Last night I attended the La Quinta Arts Foundation Gala event honoring TV mogul Merv Griffin. Held at the swank La Quinta Resort & Club, the exclusive event drew a well-heeled crowd with a penchant for collecting high end art. Merv is honorary chairman of the Arts Festival and has been a major financial supporter of the event here in the Palm Springs area.Merv Griffin is one of the most successful Hollywood entertainers and executives ever, with career on stage singing, and a 23 year run with The Merv Griffin Show where he invented the talk show concept. He made his substantial fortune when he single-handedly created game shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, both of which he still owns. As a resident of La Quinta, Merv is a high profile valley resident and brings a great deal of Hollywood power to the Palm Springs area.
Above: At the cocktail reception I had a chance to snap a photo of Merv some friends: (Photo L-R): pianist Frankie Randall, Merv Griffin, Keely Smith, unidentified man, and Jerry Vale. I also saw veteran actor Robert Loggia shortly after I took this photo.
Above & Below: During the champagne reception, I enjoyed viewing the wonderful sampling of art to be featured at the upcoming festival.
Below: Me hamming it up for the cameras.
Below: We enjoyed an elegant three course dinner
Below: ...followed by a performance by Merv Griffin, Frankie Randall, Keely Smith and Kaye Ballard
After dinner Merv opened by telling a few jokes- one of which I felt was worth sharing. It went something like this:
"You know for a time I dated a homeless girl.
Yeah, it was great.
We would go out to a restaurant and have a nice dinner and everything, and the best part was I could drop her off anywhere."
Below: Just for fun: I ran into this woman and just loved her look...a vision in silver
-Rick Rockhill
What a coincidence, I just watched the Seinfeld where Kramer found the Merv Griffin set.
ReplyDeleteI must confess, being 22, I'm not really familiar with him, but it looks like quite the evening.
Wow....Merv got fat. Really fat. Poor thing.
ReplyDeleteWell hi hunny. Thanks for your little comment on our blog. we're coming to palm springs in april, staying at the Parker. what should we see?
ReplyDeletethanks doll,
Y.M.
Wow! You are so lucky to go to an event like this. What an exciting life you lead!
ReplyDeleteDahling, you look mahvelous in the hamming it up picture...which is more than I can say about the woman who escaped from the back lot of Columbo and kept her wardrobe from the show for all these years.....Scary.
ReplyDelete