Reagan and Mulroney Meet at the Library

If there weren’t Irish shamrocks in the clover on the verdant hillsides surrounding the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Monday morning, you might believe they were there.

After all, former President Reagan is Irish and one of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s grandfathers was an immigrant from Ireland. And both men were proud of it, as they stood before 500 library donors seated on white lawn chairs in the library courtyard in Simi Valley to hear their addresses at a tribute to Mulroney.

Mulroney and his wife, Mila, wearing an apple-green suit with Chanel pumps and carrying a quilted bag, were straight in from the U.S./Russia Summit in Vancouver. For Reagan and former First Lady Nancy Reagan, in a white wool suit, it seemed a cozy family affair as they joined former Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin on the dais for the addresses and patriotic choruses from the Pepperdine Concert Choir. Gavin’s wife, Connie sat in the front row with Mary Jane and Charlie Wick and Maureen and Michael Reagan, the Reagans’ daughter and son.

First, Gavin introduced Reagan as “a man who changed a nation . . . and based on few regulations and lower taxes, helped create more than 20 million new jobs; a man who rebuilt our military forces; a man who turned back the arms race, who brought down the Berlin Wall (a piece of it stands on the library lawn overlooking the hills), who won the Cold War without firing a shot.”

Then, Reagan, noting that the U. S. and Canada share 3,000 miles of border, praised Mulroney for his role in the 1988 free trade agreement between the two nations and for the historic agreement to curtail acid emissions. Of the world, he noted, “Each day begins in a new revolution that never ends.”

An amiable Mulroney opened, “There hasn’t been a shot fired between our borders in 181 years, and then the Irish did it. We captured Detroit--and we gave it back.” Noting that “Life is on fast-forward,” Mulroney called for major assistance to aid Russia.

Later, the Reagans and Mulroneys lunched in the presidential offices, and the rest of the crowd feasted, at Suzanne Marx’s suggestion, on huge stacks of Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookies before taking in the new “Our Presidents: From Washington to Clinton” exhibit featuring items from all 42 Presidents, including Clinton’s sax, and William Howard Taft’s bathtub.

In the crowd: former Ambassador to Finland Rock Schnabel and his wife, Marna, lawyer Bob Hastings, Erika and Robert Brunson, Erlenne and Dr. Norman Sprague and John J. Midgley.

AT THE RANCHO: Going the opposite direction--south--all those who hadn’t made the Texas Two-Step party hosted by John and Joan Hotchkis and Preston and Maurine Hotchkis last October at their family homestead, Rancho Los Alamitos (originally part of the large Spanish land grant Rancho Los Alamitos), were invited for lunch.

First they toured the beautifully restored adobe ranch house (circa 1800), the gardens, barns and blacksmith shop. Then they lunched on the lawn under twin 100-year-old Moreton Bay fig trees.

The rancho was acquired in 1881 by John Bixby, the great-grandfather of John, Pres and their actress sister Joan Hotchkis (who also toured guests). It remained a working ranch until the end of World War II. Dedicated to the City of Long Beach in 1968, it’s now an historic landmark.

John Hotchkis entertained the crowd with tales of taking the Red Car from downtown as a boy with his pal, Tad Williamson, who attended the luncheon with his wife, Cici. More wishing they might have lived a few days in the quiet of an earlier era: Clarice and Ed Ellis, Dan Ridder, Hal and Eunice David, Russell and Jeanne Smith, Dan and Pat Tellep and Dody and Otis Booth.

THE TOPS: The top events have been inside too. The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation/UCLA is boasting a magnificent $700,000 gross from its Saturday gala under the chandeliers of the Century Plaza ballroom. Sophisticated jazz stylist Al Jarreau was a drawing card, and the night honored Dr. Jean B. deKernion with the Jonsson Prize for Research and Harvey Kibel with the Lifetime Achievement Award. But, as any charity will tell you, you can’t do it without those dedicated chairmen--Sheldon Appel, Helene Brown, Patrick W. Collins and Allan Jonas . . . .

And, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Decorative Arts Council turned museum treasures into an April Fool’s Treasure Hunt last week with Janet O’Neil at the helm. In anticipation, everyone cocktailed and dined. Next, lists identifying 30 treasures were distributed, and everyone scurried through the galleries to match list descriptions. Winner: Monique Stephansen, who gets the first prize, a trip to London.

DECKED OUT: Ladies put on their Chanels--suits, quilted bags, two-toned pumps, faux jewelry, lapel camellias and Chanel bows--if they had them, for the Costume Council’s Chanel show in the Bing Theater of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Monday afternoon. Chanel’s executive director of public relations Arlette Thebault narrated a film and slides. A highlight was the announcement of the donation of a complete Chanel outfit to the museum’s Department of Costumes and Textiles collection.

The day was special for long-time Angeleno Caroline Eshman Liebig. She was in the audience of more than 500. The black Chanel dress she bought in Paris the summer before she went to college and the beige lace dress that was part of her trousseau in 1925 were chosen for display by event chairman Mary Beth Brundage.

Council president Jane Ackerman, a lady who adores tea food, presided over the tea that followed and the modeling of Karl Lagerfeld’s current House of Chanel creations.

Observing, and trading Chanel anecdotes, were Clarice Ellis, Betsy Link, Jane Halgren, Catherine Kiek, Kaye Spilker, Eileen Zimmerman, Michelle Roth, Marilyn Rudman, Eleanor Colt, Francie Brody and Gloria Renwick.