Saluting NBC and Night Music

Loyola Marymount University headlined its Hal Roach Entertainment Award event last week by honoring the National Broadcasting Co. at the Beverly Hilton.

NBC President and CEO Bob Wright, attending with his wife, Suzanne, accepted for the network. Debbie Lanni, wife of the university trustees chairman Terry Lanni, co-chaired the evening with Doreen McElvany. Loyola President Rev. Thomas P. O’Malley, SJ, and NBC’s Anthony Clark and Fritz Coleman were in on the fun.

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Hear Them Ring: The Southland symphonies have been opening. Last week Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the champagne-laden Los Angeles Philharmonic black-tie opening at the Music Center. The dinner, says Rebecca L. O’Neill of the Junior Philharmonic Committee, will net more than $250,000.

Just two nights earlier, the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra hosted its traditional opening-night gala dinner in the Gold Room of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Dr. John D.F. Tarr was honored for his devotion to the symphony at the party chaired by Barbara Allen and Phil Sotel.

As the concert began, patron Alyce Williamson, in men’s black-tie evening wear, held the baton for the “Star-Spangled Banner,” playfully giving the drums a measured cadence.

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Generosity: The foresight of the late Blanche Ebert Seaver, expressed in trusts created 25 years ago, has culminated in her latest gifts of $51.7 million to Frank R. Seaver College, Pepperdine University’s undergraduate liberal arts college, which is named for her late husband. This brings Seaver’s total beneficence to the college to more than $160 million.

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Approaching: The third annual Colbert Festival in Beverly Hills will be celebrating “La France d’Elegance” from Monday through Saturday. The 75 French luxury companies of the Comite Colbert, an association founded in 1954 to promote French excellence, will be spotlighting their boutiques--Chanel, Celine, Christian Dior, Christofle, Lalique, Louis Vuitton, Van Cleef & Arpels, Saks Fifth Avenue, Town & Country. Comite Colbert will keep the Champagne Louis Roederer, Remy Martin and Eau d’Evian flowing Wednesday evening at a party at Saks on Wilshire.

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Gala Gardens: After opening with a gala Tuesday evening under a tent on the South Lawn of the Arboretum of Los Angeles County in Arcadia, the Los Angeles Garden Show has been in the spotlight with its Royal Rose Gallery, style gardens, crystal collection, designer tablescapes and PlantMarket. It closes today.

Garden Show chairpersons Robert and Beverly Cohen and arboretum foundation advisor Veva McKee planned the promenade of the nine-acre show. Robinsons-May and the Los Angeles Times returned for a second year as presenting sponsors.

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Soiree: When the Pasadena Concours d’Elegance crowd gathered at Dennis and Shelly Lowe’s Italian Renaissance villa for a black-tie dinner, the tent was up and the heaters flaming, but what the mist would do to the priceless motor cars to be shown the next day was worrisome. The next day at the Huntington, Ritz-Carlton, the sun came out, and some 1,000 attended the Pasadena Historical Museum’s inaugural Pasadena Concours d’Elegance. The event has been in formation stages for months, headed by event chairman Jim Hull and museum executive director Jane Irwin Auerbach. Giving support were museum trustee president Tom Nugent and wife Janet, Donna and Dick Cohen, Charles Livingstone, Lynda and Dick Patton and Diane and Hank Elder. Bruce and Raylene Meyer’s 1992 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Roadster took the top “Silver Rose” trophy.

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Kudos: To Gavin S. Herbert, recognized for his lifetime commitment to improvement in the field of ophthalmology at the Doheny Award benefit co-chaired by George L. Argyros and Diane J. Rinker at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.

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Book Fair: The Chandler School Family Associates are picnicking today and staging their 1996 Book Fair, “The Art of Reading,” from noon to 4 p.m. on campus. Storytelling, author signings and book crafts will benefit the school’s libraries.

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Keeping Up: Claremont Graduate School President John D. Maguire, Pamela Mullin and Norman Lear welcomed their new fellow trustee Frank Biondi and his wife, Carol, at a cocktail reception at Mullin’s home.

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Upcoming: Gloria R. Scott, president of Bennett College, Greensboro, N.C., and Crenshaw High School and Lawry’s Foods will be honored at the Delta Sigma Theta sorority dinner Nov. 14, headed by Dr. Eva Grant.

* Mary Lou Loper’s column is published Sundays.