Mexican kid and his dog are focus of party
BARBARA DIAMOND
Ted and Flora Taylor hosted a viewing party on Sunday for the
Showtime premiere of a movie made from his book, “The Maldonado
Miracle.”
“We saw it for the first time Thursday [Oct. 9] at the Academy
Awards theater,” Ted Taylor said. “It was pretty impressive with
those 18-foot tall statues of Oscar. Salma Hayek was there, and she
is every bit as warm as she is beautiful.”
Hayek directed the film, and her company produced it, but the
screening at the Academy was the first time Taylor had met her.
“She kissed me on the cheek,” Taylor said. “Forget not washing my
face ever again, I told [dentist] Mark Judy to freeze it.”
Taylor said times have changed since he wrote the book in 1973.
Oscar-Award-winning actress Eva Marie Saint shopped it around, but
couldn’t get it produced. The smart money at that time said no one
would be interested in seeing a film about a Mexican kid and his dog,
Taylor said.
“My, how times have changed,” Taylor said. “There were some
changes made, but the movie stayed true to the spirit of the book.”
The Showtime presentation was publicized in papers across the
country, even those that traditionally trashy made-for-television
movies. Winning a prize at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival
probably didn’t hurt.
“When the New York Times story broke, I immediately called Jeff
Parker and said, ‘How lucky can you get?’” Taylor said.
Taylor, author of 30 books for young people, including “The
Maldonado Miracle,” considers former Laguna Beach resident T.
Jefferson Parker one of the best mystery writers. Parker’s first book
was set in Laguna Beach. He is working now on a book set in Laguna
Beach in the 1960s.
Parker, who moved a couple of years ago to the desert, was among
the guests. E. M. Nathanson, author of “The Dirty Dozen” and still
local, also attended. They compared notes.
About 80 friends, family members and admirers were at the party.
Taylor’s daughter, Wendy Carroll, her husband, Patrick, and their
daughter Caitlin, came from Fresno for the party. Caitlin, 13, handed
out paperback copies of the book to guests, courtesy of the
publisher, Harcourt Inc.
“They made me promise to announce that hard covers are available
at all bookstores,” Ted said.
Seating for the movie was theater-style along the sloping driveway
through the Taylor’s magnificent garden, which is the pride and joy
of Flora Taylor and the neighborhood.
The driveway was lighted by luminarias (candles in paper bags
weighted with sand. The horrid marine layer that had chilled the city
for days lifted Sunday. But the Mexican cuisine, the margaritas and
the Taylor’s hospitality did more to warm the guests.
“We invited the whole neighborhood,” Ted Taylor said. “It is
wonderful to be surrounded by such talent. Madeline McLendon’s china
painting is known around the world. And I think sooner or later, Axel
Scheere will be a Nobel Prize winner. He is a professor at Cal Tech,
and he built an engine the size of a human hair for diabetics.”
Neighbor Steve Manahan is Taylor’s “go-to guy.”
“At my age, if there is some heavy lifting or if Flora has some
big [plant] pots in the back of the car, he is the guy I go to,”
Taylor said.
Mahanan and his wife, Jo, were at the party. Also on the guest
list: neighbor Susan Trager, who shares a love of gardening with
Flora, and her husband, Eric Norby, a member of Supervisor Chris
Norby’s staff; Roger and Joan Taft; Annie De Ford; and Larry and
Rosaura Ulvestad.
Speaking of which ... .
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE,
DOUBLE YOUR FUN
The Ulvestads have the double pleasure of announcing the
engagements of their son, Erik Thomas Ulvestad, and daughter, Sonia
Adele Ulvestad.
Erik’s fiancee is Katherine Elizabeth Sternfels of Mill Valley,
Calif. Sonia is engaged to Mark Alexander Hildebrand of Santa
Barbara.
Katherine Sternfels is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert B.
Sternfels of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Janet A. Sternfels of Lodi,
Calif., and the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Sternfels of
Laguna Beach and Mrs. Robert A. Bainbridge of Fort Bragg, N.C.
Eric Ulvestad and Katherine Sternfels graduated from Stanford
University. She earned a master’s in nonprofit administration from
the University of San Francisco.
Both work in San Francisco.
Sonia Ulvestad’s fiance is the son of Dr. and Mrs. John F.
Hildebrand of Elk Grove, Calif. and grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Jacques
Wanty of Brussels, Belgium, and the late Mr. and Mrs. Theodore J.
Hildebrand of New Port Richey, Fla.
Bridegroom- and bride-elect graduated from UC Berkeley. He will
complete his master’s in environmental science and management at UC
Santa Barbara next June. She is a landscape designer for Landscapes
by Davis in Santa Barbara.
The Ulvestad siblings attended El Morro Elementary School,
Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School. He was class
valedictorian in 1992. She graduated in 1993.
They told the family of their engagements at the 80th birthday
celebration of their maternal grandmother, Maria Teresa Estragues
Vda. de Montagut of Barcelona, held in August in Spain.
Their maternal grandfather was the late Tomas de Montagut Mares,
also of Barcelona. Their paternal grandparents are the late Mr. and
Mrs. Norvald T. Ulvestad of San Marino, Calif.
Weddings are planned for next summer.
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