No People Like Show People

War waited in the wings for its cue to take centerstage. A special adaptation of Lysistrata at the Wilshire Ebell took note and demurred—of which Rob Kendt took note in his Wicked Stage commentary last week. Street theatre demonstrators' cries of "Peace! Peace!" rang out. But as 9/11 should have made clear, there is no peace.

Portents cast shadows in the big Southland Theatre Artists' Goodwill Event, its 19th, and the 19th staged by director David Galligan. The glittering S.T.A.G.E. show contributed its annual outpouring of music, love, money, and moral support to the battle against HIV/AIDS, saluted the music of Frank Loesser, and added some $360,000 to the $4 million-plus S.T.A.G.E. has contributed to AIDS relief and philanthropies like the Actor's Fund. Its handsome, "coffee table quality" program book—size and heft of a really important paperback—included editor Harry Prongue's foreword noting that "War looms over us…. People are still contracting HIV/AIDS; people [fewer, thank God] are still dying…. We are still singing and dancing to help." A reproduction of the sheet music cover of Loesser's WWII rallying-call, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!" sounded a martial note that is poignant in today's context. We were united in support of the war effort then. Other times, other wars, other tempers.

Director Galligan commented over the phone to me later: "There's no people like show people for supporting each other. Playwright Larry Gelbart was there at every performance, for the show and for his wife, Pat Marshall [she sang Loesser's romantic WWII ballad "I Don't Want To Walk Without You, Baby"]. Actor Dom DeLuise was at every performance; his wife, too, was in the show." Mrs. Dom DeLuise is actress Carol Arthur, who sang a number from the 1937 film Blossoms on Broadway, "No Ring on Her Finger." A convivial group of show folks always could be found in the Luckman Theatre's downstairs greenroom, Galligan said, with a generous complement of refreshments contributed by Mark's, Vermont, and Orso's restaurants. "Biggest stars and hopeful unknowns alike," Galligan related, "these performers were always helping and cheering each other on."

Awards for lifetime achievement and "extraordinary contributions to the battle against AIDS" went to two beloved theatre icons, Carole Cook and Betty Garrett. Garrett and Ian Abercrombie presented Loesser's insinuating "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with a topsy-turvy turn: Garrett was the mischievous, suave, and of course irresistible seducer, while Abercrombie was the shy object of her intentions.

Introduced as "The best—kindness, generosity, grace, and love beyond the call of duty," Cook accepted yet another award for being her inimitable self, looking more than usually dazzling in peony-pink chiffon, matching coq feather boa, sparkling jewels, and of course that attention-getting