Water Institute Benefit Is Not All Wet

If not for heiress Joan Irvine Smith’s organizing power, her Oaks Classic horse-jumping competition held Sunday in San Juan Capistrano might have been called “A River Runs Through It.”

But the watery aftermath of Saturday’s steady rain had been disguised with green Astro-Turf and shuttles were provided so the fashionably clad guests wouldn’t soil their shoes in the muddy parking area.

“A river was running right through here yesterday,” said a chef whipping up made-to-order omelets in Smith’s lush oak grove at the benefit for the National Water Research Institute.

“We had plenty of water here all right,” said Smith, who helped found the institute two years ago. The institute was established to assist water districts (the Orange County Water District and the Irvine Ranch Water District, among them) by raising funds for research to discover new water sources.

Smith held court in a natural linen flax dress by Hermes, the Paris-based fashion house that creates some of the world’s finest saddles and equestrian wear.

“We hope to have about 1,500 people here and make at least $100,000 today,” Smith said.

And while she was jubilant over the benefit’s success, Smith was missing her mother, Athalie Clarke, who died two weeks ago at age 90. Since the Oaks Classic was launched in 1985, Clarke--Orange County’s First Lady--had been Smith’s co-hostess at the affair.

“She’s still right here helping me,” Smith said. “She’s always been my partner and supporter.

“I believe exactly what I said at her funeral: ‘To live in the hearts of those we love is not to die; my mother would live in the hearts of all she touched forever.’ ” As a salute to her mother, Smith had booklets containing tributes to Athalie Clarke available for party-goers.

When guests weren’t viewing the horse-jumping competitions, they were shopping in the Hermes boutique (the $250 silk twill scarves were made in Lyon, France, “the European capital of the silk industry,” explained Hermes representative Francine Bardot). And they were piling their plates with chili, shrimp, lobster, tacos, filet of beef and made-to-order sundaes or viewing Smith’s California Impressionist art collection set up in a tent-gallery.

Guests included actress Jennifer O’Neill (“Summer of ‘42”) of Malibu. She has also been a model for Cover Girl cosmetics for 30 years, she said. Her next film? “ ‘The Cover Girl Murders,’ for USA Cable. Can you believe it?” she said, laughing.

O’Neill not only rides horses, she owns and shows them. “I have about 30 horses now,” she said. “When I was young, my parents thought my love of horses was a phase I was going through. Now, they know.”

Winner of the $10,000 Junior Amateur Grand Prix was Steve Harris, who rode Jiacomo. Susan Hutchinson won the $50,000 Grand Prix purse aboard High Heels.

Also among guests: Dr. Walter Henry and Maria Carmen del Calvo; Alex and Barbara Bowie; Arvella and Dr. Robert Schuller; Dr. Howard House; and Lillian Fluor with her son, Peter.

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Deborah Voigt at La Scala: She was nervous all right. “But it was so exciting,” said former Placentia resident Deborah Voigt of her May debut at La Scala in Milan, Italy.

“I stood there and thought of all of the opera singers who had stood in the same place and I was in awe,” the soprano said during a recent telephone interview. “Maria Callas and so many others.”

Watching her perform the role of Rezia in “Oberon” by Carl Maria von Weber was her father, Bob Voigt, and stepmother, Lynn. “We got to sit in the king’s box,” Lynn rhapsodized upon her return from Italy. “Bob and I just sat there thinking how many world leaders had sat in the same place. Like Deborah, we were thrilled by the whole adventure.”

When the couple were backstage with Voigt, who has performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with Opera Pacific, the soprano told them the little desk they were looking at had probably belonged to Callas. “And, imagine the people who have taken showers in this little bath where I am taking showers!” Voigt told her parents.

“La Scala was wonderful,” Deborah Voigt said. “The acoustics were fabulous. The red and gold interior beautiful. Every opera singer hopes to sing La Scala. For me, it was a dream fulfilled.”

When will she return to perform at the center in Costa Mesa? “Oh, I’m negotiating some things with Opera Pacific. Hopefully, very soon,” she said.