Download PDFOkay, what did we learn this week? That prolific producer
Chuck Fries, the Godfather of TV Movies, wishes to be reincarnated looking like NBC chairman
Ted Harbert, who cannot take a bum photo. Photogenic Ted rates up there at the top, as do
Mitzi Gaynor and
Jaclyn Smith of Charlie’s Angels fame.
Yet, after
Bruce Boxleitner arrived at The Beverly Hills Hotel to emcee the 29th annual awards dinner of the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors which Chuck founded, Chuck changed his mind, adding that he wouldn’t mind looking like Bruce. Chuck presides over the Caucus Foundation Board, which sponsored the evening’s fundraiser dinner.
What more did we learn? That Caucus president
Dennis Doty, whose producing credits are legendary, having partnered with the late producer Gil Cates, is gifted with an extraordinary talent for public speaking that rivals President Obama (without a teleprompter!). Dennis was honored with the Caucus Lifetime Achievement Award.
We learned that producer
Vin Di Bona (America’s Funniest Home Videos) will outbid the crowd at auction for two Swiss International Air Lines business class round trip tickets to Switzerland, with two first-class Swiss Rail travel passes. Vin won the package valued at $15,000 for $8,000.
We learned that Lionsgate CEO
Jon Feltheimer would knock the socks off competitors in a stand-up comedy contest. He was hilarious introducing Kevin Beggs, president of Lionsgate’s Television Group. Kevin received the Executive of the Year Award, and his programming credits are astonishing: Mad Men, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Boss, Anger Manage- ment, which just sold to CTV in Canada.
We learned that the award-winning comedy producer
Kevin Bright, honored with the Caucus Chairs’ Award and now at Boston’s Emerson College, is developing a method of teaching film production to the visually impaired.
We learned that TV veteran of 50 years
Sid Vinnedge, presented with the Distinguished Service Award, has been “up to his eyeballs in game” – Family Feud, Match Game, To Tell The Truth, The Price Is Right, etc.
We learned that radio and TV star
Tanya Hart and urban developer
Phil Hart, recipients of the Diversity Award, met while students at Michigan State. That Tanya was chosen by BET founder
Robert Johnson to set up the network on the West Coast, and has helped launch the careers of
Halle Berry, John Singleton, Tupac Shakur, Will Smith. Also, that Philip developed the 5,000 seat West Angeles Cathedral in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.
The evening’s winners included NCIS producer
Charles Floyd Johnson, presented with his award by his series star
Mark Harmon; Modern Family director
Gail Mancuso; and writer
Lionel Chetwynd for his body of work in longform television. Produced by
Lee Miller and Vin De Bona, the event supports student production grants.
The night was radioactive with compliments, although some acceptance speeches were of the longeurs variety. (Chuck did ask the honorees to be brief, but ...) We bow to
Ava Fries who promises that her Angels’ Night guests will bid their arrividercis by 9:30 PM, and usually it’s earlier than that!
Chuck’s producing The Color Of Rose, based on a concept of his, about the life of Rose Kennedy written by Kathrine Bates. Matriarch of the Kennedy clan, Rose is portrayed by three actresses during different ages at the renovated Theater 40 on the Beverly Hills High School campus through December 21st. Rose lived to be 104 years old.
“Please join us.” On the phone was KTLA news anchor and reporter
Wendy Burch, extending an invitation for her dinner at The Blvd. in The Beverly Wilshire. Wendy was honoring the birthday of longtime friend
Lilly Fallah Lawrence, the beautiful daughter of internationally acclaimed parents Mahine and Reza Fallah. Lilly’s dad served as the ambassador at large during the reign of the Shah (Reza Pahlavi), founded OPEC, and is famed globally as adviser about the complex engineering in the pursuit of oil.
To know Lilly is to be awed and overwhelmed by her non-stop generosity and her “fireworks” collection of museum-worthy jewelry (the operative word being important, as in important diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc. – Lilly’s rival the gems of British royals). For her birthday dinner, she Kleig-lighted The Blvd. dining room with an emerald and diamond collier and matching earrings that brought diners to the table with admiring eyes gazing at the eleven giant emeralds. All the same, she believes, as Elizabeth Taylor did, that the jewelry is not hers. “Everyone’s jewelry is on loan.”
Wendy’s guests included her six-foot-six beau,
Bruce Taylor (also known as Big Boy Bruce – a matinee idol, if ever there was one); Pilates master trainer and former US Marine Douglas Banker famous for evacuating the sailors on the USS Cole after the bombing in Yemen; historian
Payman Rezaie, also a designer of magnificent crystal chandeliers; couturier Aria Baracci, whose shop is at Wilshire and Rodeo in Beverly Hills; antiquaire Yosi Dina, who’s seeking a replacement for Lilly’s gold piano that was destroyed in the Malibu fire.
Lilly recalled Loretta Young visiting the Fallah Palace in Teheran and experiencing that irresistible hospitality of Mahine and Reza. Loretta stayed nine months in the Teheran Hilton penthouse while being entertained royally by the Shah, etc. After Loretta returned to California, Mahine called to thank us for sharing our friend. “Loretta was anxious to find a gift for you,” remarked Mahine. “Did she?” No. Simply not in the DNA of celebrities. Most are born to receive.
Not easy to do fair justice to Lilly’s generosity. In passing, here are only a few of her gifts. She’s underwritten thousands of prepaid phone calls for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world to reach loved ones at home. An American Colonel wrote that his soldiers christened her La Divina. Children’s groups are offered auctions for weekends at the Waldorf Astoria, one of her former New York residences, plus tickets to Broadway shows. Lilly’s the “principal patron” for the Malibu Film Society, and sits on the executive board for Wendy Burch’s Good News Foundation, an extraordinary charity project, with Lilly funding and furnishing a downtown library for women. Good News recently honored Debbie Allen’s charity with dance scholarships. And there are many other humanitarian considerations.
Lilly’s a blessing for our time with her birthright to give. Now and forever.