Social Calendar
Nov. 3: "Book Bash 2002." Benefits Literacy Works. Wine; beer; martini bar; food stations from 25 restaurants; more than 40 authors, including honorary chairwoman Alice McDermott; book signings; live music. The Shops at Kenilworth, 800 Kenilworth Drive, Towson. 6 p.m. Tickets $60 at door. Call 410-887-2001.
Nov. 8: "Movin' and Groovin' with St. Agnes Healthcare, Dancing to the Sounds of the '50s through the '80s -- Annual Gala." Beer, wine, cash bar, hors d'oeuvres, buffet dinner, live music, dancing, vintage costume and dance contest. Martin's West, 6817 Dogwood Road. 7 p.m. Tickets $75. Call 410-368-3155.
Nov. 8: Sixth annual "Nasty Nice Guy Awards." Benefits Ed Block Courage Awards Foundation. Open bar, hors d'oeuvres, seated dinner, live music, DJ, dancing. Honors Cal Ripken, Michael McCrary, Gary Matthews Jr., John Ziemann, Billy Ronson. Michael's 8th Avenue, 7220 Grayburne Drive, Glen Burnie. 6:30 p.m. Tickets $60. Call 410-821-9678.
Nov. 9: Third annual "Gala Dinner." Benefits Mission of Mercy. Cash bar, hors d'oeuvres, seated dinner, live music, dancing. Baltimore Country Club, 4712 Club Road. 6 p.m. Tickets $150. Call 301-447-3939.
Nov. 9: "A Gala Evening With the Duke Ellington Orchestra." Benefits the Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation. Open bar, hors d'oeuvres, seated dinner, live music, singer Freda Payne, dancing. Hyatt Regency Baltimore, 300 Light St. 6:30 p.m. Tickets $150. Call 410-362-3185.
Nov. 10: "Havana Moon -- Fall Gala." Benefits Moveable Feast. 1930s-supper club theme, open bar, hors d'oeuvres, buffet dinner, live music, dancing. Hippopotamus, 1 W. Eager St. 7 p.m. Tickets $100. Call 410-327-3420.
When the folks at Mercy Medical Center throw a theme party, they go to the max. At the 17th annual "Mercy Magic Gala," the theme was "Mercy's Magical Mystery Tour 2002."
The time warp at Ravens Stadium opened as you entered the doors. "Sonny and Cher" greeted you and showed you to the elevator, manned by a compatriot of theirs in full '60s regalia.
You became part of the happening on the ballroom level. Go-go dancers shimmied away on pedestals, and a Beatles lookalike band -- American English -- played the group's early hits for a group of about 700 people in gowns, tuxedos and psychedelic threads.
Mercy's pediatrics director Dr. Ronald Gutberlet was a standout in an Elvis get-up. For those who wished they had come in costume, party organizers had arranged cutout figures dressed in '60s chic to pose behind for photos.
Digging the scene: Stephanie Friedman and Jodi Moskowitz, event co-chairwomen; Alicia Buxton, Shirley Gutberlet, Vivian Lawyer, Rosemary Wahler Mullen, Nancy Posner and Kellie Soto, event committee members; Sister Helen Amos, Mercy Health Services board chairwoman; Dr. Pratima Bose and Dr. Robert Greenwell, board members; Tom Mullen, Mercy Health Services president and CEO; Dr. Neil B. Rosenshein, Mercy Medical Center for Women's Health & Medicine director; Maria Andreoli, Drexel University College of Medicine academic coordinator; Dennis Hightower, Walt Disney Co. retired television telecommunications president; Joe Amato, Hydratec president; Donna Timlen, CitiFinancial vice president; Ken Jones, Baltimore City School Board commissioner; C.J. Spallitta, PriceWaterhouseCoopers internet security business development specialist; Mitchell Pressman, Chesapeake Wine Co. owner; Larry LaMotte, Trigen Energy Baltimore vice president; Karen Weiss, Allfirst Bank senior vice president; Linda Jones, Gallagher Evelius & Jones partner; Jim Euler, Siemens Medical Solutions strategic solutions manager; Bill Fine, WBAL-TV president and general manager; and Betty Kim, community volunteer.
Not only was this the largest turnout ever for Mercy Magic, but the money raised, $260,000, also set a record for Mercy Medical Center.
Baltimore Opera Company
The Pikesville Armory glowed with the splendor of old Russia for the "Grand Imperial Opera Ball." This year's Baltimore Opera Company gala theme centered on its coming "Vivati St. Petersburg Festival."
The large room was divided in half by curtains. One half was used for the cocktail hour, where 275 guests mingled around a martini bar built of glass blocks and watched two roller skaters, dressed in winter ice-skating outfits, twirling around a pseudo frozen pond.
When dinner was announced, the curtains parted, revealing a sumptuous ruby-red room that had the feel of a palace ballroom. Crimson-swathed tables were crowned with 6-foot-high centerpieces made of gold, green and tapered candles. Prop columns were placed strategically around the room, as were gigantic "royal portraits."
As if any more Russian atmosphere was needed, guests were "snowed" upon with plastic flakes as they entered the dining area -- courtesy of a theatrical snow machine.
Among the lords and ladies of the court: Debra Krome, event auction committee chairwoman; Rhea Feikin, honorary event chairwoman; Dr. David I. Miller, Baltimore Opera Company board chairman; Barbara Hecht, Lewis A. Noonberg, John W. Steele III, Jim Williams, Tad Glenn, Gwen Davidson, Pamela Gilmour and Hilda Perl Goodwin, board members; Michael Harrison, Baltimore Opera Company general director; Mayo A. Shattuck III, Constellation Energy CEO; Jane Kennedy, Allfirst Bank senior vice president; Nicole Biondo, Baltimore-based soprano; Beverly Claiborne and Francis Turner, community volunteers; Joe Juras, Morgan Stanley vice president; Louis Mangione, Commercial Contractors president; Stephen Shawe, Shawe & Rosenthal managing partner; Scott Barhight, Whiteford Taylor & Preston partner; Randall Woodfield, Peabody Institute Elder Hostel director; Nancy Paige, Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings judge; Maurice Furchgott, Goldman Promotions senior vice president; Clifton Gross, International Longshoreman's Association Local 333 president; and Patty Jens, MK Consulting new business director.
The ball raised some $170,000 for the Baltimore Opera Company.