CHARITY SCORECARD

The Neil Bogart Memorial Fund raised $2 million at its “Bogart Confidential: The Case of the Missing Cure” gala Nov. 14 at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar. The 950 or so guests wore wide-lapel jackets, fedoras, wingtip shoes, satin, velvet and Veronica Lake hairdos for the film noir-themed event, which benefits efforts to treat and cure children’s cancer, leukemia and AIDS. Tower Records & Video founder and owner Russ Solomon was honored with the fund’s Children’s Choice Award. Among the guests were last year’s winner of the award, David Foster, and his wife, Linda Thompson Foster, and Kari and Dick Clark. Dennis Miller emceed the evening, which included performances by Marilu Henner, Brian McKnight, Michael Feinstein, singing group All for One and swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. The Bogart labs, at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, developed the first combination therapy for children with AIDS.

* Representatives of large corporate finance firms in Los Angeles gathered Nov. 16 to honor four of their own and to raise money for the Neighborhood Youth Assn. About $240,000 was raised, and 300 attended the dinner at Loews Santa Monica Hotel. Honorees were: Richard Crowell, president and managing general partner of Aurora Capital Partners; John Danhanki, partner of Leonard Green & Partners; Paul Haaga, executive vice president and director of Capital Research and Management Co.; and James Montgomery, president and chief executive of CEA Montgomery. They were honored for their commitment to youth education. The event was chaired by Jim Hunt, president and chief executive of SunAmerica Finance Corp. and vice president of the Neighborhood Youth Assn.’s board of trustees. Barry Munitz of the J. Paul Getty Trust was keynote speaker. Neighborhood Youth Assn. provides after-school education programs and child care in Mar Vista and Venice.

* Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs was honored Nov. 14 by the Hacienda Heights chapter of the City of Hope at its 35th annual fashion show and boutique, As Time Goes By. Tiegs is national spokeswoman for the Walk of Hope, an annual walk held in October to fight breast cancer. About 600 people attended the event at the Regal Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Lucinda Meade of Couture produced the event. Fashions were from Ann Taylor, Casual Corner, Devon Becke, Mondi, Darlyn Designs, Robinsons-May, Structure, Northern Reflections and Edith Designs. Late Hollywood fashion designer Edith Head produced the Hacienda Heights chapter’s first fashion show fund-raiser in 1963. The $25,000 raised will be contributed to the City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute in Duarte to help fight cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

* Barry Manilow headlined the Cardiac Arrhythmias & Research Education Foundation’s Nov. 17 benefit at the Beverly Hilton. More than 700 guests attended and raised more than $200,000 for the foundation, which supports medical research to find a cure for arrhythmias affecting thousands of children and young adults. CBS Entertainment President Les Moonves presented the Heart of a Child Award to “Chicago Hope” executive producers John Tinker and Bill D’Elia. They produced a segment on long QT syndrome, a genetic heart rhythm disorder. The show resulted in thousands of calls to the foundation’s hotline requesting information and physician referrals. The evening, hosted by NBC’s Dr. Bruce Hensel, was attended by several “Chicago Hope” cast members and industry supporters including Christine Lahti, Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber, Jayne Brook, Christina Ferrare and Tony Thomopolous, and David E. Kelley.

* About 50 Los Angeles police officers, county lifeguards, and city and county firefighters battled it out on a softball diamond at West Hollywood Park on Nov. 15. They raised more than $5,000 for L.A. Shanti, which provides services for people affected by HIV / AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. About 200 supporters came out to watch “The Battle of the Heroes,” including West Hollywood Mayor Steve Martin, comic and volunteer Alison Arngrim (she played Nellie Oleson on “Little House on the Prairie”), athletic models from the 1999 Firefighter Authentic Heroes calendar, the West Hollywood Cheerleaders (men in drag), the players’ families, and L.A. Shanti staff and board members. The event was underwritten by the Athletic Club and Sports Medicine Facility in West Hollywood. In the final game of the tournament, the city Fire Department team beat the county Fire Department players 18-15. A post-games party was held at the Athletic Club, where the city firefighters received a trophy.

* The 12th annual Starry, Starry Night held Nov. 15 at the Center Club at the Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa grossed $76,000 for Human Options, a shelter for abused women and children. Irvine Mayor Christina Shea was the honorary chairwoman of the reception and silent auction organized by the Guardian Angels of Human Options. Among the 255 guests was Juditha Brown, mother of the late Nicole Brown Simpson.

Has your group held a charity fund-raiser recently? Let us know about it. We will report on selected local benefit projects and events. Please tell us about your organization and the charity you support, how much you raised, how the charity uses your gift and the details of your event--what, when and where. Send a letter or news release to Charity Scorecard, Southern California Living, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or fax to (213) 237-4888. Submissions must reach us no more than two weeks after the benefit.