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If you were going to a party where you would
meet Cary Grant, see most of your close friends, eat lobster until
midnight, wear a low-cut black dress, be accompanied by your husband
in a tuxedo and serenaded by Peter Duchin himself and his orchestra,
you too might spend $140 to have your hair cornrowed. Like Bonnie
Slotkin did for the American Cancer Society Ball at the Washington
Hilton International Ballroom Saturday night.
Cary Grant gazed up at Bonnie Sltokin's dangling
Bo Derek style braids and asked how long it took (seven and a half
hours).
"I think she looks exqusite, and it was
well worth my money," said her grinning husband, Jay Slotkin, a
periodonist, to giggles from friends. "But I want it out by
Wednesday."
This ball for them -- and many of the others
among the 1,462 people who bought $150 tickets -- is one of the
social events of the year.
It is for a good cause -- it will raise close to
$200,000, more than any other single event that the American Cancer
Society sponsors anywhere in the country.
It is fun -- no one discusses the crises of the
world.
It is sumptuous -- long buffet tables, a
ballroom decorated in circus motif with pink and red carnival
decorations, elephant statues, stuffed monkeys. "We hors
d'oeuvers all night." said Howard Baylin, who each year designs
and provides the decor for free," and we breakfast at
midnight."
And there is a star -- this year, Cary Grant,
"honored guest," widely thought at Saturday's ball to be
one of the nicest stars the ball had had -- even nicer than
Elizabeth Taylor, a previous ball star, one guest suggested.
Contributing to the circus motif, literally
hundreds of guests waited in line at one entrance of the ballroom to
shake Cary Grant's hand, have a picture taken, whisper in his ear.
(in al fairness, it must be said that some of
these people didn't realize there was another entrance into the
ballroom.)
"I told him my husband was suing him for
alienation of affection," breathed Ruth Chernikoff. "He
said, "'Oh, your husband wouldn't dare do that.'"
Grant good-naturedly shook hands for about two
hours, taking breaks for sips of wine and handfuls of popcorn,
provided by one of the popcorn "vendors." Next to him
stood his guest -- Barbara Harris, a 29-year-old Jacqueline Bisset
look-alike, who works in public relations. She provoked admiring
glances from male guests and some polite discussion of just who she
was. Friend or girlfriend?
"Friend, girlfriend," said Cary Grant,
shrugging. "She's one of my close friends."
"Why would I be tired?" Grant asked at
the end of the two-hour marathon handshaking session. "What
have I done? Want some popcorn?"
He also put up with questions about his favorite
movies -- "They're all my favorites" -- and commented
about how much is "Philadelphia Story" was enjoyed.
"My 'Philadelphia Story?'" he asked.
"Haven't they made two or three since then? That was done by a
playwright named Philip Barry. He did all great plays. In each of
them he had one point -- making fun of the rich."
Asked if he missed making movies, he said.
"Absolutely not."
"He doesn't look like he used to,"
noted Lynn Rosenberger to her date, Navy ensign Tom Harper.
"Hey," said Harper, a handsome 26,
"when I'm 76 I hope I look like that."
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