The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • 22

THE DESERT SUN-Sunday January 19 1992 4 1 WflBWCTlw Everyone loves a clown especially ones made by Morris Yesterday morning in Palm Springs the relatives friends admirers patrons and maybe a million memories attended the memorial service of artist John Morris It was not possible to see or hear the misty melodies strung across the hearts of all those in the chapel Some I'm certain were joyous in their recalling others heavy with the grief of a sudden loss a pa-vanne here a jig there He was like that A man of many moods and most of them merry There was occasional sadness but humor invariably prevailed He had the ability to attack with invasive laughter and a' sparkling twinkle Norma Lee Browning didn't know John Morris when she first arrived in the de- sert She was a newspaperwoman brisk curious brilliant and embracing It was with all those qualities she walked a stranger into the gallery of Kay Obergfel Her glances as is the way with women of the press were swift and inclusive but this day the encompassing swiftness halted and froze Her eyes caught streaks of yellow among a clutter of paintings piled carelessly on the floor It was the painting of a yellow clown "I knew at once I had to have that clown I had fallen in love It was a firm and final decision It was my first Morris clown my Clown' The first of many many more" Browning went on to collect clowns painted by Morris She has about 30 Magda Gabor (John called her has 40 or so Browning bought Morris' clowns from the galleries of Wally Finley and Jeannette McIntyre And in the ime of her collecting she became John's friend was 10 years before I met John" It was one of his favorite pranks dating his works with strange unrelated years When Browning gave up buying a Jack Baker work with jungle parrots because it conflicted with her clown collection Morris sent her a clown with a parrot on his foot a four-leaf clover in his hand and the work was dated 1907 There were the monkey clowns named Bonnie and Clyde and portraits of Jimmy Stewart Henry Fonda Red Skelton and Bob Hope as clowns There were also poodles nuns the unforgettable eternal corners of Paris And there was an oil painted for Norma Lee Browning's unforgettable and eternal Russell an oil titled "Mr Humming Morris created great pieces of work but that is what he himself was a great piece of work Salute! Holder's column appears daily except Saturday "His hometown was Laguna Norma Lee recalls it was in Hollywood so many good things happened to him Joan Crawford was one of his students She did a self-portrait of herself as a clown with a broken heart John gave me that portrait I have it still Always will "A story about John I'll never forget was the day he wanted to avoid seeing a dealer who was flying to Palm Springs to see him He asked me to help him out And so I did I met the dealer brought him to my house saying John would arrive any minute which he never did I then took the dealer back to the airport and sent him off long time later a painting of a clown arrived with this note: 'Dear Norma here at long last is your clown to repay you for a favor I'm sorry it has taken all this time but that's how the clown dances I hope he amuses you as much as he amuses me' It was dated 1970 which vlknew at once I had to have that down (made by John Morris) Nonna Lea Browning Mission Hills takes chance on fun erasa THE EVENT: "Lost Wages" Casino Night Mission Hills Country Club Rancho Mirage Saturday Mike Finnall chairman THE REASON: There was no official reason to have the party It wasn't a or a benefit it was just for the fun of it and that was reason enough for 100 members to hand over $40 for an evening of chance and $1000 worth of chips THE SCENE: The sign on the entrance gates may say Mission Hills but once inside the clubhouse it looked more like Las Vegas than Rancho Mirage There were 15 blackjack tables three dice tables a roulette wheel a wheel of fortune in fact the gaming tables took up so much room that the club selected to serve what they termed heavy appetizers rather than dinner No one seemed to mind the lack of a real meal for the just-to-hold-you-over-food for the 7 pm to 10 pm party was more than ample with food stations to satisfy any appetite craving Food and beverage director Graham Leibowitz really puts out a spread There was so much food one can't help but wonder what he calls dinner There was an Oriental station with Chinese stir fry an American station with carved baron of beef a German station with grilled knockwurst and sauerkraut an Italian table with both meat and vegetarian lasagnes Actually I thought the buffets were a great idea Who has time to sit and dine when Lady Luck is beckoning? THE PLAYERS: There were plenty of them there by 7:30 4 'j- Dealer Pamela Bumbalow (above) lays down cards for (left to right) Carol Traub Beverly Levine and Joan Smith at the blackjack table At left golfer Melissa McNamara (left to right) chats with Jack Leith and Nancy Aaronson Lou Mace and Ruanne McQuinne (above) watch the roll of the dice during gambling night at Mission Hills Country Club Members were able to gamble away tokens for fun not for money At right Courtney Gould receives a slice of meat from chef Michel Juantorena at one of the buffet tables pm crowding the tables There were cheers at the craps table and these players were hoping for a great roll of the dice Lou and Jeannie Mace Ruanne McQuinne Sally and Ernest Camp Among the onlookers were -the LPGA's Melissa McNamara who just won the Stratton