Literary lights ponder before dinner at the Folger; media types don aprons for a cause.

By Donna Shor

Liz Glover, Nikki Schwab, Barry Glassman, Enzo Fargione, Patrick Gavin, and Christine Delargy at Teatro Goldoni.

REVELATION = INSPIRATION

At the 21st annual PEN/Faulkner Fiction Award Gala, humorist Calvin Trillin announced that he lacked credentials to produce a trendy public confessional. “I had a happy childhood,” he said from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Elizabethan Stage. “But please don’t let that get back to New York!”

Twelve distinguished writers read their three-minute takes on the official topic, “Revelation.” Several referenced the Biblical book of Revelation, with Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks wittily extracting, “Write what you see” from the musings of John of Patmos. National Book Award winner and Bethesda resident Alice McDermott captured a funny and fruitless dialogue with her mother on the Virgin Mary’s place in that controversial scriptural work.

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“Celebrate Lombardi” was this year’s theme of the Lombardi Gala, skillfully chaired by Howard B. Adler and Tanya Adler

By Donna Shor

Jack DeGioia, Theresa DeGioia, Tanya Adler, Howard Adler

The back-tie Lombardi Gala, now in its 23rd year, is always over the top, with a glamorous array of auction items, a luxury car raffle (this year featured a fire-engine red 2010 Lexus IS 250c convertible), a great band, a sumptuous feast catered by Windows, and the satisfaction that the $400 tickets fund one of the most important goals of any Washington event: a cure for cancer.

“Lombardi is a gift to our city,” said Tanya Adler. “Let’s celebrate the day we’ll all declare victory. The fight goes on.”

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Celebrating the release of the new 2010 Cadillac SRX, local car aficionados strolled the red carpet at Jim Coleman Cadillac in Bethesda.

By John Arundel

Jessica Bacon, Robert Bacon

CARRIAGE OF CHOICE: Bethesda commuters must have done a double-take when they spied a red carpet, spotlights, step-and-repeat and paparazzo set up outside Jim Coleman Cadillac on Oct. 21. Cristina Maria Events transformed the showroom of the dealership into a luxurious showplace, with an after-work bash hosted by Washington Life magazine in honor of the newly released 2010 Cadillac SRX.

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Lynda Webster serves coffee to the ladies and the Killions prepare to return to the City of Light.

By Donna Shor

David and Kristin Killion (left) with hosts Ray and Shaista Mamood

Guests at Lynda Webster’s annual coffee klatch at the Chevy Chase Club look forward to renewing ties and renewing ties after summer’s hiatus. Seen: Vicki Sant, Jan Donaldson, Nini Ferguson, Alexine Jackson, Wilma Bernstein, Evelyn DiBona, Bitsey Folger, Marion Rosenthal, and WWD’s Susan Watters.

Sonya Bernhardt, the owner of The Georgetowner and The Downtowner was there, as was Beth Solomon, who has just been named executive editor of both publications. Pam Kessler was being congratulated on her husband Ron’s latest New York Times best-seller; The President’s Secret Service is a behind the scenes tell-all about the lives – and dilemmas – of the men who have guarded the presidents and their families over the years.

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Aiding earthquake victims, a trip to Mahlerfest, and a local music prodigy
By Donna Shor

Pisco sour entrepreneurs Lizzie (left) and Melanie Asher’s business is definitely sweet. (Photo by Tomas Muscionico)

PASS THE PISCO
Four hundred guests thronged the Hotel Monaco’s Poste Brasserie patio to celebrate the 188th anniversary of Peruvian independence, benefit earthquake victims in that country, and knock back “Macchu Pisco” pisco sours.
Relief funds are sorely needed. Last December, I visited the town of Pisco – where the diamond-white liquor is made – just days before death and destruction came to Pisco/Ica at the quake’s epicenter.
The “Macchu Pisco” brand – with an extra “c” added for luck – was begun by Bethesda’s Melanie Asher, who spent her childhood in Peru. Melanie graduated from the Harvard Business School, where her required b-school plan generated the company (“There was a lack of pisco in America!”). Her sister Lizzie, a Harvard lawyer, looks after the legal tasks and marketing. (Lizzie’s wedding, in Antigua last year, was so spectacular that it appeared in Elle magazine’s December issue.)
The co-sponsors were the Embassy of Peru, Evelyn Brooks Designs, and Macchu Pisco to benefit Coprodeli, a charity that for 20 years has helped the poor in Peru, and now is aiding earthquake victims.

