Junior League Pulls Off Stylish Benefit in Fine Fashion
SAN DIEGO — Newcomers to the Junior League learn quickly enough that league membership is not unlike a stint in the Army--each is expected to volunteer regularly to perform all sorts of tasks, pleasant and otherwise, and if no one steps forward, volunteers will be chosen from among the ranks.
The group, whose motto is “Trained Volunteers Mke a Difference,” does rank as something of an army in local terms because with 450 active members and nearly 1,000 sustainers, it constitutes the largest volunteer organization in the county. Its roster of charitable and educational programs changes from time to time, but it currently includes a half-dozen projects, ranging from the “Kids on the Block” traveling puppet show to educate children about the disabled, to Cancare, an effort to educate the denizens of sun-drenched San Diego on the dangers of skin cancer. In keeping with the league’s fondness for mottoes, the Cancare program coyly suggests “If you sun, baste before baking!”
Events Were Expanded
The league traditionally has paid for such projects with money from its annual and famous rummage sale, a two-day flea market of what the group calls “ quality rummage” held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds; last year’s sale produced more than $110,000. But an expanded menu of projects recently demanded an increased cash flow (and what group ever takes in enough money?), which resulted in the 1987 creation of “Encore,” a formal gala-cum-fashion show designed as the league’s answer to the numerous annual balls put on by other fund-raising organizations.
“Hooray for Hollywood,” the splashy, cinema-inspired 1988 version of “Encore,” drew about 600 guests to the Sheraton Harbor Island’s Champagne Ballroom last Saturday for an evening of make-believe and dancing. A highlight of the evening was the fashion show that cleverly preceded the dinner and served as a spicy appetizer to the rest of the evening.
And because this is a group that just loves to volunteer, the committee chose models not from local talent agencies but from league membership. The process was competitive; candidates were required to appear before a panel of judges in early February, and those chosen then had to pledge to practice, practice, practice. (They also had to wheedle husbands and kiddies to join them on the ramp, a task that must not have been too difficult because the assembled family members looked only too happy to be there.)
Show Business Tributes
The result of all this was a show that bounced nicely along in a series of tributes to such Hollywood classics as “The Wizard of Oz,” a clip of which opened the show, “Dr. Zhivago” and “Gigi.” Saks Fifth Avenue supplied the clothes and Entertainment Productions staged the show, which turned hot with a dancing flames number.
The show’s giddiest number may have taken place when a passel of mop-toting hubbies marched out lip-syncing “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” and they presumably knew whereof they sang, because each owed his presence to matrimony.
This salute to the silver screen took place in a setting of drop-dead 1930’s Art Deco glamour, designed primarily in white (the favorite tone of the famous “screwball” comedies of that era) and carried out with extravagant floral decorations. Chairwoman Kathryn Murphy looked particularly colorful against this background in her blue-and-gold Scarlet O’Hara gown, which she wore in response to the invitation’s suggestion that guests dress as their favorite movie characters as an alternative to black tie.
Murphy said she was satisfied with the result of the months of planning required by the event. “I’m going to feel let down when this is over,” she said. “But right now, it’s very exciting to see it finally come together.”
A Range of Costumes
The costumes--worn by a minority of guests but ranging from a Mickey and Minnie Mouse duo to a Yul Brenner-like King of Siam and a well-endowed Dolly Parton--were the idea of co-chairman Ann Davies, who took the evening’s costume trophy for her sultry Carmen Miranda get-up.
“Costumes sounded like a wonderful idea last October, but then March came around and I said, ‘Oh, what did I do?’ ” Davies said. “But I think it helps to encourage free expression--it adds a little spice to the party.”
Most guests found sufficient spice in the party’s series of main events, which following the fashion show included a chicken Wellington dinner, dancing to the Bill Green Orchestra and a drawing for a multitude of prizes, including a balloon trip across northern Europe.
Among the mannequins, all of whom learned to strut impressively in a relatively short period of time, were Diana Bryggman, Libby Levine, Donna Sefton, Kathy Knotts-Lavine, Homa Sorrosh, Mary Tatum, Sally Fuller, Carol Fletcher, Dawn Conway, Carol Yorston, Anne Evans and league president Tricia Craven Worley.
Gayle Wilson, a past league president and wife of Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), served as honorary chairman of a committee that included Susan Wilson, Cindy Cotter, Hilary Gauntt, Leslie Hokr, Edie Sanchez, Bobbie Quick, Helen Pickard, Marilee Warfield, Judy Anton, Rosslyn Valentine, Gini Brooks, Pam Burke, Chris Frost, Gail Hubbard, Kay Porter and Gretchen Colachis.
Blue skies smiled upon the Star of India on Sunday, but the historic, iron-clad merchantman bore umbrellas in her rigging just in case.
The waterfront landmark also carried a cargo of about 200 souls, all present in response to the Maritime Museum’s invitation to help bail out the organization after the Jan. 17 storm that damaged the Star of India and her sister ship, the ferryboat Berkeley. Called “Stormy Weather,” the fund-raiser generated more than $8,000 of the $100,000 repair goal set by the emergency drive. (The tough old Star, by the way, looked as good as ever, and the Berkeley, which was damaged even more and had to be towed to a dockyard, also has been repaired. The ferryboat, which once carried passengers fleeing the San Francisco earthquake, has been moved from its former berth above the Cruise Ship Terminal to the southern side of Broadway Pier.)
An Outrageous Idea
Chairman Kay Black chose the umbrellas, which trailed streamers and looked faintly outrageous hoisted high in the rigging, as the emblem of the party. Pointing to the unlikely decorations, Black remarked, “When it rains on us, it never pours. It just brings challenges.”
Maritime Museum development director Carolyn Elliott teased that the umbrellas were present to ward off storm spirits. If so, they seemed to be working, and also to be bringing the museum close to its emergency fund-raising goal. As of Sunday, almost $68,000 had been brought in from grants by the Parker Foundation, other foundations and individuals.
The party-goers amused themselves by scuttling below-decks to nibble nautical hors d’oeurves and inspect the ships-in-bottles made by San Diegan Victor Crosby. On the main deck, Russ St. Jean carved scrimshaw figures and woodcarver Walt Jacobson whittled merrily while the Jackstraws, a somewhat piratical trio modeled along British seafaring lines, played hornpipes--one looked in vain for a Popeye to execute the intricate steps--and sang ancient sea chanteys.
Assisting Black on the event committee were Laurie Blackington, Nancy Gordon, Jean Hashman, Anita Martin, Barbara Sharp, Nan Tracy and Marnie Woodworth.
The guest list included Ray and Susan Carpenter, Peter and Dot Branson, Philip and Heidrun Faulconer, Joe and Linda Basquez, Gordon and Ruth Lacy, John and Barbara Ogden, Burton and Susan Jay, Roy and Joy Ledford, Bill and Joan Vollmer, and Doug and Carolyn Sharp.
