This Show Came Off Like It Was Old Hat
Vibes are positive for the Los Angeles Antiques Show. “Definitely, it will be held next year,” said Sally Gould Wright, vice president of the Antique Dealers Assn. of California. More than 1,500 attended the glossy Women’s Guild of Cedars-Sinai opening, and the association’s first Los Angeles show last weekend drew 6,000. Better yet, the dealers sold. Sales of $100,000 items were not uncommon.
Said designer Susan Niven, “I think this is better than the San Francisco show.”
First-nighters (including Maria Shriver and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg) juggled wine glasses and Along Came Mary’s hors d’oeuvres, moving between booths and admiring the gold palms Walter Hubert of Silver Birches had borrowed from Santa Anita Park for party chairwomen Mimi Meltzer and Loraine Sinskey. Like dates, big purple eggplants hung from the palms. Northern Trust underwrote $25,000 for the opening night and United Airlines the party.
Dan Stein of San Francisco, a Jackson Street dealer, is credited with pulling off the successful vetted (meaning all goods were authenticated) show of 30 dealers. “The key word is ‘quality.’ ” he said. “This show so far surpasses our dreams,” said Wright, noting that Kathleen Taylor of Mill Valley was instrumental in staging the show.
Among opening night guests were Guild President Beverly Firestein, Luanne Wells, honorary co-chairwomen Jane Eisner and Judy Ovitz, Donna Roth, Ruth and Hutton Wilkinson, Tony Duquette with Ana Roth, Gail Ellis, Marcia Israel, Sydney and Jackie Rosenberg and son Brad, Wallis and Marshall Katz, Lita and Mort Heller of Aspen, Amanda and Phyllis Hennigan, Anne Johnson and daughter Carolyn Hampton (buying Staffordshire), designer Rose Tarlow (who thought the show impressive), Suzanne Marx and Maidee Smith (both considering antique silver baby cups for their new grandchildren). Said Architectural Digest icon Paige Rense, “The buzz is great--great for Los Angeles. I hope there are lots of red dots.”
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Perfect Day: Chairwomen Elizabeth McGovern and Gretchen Ruth of the Friends of Robinson Gardens could not have been more pleased with the sunny day they had for the eighth annual Westside garden tour. More than 1,000--including Friends President Jayne Wilson, Joan Selwyn, Louise Griffith and Carol Inman, lunched under a canopy of white umbrellas. Straw hats were everywhere, Donna Wolff under one. Honorary chairwoman Onnalee Doheny was in the spotlight. So was the Escada fashion show. Five thousand glasses weren’t enough to satisfy the thirsty crowd. Some stuck pieces of ice in their cheeks for refreshment. More having fun--Lotsie Webster (in from Palm Beach), Laura Lee Wood, Marian Hall, Marion Scharffenberger, Linda Vaughn and Fran Hadley.
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Humanitarians: Lorna and Chuck Reed were named “Humanitarians of the Year,” Dr. Keith L. Black was named “Physician Humanitarian” and the late J. Thomas McCarthy was named “Consummate Humanitarian” at the California Hospital Medical Center’s annual luncheon at the Biltmore. Nadine and Ed Carson emceed.
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Midas Touch: The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation / UCLA Epicurean “Evening at Pickfair Estate” raised almost $650,000 for research--all from a limited 175 guests. Roy Doumani, Louis Kwiker and Steve Wallace co-chaired.
Elsewhere on the Social Circuit
National Arts Assn. substituted for its annual Orchid Ball this year, holding instead an “Evening at the Races” at Hollywood Park chaired by Kathleen Verratti and Marilyn Rudley.
* It was a full morning for members of the UCLA / Armand Hammer Art Rental and Sales Gallery and the Southern California Council of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. They honored museum founding president Eunice David at brunch at the Regency Club before a lecture by British art historian Valerie Thornhill. Next was a trek through “Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s ‘The Dinner Party’ “exhibition at the Hammer Museum and comments by Henry Hopkins.
* Not another loss. After 20 years, Foster-Ingersoll, a wonderful place on La Cienega to buy old silver and china, is going out of business, says owner Vanya Foster. Au revoir.
* Kudos to Bruce N. Ames, recipient of the excellence award from the Center for Excellence in Education . . . To Dr. H.J.C. Swan and Dr. William Ganz, cardiologists feted by the Beverly Hills chapter of the American Heart Assn. . . . To Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, recipients of the Liberty Hill Foundation Upton Sinclair Award at the Beverly Hilton . . . To Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, named alumnus of the year at the UCLA Alumni Awards dinner.
* Keeping Up: There was a “M*A*S*H” theme for Mayfield Junior School’s benefit . . . Campbell Hall’s “Bagpiper’s Ball” benefited the hall’s $5-million library / academic center . . . Mount St. Mary’s College held its 70th anniversary gala at Century Plaza and auctioned Doheny treasures . . . The Cancer Group at Glendale Memorial Hospital hosted a “Salute to the Olympics” garden party . . . The Escada benefit reception for Teach for America was held at Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills . . . USC Town and Gown’s President Patricia Fletcher feted her 47-member board at luncheon at her Bel-Air home . . . The Group’s “Swing into Spring” benefit luncheon at the Regency Club was a fund-raiser for Otis College of Art and Design scholarships.
* An overwhelming crowd of 750 gathered for the Junior Opera Project’s first gala. The workshops, the luncheon, the co-chairwomen (Eileen Read, Carlotta Keely and Christy Bakaly) dressed as opera heroines all stimulated the young crowd’s interest in opera. Los Angeles Music Center Opera Board President Richard Seaver’s grandsons, Nicholas and John Seaver, and their cousins Kyle and Nathan Dean practiced stage combat stunts. Sisters Candy and Mandy Miller danced and sang.
* Mary Lou Loper’s column appears on Sundays.