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The best in hats, helping the homeless, and a bold approach to spotting airborne human traffickers

By Donna Shor

Alison Starling and Michel Martin

PROPER TOPPERS
When executive director Frank Aucella threw open the doors of Kalorama’s Woodrow Wilson House to welcome the throngs to the 21st “Perennial” Garden Party, crowned heads streamed through the doors. Crowned, in this case, with headgear ranging from boldly bizarre to the simply beautiful. Part of the fun at this cocktail-cum-tea party is judging the hats for oneself before the official ranking takes place. Imprudent fashionistas, stilettos sinking into the sod, watched as the winners paraded past in the multi-leveled garden.
Among this year Best Hat Contest winners: For Vintage/Traditional (Lady): Sassy Jacobs, (Gentleman): Gen. Samuel K. Lessey; Live Flower hats: Sarah Salomon and Dr. Damien Doyle; Show Stoppers: Betsy Santarlasci and Greg Muhlner; Best Ensemble: Rhoda Septilici and John McEachern; with Honorable Mention to Foree Biddle. The handsome Georgian Revival mansion, once home to our 28th president, is filled with Wilson family memorabilia, and is a true “living textbook” of American history.

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Honoring John Whitehead, “Living Goddesses,” and jazzy cocktails in Georgetown.

By Donna Shor

John and Cynthia Whitehead.

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

Accompanied by strains from Balogh’s Gypsy Cimbalom Band and the stamping feet of the Tisza Folk Dancers, the Hungarian American Coalition honored John Whitehead, banker, diplomat and “outstanding American.”

Why outstanding? Let us count the ways – at least a few, since this column isn’t long enough to list them all.

As a U.S. Navy commander, Whitehead, was aboard LCV landing craft at bloody Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of World War II. A decade later, he aided Hungarian Freedom Fighters as Soviet tanks rolled in to crush their struggle for independence. But this action hero also served as deputy secretary of state in the Reagan years, co-chaired Goldman Sachs, was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and helped direct the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after 9/11.

Whitehead, 86, holds a coveted Presidential Citizens Medal as well as the International Rescue Committee Freedom Award – fellow awardees include Sir Winston Churchill, Elie Wiesel, John McCain, Bill Clinton, and Lech Walesa – and he serves on the boards of a score of think tanks, charities, and biomedical research groups.

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A sumptuous wedding, sassy valets, and a lively bash for Catholic Charities’

By Donna Shor

Mario Sacasaa and Xiomara Blandino

A Sumptuous Celebration
Shaista and Ray Mahmood outdid themselves hosting a dinner celebrating their son Asif’s wedding to beautiful Sunna Rana. The event was one of five celebrations; at the wedding itself, the bride wore red, in accordance with Pakistani custom.

Seen amid the crowd of hundreds in the blossom-filled National Building Museum: the ambassadors of Pakistan, the Arab League, Afghanistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon. Also former President of Pakistan Mohammedmian Sumero; former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake; Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador at large for global women’s issues; Rep. Jim Moran and his wife Lu Anne; Meridian International President Stuart Holliday and his wife Gwen, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and wife Meryl; Rep. Gerry Connolly; Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett; Esther Coopersmith; Mahinder and Tak Sharad; Jacques and Brenda de Suze; former Virginia Sen. George Allen and Susan Allen; Alexandria Mayor William Euille; and Rick Inderfurth, former assistant secretary of state for Asian affairs.

