Garamendi TV Ads Hit Gray Davis, Jerry Brown

They look more like movie trailers than political ads, but the TV commercials for state Sen. John Garamendi’s campaign for state controller--starting to air this week--are sure to get a lot of attention. The slick ads stress what the Garamendi people see as major liabilities of his Democratic primary opponent, Assemblyman Gray Davis--his longtime association with former Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. and his representation of Beverly Hills. One spot opens with baroque harpsichord music and quick cuts of Rodeo Drive, etc., and has the message “People in Beverly Hills probably worry about a lot of things, but one of them isn’t money.” The point, it seems, is that the controller should be familiar with the common people’s worries about money. A recurring shot in the spots is of a stretch limo heading down a palm-lined street with a bunting picture of Davis on its side. And it seems as though Jerry Brown’s legacy will never die, since several of the spots have shots of the photogenic former guv sliding out from under ones of Davis--accompanied by what sounds like a zither. The ads are by Carter Eskew, the young senior v.p. of Bob Squire’s The Communications Co.

FAN-TASTIC--Complete with ponytail and his trademark fan, Karl Lagerfeld, the designer and darling of Paris, introduced his new fragrance to L.A. on Friday night. KL Homme is aimed at men “on the edge,” so the party (for the Music Center’s Fraternity of Friends) was held at the Kasteel Kamphyzen, built at the edge of a Beverly Hills precipice. Vans ferried the guests up the steep and winding road, where they were greeted with a laser show shooting out across the canyon. Florist David Jones had forgone flowers, and instead a massive sculpture of white kites hovered in the ceiling of a pristine white tent from Regal Rents. Music Center familiars like Fraternity prexy Roger Kozberg with wife Joanne, Donald Livingston, Barbara and Marc Marcussen, art maven Joan Quinn and Judi and Gordon Davidson chowed down on Rococo’s Oysters Rockefeller, steak tartar, Peking duck, smoked salmon and sushi. Even chocolates with the KL monogram. Lagerfeld himself dined later at Mr. Chow’s, and headed over to his buddy David Hockney’s for tea Saturday with Quinn. . . . And, if you are wondering what the line, “Dress: Extraordinaire” means on the MOCA invite to its May 16 gala, party co-chair Lynda Palevsky explains: “Everybody should dress like Joan Quinn.”

Quinn, with her Zandra Rhodes dresses and pink racing stripes through her salt-and-pepper hair, is like a constant work of art herself.

YET ANOTHER FIRST--Scalpers are asking big bucks for the Saturday night benefit for the Royce Two-Seventy at UCLA. The party, celebrating Carol Burnett’s birthday, has a show featuring her buddies, like Neil Diamond, Julie Andrews, Beverly Sills, Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. Such a hot ticket that, for once, it can be ascertained that a fund-raiser won’t have to paper the room to fill up the seats. Kudos to Royce Two-Seventy chair Ginny Mancini, who’s also got her hubby Henry lined up for the show.

EASY ACCESS--Having trouble breaking into the real “in” crowd? A contribution to Mayor Tom Bradley’s gubernatorial campaign at least will get those yearning-to-be-hip into a hot spot for one night. Helena’s, the private club near downtown that normally caters to the likes of Madonna, Sean Penn and the Brat Pack, is the site of Bradley’s May 7 fund-raiser. Young Hollywood for California’s Future (a Bradley support group) is sponsoring, and look for Judd Nelson, Herbie Hancock, Pierce Brosnan, Bud Cort and Lesley Ann Warren to pay either the $100 for dinner or $50 for dancing.

DASHING DETOUR--For those old enough, and romantic enough, to remember the dashing Group Capt. Peter Townsend, the Battle of Britain ace who was an item with Princess Margaret, here’s news. Townsend and six other “aces” were supposed to stop here last week on their way to the Gathering of Eagles Convention in Las Vegas. But a command performance at the queen’s birthday party in London forced him to skip L.A. Townsend, of course, still sticks to his chivalrous stand of refusing to discuss his once-romance with the princess.

DESIRED DOLLY--It’s My Child, and for the kid who has everything, it is slated to be the new “I want it.” We’re told that the kids of celebs like Ed McMahon and Bill Cosby already have them, and that the little darlings (complete with Pampers) come in hundreds of variations of hair and eye colors, and in boy or girl models.