STAGE Tribute

The 18th annual STAGE (Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event) fund-raiser played to sold-out houses for its three performances, paying tribute to one of America’s most prolific and popular lyricists, Johnny Mercer.

“Dream,” the benefit for AIDS projects held last weekend at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the Cal State Los Angeles campus, featured the works of Mercer, who wrote more than 1,000 songs, received 18 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars.

“Mercer knew how to write words for every composer’s style. He could fit in with all of them, which is really a gift,” said last year’s honoree, Jerry Herman, who was in the audience at the Saturday night show along with longtime STAGE benefactors John Bowab, Jacque Mapes, Charles Pollock, Jonathan Kanes and Naomi Caryl. Bowab was awarded the 2002 STAGE Producers Award for his dedication to AIDS-related programs.

Director David Galligan and musical conductor Ron Abel assembled a stellar roster of talent, which performed 34 Mercer classics such as “Dream” (Petula Clark, Rod McKuen and Margaret Whiting), “That Old Black Magic” (Loretta Devine), “Glow Worm” (Betty Garrett) and “Hooray for Hollywood” (Carole Cook). Only a few of the stars had ever met Mercer, who died in L.A. in 1976. Whiting, who serves as president of the Johnny Mercer Foundation, remembered him well. “We’re working very hard to bring back the great ones like Mercer,” she said. “Their music is the history of this country, and most young people have never even heard of them.”

Other performers included Tyne Daly, Linda Purl, Sam Harris, Nancy Dussault, Franc D’Ambrosio, Davis Gaines, Jason Graae, Linda Michele, Sally Struthers, Bill Hutton, Jodi Stevens, Greg Poland and Kevin Chamberlin.

Caryl, Garrett and Michael Kearns co-chaired the event, which netted more than $300,000 to be shared by AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund and Orange County’s Laguna Shanti.

--Patt Diroll

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Salzburg Style

The scene at Amanda and Nick Stonnington’s San Marino home for a dinner honoring the American Friends of the Salzburg Festival could have been right out of the butter-cream world of Emperor Franz Josef.

On the sweeping terrace of the 1925 Wallace Neff mansion, florist Tommy Farmer canopied a transparent tent with swags of greenery and Tivoli lights, and the tables sparkled with silver, napery, St. Louis crystal and Hermes porcelain.

The stars of last Sunday’s Gemutlichkeit were two guys named Wolfgang. The musical menu was mostly Mozart performed by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (accompanied by a neighbor’s pooch, who managed to bark on beat). In the kitchen, chef Wolfgang Puck orchestrated a lavish menu for 130 guests. It included his Trio salad, roasted loin of veal with chanterelles and, for dessert, buttermilk cake with creme fraiche and strawberries.

Dinner reservations for the fete were $1,000, but the price included perks such as travel assistance for the festival, which opens July 27 and continues through August in Salzburg. Benefit chairs were Brigitta Troy and the Stonningtons.

Attendees included Richard Colborn, Jennifer and Royce Diener, Ernest Fleischmann, Joan Hotchkis, Clemens Hells- berg, Anthony Knerr, Tom Blumenthal, Robin Geerts, Thea and Thomas Gottschalk, Betty Freeman, Jane Gray Morrison, Helga Rabi-Stadler, Adelaide Hixon, Colleen and Javier Baz, Alyce Williamson, and Annette and Peter O’Malley.

--P.D.

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St. Jude’s at 40

It’s been 40 years since the late comedian Danny Thomas kept a solemn promise made during his salad days: to erect a shrine to the patron saint of hopeless causes, St. Jude Thaddeus. St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., has grown from a one-building facility into a renowned research center that annually provides free treatment to 4,000 children suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

More than 1,000 guests helped celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Thomas legacy at the Hollywood Gala for St. Jude at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, which raised $1 million for the hospital’s endowment fund. For the first time, Marlo Thomas missed the Hollywood benefit, but her husband, Phil Donahue, co-emceed along with Marlo’s brother and sister, Tony and Terre Thomas. Comedienne Rita Rudner and blues-rocker Melissa Etheridge entertained.

Attendees included Jim Carrey, Daisy Fuentes, John Ritter, Gary Oldman, Jay Thomas, David James Elliott, David Leisure, Dylan McDermott, Jane Kaczmarek, Bradley Whitford, Amber Valetta, Carrie Fisher, Thora Birch, Courteney Cox Arquette and Crystal Bernard.

--P.D.

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Easy Money

Decked out in aviator shades and black leather duds, actor Peter Fonda looked like he’d just hopped off a Harley when he mingled with supporters of the Orange County Performing Arts Center at its Easy Rider Returns-themed gala.

Fonda, who starred in the 1969 biker classic with Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper, told hundreds of guests attending the benefit at the Four Seasons in Newport Beach that fund-raising for the arts significantly affects a community. “When you think of Omaha, Neb., you don’t think of the arts, but it was there in a playhouse supported by the community that my father [Henry] began his career,” he said. “That support helped broaden the minds of its residents.”

Members of the center’s Sound of Music support group--sporting biker-wear silhouettes that ranged from hot pants and cropped jackets to trench coats and neck stoles--dined on filet mignon and crab cakes at tables topped with miniature Harleys.

Patsy Marshall and Diane Palumbo were co-chairwomen of the March 10 gala, which raised about $170,000. Guests also included Sound of Music chairwoman Sally Crockett (a sister-in-law of Fonda’s); Randy Crockett; Arthur Voss; Kelly and John Hague; Harriet and Sandy Sandhu; Kimberly and Ross Feinberg; and Robin Rae and Delvan Lewis.

--Ann Conway

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A ‘Night at the Copa’

Students from the Orange County High School of the Arts performed before a sold-out crowd of 650 guests at the “Night at the Copa” gala in the Hyatt Regency Irvine. Singing and dancing on a stage ringed with plastic pink flamingos, arts students entertained the crowd with polished renditions of “Too Darn Hot” and “The Copacabana.”

Proceeds from the March 10 event, which included a silent auction, were more than $200,000. Sandra McGovern was event chairwoman.

--A.C.

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Art of Living

Art Linkletter was the guest of honor at a benefit for the Newport-Mesa chapter of the Assistance League at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel. The 89-year-old host of “Kids Say the Darndest Things” commended league members for their support of community projects for children.

His secret to longevity? Besides having an exercise regimen, curiosity and a sense of humor, it’s cultivating a positive attitude, he said. “You can’t stop the hardening of the arteries, but you can stop the hardening of the attitudes.” Proceeds from the March 9 luncheon were about $80,000. Kelly Ringer was chairwoman.

--A.C.

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Coming up:

* Merv Griffin and Larry King will be the presenters at the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce’s ball Monday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Tickets: $275. Call (310) 248-1000.

* Neil Sedaka and Monty Hall will headline a benefit for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America on Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Tickets: $250. Call (213) 380-3800.

* The YWCA of Santa Monica/Westside will hold its 25th Women of the Year dinner Thursday at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Tickets: $150. Call (310) 452-3881.

* Stephanie Edwards speaks at a benefit luncheon for Concordia University on Saturday at Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach. Tickets: $50. Call (949) 854-8002, Ext. 1862.

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