Aliza Barzilay, Executive Director of the Westside Center for Independent Living (WCIL), said the organization's Associates raised $8,000 at a recent Literary Tea and Membership Party with Guest Author and Speaker, SUSAN ORLEAN, the New York Times Best-Selling Author of The Orchid Thief and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Orlean talked about and signed copies of her latest book, Rin Tin Tin, The Life and The Legend, at the Beverly Hills home of WCIL Associates founder and member, Betty Deutsch on Tuesday, December 13, 2011. Pianist Jeff Lass provided musical entertainment. The function was catered by Susan Kraft.
The WCIL Associates Steering Committee for this event included: Betty Deutsch, Tea Party Hostess; Ruth Kraft, Steering Committee Chair; Suzie Levin Corben, Honorary Chair; and members Louise Escoe, Marjorie Fasman, LaVetta Forbes, Barbara Gordon, Lola Jameson, Trudy Kallis, Jean Katz, Ruth March, Marcia Solomon, Dorothy Straus, Dascha Auerbach Stuart, Ruth Tober and Phyllis Wiseman.
As one of the most creative literary journalists of today, Susan Orlean is the author of the best-selling book, The Orchid Thief, which was made into the Academy Award-winning movie, Adaptation. Her latest work, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend (Simon & Schuster; September 27, 2011; $26.99), tells the story of Rin Tin Tin's journey from orphaned puppy to movie star and international icon. From the moment in 1918 when Corporal Lee Duncan discovers Rin Tin Tin on a World War I battlefield, he recognizes something in the pup that he needs to share with the world. Rin Tin Tin's improbable introduction to Hollywood leads to the dog's first blockbuster film and over time, the many radio programs, movies, and television shows that follow. The canine hero's legacy is cemented by Duncan, and a small group of others who devote their lives to keeping him and his descendants alive.
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