The Blue Ribbon Captivates Klein
When Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills changes the direction of its escalators, you know the party’s serious.
Last week, at the second-floor going-up end--which is usually the going-down end--the Blue Ribbon of the Music Center (only 250, because of space) crowded around apricot-hued tulips on herringbone-patterned satin tablecloths to watch Calvin Klein’s spring collection of willowy chiffons and wools float down the runway. The escalator switch kept the private party separate from shoppers.
Not all eyes were there. Many strayed frequently to the handsome Klein himself, seated between Blue Ribbon president Sandra Ausman and Klein model Lisa Taylor Jones, who happens to be the daughter-in-law of Our Town’s Mary Jones Marshall.
“Honestly, I never go to store showings,” said Klein, who said he was there because of the prominence of Neiman Marcus and the Blue Ribbon.
At one table, three of the city’s grand dames--Hannah Carter, Frances Brody and Eleanore Phillips Colt--were a painting of dignity. Everywhere, the town’s best dressed were paying tribute to Klein’s style--Joni Smith, Joan Kardashian, Christy Gordon, Dody Booth, Frani Ridder, Katherine Domyan, Annette O’Malley, Teran Davis, Jane Gosden, Chardee Trainer and Debbi Lanni.
Presenting a Baccarat crystal blue ribbon to John Martens, vice president and general manager of Neiman Marcus, Beverly Hills, Ausman said, “Fourteen years ago today, on the eve of the grand opening of Neiman Marcus, you honored our organization with your opening gala. . . . Our beloved Buff Chandler (Blue Ribbon founding chairman) was in attendance.”
HEART BEAT: The Heart Ball’s dinner committee chairman, John E. Bryson, CEO of Southern California Edison, quoted Henry David Thoreau at the American Heart Assn. dinner at the Beverly Wilshire: “You can measure your health by the sympathy you have for nature.”
We all must have some sympathy, he said, because the death rate from heart disease has dropped 50% and the stroke rate 55% in the last 20 years.
Ball co-chairs Meredith MacRae and Sandra McNutt-Comrie had put their hearts into the cause. They hustled up 250 items for the silent auction and brought in at least $42,000 in the live auction, even though the poodle puppy was sick and not there and the Laddie John Dill original didn’t arrive on time for the auction. (It still sold for $5,000.)
Swaying to Melissa Manchester and “Midnight Blues” were MacRae and her fiance, Philip Neal, president of Avery; Bruce and Marty Coffey; Dick and Melinda Poladian; Bob and Robin Paulson; Janis and Donald Thayer; Bill and Keith Kieschnick; Liz and John Argue, and Randy and Jaclyn Hill.
KUDOS: Jan Curran, society editor of the Desert Sun, has lupus. She views the March 6 tribute to her as an honor for all who battle the disease. She’ll be named the first “Woman of Valor” by the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, at a luncheon at Morningside Country Club in Palm Desert. Robin Ceriale, Cindy Austin and Judy Gelfand are chairs.
MIDAS TOUCH: The Pasadena Junior League was so successful with last year’s “Center Stage” duo of fashion show benefits--one at lunch, the other at night--that it’s opted for a trio and will add a Sunday brunch gala this year.
Inspired by au courant Hollywood glitz, the league’s production this year is dubbed “Standing Ovation.” The luncheon and evening gala are March 21 and the brunch March 22--all at the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington, in Pasadena.
“Standing Ovation” chair Pamela Hillins Tegtmeyer expects 2,100 guests. Last year, 400--many of them league members--were turned away on tickets. President Diane Scott says the innovation should help the league raise even more than last year’s $160,000 net.
PLAUDITS: To Rary Simmons, new president of the Pasadena Guild of Childrens Hospital . . . to Michael G. Smooke, new Los Angeles County Museum of Art trustee . . . to Ernestine Richter Avery, Louise Agee Jones, Peter W. Mullin, John A. Sturgeon and L. Sherman Telleen, appointed to the board of overseers at the Huntington Library.
MAMBO! In the kitchen, in the bedroom and in the halls, Kidspace Museum devotees are gyrating, practicing the mambo, the Cuban dance prominent in the ‘50s. It bodes a hot and spicy evening Saturday for their “Mardi Gras Mambo!” benefit in the Romanesque Room at Pasadena’s historic Green Hotel.
Led by co-chairs Janelle Morton and Judith Imhoff, volunteers will raise funds for Kidspace, a hands-on participatory museum geared to children ages 2 to 12. Involved in the fete: Susan Chandler, Cathie Partridge, Linda Payne Smith, Caroline Baker, Cassie Harpel, Susan Lindgren, Carey McAniff and Maura McAniff.
ROMANCE: Popular Betty Elliott Field of Portuguese Bend was married to aircraft executive Bill Strauss in her garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Her cousin, Associate Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar of the state Court of Appeal flew down from San Francisco to perform the ceremony . . . .
Nancy Davis and Ronald J. Arnault, executive vice president of Atlantic Richfield, have been honeymooning in Italy after their marriage in San Marino Community Presbyterian Church.
NEW IDEA: More than 50 exhibitors around the United States will congregate on the Westridge School campus Saturday for the Westridge Summer Opportunities Fair. It’s all about summer activities for kids--jobs, camps, culture, workshops. Admission is free.
