An Unassuming Little Party

By J.D. Reed

As any seasoned performer will tell you, never overplay an anticlimax. Ronald Reagan knows that better than most, and his second Inaugural, a four-day wingding that begins this Friday, will be quieter, more controlled and a good deal less ostentatious than his first. The Inaugural, America's 50th, is being carefully crafted by the soon-to-depart Michael Deaver and the Presidential Inaugural Committee to rein in spending and promote a new egalitarian image for the Administration. Its theme: "We the People . . . An American Celebration."

After his record-setting $16.3 million, nouveau-riche extravaganza in 1981, the President had raised the possibility of a simple swearing-in ceremony this time, without any of the surrounding hoopla. But Republican Party politicos convinced him otherwise. "We knew we couldn't just have a swearing-in," says Ronald Walker, chairman of the Inaugural committee and manager of the party's clockwork Dallas convention. "There had to be an opportunity for people to come to Washington and celebrate the victory."

To stay within a budget limit of $9 million to $10 million, the committee is scheduling one-third fewer events this year. Gone are 1981's candlelight dinners and highbrow concerts at the Kennedy Center, and satellite balls across the country. Even the parade following the public swearing-in, with its 57 floats, 43 bands, the U.S. equestrian team and a dogsled, has been cut from the normal 2 1/2 hrs. to 1 hr. 15 min. The method: faster marching.

The Constitution mandates that the President be sworn in on the 20th, so a private ceremony will be held on Sunday at the White House, attended only by the First Family, the Vice President and his family, the Cabinet and White House aides. A public ceremony will follow on Monday at the West Front of the Capitol before TV cameras and an anticipated crowd of 140,000. The President will wear a business suit instead of the black club coat and striped trousers he favored in 1981. Mrs. Reagan will be wearing an electric-blue outfit by Adolfo.

This Inaugural will feature more public events than were offered in 1981. Friday's opening pageant and fireworks display on the Ellipse, for example, will be free. The number of reviewing boxes along the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route ($12.50 to $100 per seat) has been reduced to provide more standing room.

The committee expects that income will equal or even surpass the cost, as it did last time. The sources: ticket sales, souvenirs ranging from cuff links and tie-bar sets ($25) to porcelain eagles ($1,750), and $2.2 million from advertising on the televised portion of the Inaugural gala (ABC). But some cost-cutting efforts have backfired. Seeking 200 performers for public events, a committee consultant placed an ad in a trade publication for nonunion, "clean-cut, All-American types," to work for expenses but no wages. Several unions, including the Screen Actors Guild, which Reagan headed more than three decades ago, were outraged. Walker apologized to the unions for the ad, but decided to keep the nonpaid performers in the program. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists filed charges with federal agencies, and the Actors Equity Association is planning a protest in Washington on Saturday.

Thousands of young people will nonetheless be prominent at the Inaugural, as the nation's oldest President shows his appreciation for their unprecedented backing. The 18-to-29 age group gave Reagan 60% of its vote in November. Vice President Bush will speak to 3,000 at a young people's leadership forum on Saturday, and that evening Rockers Jerry Lee Lewis and Kool and the Gang will entertain them.

Inaugurations remain huge, free-wheeling parties no matter what committees may say, and neither youths nor accountants will keep old-line celebrators from their well-appointed rounds. Parties in museums, galleries and embassies are booked up, as are limousines ($2,400 for the four days) to whisk people to them. Robin Weir, Nancy Reagan's D.C. hair stylist, has hired a chef to cook omelette brunches at his P Street salon for an estimated 140 clients each day, and one capital caterer will deliver 650,000 hors d'oeuvres to 74 private parties (up from the 400,000 he provided for 56 parties in 1981).

Some 60,000 VIPs and party insiders have paid $125 to attend one of Monday evening's eight official black-tie balls. Airline-style computers are tabulating ticket distribution in an attempt to eliminate the problems that plagued the 1981 affairs. Many guests arrived to find events oversold and the ballrooms already full.

In place of 1981's single, 12,500-guest gala, this year's festivities will feature two galas: one for Vice President Bush on Friday, with 6,000 guests paying $75 to $150; the other for Reagan on Saturday, with 6,000 guests paying $150 to $200. Return performers include Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart and Charlton Heston. Elizabeth Taylor, part of the audience four years ago as the wife of Senator John Warner, will be onstage this time. New faces will include Tom Selleck, Crystal Gayle and Mr. T. Criticized for the show's lowbrow level (the 1981 gala included the likes of Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and Soprano Roberta Peters), Entertainment Chairman Joe Canzeri shrugs, "This is TV, this is what sells. Do you think people want to see the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court up on stage reading an opinion?"

In a city more concerned than ever about possible terrorism or assassination attempts, security will be tighter than at any Inaugural in history. Those attending the public swearing-in will have to pass through metal detectors to take their places on the Mall. Sentries carrying shoulder-fired Stinger antiaircraft missiles will reportedly be standing near the President.

Reagan may be underplaying the event, but as usual he will upstage everything. At the end of last week plans were to have the Gipper toss the coin for Super Bowl XIX. The flip in the White House will be televised on a huge screen in Stanford Stadium and beamed to some 120 million viewers nationwide. It will be a difficult weekend for those interested in neither football nor Inaugurations, but tickets may still be available for Monday night's opening at Washington's Folger Theater. The play: Much Ado About Nothing.

With reporting by Alessandra Stanley/Washington