Who? Where? It’s All in the Season-Ending Society Trivia

Stifle that yakking Furby. Stash those 3-D puzzles of Mt. Rushmore and Cinderella’s castle.

They can wait.

Time to play Society Trivia, that end-of-the-season multiple-choice quiz that tests your social IQ.

If you score 100%, consider yourself a social maven. You know where the action is.

If you score zip--well, be grateful that furry little friend has come into your life.

Now, think:

1. When internationally acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma dined with arts patrons at a November benefit for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, he surprised guests by: (a) resting his cello on his lap; (b) wearing Levi’s; (c) showing up late; (d) slipping into a server’s jacket and pouring wine for guests.

2. After being honored at an opera ball in November, Opera Pacific founder David DiChiera--now general director of the Michigan Opera Theatre--told guests: (a) Orange County is a cultural wasteland; (b) Orange County is a cultural paradise; (c) he’d been commissioned to compose an opera; (d) he loved Ice-T.

3. When arts philanthropist Henry Segerstrom spoke at an Orange County Performing Arts Center reception in November honoring donors to the center of $50,000 or more, he said: (a) “I think the most neglected words in the English language are ‘Thank you.’; (b) “Can you double that?”; (c) “Can you triple that?”; (d) “Make it $1 million!”

4. The actress who won a lifetime achievement award from Ogden Entertainment at the grand opening of Tinseltown Studios in Anaheim in November was: (a) Cher; (b) Pamela Anderson Lee; (c) Claire Trevor Bren; (d) Lauren Bacall.

5. Louise Taper, wife of Los Angeles arts philanthropist Mark Taper, was fretful when she attended an October lunch for the Centre Group Affiliates at Pinot Provence in Costa Mesa. Her concern: (a) Her husband had dropped a bundle at an auction of jewelry worn by Mary Todd Lincoln; (b) the frog legs Provencal would be rubbery; (c) she was seated next to the kitchen; (d) she wouldn’t have time to cruise Chanel.

6. Missing from an October reception that honored members of the Pacific Symphony was: (a) music; (b) arts patrons; (c) light (due to a power outage); (d) the hosts.

7. After 17 years of staging a benefit fashion show at the Disneyland Hotel featuring neighbors as models, the Huntington Harbour Cancer League raised eyebrows in October when they showcased: (a) Las Vegas female impersonators; (b) a poodle act; (c) Ferrante and Teicher; (d) CEOs as models.

8. Gov. Pete Wilson told guests at the grand opening of the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana in October: (a) “I already know what the bed of nails feels like”; (b) “I liked physics so well, I took it twice”; (c) “You said the cube would be here”; (d) “Where are the stuffed Democrats?”

9. Waiters at South Coast Repertory’s alfresco 30th anniversary dinner in September not only served the food and beverages, they had to: (a) repeatedly swab the dew-covered chairs and dance floor; (b) sing “Be Our Guest!”; (c) loan guests their coats; (d) donate their tips.

10. Interior designer Kaki Hockersmith of Arkansas was a VIP guest at the Capistrano Antiques & Garden Show in June. Hockersmith is famous for her design work at: (a) Windsor Palace; (b) billionaire Donald Bren’s Newport Beach pad; (c) the Oval Office; (d) Mission San Juan Capistrano.

11. Social success isn’t based on a person’s material possessions, manners expert Letitia Baldridge--once Jacqueline Kennedy’s chief of staff--revealed during a June interview. What’s more important, she said, was a person’s: (a) warmth and kindness; (b) contacts; (c) education; (d) spokesperson.

12. When the American Cancer Society staged a volunteer recruitment party in May at the Center Club in Costa Mesa for its upcoming Cattle Baron’s Ball, guests were shocked to find: (a) pigs on the patio; (b) horses in the breezeway; (c) bales of hay in the dining room; (d) body organs on display.

13. When Orange County philanthropists John and Donna Crean celebrated 50 years of marriage with a party at the Hyatt Regency Irvine in May, he gave her: (a) a yacht named Committed to You; (b) a 21-carat diamond ring; (c) a trip around the world; (d) a lecture.

14. Actress Mia Farrow talked about Sinatra, Soon-Yi and survival when she spoke in March at a benefit luncheon in Newport Beach for the Big Canyon/Spyglass Committee of the Philharmonic Society. After her divorce from Sinatra, she said, there was one thing she absolutely refused to take from him: (a) an apology; (b) one penny; (c) his collection of Barry Manilow CDs; (d) any lip.

15. Former President George Bush in February addressed supporters of the Volunteer Center of Orange County and the Washington-based Points of Light Foundation during a dinner at the Disneyland Hotel. He surprised guests when he said he was suffering from: (a) a spastic colon; (b) “Somewhat of an identity crisis--I used to be called the president of the United States and now I’m either the father of the governor of Texas or the husband of Barbara Bush”; (c) gout; (d) torn cartilage from his 1997 parachute jump.

16. When legendary newsman Walter Cronkite spoke at a Front & Center benefit for Cal State Fullerton at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim in February, he told the crowd he was disappointed that he never got to: (a) go into space; (b) meet the queen of England; (c) appear on “Love Boat”; (d) cruise on a Republican’s yacht.

17. When Janice Johnson of Laguna Beach arrived at a White House dinner on the January day the Monica Lewinsky story broke, she never dreamed she would be seated next to: (a) Madeleine Albright; (b) James Brolin; (c) Sam Donaldson; (d) President Clinton.

Answers

1. d; 2. c; 3. a; 4. c; 5. a; 6. a; 7. a; 8. b; 9. a; 10. c; 11. a; 12. a,b,c,d; 13. b; 14. b; 15. b; 16. a; 17. d.