Ella Award

Placido Domingo didn’t have to sing a note at the Society of Singers’ 11th annual Ella Awards Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. As guest of honor, he was in front of the footlights as singers from every musical genre paid tribute to the tenor’s stellar career.

The award, named for Ella Fitzgerald, its first recipient in 1989, recognizes an artist whose achievements in the music world are matched by dedication to community and humanitarian causes. Domingo, who serves as artistic director of both the L.A. and Washington, D.C., operas, is the first opera singer to be so honored. Past awardees have included Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra.

Domingo, whose past laurels include Kennedy Center Honors and the French Legion of Honor, described this one as personally significant “because so many talented singers have not been as lucky in their lives as I have. They have given so much; then their circumstances change and in the end they have so little. It is a beautiful thing to help them.”

The event raised $500,000 for the Society of Singers, which has provided scholarships and aid for needy professional singers since its founding by Ginny Mancini in 1984. Among those who have benefited is basso James Butler, who has been aided since suffering two strokes two years ago. Butler, who came from New York to perform at the event, is now studying to become a signer for the deaf.

Others offering musical tributes included Patti Austin, Kristin Chenoweth, Nnenna Freelon, Rodney Gilfry, Julia Migenes, New York police officer Daniel Rodriguez and the Society of Singers choir, which backed the stars on “It’s a Grand Night for Singing,” the evening’s finale. Emcees for the May 30 event were Florence Henderson and Garry Marshall; Mancini, Jeanne Hazard and Marc R. Staenberg co-chaired the event.

--Patt Diroll

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L.A. Alive

More than 600 guests turned out for “L.A. Alive,” a black-tie dinner and auction that netted $1.3 million for the Music Center’s Fund for the Performing Arts. This year’s extravaganza was staged June 1 in an enormous tent at the home of Anne and Geoff Palmer, a historic Beverly Hills estate built in 1913.

Joy Fein, Carolyn Miller and Carol Weller chaired the gala committee, which planned the biennial fund-raiser. Wallis Annenberg and Charles Miller served as honorary chairmen.

Fein and her crew have fine-tuned the silent auction over the years. “We take pride in our quality,” said Fein. “And sometimes it requires diplomacy.” If Aunt Beulah offers her hand-crocheted antimacassars, Fein and her clever crew will package them with something else that is very appealing. “We would never hurt anyone’s feelings,” she said.

Andrea Van de Kamp, chairman of the Music Center, emceed the evening, which featured a dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck and a live auction conducted by Sotheby’s Richard Wolf.

Three couples were honored for their contributions to the Music Center: Sherry Lansing and William Friedkin, Mary and Norman Pattiz, and Maria Hummer and Bob Tuttle.

Among those in the crowd: Joanna and Sydney Poitier, Nancy and Richard Riordan, Alice Huang and David Baltimore, Lonnie Anderson, Evelyn and Mo Ostin, Ariana Huffington, Judith and Steven Krantz, Jane and Robert Pisano, Lili and Richard Zanuck, C.Y. Lee, Janis and Howard Berman, Edye and Eli Broad, Ginny and John Cushman, and Alyce Williamson--who had the winning bid on Shaquille O’Neal’s autographed Laker jersey, which she wore home.

--P.D.

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Tony Awards West

“Wow, wow, wow, fellas. Look at the old girl now, fellas,” ever-avuncular Walter Cronkite said in a line stolen from “Hello, Dolly!” as he presented the Julie Harris Lifetime Achievement Award to his longtime friend Carol Channing. The award was presented on behalf of the Hollywood theatrical community at last Sunday’s West Coast Tony Awards party. More than 300 attended the sixth annual event, which raised $100,000 to benefit Aid for AIDS and the Actors’ Fund of America. This year’s dinner and live telecast was staged at the Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood, not far from the Las Palmas Theater, where Channing first bloomed as the “gladiola girl” in “Lend an Ear” in 1945.

Surrounded by old friends (including Cynthia Corley and Al Checco, her co-stars in “Lend an Ear”; Jerry Herman, composer of “Hello, Dolly!”; and event emcee Jo Anne Worley--Channing’s onetime standby as Dolly), Channing, 82, said: “I’m the happiest person in the world tonight. Four years ago, I received the Tony for lifetime achievement, but this award means more to me than anything because this is where my career began.”

Event co-chairs were Ted Abenheim, J. Alexander Strautman and David Westberg. Also in the crowd: David Michaels, Gretchen Wyler, Karen Morrow, David Huddleston, Katherine and Fayard Nicholas, Bruce Vilanch, Keene Curtis, Betty Weston, Dale Olson, Ariane Shovers, Jomarie Ward, Henry Polic, Kevin Spirtas, Stuart Damon, Jason Graae and designers Jerry Skeels and Randy McLaughlin.

