WHEN LARRY King gives a party, there are few regrets. He's expecting more than 400 people to attend "An Evening With Larry King and Friends" this evening at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington.
The party is a benefit for the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, established by King in 1988 to provide money for people, who, due to limited means and insurance, would be otherwise unable to receive a heart transplant.
Last year's gala raised more than $120,000, which was earmarked for Baltimore teacher Larry Wineke. And this year's recipient is 34-year-old Tim Wisda from Mount Airy I'm happy to say both men received their transplants Thanksgiving week. Wineke at Johns Hopkins and Wisda at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.
Several Baltimore names, such as Orioles owner Peter Angelos, and his wife Georgia, and that wonderful voice of the Orioles Jon Miller and his wife, Janine, both of whom serve with Angelos as honorary committee members of the foundation will attend. Other personalities, who will pay $250 each, include actor Hugh O'Brien, (TV's Wyatt Earp and founder of the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Foundation, which helps develop leaders among high school sophomores); Cosmopolitan's Helen Gurley Brown; former junk bond king Michael Milken; actress Lynda Carter (TV's "Wonder Woman") and her husband, Robert A. Altman, well-known D.C. attorney; promoter-producer Kenneth Feld; former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh; and
attorney Gerry Spence (a CBS commentator on the O.J. Simpson trial).
Party goers will have cocktails and dinner before being treated to the antics of King, Don Rickles, Marvin Hamlisch, Vic Damone, Mark Russell, Tommy Lasorda and the Norman Gellert Quartet.
The program was created by pop artist Peter Max.
A husband's memory
Recently, Edith Wolpoff helped dedicate the pharmacy at the University of Maryland Cancer Center in the name of her late husband, Alvin S. Wolpoff who was a member of the center's board of directors before he died from colon cancer in 1993. Mrs. Wolpoff said the pharmacy played an important role to Mr. Wolpoff during his illness when he was a patient at the center and she commended the outstanding care that Cynthia LaCivita, the clinical pharmacist, provided. Mrs. Wolpoff also serves on the UM center's advisory board.
On the grapevine
If you would like to be "where the wild things are," stop by the Mount Washington Tavern between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. Wednesday. Two former Penthouse Pets, Brandie Lee Braxton and Leslie Glass, will be tending bar during those hours, to raise money for their pet project "Penthouse Pets for Pets." This is a group they formed, since their centerfold days, to raise money for veterinary bills for abused and neglected animals . . .
Things are really hopping at Sisson's Restaurant and the South Baltimore Brewing Co. Yesterday, the front window of Sisson's on Cross Street was to be removed in order to install a new fermenter and two more serving vessels. Business is so good that I am told this will help meet the seasonal demands for the holiday spiced ale, "Prancer's Pride." . . .
