Mondo Party for Midler’s ‘Beyondo’

“Just an ordinary night watching television,” according to HBO Chairman Michael Fuchs at the Wednesday night preview of “Bette Midler’s Mondo Beyondo.”

Not ordinary by ordinary standards: When the hourlong special starring Midler and a handful of avant-garde performance artists premieres March 19, it’s sure to cause a lot of stir.

“It reminds me of prewar Germany, of the Weimar Republic,” Warner Bros. Records veep Bob Merlis quipped, adding to his wife Judy that of course he was too young to remember it.

“I think Dustin Hoffman is going to do another movie in drag, this time as an aging Dixieland musician,” Interview magazine’s Joan Quinn announced as Hoffman sat transfixed before the Dixie Belles, who played for the party.

“That’s what I am going to do when I hit 80,” Kim McCarthy proclaimed as her restaurateur husband Michael reminded friends that one of the show’s performers, the Kipper Kids’ Martin von Haselberg, performed at the McCarthys’ nuptials several years ago.

“Yes,” McCarthy said, “he worked in nothing but a G-string, right after Oingo Boingo performed.”

The crowd loved the show, with Midler as a public-access hostess complete with Italian accent and a lot of double-entendre. In the audience at Palette were performers Paul Zaloom (whose “Eating in America” segment should be required viewing for anyone dining out), Kipper Kid Brian Routh, Von Haselberg (the show’s executive producer and, of course, Midler’s husband), and David Cale.

Producer Garry and Barbara Marshall were on hand (it was their 25th wedding anniversary and her birthday). Marshall is getting ready to shoot Midler in “Beaches.” But isn’t she pregnant? he was asked. “That’s what they say,” was his response. But Barbara Marshall added, “She wears such cute clothes, who cares?”

Hoffman, his wife Lisa (who in bobby socks and tennis shoes looked like a teen-ager) chatted it up with Midler and Von Haselberg. Around them, Los Angeles’ hip underground downed chic pizzas and peppers.

THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE--When socialite-producer Sandra Moss and actress Linda Evans decide to give a party, the stars do come out. That’s for sure March 30, when the duo help their buddy Gale Hayman launch her new “leopard-inspired beauty collection.”

RSVP’d so far--Mary Ann Mobley and Gary Collins, author Judy Krantz, agent Tom Korman, John and Mo Dean (yes, yes, they are still around), jeweler Kenneth Jay Lane, this week’s birthday girl Jane Nathanson and her cable-exec husband Marc Nathanson, state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, Molly Ringwald, art collector Marcia Weisman, Jolene and George Schlatter and Vidal Sassoon. And that’s just the beginning.

BUT DOES HE DANCE?--Kids love Alf, the NBC-TV star. And, if exposed to it, they frequently love ballet. Almost 6,000 kids get the chance to love both on Saturday, when American Ballet Theatre artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alf make a special appearance to a children’s audience at the Shrine. The kids come from 65 public schools, 15 private schools and organizations like the Starlight Foundation, the Girl Scouts, Plaza de la Raza and Vista del Mar Child Care Service. Ben & Jerry’s is providing the post-performance ice cream--and Lilly Tartikoff gets the kudos for putting it all together.

THE BIGGER APPLE--Just like in Manhattan, since a lot of ex-New Yorkers do make their way out here, a bunch of them helped Donna Bojarsky put together the Wednesday night fund-raiser at the Ace Contemporary Gallery for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.).

Turning up for Stage Deli noshes (what else?) were record exec Danny Goldberg, Barbara Corday, former Sen. John Tunney, Charlie Matthau, agent Cary Woods and actress Nancy Allen. Other Moynihan L.A. stops--a lunch with City Atty. Jimmy Hahn and a Motion Picture Assn. president Jack Valenti special at the home of 20th Century Fox’s Barry Diller.

LOCAL HERO--Dr. Joel Weisman, who is credited with his long and dedicated work with people who suffer from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, celebrates his birthday Saturday night. We’re not sure a lot of stars will be at the party--but for everyone concerned about this terrible disease, Weisman is star enough. Happy birthday, Joel.

PASS THE PASTA--Women on Skid Row eat lunch daily at the Downtown Women’s Center. At least, they did until the center was severely damaged in last October’s earthquake, and the lunch had to move into the backyard. On the drawing boards, a new center that will begin construction in May. The cost: $400,000.

To help pay for it, a bunch of the DWC’s friends, like Marco Weiss (Joan is president of the DWC board), accountant Neil Baizer, the Music Center’s Carmine Marinelli and The Founders’ Dieter Jacoby and executives Lee Warner and Phil Koen cooked up a storm Tuesday night at Casa Italiana in Chinatown. It was a family-style evening, with the great feeling sprinkled like Parmesan.

With the help of friends like attorney Neil Papiano and Sharon Thralls, Peggy Parker and Walter Grauman, florist David Jones (who donated the fabulous tulip and tomato centerpieces), the Civic Angels (who underwrote the cost of the hall and helped with the silent auction) and the very civic-minded Arthur Anderson, the evening raised more than $130,000.