--P.D.

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Art of Dining

Celebrating his work as artist and teacher, supporters of the Orange County Museum of Art honored John Baldessari at the 15th annual Art of Dining benefit, which netted $450,000 for the facility’s exhibitions and education programs.

The Los Angeles artist is “known as one of the fathers of conceptual art,” museum curator and acting director Elizabeth Armstrong told more than 400 guests attending the gala in a tented pavilion near the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. “His art has been a paragon of current ideas and sensibilities since the ‘60s--and he has been a highly influential teacher and mentor to several generations of artists.”

Baldessari praised the Newport Beach-based museum’s current exhibit, “2002 California Biennial,” and told the crowd that its support of the visual arts enriched the community.

Philanthropist Henry T. Segerstrom, founding chairman of the performing arts center and chairman of the National Business Committee for the Arts, was also honored at the $1,000-per-ticket dinner on June 1 that featured a champagne reception and entertainment by vocalist Diane Schuur.

As lights played on the pavilion walls, guests dined on rack of lamb at tables spread with Egyptian cotton and set with square stone chargers and gleaming stainless steel cutlery. Artworks by sculptor Guy Ferrer and glassblower Caleb Siemon were used as centerpieces. “We wanted our event to have a cutting edge,” said Joan Riach, gala co-chairwoman with Diane Coon and Erin Trunel.

Guests included Al Milano, Darrel and Marsha Anderson, Chuck and Twyla Martin, Gil and Victoria LeVasseur Jr., and Paul and Daranne Folino.

--Ann Conway

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HomeAid

HomeAid Orange County presented Rainbow of Hope Awards to supporters of shelters for the homeless at a black-tie gala on June 1 that raised $165,000.

Honored during the event at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach were Centex Homes, Morrison & Foerster, Basenian/Lagoni architects and BCI Framing and Drywall. Volunteer Jennifer Henry and Mary’s Shelter, an Orange County haven for homeless pregnant teenage girls, also received awards at the gala chaired by Michelle Pate. Proceeds will be used for HomeAid’s programs to build and renovate shelters.

Since it was founded in 1989 by the Orange County Chapter of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, HomeAid has completed 34 shelters. Eight more are in the works.

--A.C.

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Coming Up

* The Animal Guardian Society hosts Joy & Jazz in the Garden today to benefit Animals in Trouble at a private home in Beverly Hills. Tickets $60. Call (310) 652-6469.

* Liberty Hill Foundation holds its annual Upton Sinclair Dinner on Thursday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Tickets $250-$500. Call (310) 491-1401.

* “Humanitarians Against Hunger” awards dinner sponsored by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County will be held Thursday at the Village Crean, Newport Beach. Tickets $150. Call (714) 771-1343.

* The Petersen Automotive Museum hosts its annual Cars and Stars Gala on Thursday, featuring a preview of the new exhibition, “Million Dollar Cars: The World’s Most Valuable Automobiles.” Tickets $200. Call (323) 964-6366.

* Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Los Angeles County Chapter, hosts its 38th annual patriotic gala, America the Beautiful, honoring Pat Boone on Friday at the Regency Club in Westwood. Tickets $175. Call (310) 472-2675.

* The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach presents its third annual Ocean Conservation Awards Gala on Saturday. Tickets $500. Call (562) 951-1697.

* The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. holds its 32nd annual Beastly Ball on Saturday at the zoo. Tickets $500. Call (323) 644-4792.

* The Los Angeles Maritime Institute stages its 10th annual fund-raising dinner Saturday at the new Banning’s Landing in Wilmington. Tickets $125. Call (310) 833-6055.

* “The Dessert Party,” to benefit L.A. Family Housing’s Valley Shelter for the Homeless, takes place Saturday at Paramount Studios, Hollywood. Tickets $75. Call (310) 234-5334.

* The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Committee of Los Angeles will celebrate the 50-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II with a black-tie ball at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Saturday. Tickets $125. Call (626) 793-3337.

* “Brush Up Your Shakespeare, a Bardway Revue” celebrates the opening of Under the Oaks Theater in Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge on Saturday. Tickets $75. Call (818) 952-4408.

* Murder at the Lighthouse benefit for Pacific Chorale will be held Saturday at the home of Phil and Mary Lyons in Newport Beach. Tickets $200. Call (714) 662-2345.

* The Embassy of Fashion Designers International and Foreign Nations presents its gala to benefit Independent Charities of America at the Park Hyatt Hotel, Century City, on June 16. Tickets $45-$250. Call (310) 967-7788.

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Information for Social Circuits can be directed to Patt Diroll in Los Angeles or Ann Conway in Orange County. Diroll is at pattdiroll@earthlink.net or (213) 237-7144; Conway at ann.conway@latimes.com or (714) 966-5952.