RSVP / THE SOCIAL CITY : MOCA Honors Anthology of Claes Oldenburg’s Art

Holmby Hills pines rustled as Museum of Contemporary Art trustee Audrey Irmas and her attorney husband, Sydney, joined by MOCA director Richard Koshalek, hosted cocktails and dinner for 200 to celebrate the MOCA exhibition, “Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology.” Everyone wanted to rub elbows with Oldenburg and art historian Coosje Van Bruggen, also an honoree. This begins a year of Director’s Forum benefits and events.

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Elegance in Reflection: The bride and bridegroom, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Lee Burry (the former Caroline Lee DeWitt)--both lawyers--flew off to Tahiti for their honeymoon. The mother of the bride and her husband, Geneva and Chuck Thornton, were off to cruise the inland passages of Alaska on their ship, along with their guests--Gordon and Liz Anderson of Dallas, and Eileen and Bill Zimmerman, and Don and Marilyn Henriksen. All need a rest after the recent wedding gala in San Marino.

Vows were solemnized under a floral arch in the front garden of the Thornton manor house. (For years the English estate was the home of the late Lady Ruth Crocker.) Then guests walked over plump dichondra grass and stones to the reflecting pool behind the estate to wish the couple well. Everyone was superbly reflected as they greeted the newlyweds. Then there was yet another expedition--down the sidewalk to the Thornton guest house for a seated reception on the tennis court and late-night dancing on the white dance floor.

Among 200 guests were Warren Williamson (his mother was Lady Crocker and he had come from the $750,000 Hollywood Park Gold Cup held earlier) and wife Alyce, Fred and Kathleen Allen, John and Dee Maechling, John and Tempe Brooks, Diana Collins and Michael Hecht, and Dan and Joni Baker.

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Save the Date: Los Angeles Area Friends of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say save the date for their dinner and reception Sept. 21 at the Doubletree Hotel, Pasadena. It honors Dr. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, Nobel laureate and president of the Salk Institute. Walter Eckhart, professor of molecular biology, will speak on the institute.

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Black-Tie: J. Howard Edgerton, founding president of the Children’s Bureau of Southern California Foundation and retired chairman of the board of California Federal Savings, will be paid tribute Wednesday at cocktails and dinner in the newly restored Beverly Hills Hotel.

Edgerton will be honored for his financial support of the agency’s child-abuse and neglect-prevention treatment programs. Under his leadership, more than $3 million was raised to purchase the new Los Angeles headquarters. Also, Edgerton is founding chairman of the foundation.

Mary Lou Hicks is benefit chairwoman and president of the League for Children, co-founded by Millie O’Green and Lois Linkletter. The honorary dinner committee includes Marion Jorgensen, Susan O’Connell, Flora Thornton, Carolyn Ahmanson, Virginia Ramo and Julie Hutner. Tickets are $250.

Art Linkletter will be master of ceremonies. Roger Williams will entertain on the piano.

More than 5,000 children and parents received direct services last year from the bureau.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

* The Fashion Circle of the Costume Council of Los Angeles County Museum of Art plans to launch the council’s Ruby Anniversary Celebration Aug. 16 with the opening of “Adrian: The Couture Years.” A tea at the Wolford Boutique in Beverly Hills, hosted by Wolford Vice President Betty Leonard, served to announce that Tony Duquette will be a special guest and Katherine Offehauser will be co-chairwoman. Adrian is widely recognized for his dramatic costume designs promoted exclusively by MGM in many classic films.

* Noted philanthropist Iris Cantor is passionate about women’s health. For years she has dreamed of creating a comprehensive women’s primary health-care center. The dream unfolds July 22 when she opens the UCLA Women’s Health Center. It will integrate research, education and health care and will adjoin the Iris Cantor Center for Breast Imaging, which she founded in 1986.

* World-class equestrians gathered in Aspen last weekend to raise funds for the 1996 14-member U.S. Olympic equestrian team and help kick off the Aspen summer social season. More than 100 riders competed at Les Cordbeaux Farms in “Aspen Festival Dressage,” organized by Barbara McElnea.

The Concours d’Elegance, judged by Indy 500 competitor Janet Guthrie, consumed part of the weekend. Chanel, Hermes and Champagne Veuve Clicquot were all generous, and celebrities Jill St. John, Robert Wagner, and Diandra and Michael Douglas gave support.

* Kudos to Bruce A. Meyer, named car collector of the year by the City of Hope and Le Cercle Concours. Meyer has been a passionate collector for 30 years. He founded Checkered Flag 200, a support group for the new Petersen Automotive Museum, for which he serves as a trustee.

* Close friends and relatives joined Anne and Sol Stern of Santa Monica to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a garden party in the home of their daughter, Joan Stern.

* Keeping Up: Lucille Kerhulas, outgoing chairman of Encore (the group of past presidents of Los Angeles Philharmonic Affiliates Committees), hosted a luncheon for new and old board members. . . . Long Beach Museum of Art presented its second annual “Beaux Arts Bash” fund-raiser last month. . . . Eleanor Vallee kicked off the summer series of Woodbury University’s “President’s Barbecues” at her Mountaingate home. . . . The Shakespeare Festival/L.A. opens its traveling production July 22 in the Japanese Gardens on the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration grounds. It will continue its 10-year tradition of hosting public concerts requiring food donations for admission. Vons will match the donations two-to-one, and the food will go to the Salvation Army Family Feeding Program.