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The National Museum of Women in the Arts pays tribute to Mary McFadden

By Donna Shor

Fashion Designer Mary McFadden

“So, Mary McFadden arrives at the Queen of Thailand’s palace with just a handbag and the clothes on her back…,” Esther Coopersmith recalled at her recent dinner in the legendary designer’s honor.

Gowns worth $50,000 had gone astray, to be found only after the need to wear them had passed. Queen Sirikit, who had heard much about the fashion icon’s latest creations, was disappointed there was nothing to see. “Not to worry,” Esther reassured us, “Mary found a beautiful length of silk, draped it around herself, took a few stitches, and looked fabulous.”

McFadden still looks extraordinary. Oval-faced, with pale, smooth porcelain skin and her signature coiffure (short and chic, crowned by a narrow black braid of her hair), apparently unchanged since this writer last saw her 20 years ago, she remains as timeless as her designs.

Her education and travels have added depth and richness to her work. Born into a well-to-do Memphis cotton family, she was educated at Foxcroft, the Sorbonne, the Traphagen School of Design, the Dante Alghieri Institute in Rome, and studied sociology at New York’s Columbia University and New School for Social Research.

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Moguls make the scene in Palm Beach and Washington

By Donna Shor

Ted Turner and Heloisa Sabin at the reception for the U.N. Foundation’s Polio Advocacy Group.

White Tie and Tiaras
“Ferrari was God to me when I was in my twenties!” William Rollnick exclaimed upon hearing I had known the famed race car designer. As a newbie journalist, I covered the Modena Races sitting in the mechanics’ split-second-action pit with Enzo Ferrari’s wife, Clara.

Amazingly, after Rollnick managed to meet his hero, Ferrari offered to let the young fan test-drive a new model. “Nervous? I must have lost eight pounds of sweat,” Rollnick recalled. “But Ferrari said, ‘You’ll be fine,’ and I was.”

Racing talk predominated at the Ambassadors’ Dinner the night before the International Red Cross Ball in Palm Beach on January 31. NASCAR ace Kyle Petty was planning to do some laps later around the local track with Rollnick, a retired president of Mattel, who co-chaired the ball with his wife, Nancy.

Howard and Michele Kessler welcomed guests to their art-filled home, and Michele’s lively speech introduced ball special guests Petty and actress Anne Archer.

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Lynda Carter sings, Lolo Sarnoff’s award, and Kathy Kemper’s golf cup

By Donna Shor

Lynda Carter in performance at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Photo by Laurie Black

STILL WONDER-FULL
At the National Museum of Women in the Arts cabaret benefit, TV’s former “Wonder Woman,” Lynda Carter, swooped, boogied, and strutted – then slinked across the stage like a sleek panther. In a rich, chocolaty voice, she belted out rock’n’roll, Broadway show tunes, and classic ballads to win a standing ovation for her hour-long show.

NMWA founder Wilhelmina ‘Billie’ Holladay presented Carter with the museum’s Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts Award for her singing career as well as her five television specials and the TV series.

Patti Sowalski won praise for chairing the event, which featured an excellent dinner and dramatic, flame-red centerpieces. Hard-working American Red Cross chairwoman Bonnie McElveen-Hunter knew how to have fun. She was dancing in place to Lynda’s songs as she led tablemates, arms locked, swaying side to side, in rhythm. Others attending included: Mary Mochary and Phil Wine, Carol and Climis Lascaris, Ahmad and Judy Esfandiary, Irene Natividad and Andrea Cortese, Sunny Scully, Caroline Boutté, Marlene and Fred Malek, Lisa Pumphrey, and Dr. Milton Corn and Gilan Tocco Corn (who co-directs the museum’s Shenson Chamber Music Concert Series which the evening helped benefit).

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Writerly achievement, Navy memorials, and daring to dream

By Donna Shor

Herman Wouk and Bill Safire at the Library of Congress dinner honoring Wouk with a lifetime achievement award.

