Gayle Wilson Is Honoree of Muses

California’s First Lady Gayle Wilson will be honored as Woman of the Year by the Muses of the California Museum of Science and Industry at a luncheon Wednesday in the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons.

The Muses were ancient Greece’s nine mythological goddesses who were patronesses of learning. Their task was to herald the beauty of the world, the grandeur of literature, the vitality of music and dance, the mystery of science and the glory of history. From a group of nine in 1962, the museum Muses have grown to several hundred women dedicated to science workshop scholarships, a junior science and humanities symposium and research programs for high school sophomores and juniors in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.

On the luncheon committee: Margo Leonetti O’Connell, Margaret Thompson, Janet Fourti, Susan Benedetti, Charlene Chaloner, Audrey Hill, Peggy Moore, Lee Palmer, Ruth Reilly and Reba Roebuck.

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HONORING DR. MURPHY: In honor of Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History will celebrate the opening of its inaugural exhibitions Sept. 25 at a reception on the museum’s second-floor terrace. The exhibitions will include the culture of silver, Guatemalan costume, Peruvian ceramics and African ivory.

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SEPTEMBER SWIRL: September is one of the busiest social months of the year. The Rape Foundation will host its major $225 per person brunch Sept. 20 with the cast of “I’ll Fly Away”--Sam Waterston, Regina Taylor and Kathryn Harrold--at Greenacres, the home of Ted Field in Beverly Hills. The invite comes with the statement: “In Los Angeles County alone, a woman is raped about once every hour. The sexual abuse of children also occurs with alarming frequency.” Funds will be used for treatment and education, primarily at the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center . . . .

Co-chairs Bob Daly, Michael and Jane Eisner, Ted Field, Peter and Lynda Guber, Alan and Cindy Horn, Norman and Lyn Lear, Michael and Judy Ovitz, Robert Redford and Brandon and Lilly Tartikoff are moving right along on the second annual Environmental Media Awards Sept. 23 at Sony Studios in Culver City. Andy Spahn, president of the EMA, says Guess chairman and CEO Georges Marciano and his wife Megan are event chairmen. Michael Seligman will produce. Last year’s event raised more than $500,000 for the group, which provides research for the Hollywood entertainment industry . . . .

Jack Lemmon receives the first Population/Environment Award from the Population Education Committee Sept. 15 at a dinner at the Beverly Hilton. The blue ribbon dinner committee is headed by Robert Wycoff, president of Arco, actress Shirley MacLaine and Henry Rogers, retired head of Rogers & Cowan. Population Education Committee president Marilyn Brant Stuart says rapid population growth is the No. 1 environmental problem in the world. “If we don’t control world population in the ‘90s, all other causes are lost causes.”

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PASADENA WHIRL: Social events in Pasadena are coming in bundles: The Circle of the Huntington Memorial Hospital will host “An Evening in the Secret Garden” Sept. 26 at the home of Henry and Cynthia Yost in South Pasadena.

The Circle is a new support group dedicated to raising funds for the hospital’s rehabilitation unit. The affair, a two-party event, will unfold with the garden party under the stars featuring musical selections from “The Secret Garden.”

The second event, a children’s dance, is scheduled Jan. 13. Professional dance instructor Paul Kennedy will lead fourth- and fifth-graders through an afternoon of creative dancing with their friends while their parents or sponsors take tea. Rita Whitney heads the Circle; Christy Bakaly and Debby Lanni are benefit co-chairs . . . .

The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena stages its second annual “Art in Motion,” a dance/music/visual affair Sept. 20. A highlight: debut performance of the Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble piece, “The Dance-Crazy Kid From New Jersey Meets Hofmannsthal.” The subject is choreographer Ruth St. Denis’s internal experience of her encounter with Austrian poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Tickets are $75.

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PAST PERFECT: “Summer Time Tea by the Sea With Mary and Me.” That was the message on the pretty invitations engraved with shells from Mary Martin and Debbie Tellefsen. The hostesses added, “Summertime casual. Garden hats, if you please.”

Guests meandered over the Martins’ Manhattan Beach Strand home, its roofs, decks and balconies designed by Mary’s architect husband Dave, and sat above window boxes looking at the bike paths and the ocean waves. Taking a respite for friendship and poppy seed cake with nectarine sauce was an intimate coterie including Arletta Tronstein, Ann Johnson, Nancy Dinsmore, Eleanore Phillips Colt and Sandra Ausman. “A perfect day” . . . .

Lydia and Roscoe Webb’s held a gathering at the Los Angeles Country Club for the cuisine and wines of France, Jack and Mary Ann Heidt were among their guests.

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KEEPING UP: Beverly Hills (213) which recently announced the Southland’s Best-Dressed Women (including Ann Johnson, Marion Jorgensen and Joan Hotchkis) celebrated the publication’s ninth anniversary Tuesday evening at Bice . . . .

Carole and Barry Kay invited friends for coffee and dessert for the grand opening of Petite Elite Museum and Gallery at 1901 Avenue of the Stars . . . .

Henny Bachus, for her efforts in raising more than $1 million for the National Parkinson’s Foundation, received the foundation’s crystal star award at an alfresco gathering at her Bellagio Road home.