Social Circuits

Art for AIDS

With Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson as featured guests, AIDS Services Foundation Orange County and the Laguna Art Museum presented its first joint benefit event, “Art for Aids, A Tribute to Rock Hudson.”

The two-tiered benefit included a $2,500-per-plate sit-down dinner for 40 guests in a private home and a $125-per-ticket supper and live auction for hundreds at the museum. The event netted $200,000, to be divided equally between the museum and AIDS foundation.

Taylor and Jackson arrived fashionably late at the dinner--filet mignon and raspberry souffle whipped up by Mark’s restaurant--staged in the art-filled home of Barbara Alexander Stiles and Thomas B. Stiles II. “Elizabeth, the party was last night,” guest Merv Griffin quipped upon the star’s arrival.

With Jackson standing quietly at her side, the violet-eyed actress mingled briefly with fans before being whisked by limousine to the museum. There, she stood before a sold-out crowd, praising her friend Rock Hudson, who died of AIDS in 1985, and pledging her ongoing support for AIDS research and patient services. “I, for one, will never stop my personal fight against AIDS, and I ask the same of you.”

The Feb. 9 tribute to Hudson, a frequent visitor to Laguna Beach, seemed like a natural, observed Beverly Hills dermatologist Arnold Klein, co-chairman of the benefit with Jack Kenefick and Al Roberts. “Rock was grateful that the AIDS Services Foundation was being founded [in 1985]. And Elizabeth has been a driving force for fund-raising.”

Guests also included Penny Marshall; Ken Jillson; Jose Eber; Mark De Palma; Anita May Rosenstein; David Canzoneri; Santina Davies; Ray and Beverly Redfern; and Mark and Donna Merhab.

--Ann Conway

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Gypsy Awards

Stars of two eras of dance--June Haver, who made her mark in film musicals in the 40s, and Gregory Hines, currently making his mark on stage and screen--were honored by their peers, the members of the Professional Dancers Society.

More than 600 guests packed the Beverly Hilton ballroom for the 16th Gypsy Awards Luncheon, which netted $80,000.

Proceeds from the annual event, named in honor of the frequently unheralded chorus singers and dancers affectionately known in show business as “gypsies,” are earmarked for dancers in need. The society is currently associated with Actors Fund of America, which disburses its funds for housing, financial aid and medical care.

In accepting the award, presented by past honoree Mitzi Gaynor, Haver recalled her first dancing lesson in Rock Island, Ill. “The teacher told me, ‘We’re going to do a Gypsy number. Here’s your tambourine!’ Now over 50 years later I am a gypsy.” Haver announced that she will donate $10,000 yearly for the next 10 years for a dance scholarship.

When Tony Danza presented Hines with his award, Hines said it was the most important award to him because “it comes from our own. Whenever I have to fill out a form that asks my profession, I proudly write ‘tap dancer.’”

Joni Berry, chairwoman of the society board presided over last Sunday’s program, which included a tribute to the career of Busby Berkeley, featuring Esther Williams. Lee Hale, Alan Johnson and Miriam Nelson produced and directed the show, which included a film retrospective of the honorees’ careers; a performance by tap dancer Mark Mendoza; the jazz ensemble from UC Irvine; and the Doug Caldwell Dancers. Others on the scene included John Byner, Dom DeLuise, Rip Taylor, Phyllis Diller, Jane Withers, Jack Carter, Cyd Charisse, Tony Martin, Barbara Billingsley and Jayne Meadows.

--Patt Diroll

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Schuur Thing

After jazz vocalist Diane Schuur was awarded the Walter Knott Service Award during a luncheon benefit for Goodwill Industries of Orange County, she sat at a grand piano to perform a stirring rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

The two-time Grammy Award winner was recognized for outstanding achievement along with Expressionist artist Dan Keplinger and Anaheim Angels broadcaster Rex Hudler. Schuur, blind since birth, told 350 guests she was “thrilled to be honored” by an organization that helps promote independence for people with disabilities. Cingular Wireless was also saluted for its service to people with disabilities.

Proceeds of more than $100,000 from the Feb. 7 event will be used for Goodwill’s education, training and employment programs for disabled children and adults.

--A.C.

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Kids Initiative

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver were guests of honor at a benefit attended by 100 people at Chapman University that netted about $650,000 in support of a proposed ballot initiative supported by the actor, the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002.

