Time to Open the Date Book (and Checkbook)

From a fund-raiser that will have attendees feeling as if they’re dining in outer space to tributes to a former U.S. president and a world-renown conservationist, Orange County’s charity scene will be filled with premier events this year.

Never a county to shirk its responsibility toward nonprofit organizations, the benefits will be staged by thousands of volunteers who give countless hours to their favorite charities.

So mark those date books and prepare to celebrate a good cause.

* In a gala inspired by the movies “Star Wars” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Opera Pacific will stage an intergalactic extravaganza for the hundreds who attend its 18th annual ball on Feb. 3.

Guests will sip libations at a bar inhabited by space aliens--a nod to the George Lucas classic--and be serenaded with music that includes the majestic “Also Sprach Zarathustra” theme by Richard Strauss featured in Stanley Kubrick’s prophetic blockbuster.

Also on the agenda at the gala to be staged in a tent at Irvine Spectrum: an alien abduction--of a “performing soprano,” say insiders--and an emcee whose voice will imitate HAL, the paranoid computer featured in “2001.” Not to mention the after-hours bash for an additional 300 people--mostly young professionals--who are being invited to rock into the wee hours.

“It’s going to be the biggest social event we’ve ever had,” said Martin Hubbard, executive director of the Santa Ana-based opera company.

Dress code? Futuristic black-tie.

* On the same night as the Opera Pacific gala, animal conservationist Jane Goodall, founder of an institute in Maryland that seeks to provide ongoing support for field research on wild chimpanzees, will be recognized by Cal State Fullerton at its annual Front & Center gala at the Pond in Anaheim.

Also featured at the benefit: Whoopi Goldberg, who will perform a comedy routine and participate in a conversation with veteran journalist Walter Cronkite.

“Cronkite likes the conversation format. He doesn’t like set speeches,” said event organizer Larry Zucker. “Whoopi will be all over the place, and that’s what Cronkite wants. He wants it to be light and funny.”

Goodall will receive the university’s Front & Center Award--inaugurated last year when it was presented to actor John Lithgow--for her work on behalf of animal rights. “We want to honor people who have made a national or international mark--a difference,” Zucker said.

* Former President Gerald R. Ford will receive Chapman University’s Global Citizen Medal for his service to the world during the Cold War era at its annual, on-campus Global Citizen’s gala on Feb. 24. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Chapman University Center for Cold War Studies.

Ford will also be featured at a “Heal the Nation”-themed symposium focusing on his administration Jan. 23-24 at the university.

* Modern American master Robert Rauschenberg will be the guest of honor at the Orange County Museum of Art’s annual Art of Dining gala on May 6 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach. Rauschenberg, whose ‘50s collages are considered an important bridge between Abstract Expressionism and pop art, will create a limited edition of art works for the event, which will be sold to benefit the museum.

The $1,000-a-ticket gala, one of Orange County’s top dining experiences, will showcase gourmet fare whipped up by chefs from the Four Seasons hotels in Asia, including Singapore and Thailand. Decor for the culinary event is being underwritten by Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island Newport Beach.

* Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli will dine with patrons of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County after her performance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Feb. 26.

* The Chinese American League of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra will showcase fashions by St. John at its annual gala on March 10 at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach.

* A style show will be staged by the Guilds support group of the Orange County Performing Arts Center on March 14 at the Four Seasons Hotel featuring fashions by Ferragamo that will be shown only in Orange County, Milan and New York.

* The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana will sponsor a Wild West barbecue on July 7 tied into an upcoming exhibit, “Remington/Russell and the Language of Western Art.” “The exhibit will feature 100 paintings and bronzes,” said museum President Peter Keller.

* South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa will launch the ground-breaking of its new theater complex at a major event in early September. The exact date is to be determined.

Off to Washington

Orange County philanthropic leaders, including George and Judie Argyros, Mark and Barbara Johnson and Ron and Sandy Simon (who hosted a $25,000-per-couple fund-raiser for candidate George W. Bush at their Harbor Island home in September), plan to attend inauguration festivities in Washington for the new president later this month.

Activities include an afternoon presidential inaugural opening celebration and a candlelight dinner on Jan. 18 and the Inaugural Ball on Jan. 20.

The trip to the Capitol will mark the fourth time the Argyroses have attended a presidential inauguration. “We were there for Nixon, Reagan and Bush,” said George Argyros, chairman of Victory 2000, the California GOP’s campaign and finance effort. “You find yourself celebrating with a cast of thousands. It’s a time when you get a sense of what the cabinet is going to do and meet with people who are going to be in the administration.”

Argyros, founding chairman of the Nixon Center in Washington, doubts he’ll be able to spend private time with the President, “but you never know in these situations,” he said.

It will be the first time the Johnsons have attended an inauguration. “We’ll be attending four black-tie events in a row,” said Mark Johnson. “This is very exciting for us--a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

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Ann Conway can be reached at (714) 966-5952 or by e-mail at https://ann.conway@latimes.com.