Wouk and Remembrance
With wit and whimsy, (shadowed by sorrow), and a stellar cast of readers of passages from his best-known works, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk received the Library of Congress’s first Lifetime Achievement Award for Fiction. ABC’s Martha Raddatz read the ominous trip to Auschwitz scene from War and Remembrance. The New York Times’ William Safire amused with an excerpt from Inside Outside. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg proved that had she not chosen law, she could have been an actress with a dramatic reading from The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (inspired by Wouk’s WWII service on a destroyer). The former Fred Allen gag writer went on to chronicle wars and the Holocaust in his novels, often researching them at the Library. (As a one-time next-door neighbor, I saw all the complex maps and charts Wouk put up on his wall, and the meticulous logs attesting to his underlying scholarship.) Seen at the dinner hosted by Librarian of Congress James Billington: Wouk’s wife Sarah, editor Jean Young, Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor, Ina Ginsburg, Esther Coopersmith (who learned that the Wouks once rented her Kalorama home) and Jim Kimsey. Barefoot, ebullient Jimmy Buffet played Margaritaville-style songs from a Caribbean musical based on the honoree’s Don’t Stop The Carnival and said: “Just to work with Herman Wouk was an education in itself.”

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Barbara McDuffie shows off one of the era-perfect poodle skirts seen in the audience at the Lombardi Cancer Center’s Doo Wop Concert at the Warner Theatre.

Strange encounters, Doo Wop daddies, and tea dancing Russian style.

By Donna Shor

BEAR-ING UP WELL
Lynda Webster and her long-time fishing buddy, retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, were startled at a placid trout stream this summer when a bear burst out of the woods and headed right for them. “After the first shock, we realized he wasn’t after us,” Lynda said. “He was after the trout on her line.” After a tense moment, the pair headed him off, and kept both their fish and their cool.

Lynda kicked off the fall season once again with her morning get-together at the Chevy Chase Club. Spotted: Alma Powell, Barbie Allbritton, Esther Coopersmith, ever-soignée Alexine Jackson (who had just celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary, and found that hard to believe. So do we.) Others included Kathy Bushkin, the UN Foundation’s chief operating officer; Pam Kessler, who told us her author husband Ron is hard at work on a book about the FBI; Gail West; Shaista Mahmood; arts patron Judith Terra; designer Ann Kenkel; Judy Esfandiary; and Ruth Frenzel. Wives of four ambassadors were there: Laurel Colles Lintu (Finland); Shamin Jawad (Afghanistan), Fabiola Gallegos (Ecuador), Margarete Alvarez (Venezuela), and from the embassy of Japan, aide Kiyomi Buker.

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Seasonal meanderings, a bachelor no more, and news from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms.

By Donna Shor

Curator Marcee Craighill (center) greets her predecessor, Gail Serfaty, at a recent Diplomatic Reception Rooms dinner.

WHO WENT WHERE
Lynda Webster says this was “The Year of the Fish” after angling for trout in Montana with husband Bill before heading to Alaska for more. … JoAnn and John Mason summered at home, preoccupied with visiting grandkids and John’s appointment as a National Endowment for the Arts trustee. After an escape to Nantucket, they relaxed at Ireland’s super-chic Ritz-Carlton spa, the Ireland Tower Court, an hour from Dublin. … Monica and Hermen Greenberg topped the summer with their annual barbecue at “Rutledge,” their Middleburg estate, where beautiful Monica presided in a huge picture hat. “Fifty of the 500 guests were kids,” birthday boy Hermen said proudly. There were kiddie games galore, and EVERYONE got a prize. … George and Trish Vradenburg winged it to Sao Paolo, Brazil, as Trish’s play, Surviving Grace, is touring Latin America. … Mike and Julie Connors had a marathon summer, after first hosting a cocktail party in their art-filled Georgetown home honoring National Museum of Women in the Arts gala co-chairs Juliana May and M.A. Brickfield. Then it was Dark Harbor, Maine and Nantucket followed by Greece to visit Carol and Climis Lascaris. That foursome, joined by Mary Mochary and Phil Wine, left from Nice for a Seabourn cruise of the Italian Riviera, ending in Rome before the Connors headed to California. … Gertrude d’Amecourt went off to the Vermont retreat of Lolo Sarnoff, who recently hosted the elegant and indomitable Gertie’s 98th birthday celebration. It fell on the night of a major storm, with no electricity and non-working traffic lights, yet 200 of the guests made it anyway. Lolo lit many birthday cakes’ worth of candles, and everyone partied on.

