Entertainment

A select group of people who paid $35,000 for their tickets to Saturday's Cattle Baron's Ball got to party just like J.R. Ewing.

For the last several years, the gala has been held at Southfork Ranch. But in a new twist, the house at Southfork was unlocked for a VIP pre-party where the air smelled of money and the most oft-heard phrase was "What bailout?"

Cattle Baron's supporters had a reason to feel sassy. Gala chair Tanya Foster had already banked $4 million before the evening's live auction began. Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

Even though the Southfork house is more modest in person than on TV, there is something titillating about wandering through the fictional Ewings' home and admiring the gold-rush bordello décor complete with a picture of Jock Ewing over the mantle and Sue Ellen Ewing next to a sunken pink bathtub. Squeezing past country singer Pat Green (the evening's opening act) or emcee Gary Cogill in a Southfork hallway, one realized that the soundstage version of the house was much larger.

This was the 35th anniversary of Cattle Baron's and among the revelers was Jacque Wynne who co-chaired the first Cattle Baron's Ball with the late Patti Hunt at the Wynne family's Star Brand Ranch.

Tanya Foster was a Houston teenager when the Urban Cowboy/Gilley's craze swept the nation so she chose "How to be an Urban Cowboy" as the Cattle Baron's theme. Beer mogul Barry Andrews helped her in her task by donating huge money for the Andrews Distributing Honky Tonk.

The 3,000 Cattle Baron's guests entered through the venue complete with a mechanical bull, antler chandeliers and pool tables.

Speaking of Barry Andrews, remember those pictures of Jessica Simpson in a pink Tony Romo jersey at last December's Cowboys-Eagles game – the pictures that launched the "Jessica's a Jinx" conspiracy? That day, she was sitting in Barry's 50-yard-line box adjacent to Jerry Jones' suite at Texas Stadium.

At Sunday's Cowboys-Bengals game, Barry and his wife, Lana, had a decidedly more international feel in their suite.

Philippe LeBoeuf, manager of London's most prestigious hotel, Claridge's, joined the Andrews family for the game. After more than a decade running Paris' elite Hotel de Crillon, Philippe moved to Dallas as a VP for Rosewood Hotels where he initiated the recent renovations at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.

But the temptation to run Claridge's was too great, and last year, he moved to London. Ever since the Mayfair hotel hosted a visit from Queen Victoria, Claridge's has been known as an extension of Buckingham Palace. During World War II, King Peter II of Yugoslavia lived there in exile.

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