They’ll Have a Ball at the Bowl

Happy anniversary, Hollywood Bowl. The prestigious institution celebrates its 75th summer season at the July 9 opening. The auspicious occasion will also be a salute to the 80th birthday of the evening’s conductor, Robert Shaw, who will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

That evening the greatly expanded Hollywood Bowl Museum will reopen as the Edmund D. Edelman Hollywood Bowl Museum, named for the former county supervisor.

Friends of the Hollywood Bowl, headed by President Rebecca O’Neill, will greet guests along with O’Neill’s husband, Norm, and the opening night co-chairwomen Janice Tavera with husband Steve and Joan Wrede and her husband, Bob.

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Orange Crush: Orange County is mixing summer sand and sea with a plethora of social events. Piaget will sponsor the Christopher Reeve Celebrity Polo Classic on July 20 at the Oaks in Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park. The invitation features a stunning photo design by Ed Masterson. The beneficiary will be the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine.

Last January, Reeve and philanthropist Joan Irvine Smith, together with UC Irvine and the American Paralysis Assn., announced a joint effort to establish the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UCI College of Medicine. It will support the study of trauma to the spinal cord, with emphasis on the development of recovery therapies. A quarter of a million Americans suffer from spinal cord injury.

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Gourmet Delights: Opera Pacific’s “Gourmet Diners” series is off and running as a prelude to the 11th season gala opening of Puccini’s “Turandot” on Sept. 21 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. We count at least 18 gourmet events. Yet to come: an al fresco luncheon in Corona del Mar, a culinary opus at Beacon Bay and “a touch of class” at Big Canyon Country Club. More summer soirees are planned for Santa Ana, Peninsula Point, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Tustin and Irvine Cove.

Then add in the Opera Ball fashion show by Neiman Marcus at the Four Seasons Hotel, Newport Beach, and a prologue evening of insights into “Turandot,” plus the Opera Ball on Nov. 9 and numerous more “Diners” events: a holiday tea, boat parade party, Bavarian supper and more in October and November. This organization is really reaching out to fill seats for the 1996-’97 opera season, which also will include “Rigoletto,” “Don Giovanni” and “Die Fledermaus.”

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Surprises: Newport Harbor Art Museum’s sixth annual “Black and White Bash” on July 20 promises “surprises under the stars.” We do know that dining, dancing and entertainment are on the agenda, that dress is “creative black and white” and that the setting will be the Neiman Marcus Courtyard, Fashion Island.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

* Professional Associates, Big Sisters of Los Angeles, expects to net $350,000 from the “Making Friends” dinner at the Century Plaza. Founders Kim Thomas, Vicki Martin, Nina Gordon, Colleen O’Rourke and Kathie Gordon were all on hand to see Big Sisters board President Jan Cloyde and emcee Pam Dawber salute honorary event chairman Mark Willes, chairman, president and CEO of the Times Mirror Co., parent company of the Los Angeles Times.

The group raises money to help young girls become responsible adults, matching them one to one with women volunteers. Six women corporate general counsels were honored: Susan Harris of SunAmerica Inc.; Karen Randall, MCA Inc.; Kathleen McGuinness, Times Mirror Co.; Sally Suchil, Spelling Entertainment Group Inc.; Judith Nelson, Teledyne Inc.; and Madeleine Kleiner, H.F. Ahmanson & Co.

* “Zooray for Hollywood” was definitely zoorific for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. The annual fund-raiser, chaired for two years by Mary Urquhart (who will take on the chairmanship for a third year), and the ball committee brought in $309,000 gross. More than 775 grazed and dined. A highlight was Grant Tinker’s presentation of an award to Betty White for her dedication to the preservation and protection of animals.

* Judge David A. Thomas is stepping down after four years as chairman of Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. Friends feted him at a dinner party at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington.

* Kudos to all--Orthopaedic Hospital’s League for Crippled Children celebrated its 60th year at a luncheon where outgoing President Donna Lewis welcomed incoming President Jinny Minton and announced the completion of the league’s $1-million pledge to the hospital foundation . . . To Cal Spirit XII, raising $175,000 for the American Cancer Society at the garden party spearheaded by Wolfgang Puck and Sherry Lansing . . . To KCRW-FM (89.9) and its sixth annual Summerday International Wine, Dine and Travel Auction at Pacific Design Center, boosting Summerday’s overall gross to more than $500,000.

* To date, Las Patronas in Ventura has raised more than $1 million to support the Assistance League School, the league’s Girls Club and the Girls’ Teen Club in Ventura. Last week members presented their 39th annual debutante ball in the Doubletree Inn ballroom. The debutantes: Noelle Banman, Jessica Baumgarten, Korinne Morehart, Kelly Odle and Catherine Pinkerton, all of Santa Paula, and Mollie Ottsen of Ventura.

* Keeping Up: The Santa Monica Museum of Art hosted its “Summer Solstice” benefit with comedian Martin Mull and Irish music by the Descendants. Funds will go for children’s art classes . . . The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Los Angeles, presented its Britannia Award to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairmen of Miramax Films, at a dinner at the Beverly Wilshire.