Gold Still Raining on LAOOC’s Ziffren

You thought the gold medals had all been given out during the Olympic Games? Think again. Paul Ziffren, chairman of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, which staged the Summer Games here last year, receives a special gold medal (and he deserves it) Thursday from the Western Regional Executive Board of the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis and from the National Sports Council. The citation will read “for his civic and humanitarian efforts.” Ziffren will receive his honor in the midst of a gala dinner chaired by Kyhl Smeby, executive vice president of the Bank of America, at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel in Universal City.

Baseball Commissioner (and former president of the LAOOC) Peter Ueberroth is honorary chairman. And Monty Hall of “Let’s Make a Deal” fame will emcee the program, which will feature Jan Murray and a lot of nostalgic music from the ‘40s.

Quite a few rah-rah sports figures plan to attend, among them the San Diego Chargers’ Rolf Benirschke and golfer Al Geiberger. The nitty-gritty details of the event were discussed at length a while back at a reception attended by L.A. Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, Andy Garb of Loeb and Loeb, Howard Banchik of Westwood Financial, David Rosen of Standard Investment, John Mason of Mason and Sloane, and Mary Waller of Waller/Cosby Entertainment Services. The evening will raise money for medical research into the cause and cure of inflammatory bowel diseases.

The Diadames of the Child Care League, Inc. staged their 12th annual “Creative Ideas Luncheon” on Tuesday and it was the biggest and best yet. Someone--perhaps Diadames president Elsie Pollock or luncheon co-chairs Donna Reed Asmus and Louise Good--must have had a premonition. They chose “The Best Years of Our Lives” as the theme, and it obviously included 1985 as one of them. Originally scheduled for the hotel’s Le Grand Trianon, the luncheon had to be transferred to the Grand Ballroom when the reservations came pouring in. Congratulations.

As master of ceremonies, Art Linkletter introduced the hosts, who then talked a bit about their table settings. Joni and Clark Smith, dressed in mountain-climbing gear, decided their recent 12-day hike up the Himalayas was the best of times for them. They set up a tent in the ballroom and added a bottle of Dom Perignon to liven up the authentically Spartan meal.

Lucy Zahran Bonorris (she gift-wrapped the Estee Lauder gifts for the guests) chose “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” because “That’s the way it is for me.” At Maude Chasen’s table there was a framed 1941 Chasen’s menu and many of the celebrity photographs that decorate her popular restaurant. Chase Mishkin’s table setting was a “Moving Experience,” Arletta Tronstein and Pat Moller staged a kiddie’s “Birthday Fantasy” and Drs. Loriene Chase and Clifton King teamed with Margie and Bob Petersen to set up two tables--”Days of Wine and Roses I and II.” Lois Linkletter keyed her table setting to a “Hawaiian Honeymoon.”

Many talented people worked on this one. The music (Joe Moshay and his musicians) was coordinated by Marion Anderson, Midge Clark supervised the flowers, Barbara Richardson handled publicity, Marilyn McDaniel was in charge of invitations, Kay McKay took care of place- and table-cards, Diane Skouras managed the programs, Joni Smith looked out for the reservations, and Ronnie White took care of the food and, with the help of her husband, George, the wines as well.

Among the sell-out crowd were: Stuart and Mary Davis, Van Venneri, Edie Waxenberg, Geri Brawerman, Mary and Bradley Jones, Lucy and Homer Toberman, Beverly Morsey, Mary Young, Stu and Dee Cramer, Barbara and Henry Thompson, Nancy Haywood, Alice Hessell, Jean Trousdale, Matilda Barnett, Suzanne Marx, Rosemarie Stack, Margaret Pereira with daughter Monica Ferraro, and Marcia Israel, who arrived in time for dessert.

The Social Scramble: Bullock’s chairman Allan Questrom and his wife, Kelli, were sharing some delicacies with Jacques Camus, their host, and House & Garden’s Joyce MacRae the other night in the Westwood Marquis Dynasty Room. Under discussion--the beneficial effects of a sabbatical, art (the Questroms collect contemporary art), the media and food.

Barbara Richardson gave a ladies luncheon the other day in the Bistro Garden Pavilion. With White Gate’s Tod Matthews’s help, Barbara pulled out all the stops. There were Irish bagpipers and a drummer in the parking lot, violin and guitar music during lunch (the first course was a new one for the Bistro Garden--cold borscht soup with caviar), forget-me-nots in scooped-out lemons and hand-painted lemons on the white table cloths. Barbara’s guest list was quite long so we’ll just mention a few: Marje Everett, Nanci Denney, Gwen Horburg, Mary Skouras, Virginia Ramo, Jeanne Roberts, Marjorie Volk, Jean Smith, Betty Niklas, Millie Katleman, Martha Kilroe, Claudia Mirkin, Rhonda Mann, Harriet Luckman, Giney Milner, Mildred O’Green, Sue Somermeier, Caroline Singleton, and Erlenne Sprague. And loads more.

This week Neiman-Marcus launched Hubert de Givenchy’s new fragrance--Ysatis (jasmine, iris and Ylang-Ylang on an Oriental base). To see that the excitement peaks over the new scent, a trio of Givenchy executives arrived in town--President Jean Courtiere, International Marketing Director Sofia Dwallet and U.S. Executive Vice President Annekke Karkkainen. And N-M’s public relations director Dale Shumate, in the absence of store Vice President John Martens, saw to it that the visitors were well-entertained. Friday she gave a luncheon for them in the store’s restaurant and later a dinner at Jimmy’s.

A few days back interior designer Bob Sherr gave a little dinner party so that L.A. primo floral designer David Jones could meet Washington’s much-appreciated floral designer David Ellsworth. The meeting went off very well. Also at the party were Jean Francois Herbert, Joyce MacRae, Vera Gavanski, Beverly Petal and Joseph Syseskey.

Sharon Countess Sondes, that trim and attractive New Yorker, is enjoying her stay in Los Angeles so much she promises she’ll be back soon. Small wonder with all the attention she’s been receiving.

On one recent night Jayne and Henry Berger gave a multicourse dinner for Sharon and invited a marvelously mixed group of guests. Glamorous Barbara Carrera was there with her husband, Nicholas Mavrolean, and his father, and the Greek ship owner Bluey Mavrolean and his new wife, Caroline, who wore a provocative fanny-wrapped dress (the Mavroleans call Switzerland home, but they have seven other houses to repair to when the wanderlust hits them). Rounding out the international group were Wendy Stark (Sharon’s hostess on this visit), interior designer Kalef Alaton (he’s designing a new home in L.A. and an apartment in Paris for Shirley Preisman Beriro and her husband, Simon), Shirlee Fonda (in ruffled black taffeta), Richard Gully, Jacques Camus, and Cyd Charisse (she’s off to Canada to star in “The Pleasure of His Company”) and Tony Martin (he’ll be singing at rental property tycoon Harold Farb’s Houston restaurant, The Carlyle, beginning April 9).

A few nights later Richard Gully took over a long table at the Bistro and Sharon was the guest of honor again. Some of the same people were there--Wendy, Shirlee, the Bergers--blending nicely with some new faces: Lyle and Sharon Waggoner, Craig Stevens and Alexis Smith, Marylou and Mike Connors, Alex Trebek (who arrived with Shirlee), and Robbie Wald who accompanied Wendy.