RSVP / THE SOCIAL CITY : Greenacres Was the Place to Be
Was the party a raging success because it was called L.A. Alive! with an exclamation point? Maybe. Not likely. Whatever the reason, energy swirled under the white tents at Greenacres, the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills, now home to Ron Burkle. Conversation between women in stunning couture and men in elegant black-tie was at best peripatetic. Party-goers darted from item to item, signing names on 312 silent auction packages of trips, jewels, mailboxes by artists and fine art. As auction chairwoman Joy Fein analyzed it: “People delight in a good buy, a good deal. Bargains make them happy.”
Strolling in Awe: Guests arrived at the Greenacres courtyard, strolled through the red-tiled underworld of the estate, emerged into gardens en route to the big white auction tent. Many had stopped earlier at the bank to withdraw precious jewels to match their new finery. After two hours of hors d’ouevres by Wolfgang Puck and cocktails and bidding (Susie Barker bought five artists’ mailboxes, and Kathleen and Tom McCarty bid heartily on multiple items), guests meandered down a dirt path (skirts hiked) to dinner in another tent scented with lemons by dinner chairwoman Chantal Kilroy.
A Decidedly Midas Touch: There, they dined, listened to New York cabaret entertainer Steve Ross and took Bob Abell’s advice to heart and bid generously on the live auction--Donna Sussman $44,000 on the Lexus LS 400, Sally and Bob Hunt $12,000 on the Silversea Cruises, Ron Burkle and Bob Egleston $8,000 each on Wolfgang Puck’s dinner parties for 25, Bill Keck $6,000 on the “Three Tenors at Dodger Stadium” evening and Category I seats at the final match of the 1994 World Cup.
Chase Mishkin bought the Frank Stella collage, Bob Offenhauser the week in Scotland, Sheldon Sloan the opportunity to conduct the National Anthem at the Hollywood Bowl, Al Berger the African safari, Ed and Nadine Carson the Wimbledon tickets, Shinji Sakai the opportunity to conduct the “Hallelujah Chorus” with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Ric Kayne and R.E. Waldron both won visits to the Wiltshire manor house donated by Christy and Sheldon Gordon. Elise Marvin will be fly-fishing at Tikchik Narrows Lodge in Alaska. The event raised $596,315 for the Music Center.
Looking Pretty: Joni Smith, in Bill Blass blue and white, Lynn Brengel in Escada white pique and pastel taffeta, Helene Irvin in a black and gold bumblebee-like Scaasi, Ann Johnson in Oscar de la Renta black lace, Rosa Maria Buccellati in Ferragamo silk, Marybeth Brundage in Carolina Herrera gray silk.
Looking Suave: Music Center President Shelton g. Stanfill in a houndstooth silk scarf and paisley enameled studs.
All Day, All Night: Party chairwoman Fein (husband Jerome vouched for it) toiled all year, for the past three weeks 21-hours a day with a dauntless committee of 70 including Sandra Ausman, Gail Barrett, Teran Davis, Andrea Van de Kamp, Wendy Posner, Dodie Booth, Clarice Ellis and Joni Smith. Nice work.
Elsewhere on the Social Circuit
* With his wondrous Louisiana accent (“It’s an original”), New York designer Geoffrey Beene appeared in linen and brown sandals to thrill an SRO crowd at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art this week as the Costume Council presented him with its first Award of Excellence. Minutes before, the members had been on the edges of their chairs and on tiptoe in the aisles watching Beene’s fall collection.
Later, everyone sipped tea in the Times-Mirror Atrium. Chairwoman Janet Watts pointed out the philodendron branches in clear vases and the white damask linens and said Beene had specified them for the tea. It was Watts alone, however, who hired Gloria Boccato to cater the impeccably perfect heart-shaped brownies, pecan bars and crab tea sandwiches.
A sophisticated crowd including Donna Wolff and Mary Martin turned folksy to ask Beene for his autograph on the programs. Beene confessed his spring collection will be inspired by Santa Monica, “where I remember seeing my first beach pajamas--and thinking they were rather sassy and fun.” Thinking Beene rather sassy and fun: everyone, including Jane Ackerman, who now relinquishes the Council presidency to Eva Elkins.
* Social Service Auxiliary President Jayne Sullivan and Presentation Ball Chairwoman Patty Burschinger watched with pride as 12 were presented to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, at the Beverly Wilshire. The debutantes: Elizabeth Brewer, Kristin Capalbo, Kathryn Chambers, Denise Hamilton, Erin Joyce, Kirsten Larsen, Courtney Lynch, Anna Ortiz, Hilary Parrish, Jennifer Rohde, Dorothy Shea and Amy Varni.
* Alan Rothenberg, chairman and CEO of the World Cup, and John Martens, vice president, Neiman Marcus, Beverly Hills, hosted cocktails to meet Bora Milutinovic, coach of the U.S. World Cup team.
* God bless us. At Merci L’Amerique (Thank You America), Marcia Israel’s and French Consul General Jean Maurice Ripert’s night at the Beverly Hilton in remembrance of World War II American soldiers, French chanteuse Line Renaud sat at dinner with Gregory and Veronique Peck.
When Renaud sang, she evoked tears and memories the audience didn’t know it had tucked away. After “I’ll Walk Alone” and “I’ll Be Seeing You,” she blew a kiss with “because of you, the lights of Paris are still bright-- merci beaucoup. “
Veterans remembered the 9,036 left behind at Normandy. And tributes came from Art Linkletter, Red Buttons (who introduced himself as “Rouge Baton”), Raoul Aglion, Norm Crosby (who served in the Coast Guard in the Atlantic during the war), the dancing Savoys and impersonator Gordie Brown.
Said comedian Crosby, famous for his malapropisms: “We need nights like this to cleanse us of our impunities .” Man-on-the-moon Buzz Aldrin was there with his wife, Lois, and Angelenos Walter Grauman and Royce Diener wore their Distinguished Flying Crosses.
* Mary Lou Loper’s column is published Sundays.