Coming together to honor the patrons of the arts

B.W. COOK

Greg Bates is threatening to sell the house to buy a new

long-wheelbase Maybach automobile (pronounced My-bach).

Bates and his bride, Joann Leatherby, arrived at the Orange County

Performing Arts Center on Monday evening to participate in the fourth

annual Fire Bird Dinner honoring patrons of the Center.

Representatives of Maybach had positioned a spectacular

long-wheelbase version of the automobile marketed by Mercedes Benz in

the porte-cochere of the Center.

The automobile was surely as big a star as any performer that has

graced Segerstrom Hall. It was, in fact, a “showstopper.”

Bates, an Orange County doctor of chiropractics, drives a sport

utility vehicle on the weekends when his wife permits such use.

“During the week, I drive a pickup truck,” the dapper Bates said,

checking out the reclining rear seat of the new German-inspired

vehicle that traces its history to turn-of-the-century automobile

designers whose production vanished with the onset of World War II.

The Maybach at the front door of the Center was actually something

of an automotive metaphor. The Fire Bird Dinner honors some of the

most generous arts patrons in the community. And like the automobile,

which is surely among the world’s best, the dinner is about

showcasing the very best spirit of giving in the community, with an

emphasis on saluting those who make it a priority to donate

significant funds to support the best programming possible that will

benefit the entire community.

Some of the guests were Harbor Island’s Elizabeth Vincent with her

daughter Victoria, Pacific Life’s formidable CEO Tom Sutton and his

wife, Marilyn, the very handsome couple Elizabeth and Tom Tierney,

respected businessman and former Irvine Company boss Tom Nielson and

his bride, Marilyn, the very distinguished Gen. William Lyon and his

elegant wife, Willa Dean, cultural cornerstone of the community Henry

Segerstrom and his fashionable wife, Elizabeth, and Pelican Point

scientist and business leader Sandy Sandhu and his blond bombshell

bride, Harriet. As they and others passed the Maybach, they were

greeted and ushered up to an upper tier for a cocktail reception with

plenty of mingling and schmoozing.

Center President Jerry Mandel presided over the crush with cachet.

Mandel and his wife, Whitney, are a most gracious team who managed to

endear the diverse cross-section of Center patrons.

Real estate superstar Lynne Valentine was in the crowd looking

very chic in a charcoal dinner suit accented with a diamond brooch.

Eric and Lila Nelson, Paul and Lilly Merage, William and Carol

Russell, Jule and Bonnie Marshall, Bruno and Sharon Lebon, and Mark

Press were among the distinguished honorees of the evening who had

come for dinner, kind words of thanks, and a special presentation of

the show “Forever Plaid” presented in Founders Hall.

Center chairman Paul Folino and his wife, Daranne, fronted the

evening as representatives of a high level of Orange County giving.

“Folino is one of the finest men I have ever had the pleasure

working with at the Center,” Mandel said.

He went on to comment on the boundless energy Folino has brought

to the Center board.

In the spirit of giving back to the community through the arts,

Folino and Mandel recognized many community leaders in the crowd,

with special recognition given to Nora Hester, who was attending with

her daughter Marilyn, Barbara and Ben Harris, Brian and Lori Hirth,

John and Kelly Hague, Harriett Grant, Kay Fukunaga, Lyle and Jan

Eisel, Richard and Mary Cramer, Tom and Pam Bender and Donalyn Kling.

Dinner, served by the Four Seasons Hotel, Newport Beach, featured

a baked Alaskan halibut with hazelnut crumble and a decadent dessert

spread highlighted by a banana rum creme brulee.

After dessert, the distinguished crowd was directed backstage and

into Founders Hall to enjoy selected numbers from the wacky show

“Forever Plaid,” which plays at the Center through the end of the

week. As the harmonies from the four young stars of the show ended

the evening, the patrons returned to the Center’s motor court, but

the Maybach was gone, vanished like Cinderella at midnight.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.