Mandela Shows His Talent as a Celebrity Fund-Raiser : Diplomacy: On visit to L.A., the South African black leader charms and disarms local powerbrokers.

Nelson Mandela on Friday glided through an array of wildly contrasting public images in Los Angeles that seemed to sum up the many things he has become to the world.

As befits a celebrity, he stayed at the elegant Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel and, at his request, met Friday afternoon with pop superstar Michael Jackson, who brought along another Hollywood icon, Elizabeth Taylor.

As a political activist and the leading anti-apartheid figure in South Africa, he spent a couple of hours in a modest, fluorescent-lit basement in a church in the Mid-City area, talking about his country with a couple hundred black religious leaders.

Two Los Angeles powerbrokers have figured largely in the itinerary of his two-day stay--Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who represents some of the city’s poorest residents, and multimillionaire Peter Guber, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, who was host of a dinner for Mandela Friday night.

But whether Mandela has been fulfilling the role of celebrity, human rights figure or the politician whose once-outlawed African National Congress party now stands close to gaining power, he has never veered from his main role here: fund-raiser.

Although his grace and deftness as a speaker are well known, Mandela also revealed a disarming talent for coaxing money out of people. Mandela began his day with a news conference at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, making a statement and taking questions from reporters. Security officers--Mandela is guarded by State Department agents--had scoured the room and a bomb-detecting dog had sniffed all the paraphernalia brought by reporters.

Asked how he would feel about running South Africa, he demurred in true political fashion. “The important thing is that the ANC will be in power,” he said. “It is possible when the ANC takes over the country, they will say, ‘You’re 75, we want you to be the night watchman,’ ” said Mandela, who is 74. “I will say, ‘That is fine.’ ”

Reporters were eager to know what he thought of the riots last year, but Mandela stayed away from judgments: “I’m not very conversant with ethnic problems in this country,” he said. “I have confidence in the leadership of the United States of America--black and white.”

But when pressed, he said: “There had been riots in the history of the United States . . . but I really was taken by surprise. Societies will always have problems, some expected, some unexpected.”

After the formal question-and-answer period, Mandela chatted with the press.

“Hello, Peter,” he said, approaching white South African reporter Peter Fabricius, whom he knows. “Are you a U.S. citizen now?” Fabricius, a former political correspondent in Johannesburg now stationed in Washington, said later that he was not an American citizen. “He must have been joking,” Fabricius said.

When Mandela was asked if he would attempt the casual tour of South-Central that he almost took Thursday, he sighed and said, “I don’t know. I am really in their hands,” referring to his entourage.

When the news conference broke up, Mandela went to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Mid-City area of Los Angeles, where police had cordoned off the block.

Inside the internationally known church, sculptor Tina Allen presented Mandela with a bronze statue she had made, church member Iris Martin presented a doll to “my king” and a few hundred people applauded him.

Mandela smiled as a gospel singer launched into a dramatic rendition of “Precious Lord.” Waters exhorted the crowd to “get on your feet and welcome the greatest man who ever lived--Nelson Mandela.”

Mandela told the clergy in the room how important missionaries had been in educating black South Africans, including himself. “Were it not for the churches, I would not be here today,” he said.

Then Mandela the ANC fund-raiser emerged, putting on the squeeze so kindly but firmly that few in the audience balked. He said money is needed to help improve the the country’s housing, literacy and health. But mostly, he said, funds are needed to finance the ANC’s drive for government power.

“As you know, you don’t win elections simply because you are popular,” he said. “You win because you have the resources to bring the vote out.”

He proceeded to tell his audience about the “tremendous amount of support” he had received in other U.S. cities, concluding: “We are here now in the famous city of Los Angeles and we are sure you are going to raise expectations.”

He then added, “We expect you to bring your checks so that we can write the amounts.” The remark brought laughs and applause. “If we are allowed to sign the checks, we will be very reasonable, indeed.”

He closed by saying that “what you do here is being watched by everybody in our country. They will be looking at your faces. . . . And I have also scrutinized your faces.” The audience seemed charmed to have been painted into this corner.

With that, the gathering turned into a free-wheeling affair.

First AME staffer Mark Whitlock strode to the podium to take advantage of the crowd. “Those ministers willing to join in and raise $100,000, please stand up!”

There were a dozen or so who stood proudly. Then Bishop E. Lynn Brown of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church boomed into the microphone: “I want you to know that this humble servant of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church has already given $20,000!”

Actually, that money was collected nationally from Christian Methodist Episcopal churches--the ninth district of which Brown represents. (“That’s preacherspeak,” First AME’s Cecil Murray chuckled later. “When he says, ‘I’ he means ‘we.’ ”)

With the stakes too high for some, Whitlock headed down to more affordable amounts. “We would like those who could to write a check for $1,000,” he implored.

“Don’t be bashful,” added Waters, who then commandeered the microphone. “Is there anyone else who wants to make a sacrifice?” She zeroed in on someone. “Rev. Flowers?” she called out on the microphone.

“I don’t have my checkbook, but I will write a check,” Kenneth Flowers, pastor of Messiah Baptist Church, answered. He later explained that he was already going to have his church pledge at least $1,000. “Sometimes in the black community, you have to put people on the spot like that,” Flowers said of the strategy. “We do believe that freedom is not something that is free, basically. You have to pay for it.”

About two hours after Mandela had arrived at First AME, he was off again, back to the Regent Beverly Wilshire for a 45-minute meeting with Jackson and Taylor.

The trio met in one of the hotel’s most elegant suites--far more palatial than Mandela’s accommodations at the hotel. He briefed them on the political situation in South Africa and invited them to visit.

Afterward, it was time for everyone to act like fans: Mandela and Jackson--in a red jacket with a black armband bearing a gold star--posed for pictures with Mandela’s young grandchild, his two daughters and their husbands.

Mandela capped his day with a dinner for 200 hosted by Guber. Mandela’s limousine ferried him to the executive entrance of the lot in Culver City, carrying him past a piece of Hollywood history, the imposing stone edifice of the Thalberg building.

Mandela greeted guests in the Thalberg Garden, shaking hands with Barbra Streisand, choreographer-director Debbie Allen and her husband, former basketball star Norm Nixon; Danny Glover, Sidney Potier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mario Van Peebles, author Alice Walker and the hip-hop group, Take Six, among others.

He spent an hour posing for photographs with the guests. All that was before guests were greeted in a receiving line by Guber, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and former Mayor Tom Bradley. They dined outside.

Mandela commended the entertainment community for its activism on AIDS issues, civil rights and the anti-apartheid movement. He also said their work gave them a special advantage. “Artists penetrate areas that can’t be reached by politicians,” he said.

And not forgetting that this audience included some of the wealthier individuals in town, he said: “I have no doubt you’re going to give me your checkbooks to write out what I need.”

Mandela is scheduled to leave Los Angeles early today for Indianapolis.