For the Race to Erase MS gala, the 12th time was the charm.
Well, OK, not really. All the previous efforts were pretty amazing and have established this party as one of THE social events of the season. The 12th annual gala, thrown by the ever-philanthropic socialite and jewelry designer Nancy Davis, did not disappoint, drawing the usual star-studded crowd to the Century Plaza Hotel, beginning with a lengthy red carpet trek and leading into the silent auction/cocktail pre-party. The show was themed Rock and Royalty, with many of the female guests arriving topped by glittery tiaras.
Several of the celeb guests kicked off the night by modeling the rock ‘n’ roll styles provided by fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, who once again served as co-host of the event. Working it on the high-energy catwalk were the increasingly slender lead model Nicole Richie (who came with pal Lindsay Lohan and dodged questions about her possible Simple Life ouster), followed a parade of pretty faces and bods, including Lacey Chabert, Kaley Cuoco, Brooke Burke, Sophia Bush, Thora Birch, Melissa Rivers, Lauralee Bell, Meagan Good, Dule Hill and Nicole Lynn, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Rachel Hunter and TV hosts Dayna Devon, Maria Menounos and Shaun Robinson.
The water cooler runway moment was provided by Carmen Electra when her bare-chested hubby, rocker Dave Navarro, embraced Carmen for a long, soulful kiss and Carmen cheekily squeezed his tartan-plaid-pants-ed behind for all to see.
“My sister has MS and Nancy Davis asked me to join her ten years ago, so I’ve been involved for the last decade and we’ve been having a great time,” Hilfiger told Hollywood.com. Despite his popularity with the celebrity crowd, the designer was amazed at the turnout. “It’s just unbelievable. WAY better than expected.”
“I wear a lot of H by Hilfiger and Tommy’s a good friend of mine, and Nancy’s a good friend of mine, so I’m happy to be here, baby,” said American Idol’s Randy Jackson, who strutted the catwalk in an Elton John-esque ensemble with wild shades and feathered sleeve cuffs. There was another reason Randy was so up, which he proudly proclaimed: “I worked on the new Mariah [Carey] record–Yeah, it’s number one in the country!”
“Thankfully no one in my family suffers from MS, but it’s just an organization that I’ve always believed in an trusted,” said Virginia Madsen. “Your money goes in the right place. If you read what’s been going on in the last two years and the research, it’s really exciting. It seems like it’s this close to a cure, and then it seems like it’s this far. But there are advances that are being made that are amazing, and we do events like this so people won’t stop thinking about it. This is really a good one to be involved with.”
“I’m just overwhelmed every year that everybody continues to come to support us,” Nancy Davis told me as she gazed wide-eyed at the crowd of guests including Ray Romano, Nicolette Sheridan, Anjelica Huston, Aaron and Candy Spelling, Tara Reid, Jane Maloney, Amy Yasbeck and Jackie Collins, as well as her mother Barbara and the rest of the Davis clan. “It’s amazing. It’s such a great effort and you never know what’s going to happen. There’re so many different events and charities, and I’m just grateful that people care to be here and care to help us with our cause. We’re raising in the neighborhood of $2 ½ million which will go to fund research in our seven different MS centers around the country. And so much is happening at such a fast pace, it’s very exciting.”
After the annual round of acerbically witty banter from Teri Garr, who is living with MS herself, the raucous trio of Tony Danza, Bill Maher and Tom Arnold presided over the live auction, pressuring Ray Romano into purchasing a trip. “He made $12,000 in the last five minutes, what’s it to him?” asked Maher. When the men were auctioning off a puppy Nicolette Sheridan joined them onstage to show them how to actually handle a dog, gently cradling the puppy to her bosom.
“The only way I can describe how great this is, what Nancy does,” Danza told me, “is every year around this time, we have this event and it’s right before the upfronts, the announcement of the schedules for the networks. And oft times I would be here, worrying about whether my show, whatever pilot I had, would be picked up, would be put on the schedule. And juxtaposed with Nancy trying to cure this disease, it always blew my mind. And I got away cheap: I think my wife only bought one pair of earrings, so I’m in good shape.”
Soprano‘s Jamie-Lynn Discala and Drea de Matteo, Casper van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg, Anne Heche and Nancy’s highly amusing son Jason (brother to Mischa Barton‘s beau Brandon) each made introductions and special presentations, and the evening culminated with a pair of powerhouse performances: tiara-ed Natalie Cole sang a blistering version of the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction, and Earth , Wind & Fire kicked out a medley of their ’70s funk hits as the stars including Regina King, Blair Underwood, Traci Bingham, Jennifer Esposito, Lance Bass, Ed McMahon, David Hasselhoff, Henry Simmons, Penny Marshall and Beverly D’Angelo shimmied to the old school groove.
At the end of the night, the guests overflowed into the lobby of the hotel in eager anticipation of the traditionally jam-packed goodie bag, one of the best of the annual galas; meanwhile the celebrity participants were escorted to a private area to pick up their super-elite VIP gift bags. In both cases, it showed the while giving can be fun, it ain’t so bad to get, either.
