S.9 -

dines at the White House - private family quaters

HL Prince may buy Ritz-Carlton

Byline: MAXINE MESINGER

Credit: Staff

Column: Big City Beat

DD 11/03/89

SO HOUSTON CHRONICLE (HOU)

Edition: 2 STAR

Section: HOUSTON

Page: 1

LP HAVE tongue, will tattle: The big buzz going around inner circles at the Ritz-Carlton is that negotiations are under way by Prince Al Turki to buy the hotel from its newest owner, Mohamed Hadid. If a sale comes off, it is believed that the Ritz-Carlton group would retain its management contract. The number of times the R-C has changed hands since it was opened in November 1982 is mind-boggling - Hadid is the fifth owner....

TX Tim Rice, former longtime collaborator with Andrew Lloyd Webber, is heading to divorce court in London with his estranged wife, Jane. He and Jane have visited friends in Houston several times, but in recent years Tim has been romancing London stage star Elaine Paige, the original star in London's West End of the Webber/Rice hit Evita and other musicals by the duo or by Tim.... Houston artist David Adickes is all smiles after his visit to Washington last week, which included spending the night in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House. Adickes has been commissioned to sculpt the eight-foot standing bronze statue of President Bush to go in the George Bush Library when and where it is established. Incidentally, David said the contenders for the library are Rice University, University of Houston, University of Texas and Texas A&M. Longtime Bush aide, Jack Steele, met Adickes at the airport when he arrived in Washington and informed Adickes that he would be spending the night in the White House. ``I thought I was just going to have an appointment with President Bush to take pictures of him for the bronze,'' a thrilled Adickes said. When he arrived at the White House, he was ushered to the Lincoln bedroom, and a couple of hours later the president knocked on his door, then posed for the pictures right there. He later dined in the private Bush family quarters, as * did other White House overnight guests, Sadruddin Aga Khan and his Princess Katie. They live in Geneva, and were in Washington to meet with Mr. Bush. After dinner the whole group, including the Bushes, went to Kennedy Center to see the play ``A Few Good Men.'' David left the White House the next morning, and was more than a little impressed when Barbara Bush came by to tell him goodbye. ``She's fabulous,'' he said. ``She's all the wonderful things people say about her, and more.'' Adickes also loved his complete tour of the White House, courtesy of Steele.... We're hearing of more and more people who were in the San Francisco during the recent earthquake. The latest is oilman-developer George Mitchell, who was on the 18th floor of the St. Francis Hotel and escaped injuries.... There've got to be some future University of Texas fans in the John S. Jungman family. For instance, on Oct. 11, 1986, UT grads Jungman and wife Nancy Kay welcomed a son, William Reeves, during the Oklahoma University-Texas game. Then, on Oct. 14, 1989, the Jungmans had their second child, a daughter, Kathryn Virginia, during the OU-Texas game. Proud daddy, John, is GM for Operations and Engineering of Independent Terminal & Pipeline Co., ITAPCO. Proud grandparents are Realtor Y. Frank Jungman and wife Marilyn, both Longhorns, and Irvin H. and Kay Reeves, a couple of Baylor Bears.... The Cancer Fighters benefit last week at Katsy and John Mecom Jr.'s River Oaks abode, and hosted by them and his mom, Mrs. John Mecom Sr., was a fabulous success. Proceeds of more than $30,000 went to the Joan Gordon Memorial Fund-Breast Screening Clinic for Indigent Women. The Mecoms were longtime friends of the late Joan Gordon, who died of cancer a couple of years ago. In fact, they introduced her to Houston oilman Forbes Gordon, whom she moved here from NY to marry. It was gratifying for the Mecoms to see Joan so beautifully remembered by Cancer Fighters, for which she was an ardent worker. Mrs. Mecom Sr. made the presentation to CF of $10,000 from the Joan Gordon estate.... Dick Marxen is hosting a luncheon Monday at the University Club for Maj. Ronald Ferguson in appreciation for bringing his British polo team to Houston for the Polo/Ralph Lauren Polo Matches here Sunday. Members of Ferguson's team, Alex Brodie, Oliver Ellis and William Hine also will be at the luncheon, as will, natch, some of the Texas polo team members....


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