Pat's Personals
Soap Opera Weekly
July 29, 2003

Since many of my columns cover celebrity-fueled fund-raisers, I thought I’d give you a peek at the self-inflicted hair-pulling on the part of promoters, producers, and occasionally, your humble columnist, when actors who agree to appear out of the most altruistic of intentions are forced to withdraw due to sudden fluctuations in work schedules. For instance…

To coincide with Bring Your Dog to Work Day (not quite as widely recognized as, say, Valentine’s Day), the Loews hotel chain presents an annual Bark Breakfast at its deluxe Regency Hotel at which dog lovers can nosh with their canine companions and view a doggie fashion show featuring divine designs from Dog Chewz of Lexington Avenue. This gets the word out that people’s pets are welcome at all Loews hotels and also raises funds for Animal Haven Shelter and Sanctuary.

Two of the dog-lovingest divas in daytime, Catherine Hickland and Robin Strasser (Lindsay and Dorian, One Life to Live), agreed to co-host the fashion show with their own dogs – Buttons, Catherine’s 60-pound (!) Jack Russell (“She looks like she was blown up like a Macy’s balloon”), and Scooter, Robin’s Maltese. Set to model, accompanied by their mistresses, were Louise Sorel’s (ex-Vivian Alamain, Days of Our Lives; ex-Augusta Lockridge, Santa Barbara) Wheaten, Madison; and Stephanie Gatschet’s and Teresa Hill’s (Tammy and Eden, Guiding Light) Chihuahuas, Chi-Chi and Beej. Teresa called me the day before to say she was painting Beej’s toenails pink to add sauciness to her runway strut. For Stephanie, the event held special significance since Chi-Chi is an Animal Haven alumnus, rescued from a very abusive situation by an AH volunteer. “He’s forgotten everything bad that ever happened to him; he knows he’s got a home for life.”

With this great lineup, ticket sales soared, and then, a couple of days beforehand, I got a call from a distraught and highly apologetic Robin, who had just been informed that, since they were taping the anniversary show, there would be no flexibility for her to attend the early-morning (7:30-9:30) event. With one co-host down, I couldn’t help keeping a close, proprietary eye on Catherine when we both attended another fund-raiser on the eve of the Bark Breakfast. This benefit looked like it was heading into the wee hours, and though I left at a fairly reasonable time, Catherine seemed to be raising money for the long haul. “See you in the morning?” I said hopefully, heading home to bed, to sleep for a few hours.

At 4:15 a.m. the phone rang: “Oh, I was hoping I’d get your machine!” said Stephanie, who was calling for Teresa as well. They were both on the verge of collapse, having just been released from an unanticipated 21-hour workday, and the only party they were capable of attending was the Feather Ball.

At 7, I set off for the Regency with my poodles, Daisy and Misty (another AH alumnus). AH executive director Marcello Forte and I shared a few nail-biting moments before Catherine arrived, on time to the minute. She hadn’t slept at all, just rested and then left “a hot man in a warm bed – and that’s not easy to do!” Buttons was another story. “She opened one eye and closed it – she was not even about to get up at 6:30.” Too bad, because lazybones missed her chance at a possible love connection with Kyle MacLachlan’s (ex-Trey MacDougal, Sex and the City) Jack Russell, Mookie.

Quick-with-a-quip Catherine made a marvelous emcee, despite struggling to read my chicken-scrawled cue cards through glasses that had been stepped on by someone – “I can’t be sure, but I think it might have been Randy Mantooth (ex-Alex Masters, Loving/The City) – the night before. She also proved to be a forgiving one. When Daisy, outfitted in a to-die-for black raincoat with pink boa and pink poodle appliqué, peed on stage. Catherine shrugged. “There’s AstroTurf and a fire hydrant – I understand completely.”

Fortunately, no one’s snout seemed out of joint due to the absence of some of the promised celebs and their furry friends. And everyone delighted in the unexpected gift of Cat Cosmetics kits; Catherine, sensing on arrival that we needed a boost, had sent out for 100 of them, which she personally handed out, along with the goody bags, to all the departing guests, leading credence to her claim that “Wherever I go, I have a great time, because I take the party with me!”