More Amazing Blue Ribbon Amazers
The Amazing Blue Ribbon’s board of directors will introduce close to 60 new members at a tea at the home of Mrs. Henry Mancini on Oct. 23. To relieve your anxiety, we’ll reveal a few of those joining the Music Center’s socially select support group--Mrs. Sanford Sigoloff, Mrs. Peter Strauss, Mrs. Robert Sully, Mrs. Earle James Wilson, Mrs. Bernard Gelson, Mrs. Gerald Oppenheimer, Mrs. Bob Ray Offenhauser, Mrs. Gene Burton, Mrs. Michael Gould, Mrs. Allen Questrom, Mrs. Burt Sugerman, Mrs. B. Gerald Cantor, Mrs. Lawrence Irwin and that former Miss America (and now the new mother on “Diff’rent Strokes”) Mary Ann Mobley Collins. Be patient. We’ll have more names for you later.
Don’t you agree that rich and luxurious furs always look better against snow and cold? That was the thinking at Bullocks Wilshire the day the store featured a showing of furs from France at a luncheon for the Friends of Vieilles Maisons Francaises in BW’s tea room. Outside the sun was shining; inside the “Winter Wonderland” setting included snow white table settings, a display of sparkling jewels by Verney Joailliers of Paris and a luncheon menu that began with French poached salmon.
Before lunch Mrs. Christian Frere, chairwoman of the Los Angeles branch of Friends of Vieilles Maisons Francaises, which has 92 chapters in France, and Bullocks Wilshire president Jerome Nemiro greeted guests in his penthouse office suite and terrace where the pre-luncheon cocktails were served. Among the 100 who showed up to cool off were special guest of honor Maurice Biedak, vice president of Federation Nationale de la Fourrure, and also Alan Galliano, French Trade Commissioner, Mrs. Paul A. Erskine and Mrs. Dwight Kendall. Others on the guest list--Maggie Murray, Mrs. Harry E. Laughlin, Mrs. Arthur McClure, Mrs. James Neville, Mrs. Elmer Rigby, Daryl Trainor, Mrs. Warren B. Williamson and Monica Pereira-Ferraro. Mrs. Richard Hambleton won the Puiforcat silver vase, and BW’s Rosemarie Troy presented the fashion show.
The Friends encourage the development of cultural exchange and support the preservation of artistic heritage with the emphasis on privately owned French buildings in peril. The Bullocks Wilshire-Friends luncheon benefit will help the preservation of Chateau Lafox.
Tova Borgnine is on the move. Go-go-go seems to be her current style.
On Thursday, with the help of husband Ernest Borgnine, the actor and Tova beauty products’ best advertisement, Tova is launching her new holiday catalogue, “The Tova Collection-Maiden Voyage,” and christening her Penthouse Facial Salon, the first of what will soon be a nationwide chain. Friday, Tova’s hosting yet another party, this one to introduce sculptor Nicholas Agid, who’s been working in Pietrasanta, Italy, in marble, onyx, granite and alabaster. On Saturday, Tova flies to Norway, her native land, to launch a Scandinavian distributorship based in Oslo for her beauty products. And on her return she starts an 11-city talk show tour promoting her Simon & Schuster book, “The Tova Difference.”
For Thursday’s cocktail-buffet the Borgnines have invited Cary Grant, Jaclyn Smith, Emma Samms, Howard Keel, Bruce and Linda Jenner, Telly Savalas, Eva Gabor, Jan-Michael Vincent and some other dazzlers. That group will hear about the catalogue’s top-of-the-line main attractions--a celebrity-packed cruise aboard Sea Goddess I to which the buyer can invite 100 of his nearest and dearest to mingle and giggle with the famous; and the beauty and glamour cruise aboard Sea Goddess II (from Rio to Rome) where Bob Mackie will show his fashion collection, and Tova and other beauty experts will hand out savvy advice. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the Sea Goddess I cruise will go to four charities: the Princess Grace Foundation that helps young talent in American film, theater and dance; the International Foundation for Learning Disabilities; the Starlight Foundation that grants the last wishes of terminally ill children, and the Christos Steliou Ioannou Foundation, which provides a rehabilitation center for mentally handicapped adults.
