BEVERLY HILLS COURIER | JUNE 29, 2012 Page 10
PA G E T E N
Happenings Around Town
• Joan Mangum Reports On The Beverly Hills Hotel’s Centennial Weekend Celebration Celebrating its centennial, The Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows featured a star-studded weekend of exclusive, curated events with celebrity hosts and honorary ambassadors Warren Beatty, Clive Davis, Bryan Lourd, Brett Ratner, Rick Rosen and Ben Silverman. With its 100 years as an icon of the entertainment industry, the hotel chose the MPTF (Motion Picture & Television Fund) as the official charity partner for the celebration. Bill Cosby hosted an evening of comedy and jazz by the pool and was introduced by Carl Reiner. MPTF dedicated the Friday event to The American Comedy Fund it administers along with The Actors Fund in New York for comedians in need. This was established last year by Viacom Entertainment Corp. and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Guests included Tom Arnold, Kristen Bell, Barbara Davis, Nancy Davis, Brad Garrett, Doug Herzog, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Martie Maguire, Rob Riggle, Dax Shepard, Joe Torre, and others. Saturday began with a cabana-chic, vintage-style pool party at noon, featuring a special performance by the criticallyacclaimed synchronized waterballet performers Aqualillies. . Warren Beatty kicked off the evening with an intimate cocktail and dinner celebrating the launch of an exhibition featuring classic photos from The Beverly Hills Hotel shot by legends of the photography world including Bruce Davidson, Anthony Friedkin, Terry O’Neil, Julius Shulman, and Julian Wasser. Robbie Anderson, official hotel historian and greatgrandson of the hotel’s original owner, wrote The Beverly Hills Hotel – The First 100 Years and was on-hand to sign copies of the newly released book which features never-before-seen images, historical documents and colorful anecdotes related to the hotel’s fabled history. A selection of one-of-a-kind objects and ephemera from Anderson’s archive were also on view. Following the dinner, it was down to the Crystal Ballroom, where General Manager Ed Madyintroduced the premier of a short film created by Oscar-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman commemorating the hotel’s anniversary. The film, narrated by Lauren Bacall, includes anecdotes from Warren Beatty, Mary J. Blige, Clive Davis, Michael Douglas, Jimmy Fallon, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Anderson. Following the film, host Brett
Ratner introduced nine-time Grammy-winning artist Mary J. Blige, who sang a selection of her hits and had us dancing in the aisle… Fantastic… Guests included Zach Braff, Michael Chow, Cat Deeley, Donald Faison, Joely Fisher, Stana Katic, Donna Mills, Prince, Karina Smirnoff, J e f f r e y Katzenberg, Mena Suvari, Brenda Vaccaro, Diane Warren, Irwin Winkler, and others. Throughout the weekend, members of the public and guests attending the events had the chance to bid on two silent auction items being showcased in the lobby with all proceeds directly benefiting the Motion Picture & Television Fund. The first item was a GirardPerregaux (a weekend sponsor) 1966 Beverly Hills Hotel limited edition watch which was created in honor of the anniversary The second item was a Mikimoto Akoya cultured pearl necklace with AA quality 9.5 x 9mm strand featuring an 18k white gold clasp. As the official automotive sponsor of the weekend, BMW provided 2012 BMW 750LixDrive Sedans for V.I.P. guests to use. Congratulations to Adam Tihany Designs who did a fabulous job of redoing the lobby and the Sunset Room… Very captivating… (Reported by Joan Mangum) • Paley Center To Salute SyFy’s Eureka Series Final Episodes Paley Center for Media, 465 N. Beverly Dr., will salute SyFy’s Eureka on Monday at 7 p.m. with a screening of a new episode and a preview of the finale of the 5year series which is scheduled to air July 16. There will be a discussion and Q&A session, moderated by TV writer Drusilla Moorhouse, with Jaime Paglia, creator/executive producer, and cast members Colin Ferguson, Salli RichardsonWhitfield, Neil Grayston and Joe Morton. Tickets are $15 with information at www.paleycenter.org. • MMPA Host Media Diversity Panel At Actors Center Theatre On Saturday, the BH-based Multicultural Motion Picture Association will play host in the SAG Actors Center Theatre, 5757 Wilshire Blvd., to an array of writers, actors producers, and network personnel at its annual Diversity in TV and Film Panel to discuss diversity in the two forms of entertainment media. Among those on the 7 p.m. panel will be Grace Wu, NBC’s EVP of casting; Mara Brock Akil, producer/writer of Sparkle and Girlfriends; actor Harold Perrineau; actor Guy Aoki, founder of Asians in Entertainment Media; writer/ director Ja’Caryous Johnson; producer
Deborah Calla; director Bill Duke; actor Michael Ealy of USA Network’s Common Law; and Shelby Stone, executive producer of VH1’s Single Ladies. Admission is $20. For information, call 646-372-0822. • Soap Stars Bill And Susan Hayes Booksigning At The Grove Two longtime stars of Days Of Our Lives Bill and Susan (Seaforth) Hayes will celebrate the publishing of their new work Trumpet with a books i g n i n g appearance at Barnes & Noble in The Grove on Wednesday, July 18, from 7 to 9 p.m. The couple married in 1974 and has been in cast of the NBC daytime serial for more than 40 years. • Fries Honored Via $2 Million Gift To Wesleyan University The Charles W. Fries Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives has been established thanks to a $2 million gift from Mike Fries, president/CEO of Liberty Global, to his alma mater, Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Fries named his bequest in honor of his father, Chuck Fries of Beverly Hills, whose career was memorialized in a biography The Godfather Of The Television Movie. During the past 6 decades, he has producedmore than 275 hours of TV movies and mini-series and won countless Emmy, Peabody, Humanitas and Christopher awards. He has produced 120 television movies and mini-series, 50 theatrical films and 5,000 series episodes for TV.
