AIDS Benefit Update

The benefit last weekend raised over $230,000...about 70 partygoers -- who'd paid a premium $2,000 per ticket -- dined in a private hotel chamber that they hoped would be graced by Taylor. But her chair at the circular table at Club 19 remained empty as her would-be dinner partners Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Carrie Fisher, Penny Marshall and Tom Petty enjoyed filet of beef and chocolate mousse at tables topped with roses and silver candelabras. (Also seated at the celebrity table was Klein, who spent most of his dinner dialing up Taylor on his cell phone, encouraging her to show up.)

"We can't do enough for AIDS," Beatty said. "And I think the country is waking up to that." Added Bening: "I think what President Bush said in his State of the Union address about [helping AIDS patients in the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean] was a wake-up call for our country. In our community, we've been dealing with AIDS for a long time. The fact that the rest of the country is going to become more aware of it through the president's efforts is a great thing."
His brother-in-law died of AIDS, Petty said, so he and his wife try to be as active as possible on behalf of AIDS research and patient services. "We do as much as we can," he said.

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