Supporters of the Westside Center for Independent Living are revving up for their “Couture and Not So Couture” sale (Oct. 14-20 at 411 North Canon, Beverly Hills). A cache of furs from Somper of Beverly Hills was one of the first donations. More fashionable duds arrive every day. No wonder. Spearheading the solicitation and warehousing committee are Mary Bloomberg, Beverly Goldsby, Joyce Morrison, Kay Davies, Freida Meltzer, Cynthia Eichor, Dascha Stuart and Louise Escoe.
Independent motion-picture producer David Foster and his wife, and attorney Fredric Richman and his wife co-hosted a reception at Jimmy’s for Georgetown University president Timothy S. Healy, S.J., and Marver Berstein, former president of Brandeis University and currently professor of philosophy and politics at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. Both guests touched on the importance of Judaic/Hebraic
studies and the importance of a visiting Israeli professorship at Georgetown, the country’s oldest Catholic university, founded in 1789. Foster was recently appointed to the university’s board for a three-year term.
The Social Scramble: “Dynasty’s” Catherine Oxenberg, a royal personage in her own right (she’s the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia), joins Robert Marx and Cecilia Peck as a hostess for the Princess Grace Foundation Junior Committee’s romp at the Hard Rock on Nov. 2. The older set will be partying at the Regency Club that same night, the eve of the Foundation’s gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Marx, the son of gala committee member Barbara Sinatra, and Cecilia, the daughter of Gregory and Veronique Peck, are co-chairing the Junior Committee.
The people-watching at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge is heating up. Spotted lunching there the other noontime--Sir Richard Attenborough; Cher; the Henry Bergers; Tom Selleck; Muriel Slatkin.
Robert Wagner threw a birthday dinner party for stepdaughter Natasha (she’s the daughter of the late Natalie Wood and Richard Gregson) at Madame Wu’s Garden and among the guests were Wagner’s good friend Jill St. John and his daughters Kate (by Marion Donen Wagner) and Courtney (by Natalie Wood).
Talk about how time flies. Last week the Regency Club celebrated its fourth anniversary with a black-tie dinner prepared by Chef Alex Dikkers, dancing to Clark Keen’s orchestra and a jazzy tango, fox trot, etc. demonstration introduced by Terry Leone and performed by his Arthur Murray (the tall and unsmiling Murray is now 90 and living in Hawaii) Dancers. Among the black-tie crowd enjoying it all--Dr. and Mrs. Robert Heebner (her red hair teased high, beads sparkling on her gown); Wally Cedar with Rona Barrett (in jeweled red dress and jacket) and Bill Trowbridge; Sam and Nancy Bretzfield; John Shumway; the Henry Bergers; Dr. Nicholas Vasiloff; Mrs. Charles Gibson. After dinner Stephanie Reach, an MCA recording star, sang Gershwin and Sondheim in the Hunt Room.
A few days ago Jean Trousdale, Winthrop Lewis and Andrea and Joe Giudice were all celebrating their September birthdays over dinner (and plenty of champagne) at the Sheraton Grande’s Ravel.
Red Letter Days: Wednesday, for the opening of the fall Oak Tree Racing Meet at Santa Anita. And in the Director’s Room were Mr. and Mrs. Clement Hirsch with their guests the Robert Grants, Del Mar’s Mr. and Mrs. John C. Mabee and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Harper Jr. and State Sen. and Mrs. Kenneth Maddy. Others hosting tables--Dr. and Mrs. Jack K. Robbins, Mr. and Mrs. Louis R. Rowan, Mrs. Bernard J. Ridder, Mr. and Mrs. William T. Pascoe III and Mr. and Mrs. Harold Ramser Sr. (Their guests will include Martha and Jimmy Kilroe, Mr. and Mrs. William Oldknow and the Robert Sweeneys.)
Thursday, when Washington public relations whiz Nancy Reynolds and Clarkson N. Potter Publishers host a cocktail party in Nancy’s Arlington, Va., log house for Mary Emmerling’s “American Country West.”
