LET'S DISH

Margaritas, Mayhem & Mariachi

by Merla Zellerbach

OJ & Gary Shansby had their big luncheon all worked out. “I planned this party for a year around my beautiful spring garden in May,” said OJ, “but two days before the big day, it was pouring rain! So we had to move it from the lawn into the carriage house/garage. We cleared everything out, brought in all the Mexican décor, and set up seating for 120 people.”

The lively party celebrated Gary’s newest venture, Partida Tequila, and guests enjoyed a lecture on the subject from Mexico’s “Ambassador of Tequila, Julio Bermejo.”

In the crowd, Karen & Frank Caulfield, Rhea & Skip Friend, Katherine Hall and Austin Hills, Cecilia Harris with Bruno Naranja, Diane & Matthew Kelly, Connie & Bob Lurie, Kendall & Gardner Robinson, Barbara-B & Jim Schneider, Dr. Bob Seymour, Peter & Lori Puccinelli Stern, Norah & Norman Stone and Sandy Walker. Ken Rainin made a grand entrance landing his helicopter at the stable, and unloading Adria & Dante Bini and John Traina.

Asked to describe her outfit, OJ said, “All white — a Mexican gauze skirt and Chloe blouse, with a Chanel chiffon apron over the skirt. But no one topped Gary’s Mariachi outfit — custom made in Guadalajara, with sombrero, shirt, tie, everything trimmed in sterling silver!”

As Ann Seymour said, “It’s the first time Gary’s outfit cost more than his wife’s!”

President Bush On The Farm

Several weeks ago, President Bush swept into the Bay Area and was feted at an elaborate barbecue at Charlotte & George Shultz’s Stanford home. Here’s Charlotte’s recollection of the day: “Of course we were expecting the President. The plan was for him to go to Hoover Institution and George (Shultz) would get about 40 of the Hoover Fellows and they’d talk politics. The President said he’d come to our house at 5:35 for dinner and leave at 7:15. He has a reputation for always running early, so we were going to be ready for him at 5:00.

“Early that afternoon, I was sweeping the patio in my old sweats with Velcro curlers in my hair when the Secret Service man told me the plans had changed. He said that the President was coming to the house first. I said, ‘When’s he arriving?’ and the man said, ‘In two minutes!’

“I dropped everything, ran up to the third floor, grabbed my suit and panty hose, putting on the panty hose running down the stairs. It wasn’t easy. I think the SS men know me better than my doctors. So they’re helping me fasten my pearls, I’m carrying my shoes, putting on earrings, the car pulls up and the President gets out while I’m still zipping my skirt. My lovely Filipina lady goes outside, walks right into him and freezes. ‘Come on,’ he says to her, ‘Let’s get a picture taken. You look wonderful.’

“Lucas Schoemaker from Dan McCall’s had his picture taken with the President, and the bluegrass band started playing, so they had their picture taken with him. Then I got word to put 50 chairs in the living room because the Hoover people were coming over to have their meeting here. So they did, had more pictures taken, and left.

“Then dinner. The first course was crab, then steak and Freedom Fries, and strawberry short cake. Lucas has learned to cook steak the way the President likes it, in coals, then they slice it thin, dip it in butter and eat in on a slice of white bread. I said to the President, ‘You don’t have to eat it that way.’ He said, ‘I like it that way.’

“He was very easy to talk to, and relaxed. We hurried through dinner so he could leave by 7:15. But true to form, he left even earlier. All in all — it was quite a day!”

An Artful Birthday

The Achenbach Graphic Arts Council tossed a Happy Birthday bash for famed painter, printer and engraver Albrecht Dürer, but since it was his 535th year, no one brought gifts.

The benefit, chaired by Ariane Maclean (with Scott Mize) and Gary Widman (with Helen Hilton Raiser) took place at the old Presidio Golf Club, and guests included Peggy & Tim Brown, Mary Brutocao and John Kemp, Fine Arts Museums president John & Lucy Buchanan, Shelley & Merrill Burns, Martha & Dr. Milton Rosenberg, and Betty Jean & Wayne Thiebaud.

Speaking of the honoree, Achenbach curator Robert Flynn Johnson observed, “You know you’re a success, when you’re loved more than half a millennium after you’re gone!”

The Gordon Getty home (minus the Gettys, who were out of town) was once again the locale for a charming musical event, this time a salute to poet Emily Dickinson by the Anima Mundi Dance Company.

The evening also celebrated a film, Pensive Spring; A Portrait of Emily Dickinson, by Kathryn Roszak, currently in pre-production. Enjoying the evening: Vera Carpeneti, Christopher Castle, SF Opera’s Sheri Greenawald, Maryon Davies Lewis, SF Ballet star Muriel Maffre, and Norma Schlesinger.

Ironically, famous as Ms. Dickinson was, the outspoken poet was known for her disdain for fame. “Celebrity…” she once wrote, “is the punishment of talent.”

Merla Zellerbach was a Chronicle columnist for 23 years, and a regular panelist on the ABC-TV game show Oh, My Word. She's written 11 books, and is happily married to Lee Munson, who was delighted to accept the Mayor's appointment to the Library Commission - after he made sure certain unnamed family members had no overdue books.