First Night--and an Anniversary Too

Still with lots of breath after a vigorous opening-night performance, Joffrey Ballet dancers, in a joint whoosh, blew out candles on a tiered cake at the post-performance gala Tuesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The occasion was the Joffrey Ballet LA/NY Absolut 35th anniversary celebration.

First-nighters sang a rousing “Happy Anniversary.” Simultaneously, waiters arrived with dessert--chocolate top hats over vanilla ice cream. On cue, Joe Moshay’s Orchestra broke into “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” The Joffrey dancers hustled into wild, off-stage dance floor shenanigans. Eyes peeled for principal dancer Deborah Dawn.

It was another happy-sad night, with everyone talking about the Joffrey moving out of the Music Center. Artistic director Gerald Arpino was applauded as he moved through the audience, answering over and over: “What goes around, comes around, and we’ll be back.” He added, “We will be in Los Angeles. This is our other home.” Two board members indicated the Wiltern Theatre might be a future venue.

Honorary chairwoman Diane Disney Miller was absent. The two other honorary chairwomen--Patti Skouras and Felisa Vanoff--flanked Arpino at the dinner table. Word was out that Miller has offered major financial support. Ruth Shannon, who recently received the Rotary Club of Los Angeles Distinguished Citizen Award, did a fast whirl on the dance floor with Arpino; she’s a Joffrey donor, too.

In the crowd were the Patron Series gala co-chair trio--Joan Burns, Jane Jelenko (with new husband, Judge William Norris of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals) and Lara Ladd. More: Patricia Kennedy with Prince, Peter and Winnie Schweitzer, Michael and Suzanne Tennenbaum, William and Keith Kieschnick, Mitzi Gaynor and George Christy, Michael Roux of Absolut Vodka, Joan and John Hotchkis, Jaime Brust Perez, Frank and Sally Raab, Doug Cramer and Ames Cushing, and Steve Moses (who hosted a dinner for 50 recently for CNN correspondent Peter Arnett) with his wife Kitty (who had Gayle Wilson for tea Wednesday).

PICTURE PERFECT: “You have made pictures that change the way we see the world,” said John Walsh, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. His was but one of many tributes to artist David Hockney at the National Arts Assn. Orchid Ball at the Beverly Wilshire Friday.

Hockney accepted the small portrait of him by Tony Bennett, as well as the kind words from Stephanie Barron, 20th-Century art curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Henry T. Hopkins, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.

But Hockney admitted that he likes to live privately and that though Los Angeles “deeply satisfies me . . . I hope I don’t have to go out too often.”

Nevertheless, the crowd cooed over the blond Britisher--including National Arts Assn. president Marilyn Rudley with husband Herbert, association founder Florence Malouf, Marion Malouf (the huge sprays of orchids on every table were picked from her gardens), Elizabeth Warde, Arlette Crandall, Trudy and Bob Bogert, Dorothy Dumke and Fred Snell, and Fiorenza Courtright with Tony Arminio.

GATSBY RAGE: Youth has a perpetual love affair with the Gatsby era. Los Angeles Spinsters were flappered and fringed to the hilt for their spring ball, “An Evening at the Gatsby Mansion” Friday at the Beverly Hilton.

President Victoria Eastus gathered a bunch for cocktails by the pool before everyone moved to the ballroom for a Roaring ‘20s affair designed by Margo Wright and Maryellen Mack.

Sarah Pierce with a 2-foot cigarette holder (no cigarette) said “simply divine.” Elana O’Brien was glittered up to match escort Doug Tudor, whose hair was slicked back. Spats and double-breasted suits on Greg Dinneen, Bill Maher and David Strauss complemented fringe on the swinging skirts of Page Bierly, Teri Butler and Lindsay Luke. Charlotte Terzian carried a badminton racket.

Also glitzed up royally: John Hotchkis and Courtney Tunney, Byron and Michelle Roth, Beth Tudor and Tony Hass, Josefa and Bill Buckington, Kathleen McCarthy and Ed Allen, Bridget Gless and Hugh Evans, Susan Babcock and Bill Burroughs, Mary Legallet and Brian Hirt, Ruth Jameson and John Pasqualetto.

BLACK RHINOS: Jimmy and Gloria Stewart invited friends to their Beverly Hills home Friday to honor Michael Werikhe, the 34-year-old factory worker, who, since 1982, has walked more than 5,000 miles through Europe and Africa to raise $4 million to save the black rhinos in his native Kenya. The rhinos have dwindled from 10,000 to 500 in just 15 years.

Werikhe was walking last weekend at the Los Angeles Zoo (“I don’t like walking; it is painful,” he says) and plans to walk 1,500 miles more in 30 American cities to raise at least $2 million more.

“We cannot save them by ourselves,” he gently pleaded to a crowd that included Camron Cooper, Ruth and Tom Jones, Lloyd Levitin, Bruce Nasby, Richard Riordan and Curtis and Priscilla Tamkin. He added, “Africa would be an empty place if wildlife were to become extinct.”

EVES: The Pacific breezes were gentle. White was the popular fashion hue and Mannequins of the Assistance League presented “Afternoon with Eve,” planned by Robin Parsky, Diane Reade, Barbara Gates and Linda Wessen.

Said Joanne Kozberg, accepting her Eve Award for chic savoir-faire in the act of volunteer endeavor, “Wherever the future takes women, I hope they will always know the joys of volunteerism.” Nanette Fabray MacDougall was given a Golden Eve (having been chosen an Eve in previous years). Eves also went to Joan Hotchkis, Mildred O’Green, Joann Koll and Patricia Hickey.

MAJOR: The USC University Hospital dedication celebration next Wednesday hosted by trustees and National Medical Enterprises Inc., is sold out . . . .

PAST PERFECT: Tiffany’s design director John Loring hosted luncheon at Hotel Bel-Air to introduce the Beverly Hills store’s new series of table-setting exhibitions, a tradition in New York for 35 years. June bride-to-be Stephanie Booth launched the first table in honor of the matrimony season. Lunching with Loring were Marcia Israel, Nancy Holmes, Jean (Mrs. William French) Smith and Constance Gavin . . . .

“Calypso Fever” with thatched marketplaces and steel drum bands enhanced education at the benefit for Mayfield Junior School in Pasadena. Pulsing in the tropics were Sallie and Grant Buckle, Nancy and Roy Roberts, Debbie and Terry Lanni, Bob and Loretta Smith, Dottie and Joe Clougherty and Kathleen and Richard Capalbo.