Celebrities, Celebrations and a New Social Order

The new year is already shaping up to be a social blockbuster.

Leaders of the Orange County Performing Arts Center are negotiating with Luciano Pavarotti to perform at the center’s 10th anniversary gala in the fall.

Sure to be the highlight of the ’96 social season, the celebration for hundreds of art supporters is expected to feature a concert by the beloved tenor in Segerstrom Hall.

Also at the top of the society set’s dance card: the gala opening of the IMAX 3-D theater at Irvine Spectrum. Guests at the March event will watch portions of “Wings of Courage” and “Into the Deep” on a six-story screen.

On Jan. 18, Gen. Colin Powell will speak at The Pond in Anaheim as part of Cal State Fullerton’s largest single fund-raising event yet.

But wait--New Year’s Day is also time for remembering.

Anyone who reads the society pages knows that ’95 was the year of The Celebrity Appearance. In a climate of belt-tightening brought on by the Orange County bankruptcy, fund-raisers relied on celebs to help keep the money rolling in.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher lit up an October benefit for the Jewish National Fund, movie actress Anjelica Huston turned heads at a May dinner for the Newport Harbor Art Museum, talk-show host Geraldo Rivera blasted O.J. Simpson at a October benefit for the Nicole Brown Simpson Foundation, and TV personality Kathy Lee Gifford schmoozed with Pacific Symphony buffs at a June reception.

Not to mention Johnny Mathis, Tommy Tune, Cecilia Bartoli, Janet Leigh, James Levine, Robin Leach, Yo-Yo Ma, Oleg Cassini, David Cassidy, Petula Clark, Dana Carvey, Art Buchwald, Billy Crystal, Dominick Dunne and Cindy Costner, who all appeared at benefits for local nonprofit organizations.

Some of the year’s highlights:

* In one of the most poignant speeches to hit a charity dinner, Thatcher spoke of the 20th century at the benefit that honored real estate visionaries Henry Segerstrom and Michael L. Meyer: “This has been a century where everyone should have made great leaps forth,” she told hundreds of guests. “Instead, it has spawned the worst two tyrannies the world has ever known--Nazism and Communism.

“These came at a time when science had put much greater power and material into the hands of men. During this century, 36 million have lost lives in battle . . . under totalitarian regimes, 119 million were murdered--95 million of which were murdered under Communist regimes.”

* Rivera stood on a platform and shook his fist when he spoke of O.J. Simpson--acquitted in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman--at a benefit for the Nicole Brown Simpson Foundation: “One of the reasons I am here is because someone got away with murder recently, and I am very angry about it.

“We rejoice that this naughty little secret [domestic abuse] is becoming public knowledge. We are going to confront this monster. We will defeat this monster.”

* Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda and his wife, Jo, knew how to make big bucks for their Tommy Lasorda Jr. Foundation: Honor Billy Crystal, charge $500 a couple and throw the bash in October at the newly reopened Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. The petal-pink Crystal ballroom was socked-in with celebrities--Jay Leno, Tony Bennett, Rob Reiner, Steve Garvey, Loni Anderson, Naomi Judd and Milton Berle, to name a few.

Crystal got one of the night’s biggest laughs with this quip: “It’s really great to be back at the amazing Beverly Hills Hotel, with its refurbishment and renovation. It was apparently done by the people who did Cher.”

The Lasordas, who live in Fullerton, hope to build a Yorba Linda sports recreation facility in honor of their son Spunky, who died in 1991.

* He may be a local celebrity, but Orange County’s only billionaire, Donald Bren, made a rare public appearance in November at the benefit opening of the $50-million Spectrum Entertainment Center in Irvine: “This is a form of destination resort for those in search of a smile,” Bren said, “a place that demands you leave your cares in the parking lot.”

* Nationally syndicated columnist Art Buchwald was a guest at a private dinner preceding the world premiere of “Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio”--a musical ode to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. Said Buchwald, during the May wine reception for Pacific Symphony supporters: “The thing that impresses me here in Orange County is the fantastic civic pride you people have. The first thing people ask when you arrive is, ‘How do you like Orange County?’

“In the past, I’ve told them it’s OK and noticed disappointment on their faces. So this trip . . . I told the hotel manager it was the greatest place in America.”

His reply: “You wouldn’t say that if you lived here.”

* Cindy Costner, former Fullerton resident and ex-wife of actor Kevin Costner, mingled with guests at the November opening of Twin Palms restaurant in Newport Beach. A partner in the 425-seat eatery, Costner was happy to be back “on familiar ground,” she said. “But it’s not like I’m a returning hero or anything.”

Some might disagree.

* Kimberly Eastwood, 24, daughter of actor Clint Eastwood, was a guest at the Newport Beach premiere of “The Bridges of Madison County” in June. “Dad loved working with Meryl Streep,” said the aspiring actress. “He told me she was very professional--she would arrive at the set prepared and ready to go. That’s what he likes.”

Also on the scene was Helen Weaver of Costa Mesa. Weaver not only lived in Madison County, Iowa, where the movie--and book by James Waller--takes place, but was born in the house believed used by the author as a backdrop for the affair between Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid.

“Thank goodness it was a nice movie,” Weaver said. “People in my old hometown [Winterset] are a little worried that it might make Madison County look bad.”

* Broadway supernova Tommy Tune got a taste of Tinseltown in June when he attended a Planet Hollywood bash in Santa Ana. Arriving by limo after his performance in “Stage Door Charley” at Segerstrom Hall, the winner of nine Tony Awards was presented with a black leather jacket embellished with the restaurant’s logo.

“Is it a big one?” asked the 6-foot, 6-inch singer-dancer-choreographer. It was. “This is just too cool,” he said. “This is my first visit to a Planet Hollywood.”

* Barbara Cochran Berry said accepting a ride home by Johnnie Cochran more than 30 years ago turned out to be the bumpiest trip of her life. The author of “Life After Johnnie Cochran”--an account of how she survived her abusive marriage to the captain of O.J. Simpson’s “dream team”--Berry spoke candidly to about 200 guests at the Balboa Bay Club in November.

“I was at UCLA and I needed a ride,” she said. “Johnnie offered to take me home. If I’d known then what I know now, I would have walked.”

At the same luncheon, psychotherapist Susan Forward, author of “Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them,” said the best thing a woman can give herself is emotional independence.

“We all need the ability to navigate the waters of our lives, know we can manage whatever life throws at us. As long as you are fused to somebody, you can’t really love.”

* She sang for two hours in Segerstrom Hall. Signed autographs for nearly two more. Then internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli attended a midnight supper in the Tustin home of arts philanthropist Mark Johnson.

During the festivities, Fritz Westerhout, president of the Orange County Philharmonic Society, toasted the Italian diva: “What is it you say about Mozart?” he asked her. “That, when you listen to him, you feel like you’ve been in heaven for a few minutes? Well, that is how we feel about your performance, like we have been in heaven.”

And how was your year?