A Generous Gift--and Keen Investment

When generous and dashing Colin Tennant gave his friend, Britain’s Princess Margaret (his wife is the princess’s lady in waiting), a sandy plot on his island of Mustique, it was a pretty savvy move. The princess built a villa on the land and spends a few weeks each winter sunning, lazing about and swimming (she seems to prefer skirted swimsuits) in the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean. Celebrity spotters have flocked there in droves, and real estate prices have soared.

Now comes another smart Brit. He’s yachtsman Peter de Savary who owns the ever-so-chic St. James’s Club in London plus a tropical resort, also known as the St. James’s Club, on the southeast tip of the island of Antigua. De Savary has plans to add a complex of apartments and villas and is keen on having a member of the Royal Family settle in. It can’t hurt.

As luck would have it, the queen’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, a former army officer, and his German-born princess were recent visitors to Antigua’s St. James’s Club and they liked what they saw. In a magnanimous gesture (to say the least) De Savary made them a gift of two acres (estimated value $200,000) overlooking the club. Keen. Now all the relatively poor prince has to do is come up with the $400,000 it will take to build a vacation home suitable for royal occupancy. The prince and princess and their children currently live in a Gloucestershire manor bought for $300,000 four years ago.

And there’s still more good news. Recently, De Savary’s representatives were snooping about in Los Angeles in search of an appropriate spot where a St. James’s Club, Los Angeles, may soon rise.

It’s going to be a big night for three big sports. In the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire tonight, the Beverly Hills Family Y will be honoring Jerry Buss, the triumphant owner of the Lakers, as Sportsman of the Year; philanthropist-investor Nat Dumont as Mr. Community Center, and Jack Freeman as Man of the Year.

Robert Tannenbaum is chairman of the dinner committee, which includes Ellen Byrens, Vicki Reynolds, Valerie Rigby and Mary Yanda. There will be surprises all night long--from the Lakers and from the trio’s show biz pals.

Partners for the Music Center Unified Fund will be doing some festive celebrating over lunch Thursday in the Eldorado Room of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Partners, made up of volunteers from other Music Center support groups, will be saluting some of their own plus Richard Kiley who is starring in “South Pacific” at the Pavilion, Roy A. Anderson, chairman of Lockheed who is chairing the 1985 Unified Fund Campaign, and Michael Newton, president of the Performing Arts Council.

The Social Scramble: Having just attended the christening of Sea Goddess II (Princess Caroline did the honors at the port of Monte Carlo), Ron Kurtz, president of Sea Goddess Cruises, was in town to host a party at L’Orangerie for people who like their cruises luxurious. In that crowd were Peter J. Savage, Mr. and Mrs. Barry Spikings, Diane and Harold Keith, Tova Borgnine, the Irving Prells, Teena Watson with Avery van Arthur, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Loykim Wong, the William Seigels, Muriel Slatkin and Ricardo Pascal.

Jack Attwood, president of Beatrice Foods’ Beverage Group and chairman of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles, chaired the dinner committee for the Varsity Scout fund-raising dinner at the Century Plaza where attorney John Argue was honored for his active roll in last year’s Olympic Games. Attwood, who is on the board for the Varsity Scout’s L.A. Council, and his wife hosted tables for friends like Mr. and Mrs. Arthur McDonald, Mr. and Mrs. James Rosser, Lucille and Herbert Boswell, the Raiders’ Marcus Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Strock, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Tobias and the Dave de Pintos.

Lunching at Washington’s Madison Hotel--former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. with Los Angeles’ Dale and Charles Snodgrass; White House social secretary Gahl Hodges with the Madison’s owner Marshall Coyne. Gahl, who is married to Richard Burt, assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs, is expected to be leaving her White House post soon. Her husband, a former New York Times reporter, has been nominated as the next ambassador to West Germany.

When Le St. Germain’s crowd of diners were all comfortably settled at their tables, co-owner and host Paul Bruggemans drew a deep breath and settled down with his chums for a leisurely dinner of pasta with veal and chicken boudin, baked salmon with caviar sauce, and so on. Paul’s little dinner party at the long table near the terrace included Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin (just back from New York), Jayne and Henry Berger (getting ready for their annual trek to Paris and Monte Carlo), Marcia and Larry Israel (off for a tour of the Trident nuclear sub) and Philip Salet (he was heading for the Orient.)

Last weekend, Robert O. Anderson, chairman of Atlantic Richfield Co., and Allan S. Reiver hosted a party for the dedication of an eight-story-high sculpture by Montecito, Calif., artist Herbert Bayer. Anderson and Reiver are partners in Realities Inc., the development company for the 55-acre Broadway Plaza complex in downtown Denver. The party which drew VIPs from everywhere took place in Realities’ penthouse headquarters. Among those who showed up were graphic designer Saul Bass and his wife; William K. Coors, chairman of the board of the Coors Brewery, and Mrs. Coors; Donald Sewell, chairman of the board of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Matthias Gueritz, architect and sculptor who commissioned all art for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

Love Notes: Michael Paul Weintraub, son of producer-manager Jerry Weintraub, marries Catherine Young of San Diego on June 30 and after a honeymoon in Israel, the young couple will be moving to Washington where Michael will join the press office of Vice President George Bush. Flying in from New York for the big even are Michael’s grandparents, Sam and Rose Weintraub, and his uncle, Mel Weintraub.

Social Snippets: Elliott and Feliza Plowe are back from a European jaunt that had them staying in their favorite hotels, Paris’ Plaza Athenee and London’s Dorchester.

Ruth Tullis has been cruising through France’s chablis country on a barge with an occasional balloon sortie to add excitement. Ruth’s barge mates included the Richard Coyles, Mr. and Mrs. Marty Passetta, S. J. and Effie Gaido and the Charles Hathaways. After stops in Paris, Monte Carlo (she’ll be at the Hotel de Paris) and London, she sails home on the QE2.