Almost 300 loyal readers gathered Friday evening at the Ebell to pay tribute to Jane Gilman publisher of the Larchmont chronicle who is celebrating 50 years of operation.
The story of the paper’s founding in 1963 by Gilman and Dawne Goodwin (who served as co-publisher until 1997) was told in a short  bio pic by Loyce and Joe Braun featuring photos of Jane as a baby, later as a Girl Scout and then a grown up Jane who volunteered to serve in the military where she met her husband Irwin Gilman.
Mistress of Ceremonies Peggy Bartinetti and songsters Melissa Kay Allen and Jan Daley sang musical tributes to Jane with new lyrics to familiar songs written by Loyce Braun. Of particular note was the last song “Do You Read the Larchmont Chronicle” set to the tune of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from Les Miserables that culminated with the audience singing and holding up copies of the beloved newspaper.
After the show, Councilman Tom LaBonge  and Ebell President Patty Hill conducted a live auction with proceeds supporting the Ebell Preservation Fund. Auction items included a ride along with LAPD Commanding Officer III Eric Davis of the Wilshire Division, a family dinner at the Fire Station 29,  a three-course catered dinner with Ebell chef Louis Pechan for ten and a tour of the city with Councilman LaBonge. The auction ended with LaBonge serenading Jane to the tune of Love Me Tender noting that “her work is never done.”
Gilman offered the anniversary celebration to the Ebell as a fundraiser for the club’s Preservation and Restoration Fund which had largely spent earlier this year for restoration work on the building’s exterior concrete.
Thanks for the story. Helped us envision the event that we were unfortunately unable to attend. Cheers to Jane Gilman and the Larchmont Chronicle!
a great night!
Great wrap-up of a much-deserved tribute to Jane and the Chronicle. Just one small correction: Loyce and Joe Braun created a compilation video of interviews with people whose lives Jane had touched that was shown during the cocktail hour. The biopic in the stage show was put together by the incomparable Patricia Foster Rye who also produced the show and came up with the idea of the flash mob holding up their Larchmont Chronicles.
Thank you so much for those corrections. I was only going off the program notes!
It was fabulous!