In the Hilton Anatole’s Wedgwood Room, guests did a double-take on Friday, September 24. Despite reports that 2021 Chick Lit Luncheon featured author Goldie Hawn would be unable to attend the Community Partners of Dallas fundraiser in person, she was very present… thanks to life-size cutouts. One stood solo on the right side of the room; the other was placed in front of a sponsors’ board at the end of a corded-off walkway for official photos.
At first Goldie on the right was getting all the cozy up cellphone photos with guests like Presenting Sponsor Lara Tafel and Dwight Emanuelson, who was fresh from a Wyoming fishing trip.
Perhaps it was because the entrance walkway to Goldie at the sponsor board area seemed to be closed. But soon organizers opened the naughty blockage and guests wound their way to the check-in. Alas, early arrivals discovered a haphazard check-in and had to toss purses over on the floor for their pix. One group got so enthusiastic to be shot with Goldie that the two-dimensional guest of honor toppled to the floor. No problem. Flattened Goldie was quickly resurrected and made ready for the shot.
While waiting for their photos and just grateful to be back in action, guests played catch-up. Mersina Stubbs had lost 35 pounds. At least that’s what she thought. The amount hadn’t been realized until recently, when she was holding her Bernese/Poodle puppy on the scales to tap his weight.
Speaking of pooches, Luncheon Honorary Chair Pat McEvoy revealed that during the pandemic, the McEvoy household had added a second Havanese. Joining four-year-old Sonny was a little gal named CoCo.
For Luncheon Chair Claire Emanuelson, having Goldie as the featured speaker was a very personal connection. It seems that when the movie “Private Benjamin” came out, her school-age sister liked it so much that she started referring to herself as Judy Benjamin on assignments.
At 10:45, VIP guests slowly joined the thousand other guests making their way into the Trinity Ballroom, with Goldie photo opps along the way.
It’s a shame that Goldie missed out on the day. Everyone was dressed to the nines with clicking of fashionable heels on the marble floors.
As guests like Carol Seay, Nancy Bierman, DeeDee Lee, Muffin Lemak, Niven Morgan and Shelby Wagner, Debbie Tolleson, Janie Condon, Susan Farris, Suzy Gekiere, Wendy Messmann, Angie Kadesky, Joan Nye, Tricia George, Amanda Ward, Sunie Solomon, Diane Brierley and Ashley Snider-Erickson took their places in the Trinity Ballroom, video highlights of Goldie played on the major screens on both sides of the staging. But it didn’t take long for the program to take place, with Claire welcoming the group and Highland Park United Methodist Church (Uptown Church Campus) Rev. Elizabeth Moseley providing the invocation.
Following Claire’s welcoming the guests and the presentation of the Partners for Children Award to the Sewell family ladies (matriarch Peggy Sewell, daughter Jacquelin Sewell and daughter-in-law Josie Sewell), it was announced that plans were already underway for the 2022 Chick Lit Luncheon that would take place at the Anatole on Friday, September 30.
Community Partners of Dallas CEO/President Paige McDaniel recalled how the past year had been tough. In sharing the loss of her mother Cindrette McDaniel, Paige said she and her mother had different attitudes when it came to hairdressing. Her mother had been of the generation that frequented the hairdresser just to have their coiffure refreshed. She didn’t understand why Paige would spend time trying to dry her long hair and style it herself. Why would anyone want to raise their hands above their head?
Along with CPD Executive Committee member John Rutledge telling about his family’s personal involvement working with children in the foster system, a video was played showcasing the work that is done by CPD for neglected children who suddenly find themselves in the Child Protective Service program.
In leading up to the day’s interview, Paige asked the audience to hold up the Goldie masks at their tables for a group Goldie photo.
CPD Board Chair Elizabeth Gambrell then introduced a pre-recorded video interview of Goldie with KXAS NBC 5 Today’s Laura Harris. In a gauzy, floral lounge dress with her signature long bangs, Goldie discussed a variety of subjects with an occasional smile that harkened back to her “Laugh In” days. At one point Goldie told Laura, “You’re funny.” Highlights of the 32-minute chat with Goldie included:
- Of all the actors/actresses that she’s appeared with, are there any that she stays in touch with? “I’m friends with a lot of the gals I work with, but we don’t always live around each other… and you do fall in love with the people you work with on set and you think you’re going to be friends forever… it’s not actually true…. My really good girlfriends aren’t movie stars.”
