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.