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Bonnie McElveen Hunter and Alma Gildenhorn

Juggernaut hostesses, priceless porcelain, and Tom Hanks’ socialite crush.

By Donna Shor

THE “WISE” OF TEXAS
A group of legendary ladies from Dallas arrived for Bonnie McElveen-Hunter’s luncheon honoring philanthropist Ruth Altshuler, one of that town’s leading movers and shakers. The event, a triumph of planning and charm, included 40 brilliant and high-powered women. Lucky Roosevelt, one of the local guests who knows a thing or two about effective organizing, said, “Everything Bonnie does is flawless. It started on time and ended on time, and she kept it moving and fun.”

Actually, the event reflected Bonnie’s life. She’s ten women rolled into one, juggling service as the first female chairman of the American Red Cross with running Pace Communications (which publishes most of the U.S. in-flight airline magazines); finding time for family life with her husband, son, and mother; and maintaining a busy social life. Guests included Margot (Mrs. Ross) Perot, Lucky’s houseguest; Elaine Agather of J.P. Morgan; Gene Jones, chairman of the Dallas Cowboys and major sponsor of the Jefferson Library at the Library of Congress; Jean Baderschneider, a vice-president of ExxonMobil; PR whiz Laurie Peat; Peggy Sewell; Nancy Dedman; Marcia Mayo; Rae Evans; Melanie Schelhaus; Ann Korologos of the Rand Corporation; and Susan Sherwin, vice president of The Aspen Institute.

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Jane Sloat Ritchie, Christine Reed, and Victoria Lombardo, winner of the “Show Stopper” category of the Hat Contest at the 20th “Perennial” Garden Party at Woodrow Wilson House.

Buskers hold sway, we remember Gogo, and the Atlantic Council makes news.

By Donna Shor

Power people galore at the Atlantic Council of the United States Award Dinner. Honorees were Britain’s Tony Blair, media baron Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael G.Mullen, and world-renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin. Presenters were Poland’s former president Aleksander Kwasniewski, Spain’s former president Jose Maria Aznar, Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Atlantic Council’s chairman Gen. James L. Jones, and its president and CEO, Frederick Kempe. Alexis Glick of Fox News emceed. Seen amidst 800 guests (including 35 ambassadors): Paula Dobriansky, Alexandra and Arnaud de Borchgrave, Jon Ledecky, Vibeke Lofft, JoAnn and John Mason, Philip and Nina Pillsbury; Isabel and Ricardo Ernst, Ann and Lloyd Hand, Kathy Kemper, Jim Valentine, and indomitable newswoman Helen Thomas.

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The Red Cross Ball, a Barbadian reunion, and a compliment from Kissinger.