Mountain tournament in Vermont Jack Leith and Mission Hills project director Nancy Aaronson At the blackjack tables some of the women of the club Joan Smith Beverly Levine and Carol Traub were testing their skills and doing well "So far I'm coming out even" said Joan before moving on to the roulette wheel Member Fred Sale and his guest Courtney Gould tried the buffets first talked about Las Vegas in the old days and then took their chances at the craps table with the make-believe money Still others enjoying the evening were Bob and Jane McCurry (He is president of Toyota USA) Bucky and Margi Harris Terry and Shirley Wilcox and Johnny and Alice Green Curran's column appears regularly in The Desert Sun Photos by STEVEN SCHRETZMANN Wambaugh dinner party transports stars back to Street' ntimate sit-duwn dinners can be far At the dinner table a columnist re- hr tnnrh i sit-duwn dinners can be far At the dinner table a columnist thor of tough crime tales Intimate more fulfilling than flashy balls and splashy parties with guest lists roughly the size of the cast of "Ben Hur" It depends of course on the composition of dinner guests at the small affair Last week one such cozy dinner party brought together a couple of screen legends along with a few mere mortals Dee and Joseph Wambaugh planned it in their Thunderbird Heights home The tire crackled in the fireplace and conversation crackled in the living room Ruby Keeler the dancing darling of early film musicals was a guest and so was Ginger Rogers the dancing darling of later film musicals Movie nuts will recall that Ruby's debut starring film "42nd Street" was the beginning of a genre They will also recall an actress with a small part in the picture sitting in an upper berth playing a ukulele singing "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and chomping on an apple It was a kid named Ginger Rogers Here f7 years later both actresses acre in the same room in Rancho Minute remarked that her mother once reminisced that Warner Baxter the film's male star was the sexiest man she'd ever seen "Was he sexy?" asked the nosy columinist "Not with me" said Ruby "He wasn't" said Ginger So much for illusion Mv mom who has gone on to a more sublime place will never know Host Joe Wambaugh who's so hot right now he's practically radioactive had been summoned to San Diego earlier in the day for an interview so he missed his own dinner party His 13th book "Fugitive Nights" has come out of the gate like Secretariat It's excerpted in this month's Los Angeles magazine and the tough Los Angeles Times gave it a rosy review Sunday before last The novel's locale is Palm Springs guys Dee Wambaugh told tablemates how she and Joe met when she was a sophomore at Ontario High School A new boy from Fast Pittsburgh Pa enrolled in the junior class His name was Joseph and he wore long-sleeved dark shirts buttoned up to the neck when the California guys were wearing white T-shirts with sleeves rolled up to the shoulders She married the hoy with the Fast Coast look when they were 18 This of long In lore Ins cop days long be have in common? Joe Burns The dinner was in honor of his birthday and each of the three along with Dee Wambaugh has a close friendship with the kind and witty recording industry retiree It's said that Burns was Wambaugh's model for the endearing character of Harlan Penrod in his ninth book "The Secrets of Harry Bright" also with a desert locale A1 Jolson Jr Ruby's son with her famous first husband was a guest although he's been known as Sonny Lowe since his stepdad Ruby's late second husband adopted him Sonny works with his hands in the good earth as a gardener-landscaper and has never been known to sing in blackface What did we eat at the dinner? Who cares Alexander Haig was on the phone with Stanley Arnold of Palm Springs the other day to say among other things that he couldn't come to the Arnolds' traditional January party this year One reason is that he's huddling with his publisher The name of Haig's completed book "Inner Circles" has to be scrapped because another is being published elsewhere called "Inner Circle" They're brainstorming for a substitute title Haig former secretary of state former head of NATO former While House chief of staff former presidential candidate indeed knows a few inner circles to write about Also he's a director of Stanley Arnold and Associates We asked Arnold how he ever came up with that inspired name for his company "I wanted to call it IS Steel but that name was taken" he said The Arnold outfit is a kind of think tank for creative marketing Through the years for example the company has changed the American Express card from purple to green suggesting card" created the Benson and Hedges 100 Sweepstakes persuaded Stouffer hotels to enter the frozen food business An unforgettable party honoring Haig was given a couple of years back by Barbara and Stanley Arnold in this Seven Lakes Country Club home a distinctly A- i list dinner Haig charmed their socks off After the usual period of cocktails and fussy hors d'oeuvres host Arnold interrupted the conversational whir to give guests an opportunity to ask Haig questions Mayor Sonny Bono was one of the I hrst bringing up the thwarting nature of bureaucracy the continual thorn in his i side Fascinating to hear a former secretary of state and a former rock 'n' roller discuss bureaucracy Arthur is a Coachella Valley tree-lance writer Her people column appears Sunday 9 fore his first novel which shot him into perH'tual best sellerdom What do two movie queens and an au.