Jillian Manus & Alan Salzman’s Valentine’s Ball: Celebs Support Cancer Research

It is only February but already Jillian Manus and Alan Salzman have set the bar high for the best parties of 2009 in Silicon Valley. Wait— make that best parties anywhere in the world. Last night guests descended upon a fairytale Happily Never After Valentine’s Ball to raise money and awareness for the Stanford Cancer Center. Digerati, glitterati and literati valet-parked outside the drawbridge and walked the giant lollipop-lined red carpet to trumpeted fanfare. Knights in shining armor cleared the way for eBay’s Meg Whitman, Amidzad Founder Saeed Amidi, Applied Material’s CEO Mike Splinter, and SkinnySongs CEO Heidi Roizen. Real and fairytale celebrities intermingled. Women’s Wear Daily photographers shot Rapunzel in one frame and Asim Abdullah, owner of haute couture design house Emanual Ungaro and his wife Isha in the next. Robin Hood bantered with VCs while a roaming gyrating faun played pan flute. Reigning in supreme elegance was Jillian Manus—-sheathed in a flesh-toned bejeweled gown, floating among her guests and fairies. Winged and sparkly, the fairies flitted about attending to guests’ whims and fancies with micro-macaroons, clever quips and fairytale repartee.

To view the evening in 29 photos and captions below, please SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN:

Drue Kataoka, eBay’s Meg Whitman, experimental physicist Dr. Charles Munger Jr., and Griffith R. Harsh IV, M.D. Professor of Neurosurgery and Director, Stanford Neurosurgery Resident Training Program

Rapunzel swoons atop Manus Salzman Castle balcony. Courtiers welcome guests on red carpet.

Cinderella horse-drawn coach glitters. Horses with chameleonic iridescent purple to pink fur seem to be Silicon Valley relatives of the Wizard of Oz’s “horses of a different color.”

Drue in Valentine blossom-decked Roberto Cavalli

Jillian commands the audience with a rousing and inspirational speech about the Stanford Cancer Center. Just back from Davos, she gives a global anecdote, and a personal one.

The ever-elegant Helen Salzman, for whom the Helen Salzman Boutique in the Stanford Cancer Center was named.

Gigantic Lollipops loom large dwarfing anything from Candyland

Valet parking outside the drawbridge

Rapunzel’s realtime cascading locks offer an alternative entrance into the castle…

Courtiers await with platters of kir royale

Silicon Valley sleeping beauty on a bed of Ambien and designer drugs sleepily text messaging. Too tired to wait up for a dotcom prince charming.

Harpist coaxes fairytale creatures to appear in restorative gilded tearoom.

Aha! A fairy appears with a “Don’t piss off the fairies” sign!

Private TCHO chocolate sampling. TCHO’s CEO Louis Rossetto, (co-founder of Wired magazine), uses technology to map cocoa beans on a flavor wheel. The cacao is distinct in genetics and terroir, Fair Trade and organic certified.

South of the Digital Border – Mariachis in charro suits with guitarróns play as tequila flows plentifully beneath pinatas filled with perhaps Silicon chips?

Partida Tequila bar courtesy of J. Gary Shansby, founder and Chairman of Partida Tequila.
Partida blue agave is cultivated for 7-10 years, harvested by hand and baked in state-of-the-art stainless steel autoclaves. Their AÑEJO is aged in American oak one-pass Jack Daniels barrels and has sublime flavor. The Blanco has a soft floral aroma.

Evil (Drag) Queen bickers with the “real” mirror mirror on the wall, virtual reality creation that talks to you and rates your beauty.

Ice sculptures spout Bailey’s cream from their cool nipples to grateful male guests attended to by women in scuba gear and mermaids wearing…um…pink shells. Some men dare to sip from the frigid protrusions themselves.

Magic potions and spells. Toxically delicious. Botox green apples. Jars holding eternal youth.

A knight in shining armor. Valentine’s chivalry is alive!

Medieval torture chamber for misbehaving guests

Norman Fogelsong, Institutional Venture Partners with Mrs. Fogelsong, and son Jonathan

Micro-maracroons trap blueberries and raspberries with a touch of cream by Paula LeDuc

Chocolate decadance pyramids with gold leaf, key lime pot de cremes, mocha cheesecake “lollipops” rolled in almonds. All this is giving Willy Wonka an inferiority complex.

Treasure chest of bejeweled chocolate coins with gold leaf, sun-kissed citrus rinds and tart surprises

Drue flanked by Iris from Fujitsu and the one and only Theresa Van Eeghen in red fur

Drue invited into magical shell. A mermaid with pearl-encrusted headdress gives Mikimoto a run for their money in the underwater fantasy room.

Jillian arranged this for the WOMEN GUESTS: Prince Charming and “Paper Doll” Room. Before I stepped up to the platform, Jillian told them— “Beware, Drue’s a samurai!”
The room had a rack of clothes and accessories from sailors’ suits to firehats — to dress a Valentine Adonis or two to your specifications. One husband lamented to me, “I lost my wife in that room!”

VIDEO of Jillian Manus and Alan Salzman’s Valentine’s Ball INVITATION.

QUESTIONS

• What should Jillian and Alan choose as next year’s theme?
• What were your favorite moments from the Ball?