Treasure Hunt at the Big Store : Formals, Bowls of Caviar, Sneakers--A Caper for Charity

Guests began to arrive half an hour early, all in formal duds, a few sporting sneakers.

One couple declined champagne so as not to dull their “competitive edge.”

Wives yelled at their husbands. Husbands yelled back.

The event chairwoman shrugged her bare shoulders and called the night, “same old, same old.”

Come again ?

And they did, 380 of them, to a benefit for the county chapter of the American Diabetes Assn., held Saturday at Neiman-Marcus in Newport Beach.

Like its three annual predecessors, the fund-raiser was a treasure hunt called “The Great Catalogue Caper,” which sent black-tied and sleek-gowned guests capering around the store like so many breathless sales trainees.

(The rules of the hunt: When guests arrived, each received a green clue card, containing a riddle whose answer was simply one of the store departments. As the game began--an announcement followed by whoops and a clattering of heels--guests headed to one of 17 “clue boxes” stationed around the store. If they showed up at the right box, they reached in and drew another riddle, maybe an “instant winner” card that entitled them to one of 127 prices.)

Officially, the bash started at 7 p.m., but by 6:45 several dozen guests were pacing the store’s white marble floors--up this aisle, down that--past an hors d’oeuvres buffet piled with stuffed artichokes, smoked salmon, jumbo prawns and silver bowls of caviar, nestled among icy bottles of Finlandia and Absolut vodka. (Despairing the empty bowls an hour later, guest Tom Maddock declared, “The least they could do is put little cups out so we could drink the vodka.” Salud.)

Among the early crowd were Carla and Sandy Stianssni--she in a silk suit, he in a penguin suit, both in well-worn sneakers. Sandy, an ADA board member, explained their footwear thusly: “He who gets there first, gets there most.”

After an hour of cocktailing, the hunt began, with one revved-up reveler after another drawing a clue card from a cardboard puzzle box and and setting out to master such mysteries as:

“She wore her second skin of lace while tickling the ivories.”

That is the clue drawn by Dr. Frank Rhie, director of diabetes services at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and a past president of the local ADA chapter. Rhie had come to the gala with his 14-year-old daughter, Tina, because his wife, an anesthesiologist, had been called into work at the last minute.

While Rhie studied his clue, which led him to the intimate-apparel department, Tina kicked off her sparkly silver pumps and headed for the escalators at a barefooted jog. Just another treasure hunter.

Steve Brown asked his wife, Karen, for help with the clue that included the word Falchi. She told him to get to the handbag department. Pronto.

“Handbags!” Brown bellowed. “That’s where all my money goes!”

As they tired of chasing from clue box to clue box, guests drifted toward the lavish dinner buffet for plates full of beef tenderloin with green peppercorn sauce; pork loin stuffed with dates and peanuts; chicken breasts wrapped around spinach and feta cheese and caviar fettuccine, not to mention the exotic truffles and tarts for dessert.

All these were fine explanations for the energetic dancing to the Lynn Willis Orchestra that lasted until nearly midnight.

Proceeds from the $175-per-person event were an estimated $91,000, said Charmaine Day, the chapter executive director.

Presiding over the chaos were Gayle Dvorak, vice president and store manager of Neiman- Marcus and ADA board member, and Diana Bromiley, event chairwoman. Jan Vitti was co-chairwoman.

David and Beatrice Hanser of Huntington Harbour won the grand prize, a Java Seas cruise aboard the Cunard Sea Goddess II.