Art Linkletter

Holmby Hills pines rustled as Museum of Contemporary Art trustee Audrey Irmas and her attorney husband, Sydney, joined by MOCA director Richard Koshalek, hosted cocktails and dinner for 200 to celebrate the MOCA exhibition, "Claes Oldenburg: An Anthology." Everyone wanted to rub elbows with Oldenburg and art historian Coosje Van Bruggen, also an honoree. This begins a year of Director's Forum benefits and events. * Elegance in Reflection: The bride and bridegroom, Mr. and Mrs.

Veteran entertainer Art Linkletter says older people can still get a kick out of life. "I'm 78 and still alive and doing what I want to stay alive and be fulfilled," Linkletter told a seminar for seniors Wednesday. He encouraged them to "save your self-esteem and your identity" by staying young emotionally. Linkletter is the author of 23 books, including his latest, "Old Age Is Not for Sissies." He says everyone needs "something to hope for and something to love."

In the tradition of Hollywood court battles, stars will serve as star witnesses when a class-action suit challenging the sale of MGM/UA Entertainment Co. goes to trial next month. Dinah Shore, Art Linkletter and Gen. Alexander Haig Jr. are among the board members who will testify in the $200-million case, which revolves around the 1986 studio acquisition.

Bob Cummings, who had his own TV comedy in the 1950s and '60s, felt half his age when more than 100 friends surprised him with an 80th birthday bash. "It's my 40th birthday," Cummings joked during a Friday night bash in suburban Sherman Oaks for the star of "The Bob Cummings Show," "My Living Doll" and "My Hero." Cummings' birthday was Saturday. Among the celebrities on hand were Jane Withers, Pat Buttram, Jane Wyatt, Rose Marie, Buddy Rogers, Dick Van Patten and Margaret O'Brien.

Remember those kids who used to tell Art Linkletter the darndest things on TV? Well, they're older now, but Linkletter says he's still a kid at heart. When he isn't pitching recliners on television, Linkletter likes to ski, surf and scuba-dive--in short, all those fun things that other young guys do. "There is no definition for old except attitude and mobility," the 78-year-old Linkletter said. "Attitude tells whether you are old or not.

He joked about his age and how he often forgets names, including that of "whatever her name is"--his wife. But all jesting aside, 77-year-old television personality Art Linkletter came to a daylong medical symposium here Tuesday to discuss a serious subject--Alzheimer's disease--and the need to find a cure for "this dreadful scourge."

There was a real glow around the opening of the Armory Center for the Arts in Old Town Pasadena the other evening and around the preview of the "Pasadena Armory Show 1989" curated by Noel Korten and planned by Ann Barrett for the Fellows of Contemporary Art. The Fellows is the group founded in 1975 to underwrite exhibitions by contemporary artists after the demise of the Pasadena Art Museum.

Art Linkletter is alive and well at 75 and building in Santa Monica. Building? Few fans recognize the amiable TV and radio star of more than 45 years as a builder, but "Link," as his friends call him, is almost as much at home on a construction site as he was on NBC's "People are Funny" or CBS's "House Party," which stopped broadcasting in 1969. "I was on 'House Party' for 26 years and 'People Are Funny' for 19," he reminisced in his Beverly Hills office.