A Lavish Night Starring Lavish Generosity
The Carousel of Hope Ball’s reputation as the country’s most sublimely extravagant evening is safe for another two years.
Marvin and Barbara Davis pulled out all the stops Friday to make their biennial fund-raiser for childrens diabetes the most successful--certainly the most star-studded--charity ball in the nation.
“They do it well,” said Quincy Jones. “It’s one thing to be in a position to do it. It’s another to know how to do it.”
The first look at how the Davises do it began at 6:30 p.m. with a 455-item silent auction chaired by daughters Dana and Nancy. The offerings laid out in the Beverly Hilton’s conference rooms included a trip to France’s Bordeaux wine region on a Falcon private jet (minimum bid: $7,500) and a “Schutzhund” German shepherd puppy that was at one point chasing a tennis ball among the guests (a $2,500 starter).
One avid bidder was actress Jennifer Tilly who was wearing a black Herve Leger column gown with a Gilda-type slit. The actress was was eyeing a pair of pearl and diamond earrings valued in the Geo Metro-per-ear price range.
“It’s for a good cause,” said Tilly. “So I can buy jewelry and feel like Mother Teresa.”
When Tilly made the winning bid, she said, “I think I’m going to have to do, like, ‘Home Alone 3’ to pay for this.”
Adjacent to the auction rooms was a smaller reception where photos were taken with guests including former President Gerald Ford and wife Betty, Marcia Clark, Jackie Collins, Joan Collins, Dominick Dunne, Larry King, Don Rickles and a dozen members of the U.S. Olympic team.
It was here that world-class athlete and famous fans found common ground. When the women’s softball team’s Dot Richardson showed her gold medal to Barbara Davis, the hostess told the shortstop, “I have one for shopping.”
From the conference rooms, the 1,300-strong mass of gowned and tuxedoed humanity had to make its way 100 yards to the International Ballroom. Among those trekking past the nine violinists playing “New York, New York,” were Melanie Griffith, Goldie Hawn, Sophia Loren, Natalie Cole, Candice Bergen, Geena Davis and Brooke Shields.
It was quite the movement of satin and silk. “There’s not a gown left in Beverly Hills,” said Nancy Davis. “I walk into stores and they say, ‘You know, your mom should do this more often.’ ”
When the throng was finally seated--no small feat--and before dinner was served, Sidney Poitier introduced Barbara Davis who spoke about recent accomplishments in diabetes research and thanked Ron Perelman, Guess and Merv Griffin for underwriting the dinner. Marvin Davis announced that the evening had raised $6 million. (This included a $2.5 million donation from the Davises.)
George Schlatter, who produced the evening’s program, said the toughest part of his job was “making the show on stage as appealing as the show in the room.” What he referred to were guests ranging from Frank Sinatra to Coolio and including Gregory Peck, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Sylvester Stallone wanting to mingle.
Schlatter’s program began with David Foster at piano and Shanice singing. They were followed by Jay Leno, who got a tremendous response from his routine and ended his act at 10:45 by saying, “It’s the Carousel of Hope and any hope you had of getting out of here by 11 o’clock is gone.”
John Travolta introduced the Bee Gees, who did a three-song set that the audience gave an extremely warm response to. When the actor came back to his seat and was asked the secret of the group’s longevity, he said, “Classics don’t go out of style.”
Penny Marshall came next to present the High Hopes award to Whitney Houston. Houston had been expected to sing but, as Marshall said, “The bad news is Whitney has laryngitis. The good news is I’m not going to sing in her place.”
Houston gave a brief, very soft-spoken speech thanking the Davises for the award and Marshall for not singing. Rod Stewart with an eight-piece band and three back-up singers topped off the evening with a greatest hits set that rocked the room.
The final touch were the three large canvas gift bags given out to the departing guests. It’s safe to say few people in this crowd were accustomed to carrying this much luggage.
Among the burdened were L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, Howard Weitzman, Mark Canton, Bob Daly and Carole Bayer Sager, Fred Rosen, Sid Sheinberg, Brad Krevoy, Anna Benatar, Al Ruddy and Wanda McDaniel and Joe Pantoliano.
Though the evening was lavish, as Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone said “Extravagance for a good cause is acceptable.”
