Roy Disney Feted Amid Flowers, Fanfare

Masses of orchids from Thailand and New Zealand added elegance to the National Arts Assn. Orchid Ball on Friday honoring Roy E. Disney, vice chair of the Walt Disney Co.

With fanfare from James D. Hodgson, former Ambassador to Japan, and his wife, Maria, National Arts Assn. president, and from ball co-chairs Betty Hollingsworth and Nancy Ciano, Disney was presented with his portrait, done by artist Robert Jensen.

Funds will go to fine- and performing-arts scholarships and to U.S. State Department diplomatic reception rooms in Washington.

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CONSTITUTIONAL: More than 1,000 lawyers, judges and civic leaders crowded the Century Plaza on Monday night to raise $350,000 at the Constitutional Rights Foundation spring dinner.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, a former Angeleno, focused on the Clinton Administration in his keynote address. He was introduced by newsman Jess Marlow.

Richard M. Rosenberg, Bank of America chairman and CEO, received the prestigious Bill of Rights Award from Kent Kressa.

And Jasmine Hamlet of Compton represented 1,000 students honored at CRF’s annual Law Day on May 1. The students are members of task forces formed after the 1992 riots to search for solutions to conflict. Attorneys Richard Kolodny and James De Meules chaired the dinner.

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STIRRING: “Let’s all leave here today rededicating ourselves to Los Angeles. . . . Start with your own vision. . . . We are at our best when we give, not take.”

A proponent of quality medical and emergency care for the people who live and work in Central Los Angeles, David R. Carpenter, chairman, president and CEO of Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co., was speaking, having just received the California Medical Center Foundation Board’s Humanitarian Award. There were little chocolate Transamerica towers on the dessert plates.

Named Physician Humanitarian was Dr. Keith P. Russell, medical director of the Ob/Gyn Medical Group at California Medical Center and a practicing physician for more than 50 years. He’s delivered more than 6,000 babies, including luncheon chairman Charles Reed’s three daughters. Two of them--Diane Semcken and Kathleen Bonde--were in the audience.

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BLUE RIBBON: By bringing 32,000 fifth-graders to the Music Center each year for its annual Children’s Holiday Festival, the Music Center Blue Ribbon (approaching its very blue ribbon 25th anniversary gala--for members only--May 21) introduces young people to the performing arts.

Festival chairs Beverly Kay and Diane Morton, with assistance from Nadine Carson and Carolbeth Korn, looked out over the masses of children who had been bused in on closing day and then accepted accolades at a luncheon where most Ribboners were still wearing their working aprons.

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OUTRAGEOUS: We can’t begin to describe the hilarious costumes at Weezie Reich’s and Susan Kranwinkle’s annual “tea,” this year with a Royals theme.

Cherry Bianchi as Fergie and Kathy Gillespie as Fergie’s hairy-chested boyfriend turned heads when they made a first stop at Huntington Hospital in tacky swimsuits to cheer up patient Kelsey Hall. Then they went on to join Dianas, a London bird lady, country gents and a Queen Mum in the Kranwinkle garden . . . .

After a sit-down dinner and lots of champagne honoring soon-to-marry attorneys Carolyn Johnson and Scott Hampton, 40 guests got a rollicking surprise (one slid off his chair) at the Bel-Air home of Arletta and Don Tronstein. The pianist struck up “Get Me to the Church on Time,” Tronstein appeared as the bride in a veil, Reese Milner as a bridesmaid with a bouquet of posies, and Tom Tellefsen as the father of the bride in morning coat to sing the lyrics (which they had rehearsed with much coaching from Mary Milner, Debbie Tellefsen and Arletta Tronstein).

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SPRING FROLICS: Five private Westside gardens titillated botanical buffs last Friday at the fifth annual Friends of Robinson Gardens tour. Tourists dropped in on the lavish tea at the Robinson estate where Alice Avery was prominent as honorary chair, and chair Jan Billings and president Lois Howard continued the tradition of garden boutiques . . . .

While the sun set and the barbecues smoked, a casual crowd cocktailed at Baldwin Bonanza, the California Arboretum Foundation’s benefit in Arcadia. Then a committee headed by foundation President Susan Kranwinkle, and including Christy Bakaly, Joan Banning, Marilyn Brumder, Holly Davis, Cornelia Hopfield and Alice Frost Kennedy, coaxed the best out of live auction bidders. Mary and Art Crowe (sitting at Veva and Kingston McKee’s Foxglove Table), picked up one very pretty wrought-iron plant stand for $700, and Bruce and Susan Seidel bid $1,500 for tree surgery.

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PAST PERFECT: Throughout the Westside last week, the Projects Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art tossed tennis balls at mixed-doubles tournaments staged by Sukey Shor. Then, Saturday night, the council tossed a celebratory Monte Carlo casino party chaired by Carol Osher and Pam Smith at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks . . . .

Pepperdine University Associates brought in the political satirists The Capitol Steps for a dinner chaired by Thomas P. Kemp at the Beverly Hilton . . . .

Rick and Catherine Waddell hosted patrons of the Huntington Library’s Arabella Ball, scheduled for June 5th, with cocktails in their San Marino home . . . .

The American Ireland Fund was the big winner at Hollywood Park with Claudia Mirkin and Elaine Lawlor gathering 150. The crowd included Nanci and Corwin Denny, Diane Anderson and Anne and Jimmy Murphy for a benefit in the Turf Club. Next, the fund honors Angela Lansbury at its Heritage Award dinner Nov. 4.