samaha, who owns Roxbury in West Hollywood and once managed Studio 54 in New York.
“At Studio 54 we had a Back Room, a place for the big spenders who wanted privacy and Cristal champagne, that sort of thing,” he said. “And at Roxbury in West L.A., the so-called VIP room--really, anybody can get in--is the place the stars like to hang out because it has a view of the Sunset Strip.
“But the Orange County Roxbury doesn’t offer that,” he says. “And when the stars hung out at our grand opening on Friday, they had a great time mingling with guests in all of our rooms.” For lack of a better name, it will still be called the VIP room, he says.
Samaha, who is begging to dabble in movie production, will dine with Wesley Snipes--co-star of “Demolition Man” with Sly Stallone--at the local Roxbury this week.
Tidbit: Guests at the Roxbury opening wondered if the ceiling would cave in when hundreds of party-goers took to the second-floor dance area. “No way,” Samaha says. “We spent $200,000 to brace that dance floor. It’s solid .”
Great Day in the Evening: Theater buffs mingled with playwright Thomas Babe recently when his new play, “Great Day in the Morning,” was launched at South Coast Repertory with a Champagne reception.
Before show time, Signe Gallagher--an executive with American Express (the play’s honorary producer)--was saluted for her company’s support of the arts.
“I would like to thank American Express for their seven-year partnership with SCR,” said SCR board president Tom Sutton. “Particularly for the grant which enabled us to produce Mr. Babe’s work in the fashion it deserves.”
“Great Day in the Morning,” which was directed by SCR’s producing artistic director, David Emmes, received a $37,000 development grant from the Fund for New American Plays, a joint project of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and American Express Co.
After the play, guests gathered with “Great Day” actors for a reception staged by SCR’s Theatre Guild.
