IT’S ALIVE!
Local culture vultures Liane and Richard Weintraub joined a host of entertainment industry execs, celebrities and other VIPs for this year’s L.A. Alive celebration. The black tie bash took place at the historic Bev Hills estate of Geoff and Anne Palmer and helped raise a cool $1.3 million for the Fund for the Performing Arts and the Music Center’s education division. The Weintraubs were joined by neighbors Ginny Mancini and Melanie and Joe Wizane. Granita’s Wolfgang Puck whipped up a delicious dinner, and a bundle of luxury goods went to the highest bidder at the live auction conducted by Sotheby’s Richard Wolf.
Three couples were also honored for their ongoing support of the arts, including Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing and husband William Friedkin. The man behind “The French Connection,” “The Exorcist” and “Rules of Engagement” has been busy branching out into new artistic directions. He recently directed productions of “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” and “Gianni Schicchi” as part of an Los Angeles Opera double bill.
TURNING THE TIDE
Barbra Streisand and her Streisand Foundation were honored by the Santa Monica BayKeeper at this year’s Beach Ball.
BayKeeper board member Gil Segel was on hand and lauded his longtime pal as a hard working activist for civil rights, women’s issues and the environment.
“Once she is interested, it’s 100 percent interest, 100 percent devotion,” he said. “She is one of the few people who ends up putting her money where her mouth is.”
Margery Tabankin, the foundation’s executive director, agreed, calling her boss “dedicated to the cause and determined to stay in a fight as long as it takes.”
The BayKeeper, which works to preserve and protect Southern California’s coastal waters, also presented environmental leadership awards to Jan Schlichtmann, who inspired the film “A Civil Action” and Paul Polizzotto who founded the Adopt-A-Stormdrain program.
The BayKeeper is the local offshoot of the WaterKeeper Alliance, which is headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Kennedy crusader made a special guest appearance earlier in the evening after being a featured speaker, along with former President Bill Clinton, at the star-studded Earth to LA! bash.
CURTAIN CALL
Theater lovers stepped out to the Ahmanson to check out the opening night performance of “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife.” The wickedly funny story of a culture-obsessed New Yorker facing a mid-life crisis stars Valerie Harper, Tony Roberts and Michele Lee. The Ahmanson seems to be on a roll of late, having just completed a successful and somewhat revealing run of “The Full Monty.”