- Is there one of her movies that she wishes had a sequel? Possibly “Private Benjamin” or “First Wives Club,” because it would be interesting to see what happened to the characters.
- Does she give her daughter Kate Hudson advice? “I don’t think I do that to her. That’s interesting. I don’t tell her…I can suggest something, but she’s always figured it out. She’s done a great job. Hmm. If she wants to know something, she’ll ask me. And I don’t think she’s making too many mistakes. I have a lot of respect for her. As a mother when she was a teenager or got into stuff, that was a different situation. She’s got three great kids and is a fantastic mother and I’m very proud of her… It’s an interesting question because I don’t ask my children to listen to me anymore. I ask them to care… They’re great people. The work is done earlier. That’s when you give them advice, but not now. Now they give us advice.”
- What’s the “secret sauce” for her relationship with Kurt Russell? “It’s very simple. Relationships are not easy. None of ’em. You do your best to do them. And they get challenged in many different ways for many different reasons. We are not the same person and we don’t marry the same person; we don’t choose to stay the same person that you are. So, I think there are things that keep a relationship going which the most important thing is that you want it to. If you don’t want a relationship to keep going, then you’ll make damn sure it doesn’t. You have a desire to stay the course or you absolutely can’t take it anymore. And either one is a … there is no prescriptive. Reality doesn’t happen on itself. Reality is how people are, what they feel, how they behave. That’s what creates reality. I mean a tree grows on its own and is beautiful, but it just is. The human condition is very much created by our moods, our emotions, our mental health, our ability to make decisions and stick with them, our tenacity and our ability to love and forgive. So, those are all emotions. So, we have complete control. So I think being together is about will. It’s not a secret sauce. It’s about a healthy wish to be there together to cherish the fun things and to basically put boundaries down about things that aren’t fun, ’cause that’s going to happen. But the boundaries are going to be helpful to hold a healthy relationship together, which is, ‘I need to do this now;’ ‘We need to do that now;’ ‘Don’t you think it would be good if that happened?’ That’s what I feel. And it’s really up to us. It’s not marriage the institution is what it is, and that doesn’t mean you’re gonna stay married. What makes you stay there is what you do yourself.”
- Advice for young mothers whose children are into dancing or acting: “I think they should try everything…dancing, acting, sports. It’s good to dream big, but you have to be realistic because today everyone is an actor. We have more content, more actors on television. Movie stars are going to be a thing of the past really because movies are changing. It’s all on TV. That’s okay. It’s nice. I enjoy it. I miss the theater. It’ll come back. I don’t know if real movie stars will come back because we are inundated with actors everywhere. And also television is one of those things that uses you up. I mean you couldn’t get hooked on a series and find the most amazing person, but it’s over in six episodes. And they don’t care about anything until they get another show. It’s different today…”
- Her own mother’s advice: “The one thing you have to do is you have to keep yourself and prepare yourself for that moment when it might happen, but it doesn’t always happen.”
- Her favorite book: “The Warburgs” by Ron Chernow. “One of my favorite books is ‘The Prince of Tides.’.. I’m pretty much a non-fiction person.”
- Nurturing joy: “I think that joy is nurtured like churning butter. You know, separating cream from the butter, continuing to churn it. Because nurturing joy is what I consider that I find is in the wellspring of my heart.”
- Her grandkids weren’t as impressed with her portrayal as Mrs. Santa Claus as “kids on the street.”
- Standing up for herself: “I’ve never been shy to given an opinion.”
- Lightning round —
- Most inspiring co-star: Kurt Russell
- Favorite restaurant in LA: Oysterette
- What is always in your purse: Lip gloss
- Who would you jump at the chance to work with that you haven’t already: Jim Carrey
- Best beauty tip: Sleep.
With that last one, Laura said she was “going to go to sleep right now.”
Just past 1 p.m. the conversation ended, and the legions of guests headed for the valet parkers. Alas, Chair Claire was one of the last to get her wheels. Wasn’t the valets’ fault. Seems in all the activities, Claire had lost her ticket.
If you haven’t already checked out the additional looks of the day at MySweetCharity Photo Gallery, go here!