Mary Lyons and Marian Bergeson.
Special to the Indy from OCSocialScene.com
As we strode on to the tarmac at Atlantic Aviation Hangar at John Wayne Airport this last Saturday evening for the PBS SoCal 2012 “Masterpiece Ball,” it felt like we had been transported to the elegant set of the movie “Amadeus”. Men and women adorned in regal period costumes and elaborate, feathered and bejeweled masks gathered together in support of PBS SoCal’s educational outreach in Southern California, and to honor “Downtown Abbey” and Masterpiece Theatre Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton, the woman behind bringing the hit PBS series to America.
Also honored during the evening for their generous support of the arts were Marybelle and Sebastian Paul Musco, as well as South Coast Repertory Founding Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson.
More than 350 Southern Californians gathered to celebrate art, culture and education in Southern California, with a crowd that included not just a few television and movie actors, community leaders and philanthropist notables.
“Masterpiece Ball” guests were treated to a festive cocktail reception on the tarmac followed by a dramatic “reveal” of the dining room inside the beautifully adorned hangar, with dinner catered by Crème de la Crème. During dinner, we were entertained by some impressive professional dancers from Motion/Tribe, and enjoyed listening to “You Lift Me Up” sung by one of Orange County High School of the Arts’ talented singers, Landon Swick.
PBS SoCaL’s “Real Orange” hosts Ann Pulice and Ed Arnold emceed the festivities, while JT and California Dreamin’ kept the evening lively with a 45-member band, fronted by John Tu and featured an ensemble of outstanding entertainers. A special surprise performance by “Mel and the Mel-Adjusteds” featuring PBS SoCaL President and CEO Mel Rogers, and the “Mel-Adjusteds” Jim McCluney, Jim Mazzo, Rick Reiff and Glenn Stearns nearly brought the house down. As we departed everyone received an incredible gift box filled with fabulous products provided by Arbonne, LLP.
Total proceeds from the gala are estimated at $852,000 and benefit the KOCE-TV Foundation, which is focused on making PBS SoCaL the leading educational force in homes throughout the greater Southland area.
PBS SoCaL, formerly KOCE-TV, is Southern California’s PBS station dedicated to interactively educating, entertaining, and enlightening the greater Los Angeles area. With its three unique broadcast channels, including PBS SoCaL HD, the OC Channel and WORLD TV, PBS SoCaL provides award-winning programs like Frontline, NewsHour, NOVA, Nature, and Masterpiece, as well as local productions Real Orange, SoCaL Insider with Rick Reiff, and Bookmark with Maria Hall-Brown. Through community outreach initiatives including PBS SoCaL Education, PBS SoCaL provides local schools access to new media materials that engage students in 21st century learning. Explore the future of PBS in Southern California at pbssocal.org.
