Wassermans Honored

From the Ahmansons to the Ziffrens, L.A.’s A-list was out in force for the first gala benefit exclusively for the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. The event last weekend honored one of the entertainment industry’s royal clans, the Edie and Lew Wasserman family.

The tribute was in recognition of the family’s $5-million contribution to the Edie and Lew Wasserman Eye Research Center planned at the institute. The Wassermans’ ties to Stein and UCLA go back a long way.

Patriarch Wasserman, 87, joined Jules Stein’s Music Corp. of America in 1936 in New York, and three years later moved to Los Angeles to head its new motion picture division. Wasserman, who still goes to the office every day, has been a member of the Stein institute’s board of trustees since 1977.

Even before that, he was a big supporter of UCLA. “Edie and Lew personify the American dream,” said UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale. “Growing up in the Depression, college wasn’t affordable for them, so they went to work. By providing 100 annual scholarships to promising undergraduate students at UCLA in perpetuity, their commitment to education is unparalleled.”

The fund-raiser, staged under the stars on the East Terrace of UCLA’s Stein Plaza, was underwritten by the Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation. Suzanne Pleshette and Jamie Lee Curtis (Wasserman’s goddaughter) emceed the tribute, which was attended by more than 400 guests. The event raised more than $500,000 for the building of the $35-million facility.

In the crowd: the Oppenheimer family and the Wassermans’ daughter, Lynn; grandchildren Carol Ann Leif, Casey Wasserman and his new bride, Laura; Dr. Bartly Mondino, Dr. Brad Straatsma and his wife, Ruth; Dr. Leonard Apt, Betsy Bloomingdale, Norman Corwin, Harriet and Armand Deutsch, Jennifer and Royce Diener, Jane and Ron Olson, Jack Valenti, Marion and John Anderson, Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham, Gayle Wilson, Marion Jorgensen, Brindell and Milton Gottlieb, Juli and Herb Hutner, Hope and Lee Warner, and Annette and Peter O’Malley.

-- Patt Diroll

Tribute to Mom

Lorna Luft not only packed them in at the seventh annual Roosters Foundation benefit, but also had the crowd choking back tears following an emotion-packed musical tribute to her mother, super-legend Judy Garland.

More than 500 attended the gala at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach that netted $100,000. Proceeds will go to seven Orange County charities.

Each year, the Roosters, a group of 100 Orange County businessmen, “hosts a benefit for children’s charities that don’t have the resources to organize large fund-raisers on their own,” said Craig Boardman, event co-chairman with John Browning.

Beneficiaries were the All American Boys Chorus, Canyon Acres Children’s Services, Disabled Sports USA, Devil Pups, Southern California Children’s Chorus, PADRE Foundation of CHOC and the Kinship Center.

Accompanied by a 19-piece orchestra, Luft sang, reminisced and, thanks to musical wizardry, performed duets with Garland in her Broadway-style show, “Songs My Mother Taught Me.”

“People ask, ‘Why [this show] now?”’ Luft told the crowd at last weekend’s benefit. “I guess the answer is that it took me this long to feel comfortable with the overwhelming legacy that my mother left to me and to all of us.”

Also on the scene: Deana Martin with her husband, John Griffeth; comedian Tom Dreesen; Roosters President Ned Van Rensselaer; Greg Bates; Joann Leatherby and Doug Davidson.

-- Ann Conway

Art Out of the Box

Art Out of the Box, the inaugural fund-raiser sponsored by the Southern California chapter of Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, netted $58,000 from the sale of cigar boxes. But the lively bidding wasn’t for pricey panatelas. The empty boxes had been sent to 75 prominent artists to be transformed into works of art for a silent auction, held in the gardens of Priscilla and Gary Hoecker’s Pasadena estate last weekend.

Among the participating artists were Peter Adams, Kim Abeles, Martha Alf, Ralph Bacerra, Margaret Caldwell, Brad Durham, Jud Fine, Llyn Foulkes, Gifford Myers, Helen Pashgian, Shana and Robert Parke Harrison, Martin Puryear, Joel-Peter Witkin, R. Kenton Nelson and LaMonte Westmoreland. Archbishop Desmond and Leah Tutu served as honorary chairpersons. Patron chairs were Elsie and John Sadler and Mary and George Regas.

Alliance president Bill Rankin, who helped establish the group last year with physicians at UC San Francisco Health Center, was a special guest. “There are 15,000 new infections every day worldwide, and most are in Africa. It’s an unprecedented catastrophe, and it’s only the beginning. That’s why we’re partnering with religious groups because they tend to get to the remote rural areas where the infection rate is rising the fastest.”

Kitty Dillavou, Marie Magrdchian and Cynthia Jones co-chaired the benefit committee.

-- P.D.

Premiere Art Event

Paintings by actress Jane Seymour and pop artist Steve Kaufman, once an assistant to Andy Warhol, were among the works displayed at the Academy of Fine Art Foundation’s inaugural benefit at the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point. Hundreds of guests crammed a hotel courtyard to view artworks that included an oil by Seymour depicting a favorite blue vase filled with flowers, and neon-colored figurative images by Kaufman of Frank Sinatra, Beethoven and Mozart.

Proceeds of about $100,000 will be distributed among the foundation, the Pacific Symphony, the Art Institute of Southern California and the Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim.

Also among guests at last weekend’s event: Trung and Candyce Nguyen; Ginny and Gene Carano; Steve and Diane Gordon; Sharon and Michael Tu; Christine and Chuck Le; Randy Slavin; Van and Keith Callaway; Monique and Julio Flores; and Alex Lovi.

-- A.C.

Paseo Pasadena

For a few magical minutes in Pasadena last weekend, all seemed right with the world. A shower of paper rose petals fell on the huge crowd gathered in the moonlight Friday night for a free concert celebrating the opening of Pasadena’s new Paseo Colorado, which replaces the old Plaza Pasadena. Conductor Jorge Mester gave the downbeat to the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, and American flags fluttered in the breeze as attendees sang “God Bless America” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

To raise funds, Pasadena-area charities sold cards that entitled holders to discounts at Paseo stores during the fete.

-- P.D.