A Season Ends, a Season of Giving Begins
Los Angeles is alive--with the sound of music and orchestras, the sound of theater, the sound of parties, parties, parties and benefits galore. Let the summer heat pass, and the social city departs the cool sands of the beaches and the nippy evenings of mountain heights throughout the West to concentrate on the fall season and its fund-raising odysseys.
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Barbara Davis: The city’s fund-raiser par excellence has been prepping for her 12th Carousel of Hope gala to fight diabetes Oct. 25 at the Beverly Hilton, but we’ll tell you more about that next week.
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Influential Gardens: Robert and Beverly Cohen host a celebration brunch Sept. 29 at their Newport Beach home to honor sponsors, patrons and friends of the next Los Angeles Garden Show, scheduled for Oct. 23-27 at the Arboretum in Arcadia. More than 40,000 are expected to attend the show. An opening night twinkles on the horizon. The theme: “Gardens of Our World: The European Influence.”
Southern California’s most outstanding landscape designers, nurseries and growers will build showy gardenettes, table scapes and a Royal Rose Gallery presenting tributes to European celebrities who have had roses named in their honor. A collection of crystal vases, floral decorated hats, seminars, marketplaces of plants and garden items, plus a Harvest Hill area concentrating on vegetable gardens, plus a cooking pavilion demonstrating the latest trends and products related to herbal cuisine, are planned.
Guiding the greening are Veva McKee, Richard Grant, Carol McVay, Robert Smaus, Helen Stathatos, Jerry Stathatos, Gayle Anderson, Ginger Barnard, Renee Hanson and Monty Lindsey.
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Fantasia Veneziana: Stephen F. Keller, until recently chairman of Santa Anita Operating Co., was in the spotlight at Methodist Hospital Foundation’s black tie “Fantasia Veneziana” Crystal Ball last week at the Biltmore, praised for his community contributions. Wife Sallie and daughter Sarah, a securities attorney at Sheppard and Mullin, beamed pride. So did Jan and Bill Clayton, Janice and Bob Carpenter and Maureen and Phil Robinson.
Ann McFarland and Charlotte Streng chaired the ball.
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Space Heroes: We all remember “One Giant Leap for Mankind.” A number of America’s space heroes have accepted for the “One Giant Leap” gala Sept. 20 at Santa Monica’s Museum of Flying. It will benefit Airventure, the museum’s interactive learning center.
Stepping out for this mission will be Buzz Aldrin, Guion “Guy” Bluford, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Gordon Cooper, Jim Lovell, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Kathy Sullivan. Tickets start at $250 and soar to $1,000.
Actor / comedian Phil Hartman will be master of ceremonies and “Apollo 13” star Tom Hanks will present “significant firsts” awards. Science-fiction author and visionary Ray Bradbury will be keynoter. DC 3 Restaurant adjacent to the museum complex will cater dinner. Omega has been commissioned to make a Speedmaster watch identical to those worn on every NASA mission since Gemini 3 and it will be auctioned.
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Christopher and Joan: Christopher Reeve is expected to fly in Saturday for “An Evening Under the Stars,” which he and Joan Irvine Smith will host at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The affair benefits the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine.
Both Reeve and his wife, Dana, will speak. Renee Bondi will perform, co-chairs David and Laura Dukes say.
The affair precedes “A Day at the Oaks International” luncheon next Sunday at the Oaks Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park in San Juan Capistrano. Reeve will receive the Research Medal. The stellar $50 000 Oaks International Grand Prix begins at 2 p.m. Sure to be watching the exciting jumps: Russell and Carol Penniman, James and Madeline Swinden, Anita Ziebe, Bob and Peggy (Goldwater) Clay.
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Passion for Paris: Nearly 50 Angelenos will join the Los Angeles Philharmonic Paris Patron Tour this month. And Paris will treat them regally as the orchestra takes up a four-week residence at the Theatre du Chatelet.
They’ll breakfast with our orchestra members and receive private tours of Cite de la Musique and the private Hermes Museum. Whilst supporting the performances with Philharmonic Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and French conductor Pierre Boulez, they’ll be prominent at the opera “The Rake’s Progress,” a new production staged by Peter Sellars and conducted by Salonen.
More on the agenda: A custom tour of the Louvre, a full-day Cordon Bleu workshop, a trip to Giverny and Monet’s house, a gala at the restaurant Le Grand Colbert, and a wine-tasting at Bistro du Sommelier. Pasadenans Warner and Carol Henry will entertain a small group for lunch at their Paris apartment.
Among fortunate travelers: Robert (he heads the symphony board) and Linda Attiyeh, Robert and Jo Kroger, Bob Egelston, Veronica Pastel, Bernie and Lenore Greenberg, Ginny and John Cushman, William Allison, Richard and Jan Colburn, Jan Corey, Jennifer and Royce Diener, John and Joan Hotchkis, Donna and Joseph LaBonte, Elise Mudd Marvin, Henry Keck, Suzanne Marx and Gerald Turbow.
Elsewhere on the Social Circuit
C. Michael Armstrong, chairman and CEO, Hughes Electronics Corp., and Mike R. Bowlin, chairman and CEO, Arco, have joined the World Affairs Council as vice chairmen.
* Nancy H. Evans, immediate past president of the Assn. of Junior Leagues International, will address the Los Angeles Junior League on Tuesday evening at the Pacific Design Center.
* Kudos to UCLA. Its record $190.8 million in private gifts and grants during the ‘95-’96 fiscal year is the highest annual gift total ever achieved by a UC campus.
* Philanthropist Rosemary Raitt, co-chair of Pepperdine University’s $300-million “Challenged to Lead” campaign, has given $1 million.
* Mary Lou Loper’s column is published Sundays.