ANNIVERSARY–Celebrating with the 1-year anniversary cake of LAB Art Gallery, owned by BH residents Alan and Yasmina Joelson, are other owners daughter Rachel Joelson (left) and son Iskander Lemseffer.
Frances Allen Desert Roundup
Movie-star handsome Scott Hines, mayor of Rancho Mirage, grinned comfortably as he welcomed us into his city hall office for the first in a series profiles in The Courier on the outstanding men and woman of the Desert–local dynamos who daily commit time and treasure to improve the quality of life in Coachella Valley. Not surprisingly there was a practiced ease about him; this former Air Force major and Latin American-based intelligence operative is used to dealing with the media after honing his skills briefing generals. The youngest of Rancho Mirage’s five city council members, he is now serving a rotating one year term as mayor. Since the council was previously perceived as a “good, old men’s club,” Hines has overcome less than unanimous approval, (winning his council seat in 2010 by just 11 votes), but his diligence in analyzing the issues and finding solutions has won over many converts. For example while researching the city’s municipal code, he found that by making a minor adjustment to how the city’s streets are painted, dedicated bike lanes could be added at no additional expense. In an achievement he is proud of, 60 percent of the city’s streets now have marked bicycle lanes. Guiding a city that has a multi-million dollar surplus, Hines is concerned that it not expand beyond its tax base, arguing for balanced real estate development–which brings in relatively little revenue–with commercial business, whose payment of sales taxes go almost directly into the city’s coffers. Therefore, according to Hines, the city is in the development stage of a major multiple-use project on land adjacent to the Agua Caliente Casino at the northern gateway to Rancho Mirage. Known as “Section 19” this will feature high-end retail shops and restaurants, offices and luxury residential units in an open, planned, meandering setting to rival The Grove in L.A. When not attending to city business, he enjoys camping with his children and serving as president/COO of World Education University, an institution of higher learning which believes “Education Should Be Free.” Imagine that, Scott Hines does. As he has shown by his service on the city council, if it can be imagined, Hines will find innovative ways to get it done. ****** It’s been called “The Dream on the Hill,” “A Black Hole” and from the numerous contractors and construction workers who haven’t been paid, comments far too unprintable to mention. The object of all this attention: The Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage–the most expensive white elephant ever to take form in Coachella Valley. Years ago, the city boasted it had the only 6-star hotel in the Valley. That was the Ritz-Carlton. Then it was sold and the new owners named the still 6-star property, “The Lodge at Rancho Mirage.” Later, before the debacle at Lehman Brothers heralded in an era of Wall Street woes, the Lodge was sold again, with the new owners planning to use money borrowed from Lehman Brothers and others to tear down and renovate the property to a level of luxuriousness far beyond its former glory. But a funny thing happened on the way to the re-grand opening: money dried up, building ceased and the project lay dormant. Assurances where given that new financing was eminent and that the construction stoppage was just temporary. Unfortunately, no lender was willing to back up these assurances with money, and “The Dream on the Hill,” fittingly, became a mirage. Fast-forward to a few weeks ago and the announcement the Rancho Mirage City Council has given the owners of the Ritz-Carlton an ultimatum–either sell the property, bring in other investors or complete construction of the property by Dec. 2013. There has been optimism about the opening of the Ritz Carlton before … many times before. However, it is beginning to look as if this time the city means business.
ART OPENING–Artist Cheryl Medow (third from left) welcomes Deanna Lund; her sister, lyricist Carol Connors; Barbie Benton; and Mara New to the opening reception of her “In Company of Birds” exhibit at Tag Gallery in Santa Monica’s Bergamont Station through July 14. FLEXIN’–Fitness expert Donna Spangler (left, center) welcomes actresses Tanya Newbould and Jennifer Blanc to her “Flexin’-4 Dollars” fundraiser at the BH home of Dr. Richard Benveniste to benefit OneMama.Org. Actor Ed Lauter (The Artist) was among the 200 guests. Photos by Glen Lipton