“Arnold is sponsoring this initiative to ensure that all grade and middle schoolchildren in California have access to after-school programs,” said Paul Folino, president and chief executive officer of Emulex Corp. in Costa Mesa, underwriter of the Feb. 1 event. “With 60% to 70% of California parents working full time, there is a big gap in supervision for kids between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.”

--A.C.

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Pasadena Symphony

The ballroom of Pasadena’s Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel looked like a dress-extra call for “That Night in Rio,” with an assortment of Carmen Miranda types in the crowd of more than 350 who turned out for the Pasadena Symphony benefit.

Copacabana-style dancers greeted guests with beads and feather boas; florist Jacob Maarse created fruit and flower table centerpieces reminiscent of Miranda’s headdresses. The “taste of Brazil” dinner included Brazilian nut soup and grilled salmon with coconut pineapple sauce.

Proceeds from the Feb. 9 event and its silent auction will exceed $150,000. Among the revelers were co-chairmen Mary Ann Jenkins and Jim Watterson; Alyce and Spud Williamson, the event’s major benefactors; and Debra Paterson, vice-president of Wells Fargo, a major symphony supporter. Other guests included George Martin, Gerri Lee Frye, Gretchen and Graham Lewis, Betty and Frank Whiting, Georgianna and Paul Erskine, Elaine and Jim Mramor, Jane and David Stover, Michelle and Roger Engemann.

--P.D.

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‘Into the Woods’

After last Sunday’s opening of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods” at the Ahmanson Theatre, the theater crowd gathered to celebrate with the cast at buffet tables around the Music Center Plaza.

The Patina chefs at the Music Center took their cue from the show’s fairy-tale plot: The “Cinderella” buffet (pumpkin soup) was decorated with pumpkins and slippers; a cheese tower topped with flowing angel-hair pasta and bakery breads was on the “Rupunzel and Baker’s” table; “Jack and the Beanstalk’s” stop had “magic beans” (chili) and golden (deviled) eggs.

Guests included Charlotte Rae from the show’s original touring company, Gregory Harrison, Angela Lansbury, Doris Roberts, Loni Anderson, Adrienne Barbeau, Angela Bassett, Swoosie Kurtz, Anne Heche, Shirley Jones, Marty Ingels, Robert Morse, Linda Purl, Lesley Ann Warren and JoAnne Worley.

--Patt Diroll

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Blue-Ribbon Garden

Over classic comfort food--meatloaf, mashed potatoes and warm apple cobbler--architect Frank Gehry shared his vision for the Walt Disney Concert Hall Community Park with members of the Music Center’s Blue Ribbon on Monday.

The public park will span the length of the hall complex along Hope Street and curve around to envelop the hall’s southern end. “We’ve all been out canvassing communities for the specified trees such as mature Hong Kong orchid trees and coral trees and rescuing them from construction sights,” said landscape architect Larry Moline.

A focal point of the park will be the proposed Blue Ribbon Garden, where the Lillian Disney Memorial Fountain--a Gaudi-style tile fountain in the form of a rose--will be placed.

--P.D.

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Saluting Thatcher

Orange County philanthropists Mark Johnson and Paul Folino hosted a breakfast at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach that raised $400,000 in pledges to help underwrite the upcoming Global Citizen’s Award gala. Sponsored by Chapman University in Orange, the May 4 event on campus will salute former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

--A.C.

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Coming Up:

* The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Winter Musicales will be staged Feb. 22 through Sunday, March 3, at buffet dinners in six private homes throughout Greater Los Angeles. Tickets, $200-$300. Call (213) 622-7001.

* The Music Center’s annual BRAVO Awards, which recognize educators and schools for excellence in all of the arts disciplines, and gala dinner will be at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on Feb. 25. Tickets $55. Call (213) 202-2216.

* The Children’s Burn Foundation’s seventh annual “Giving New Hope” dinner will honor Brindell Gottlieb and Sheila Weisman on Feb. 27, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Tickets, $250. Call (8180 907-2822.

* The Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design presents its first annual gala, Broad Appeal, honoring Merry Norris, at Temple Restaurant, Beverly Hills on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28. Tickets for Wednesday’s event are $75; for Thursday’s, $180. Call (323) 222-6268.

* Conservation International hosts “Journey Across Africa,” a dinner and silent auction, on Feb. 28, at Hangar 8, Santa Monica Airport. Tickets, $500 Call (800) 406-2306.

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 at ann.conway@latimes.com, or (714) 966-5952.