Good Fun, Good Food, Good Cause

The Scleroderma Research Foundation bills its annual fund-raising gala as “Cool Comedy, Hot Cuisine.” This year, with Lily Tomlin performing and the City restaurant catering, they went the gourmet route.

The event Sunday at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel was the sixth time out for the fund-raiser. Past performers include Robin Williams and Rosie O’Donnell, so snagging Tomlin was in a high-standard tradition.

Before the dinner, the comedian said she was unsure about working in a ballroom. She thought after-dinner comedy worked best for stand-ups telling jokes, not for someone who creates mood and ambience. “I was going to do my interpretation of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ ” she joked. “But now I’m not sure.”

After a few observations (“Another thing about Hollywood, I worry about my spiritual growth. Can I be Zen and narcissistic at the same time?”), she went for her strong point--her characters.

There was Mrs. Beasley, the uptight Middle-American housewife who once went through a car wash to test a hair spray and thinks “sexual freedom means freedom from having sex.”

Madame Lupe, the world’s oldest beauty consultant, chants into mirrors, “Line, lines, so reprehensible, go visit Victoria Principal.”

And of course, there was the control-mad phone operator Ernestine, who is still recovering from the breakup of her beloved company into “Ma Bell, Pa Bell, Aunt Bell, Cousin Bell, Clara Bell, Baby Bell, Cow Bell, Door Bell, Lulu Bell, Ding Dong Bell, Hell’s Bells--you might as well go to work for Taco Bell.”

Tomlin’s 40-minute performance was as well-received as the dinner, prepared by City’s Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, of salmon on bagel chips, puree of wild mushroom soup and chicken stuffed with vegetable mousse.

Because all the food was donated, the event raised more than $200,000. Most of the receipts came from ticket sales, though a sizable percentage came from a live auction of trips donated by American Airlines and gift items from Duty Free Shops West.

Among the 475 who dined were Dana Delany, Diane Keaton, James Woods, Jamaal Wilkes, director Harold Ramis, author Bob Waterman, Rosanna Arquette, John Candy, Mary Kay Place, Melanie Mayron, Ed Begley Jr., Marilu Henner and emcee Bob Saget.

Though great food and laughs were at the center of the evening, foundation founder Sharon Monsky said what the evening was really about was “a renewed commitment from a tremendous group of people in Southern California who are putting us on a fast track to a cure.”