By Donna Shor
 

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, William Rollnick, Suzette Morris, Nancy Rollnick, and David Morris

FIFTY-FIRST ANNUAL RED CROSS BALL

Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach…the Red Cross Ball is one of the world’s most glittery galas with diamonds galore ($5 million dollars worth bedecked Suzette, wife of international jeweler David Morris), and tiaras, emeralds and rubies All this, plus Melania Trump, Susan Lucci, Archduke Georg von Habsburg-Lothringen, Archduchess Eilika. Ambassadors who flew down with The Donald on his private plane were Shamin and Said Jawad (Afghanistan), Dr. Rajmah Hussain (Malaysia), Benedicte and Joseph Weyland (Luxembourg), Birgitte and Arne Petersen (Denmark), and dynamic Nat’l Red Cross Chair Bonnie McElveen-Hunter. Special thrill: the patron’s dinner at the 45,000 square-foot, $37 million home of super-hosts Michele (the ball’s vice-chair) and Howard Kessler. A special award was given to Marion “Joe” Smoak, retiring as the ball’s chief of protocol (“Never missed once in 35 years”), who will be replaced by former Ambassador to Denmark Stuart Bernstein. Washingtonians: Brad and Denise Alexander, Bill and Norma Tiefel, Bill and Mary Walde, Wilma Bernstein, Mike and Julia Connors, Susan Eisenhower, Patti Delano (as in FDR), and Bill and Julie Thurmond Whitmer, daughter of the late Sen. Strom.

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Whether by jet a la Donald or by Western Union, getting around town is a must.

By Donna Shor

Cyd Everett and friends at the Turkish Embassay.

A GLOBAL MAGNATE (AND MAGNET)

Christina Gold has dimples, a wide smile, and an easy charm that instantly draws you to her; she is also a CEO with international clout. Fortune magazine rates her one of the “100 most powerful women in the world.”

Panamanian ambassador Federico Humbert Arias and his wife Daphne honored Christina with a warm reception at their home, when she and husband Peter were here to receive the 2008 Leadership in Excellence Award of the Inter-American Development Council. It was awarded at the IADC’s seventh annual Winter Gala at the Organization of American States, where she was lauded for her work benefiting underdeveloped areas world wide and for the charitable initiatives she has instituted.

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The royal treatment, Russian dynasties, and the master fruiterer.

by Donna Shor

Guy D'Amecourt and wife Marion at the 2009 Russian Ball

AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART

The menu was practically aphrodisiacal at the 60th Anniversary Luncheon of the American Heart Association. A taste: Crab Mango Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette, Chicken Breast with Calvados (more alcohol!), heart-shaped red ravioli, then a white chocolate heart box of raspberry-studded mousse. The 1100 women thronging to the Wardman Park Hotel, however, were only able to share it with each other: no Romeos included.

They applauded designer Edward Wilkerson’s Lafayette 148 New York collection in Saks-Fifth Avenue’s production, where 20 models paraded chic styles. The Affair of the Heart Luncheon was hosted by the Greater Washington Women’s Board, which raises funds to research cardiovascular disease and stroke, the number-one killer of women. Along with a few men (hardy souls!), supporters included luncheon chair Jacqueline Collamore, chairman of the Women’s Board Karen Fuller, Donna Marriott, Ann Hand, Nancy Marriott, Pat Skantze, Sally Pratt, Annie Totah, and the ever-bubbling and entrepreneurial Carole Randolph, who then ran off to teach her class Modern Manners: Dining and Entertaining at the Fairmont.

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Socialites by the barrel, Wilson’s Washington fetes and holiday cheer redux.

By Donna Shore

Eleven ambassadors and their wives were among the guests at Giorgio and Anna Maria Via's party honoring the Mexican ambassador.

There would have been no Charlie Wilson’s War without the dramatic trip to Afghanistan taken by Joanne Herring, a Houston socialite and talk show hostess; yet it never got into the screenplay. Neither did the humanitarian soldier-of-fortune and sometime Houston visitor Charlie Fawcett, whose smuggled note said: “Come immediately. Bring film equipment. The world doesn’t know what’s going on here.” She went, disguised as a man and packed into a barrel.

Washingtonians who were attending balls and embassy galas twenty-five years ago, remember well the fun and laughter, gowns and jewels of this curvy ZsaZsa Gabor, blonde (played by Julia Roberts, in the movie). She gave lavish parties here and in Houston; one such welcomed Prince Bandar , to Washington as the Saudi Arabian ambassador.

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