Debs Party With a Purpose : Traditions: Girls find that the stuffy image is misleading. And while the pageantry is still there, the purpose has also changed. A dance Saturday will benefit L.A.’s Childrens Hospital.

Planet Swan, 17, assumed the worst of a debutante--stuck-up, pampered rich girls--until she became one.

“I thought it was this negative thing, but I was wrong,” said Planet of Sherman Oaks. “The girls are not like the image.”

Planet, along with 11 other seniors from private San Fernando Valley high schools, will attend the debutante ball Saturday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. They will wear long white gowns with white gloves, sit with their male escorts, and waltz with their beaming fathers.

But it will not be their “coming out” party. They will not be selected for matrimony. Two days after the ball, they will go back to high school, back to contemplating college plans, back to being just teen-agers.

The ball, sponsored by the Valley-based Mary Duque Guild of Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, represents the modern tradition of debutantes. The pageantry is still there, but the purpose has changed.

“This is primarily a fund-raising event,” said guild member Dale Llewelyn of Woodland Hills. “We play down the other stuff.”

The money will go to the hospital’s 37-bed neonatal intensive care unit. Two of the debutantes have younger brothers who almost died at birth. Both were treated at Childrens Hospital, and have fully recovered.

“We were very lucky to get that care,” said Meg Carper, of Hidden Hills, of her son Scott, now 13. “A whole lot of children don’t get that opportunity.” Scott’s sister Kellee, 18, is one of this year’s debutantes.

The formal ball costs $150 a person, and the families of the 12 girls are required to donate a minimum of $1,500 each. Altogether, Llewelyn hopes to raise about $50,000.

Still, the event’s formality hasn’t completely vanished. The first official debutante ceremony took place at President George Washington’s inaugural ball. They have remained fairly popular social events ever since, except for a few lean years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Now, the debutante ball is back in style.

Beverly Thrall, president of Assistance League of Southern California, which honors high school girls for their charity work, attributed the restored popularity of debutantes to the conformity of the contemporary high school female. “In the 1960s and 1970s, you couldn’t get them to do things that were socially correct,” Thrall said. “Now, the anti-Establishment attitude is gone.”

In September, eligible girls received their invitations in Cinderella-like fashion. High school boys, selected by the guild, arrived at each girl’s door with a scroll and a long-stemmed rose.

“I was freaked out,” said Kellee, a senior at Louisville High School in Woodland Hills. “I wasn’t ready for someone to come to my door.”

This year, the 28-member Mary Duque Guild--named after a Childrens Hospital volunteer in the early 1900s--formally invited about 45 girls chosen on the recommendation of friends and school officials.

The girls who didn’t accept, Llewelyn said, claimed they were too busy. But she admitted the economy might be responsible for only 12 debutantes participating this year. In 1991, the guild, which meets monthly, sponsored 21 girls.

This year, all the girls come from private schools. Llewelyn said public school students were invited and that the guild does not discriminate. “It just worked out that way,” she said.

The girls also rebut any notion of class distinctions.

“People think that everyone in this group is rich,” said Erin Cantwell, 17, of Woodland Hills, also a Louisville senior. “But everyone in this group isn’t filthy rich.”

Added Erin’s classmate Planet: “These girls are talented artists and athletes, not girls who are afraid to break a nail.”

For the girls, who are escorted to the ball by male friends, the experience isn’t about another big party--there is still the prom. And it’s certainly not about being presented for marriage.

“Marriage? Not until we’re about 30,” Planet said.

Rather it’s about helping Childrens Hospital and sharing a special coming-of-age moment with their parents.

With their families, they toured the hospital and saw a world they never see.

“It’s reality compared to the way we live,” said Phillip Wexler, of Hidden Hills, whose daughter, Amy, who attends The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, is a debutante. “As a senior in high school, there are the applications to college, and all the activities. But Amy got a chance to see people not as fortunate.”

Said Donald McDermott, whose daughter, Anne-Marie, a senior at Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills, is taking part: “Girls tend to be very I-oriented, and this is the beginning of bringing them beyond that.”

For months, the debutantes have a set schedule of events. After the hospital visit, in late November, they traditionally take a get-away weekend to become better acquainted. This year, they visited a guild member’s home in the Channel Islands.

“It’s basically a slumber party,” Llewelyn said.

In December, the girls hosted a party for potential escorts. Two more parties were held in January and February. If the debutantes can’t find anyone to invite, the guild will look for someone appropriate.

The girls also spent a special afternoon of tea and speeches with their mothers. It became very emotional.

“It was a chance for the girls to talk about the influence their moms have had, as opposed to the ball when the dads shine,” Llewelyn said.

Byron Wood, whose wife, Nancy, is president of the guild, said the ball is “just as rewarding as giving your daughters away for marriage.”

First, each girl, one by one, is introduced by the master of ceremonies. She curtsies and moves to the corner of the stage where her father meets her. Together, they promenade around the ballroom until the father delivers her back near the stage. After this process is repeated 12 times, the girls together form a V and curtsy in unison.

The fathers return to take their daughters to the dance floor. Finally, the escorts--usually boyfriends--are invited to cut in and dance with the debutantes. Symbolically, the escort has replaced the father.

Wexler knows he will become emotional that evening.

“I’ll probably be crying,” said Wexler as he took waltz lessons with his daughter for the evening. “It’s the little girl breaking away.”