Gala does festival fund well, again

BARBARA DIAMOND

Under a full moon as bright as a spotlight, the Festival of Arts

staged a star-studded gala Sunday to close out the 2004 season .

Award winning actor Joe Mantegna hosted the fund-raiser, heading a

cast of television and film luminaries, local VIPS and appreciated

festival supporters that attended the sixth annual gala. The event

raised more than $200,000 for the Festival Building Fund.

“It’s been such a wonderful season, I am sorry to see it end,”

festival board President Anita Mangels said.

The season ended on a positive note. Art sales were up.

Mixed media artist Kate Riegler was still on pins and needles all

night and still on Tuesday, waiting to hear a decision on an 11th

hour sale that would double her income for the summer.

Dona Blurock was awarded the 2004 Fickle Finger for jewelers.

Selection of the recipient from among the numerous participating

jewelers is always difficult. Also difficult: adding embellishments

on the award.

The gala was a sold-out conclusion to the grueling 60-day run of

the Pageant of the Masters.

“I am looking forward to spending an evening with my family and a

day off,” Pageant of the Masters Director Dee Challis Davy said.

“Then we start work on next year’s show.

The theme of the 2005 show will be “On the Road.”

“That is kind of ironic, because everybody knows the pageant isn’t

going anywhere; it’s staying right here in Laguna,” Challis Davy

said.

Board member Ann Webster celebrated her 31st year with the

festival. She spent 27 years backstage doing makeup before running

for the board. Her term ends this year and she is on a slate with

incumbent Bob Henry and Fred Sattler.

Sattler sat at the Arts Commission table for dinner with his wife,

Jan, a commission member. Commissioner Mike Tauber also was seated at

the table. City Arts Coordinator Sian Poeschl, a festival exhibitor,

joined them later. They were among the last to leave Tivoli Terrace.

“We are having way too much fun,” said Commissioner Pat Kollenda.

Festival Board member John Campbell said it hardly seemed possible

that it had been a year since he and his wife, Lu, a festival

exhibitor, sat at a table with actor Elliott Gould.

“He was President of an actors group and we talked about working

with boards and unions,” Campbell told exhibitor John Tolle. “We

really had a good time.

Board members Kathleen Blackburn, Bob Dietrich and Dianne Reardon

did not attend the gala.

Henry and his wife, Annette, dined with board member Carolyn

Reynolds, a festival exhibitor

Tivoli Terrance was dolled up for the dinner with black

tablecloths and napkins. Chairs were draped in black with white

organdy sashes. Centerpieces of white Casablanca lilies and other

white posies carried out the theme.

“I have never seen it look so elegant,” City Councilwoman

Elizabeth Pearson said.

Pearson and fiance Ernie Schneider sat with Mayor Cheryl Kinsman

and her son, Nicholas, Catrina and City Councilman Steve Dicterow,

Planning Commissioner Bob Chapman and Community Clinic board member

Faye Kirk.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman and Steve Miller and Faye and Councilman

Wayne Baglin also attended

“It really rare that all five of us attend the same event,”

Dicterow said.

Celebrity guests included Cloris Leachman, winner of an Academy

Award-winner and eight Emmys; and Robin Weigert, Emmy nominee for

best supporting actress in a drama series, who plays Calamity Jane on

the HBO’s “Deadwood;” Alan Thicke, who starred in “Growing Pains;”

and Victor Williams, featured as Deacon Palmer on CBS’s “The King of

Queens.”

Also: Orange County’s Susan Egan, who played Belle in the original

Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast;” Bernie Koppel, “The

Love Boat’s” Dr. Adam Bricker; and Jason Ritter, son of the late John

Ritter and one of the stars with Montegna on “Joan of Arcadia.”

Laguna’s own star, Eve Plumb, who played Jan Brady in the original

cast of the “Brady Bunch,” sat with fellow Design Review Board

members Steve Kawaratani and Ilse Lenschow, zoning administrator

Liane Schuller and assistant Jeanine Benton.

Also on the celebrity guest list: Laguna Beach resident and

Newport Beach salon owner James Morrison who recently organized a

documentary film to encourage young people to make wise -- or least

not life-threatening choices. He was shocked by the death of a

teenager in an alcohol related traffic accident.

The documentary is narrated by some of the very top names in the

hair salon and products industry, talking about their decisions that

led to success.

“If kids make good choices, they can become Paul Mitchell,”

Morrison said.

Or mayor of their hometown. Or a successful artist.

This year’s festival showcased the works of more than 140 artists

in a variety of media. Artists are juried into the show. They

celebrate the privilege by donating proceeds from the sale of a

pre-season selection of their art, contributing auction pieces for

the Needy Artists Fund and the gala silent auction.

For those who could not attend the gala, visit

https://www.wireimage.com.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.