Celebrating 84 Years and 60 Million Bucks

We’re not talking about a couple of million. That alone would be wonderful. But what City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute will be celebrating at the hospital’s 84th anniversary party Monday evening at the Beverly Hilton very possibly will be more than $60 million to be used to combat cancer, diabetes and HIV / AIDS.

Former President Bush will keynote the gala. In the audience will be 1,200 men and women representing some 400 supporting chapters in 32 states who are attending a three-day convention. Izzy Freeman is convention chairman. Iris Rothstein is co-chair. National Goodwill Ambassador Norm Crosby will be on the program, as well as City of Hope Chairman Gil N. Schwartzberg and President / CEO Dr. Charles M. Balch.

Monday evening Charlton Heston will deliver a reading of “The 13 Articles of Faith,” which expresses City of Hope’s humanitarian philosophy. It’s read at every convention. Florence Henderson will perform.

This weekend delegates have been touring the 102-acre, 100-building campus of City of Hope in Duarte to see doctors and research scientists in their working environment.

Tonight the convention will engage in a “roll call of the nation,” hosted by Crosby, in which the support groups announce their fund-raising achievements.

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Musical Notes: Ginny Mancini and her family must be ecstatic. After a two-year labor of love, the Henry Mancini Institute at California State University, Long Beach will celebrate its inaugural July 27 to Aug. 23 with prominent musicians and new commissions.

August will be filled with concerts by the Henry Mancini Institute ensembles.

Mancini believed in nurturing young musicians with hands-on training from professionals. So, funds raised will go for full scholarships to the institute.

Among contributors, in addition to the Mancini family, are John C. Hall Jr., the Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds, Sandra Krause and the Lloyd E. Rigler / Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.

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Chefs on Safari: More than 20 chefs from top restaurants in Long Beach will stir up the cuisine today at the Long Beach Youth Home Boosters’ 17th annual “Festival of Chefs” fund-raiser from 4 to 7 p.m. on the grounds of the Long Beach Youth Home.

Dianne and Langdon Parrill will be recognized for their support of the home. Wells Fargo Bank will receive the corporate award. Delores Morgan will be named Volunteer of the Year.

The Boosters are headed by Larry Horwitz. Earl Shea is vice president.

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Gala: Eight hundred and eighty turned out on July 13 for California Spirit XIII to see Julia Child honored at Ron Burkle’s Green Acres Estate in Beverly Hills. The sold-out gourmet gala benefits the American Cancer Society.

Wolfgang Puck, his wife, Barbara Lazaroff, and Sherry Lansing hosted with their usual elegance and the help of event co-chairs Susan Leider and Murray Sommer.

The “dining al fresco” affair featuring dozens of restaurants and live and silent auctions brought out garden party attire and produced a gross of $460,000. Among those in the crowd: Sumner and Phyllis Redstone and William Friedkin.

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Midas Touches: Hillsides Home for Children in Pasadena has received a $600,000 challenge grant from the Weingart Foundation, said Donald P. Clark, Hillsides campaign chairman. Hillsides will not actually receive the challenge grant until the goal of its $7.6-million “Change the Life of a Child” campaign is met in February 1998. But, the momentum is on; $5 million has been raised already for the home’s services to abused children. . . . The 15th annual Rock ‘n’ Charity Celebration hosted by T.J. Martell Foundation and Neil Bogart Memorial Fund on June 28 raised more than $300,000 for cancer, leukemia and AIDS research. . . . ARIA!, the new young professionals’ support group for L.A. Opera, boasts $25,000 and 300 in attendance at its first benefit on July 12..

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The Match: The Glen Holden Family Foundation offered to match up to $40,000 raised at the 14th annual Golden Mallet Invitational Polo Tournament held July 12 in Carpinteria, and the Assistance League of Southern California Pre-School Auxiliary met the challenge. Results show $50,000 from the gourmet luncheon and polo match at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club. More than 300 guests put on their sunbonnets to watch the Gehache team outsmart the Union Bank of Switzerland team.

Funds will go for a play group project at the league’s preschool.

In the group were the six co-chairwomen--Eva Elkins, Gloria Holden, Patricia Petro, Geannie Holden Sheller, Beverly Thrall and Maria Moriarity. Others stretching to watch the polo were Ed and Yvonne Cazier, Cathy and Jack Wilmore, and Holden with his wife, Gloria.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

Friends of Hannah Kully of San Marino celebrated her PhD in sociology from UCLA with a June 26 al fresco party hosted by Susan Arcaris, Katherine Harrington and Maureen Carlson.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers Family Fashion Show on Saturday will mix fashion and baseball at the House of Blues. Brett Butler and Eric Karros are sports chairmen. They’ll slip out of their Dodger blues to model runway fashions to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Colleen Kirk, volunteer chairwoman, says CF is the No. 1 genetic killer in America with more than 30,000 affected children and young adults.

* Kudos to Marie Koenig and Sofia Adamson, each named a “Distinguished Citizen” at the Boy Scouts of America luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington on June 26 . . . to Nancy Mishkin, hosting a sumptuous tea for 120 at the Southern California Council of the National Museum of Women in the Arts garden party on June 25.