Stars Lassoed to Celebrate Autry’s 90th

The Autry Museum of Western Heritage galas are always superb. Proof? People return every year and raise thousands for the museum. But this year is special. It’s a celebration of Gene Autry’s 90th birthday Sept. 29 at the museum.

Museum President and CEO Joanne D. Hale says the entertainment will include Eddy Arnold, Glen Campbell, Roy Clark, Rosemary Clooney and Willie Nelson. Dick Clark will be master of ceremonies.

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Ready for Fall? It’s time to order those new ball gowns and cocktail dresses and evening shirts. Fall is coming in with a mass of benefits, some formal, some casual.

Planned Parenthood of Pasadena has just mailed 3,000 invitations to its annual dinner dance Sept. 13 at Toni Bird’s Flintridge home. President Kathy Gillespie and chairman Angie O’Brien have set the theme: Casino Royale. Cocktails at 6:30 p.m., a seafood bar with ice sculptures, a sit-down dinner by Kitchen for Exploring Foods. Then the casino games and Murray Middleman’s Park Avenue West Band for dancing. Jacob Maarse will dramatize the night with red roses, gold balloons and spectacular lighting.

Patron chairwoman Joan Caillouette, when not attending weddings in Colorado, has spent the summer rounding up golden and diamond patrons. Profits from the party are budgeted to be 5% of the organization’s annual budget for clinics in Pasadena, Azusa and Monrovia.

On the committee: Carole Bourdillon, Beth Calleton, Dorothy Gantvoort, Priscilla Gibbs, Ginny Heringer, Linda Jenkins, Jennith Knox and Thea Makow.

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Save the Date: Roy and Patty Disney say “save the date” for the American Ireland Fund Heritage Award Dinner on Oct. 28 at Merv Griffin’s, as we say, Beverly Hilton.

It honors Tom Murphy, chairman emeritus of Capital Cities/ABC Inc. Bob Daly is honorary chairman.

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Queen’s Frolic: Los Voluntarios is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Arboretum of Los Angeles County Historical Section with “The Queen Anne Frolic” on Sept. 26. Guests will be encouraged to wear red and black, the late Lucky Baldwin’s racing colors.

Cattle Cate Catering (don’t you love it?) will do dinner; the Pecos Band will play for dancing. There will be tours of the Queen Anne cottage, horse-drawn surrey rides and escapades in antique autos. The Los Angeles County Department of Recreation and Parks is cooperating.

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Scheherazade: Look into the “Crystal Ball” and you will see William S. Davila. He’s being honored Sept. 6 at the Regal Biltmore by the Methodist Hospital Foundation. The ball theme: “Scheherazade.”

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Truly Moving: “Semicentennial” was Martha Welborne’s clever way of saying her husband, John, was turning 50. She asked Windsor Square friends to bring “Dominoes, Book, Thirst, Appetites and Penchants for Good Conversations or Short Naps” for a railway trip on the California Zephyr’s Silver Lariat and Overland Trail, attached to Amtrak’s San Diegan Trains 774 and 585 on Aug. 2.

The train was appropriate since John is president of the 97-year-old Angels Flight Railway in downtown Los Angeles.

According to those who attended, most boarded in Los Angeles, but Debbe and Spike Booth, and Missy and Bob Sutton hopped on at Oceanside. The trip had special meaning for Cappie and Tom Garrett. His great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather were presidents of the Baltimore & Ohio and had their own private rail cars.

Suzanne and Fred Rheinstein surprised the group on its return with an accordionist to play during cocktails and the final round of dominoes on the Overland Trail, a lounge car built in 1949 for Southern Pacific. As the sun set, guests adjourned to the Lariat (a Vista Domeliner built in 1948 for the original California Zephyr) for a white-linen, first-class dinner.

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Future Debs: The gold coronet is a symbol of family devotion and dedication to service to others. At least, that’s the way the Coronet Debutante Ball board looks at it.

The debutantes made their summer appearance Aug. 2 at the Bel-Air Country Club, receiving the coronet lavalieres they’ll wear at the 49th ball Nov. 29 in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Mothers made the presentations to their daughters.

Mary Carol Scollard chaired the luncheon; Janet Walther is director of the ball. Coronets will include Stacey Ammons, Nicole Brockmeier, Laura Keehner, Mara Kelly, Caroline Prijatel, Sara Probst, Stacey Roen, Stephanie Thompson, Jasmine Va Verka, Tracey Willson, Christianne Winthrop, Melanie Witte and Kristine Rosso.

The Coronet Debutante Ball supports the philanthropies of the National Charity League, Los Angeles Founder chapter, including the NCL-USC Teacher Center, Head Start Hollywood I and II and Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

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Let’s Eat: The Guild of Hillsides Home for Children plans cooking demonstrations and sample tasting for an “Easy Labor Day Barbeque.” Octavio Becerra, executive chef/partner of Pinot Bistro, and Christian Shaffer, chef de cuisine at the Pinot at the Chronicle in Pasadena, will make it all look simple. Wild Oats will provide summer wines. Location: the home of Scott and Barbara Bice in Pasadena.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

Clare Webb from West Los Angeles attended Las Patronas’ 51st anniversary Jewel Ball on Aug. 2 in La Jolla and pronounced it “impressive.” The La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club was transformed into a luxury ocean liner for 875 passengers on a “voyage” envisioned by chairwoman Annie Montgomery and co-chairwoman Rae Merhar.

The profits are estimated to be $350,000. The mission has remained the same--to fund critically needed capital items for scores of San Diego County nonprofit organizations.

* Kevin Clifford has been named board chairman of Mayfield Junior School.