Guests were given the full tinseltown treatment as they arrived at the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Hollywood Gala last Saturday, posing for photos and Oscar-style interviews along the long red carpet before entering the Oak Harbor Club for an evening that featured guest speaker Stephen Bogart, son of the legendary Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
Inside, guests sipped champagne and cocktails while perusing a large selection of silent auction items in the Moroccan marketplace and mingling with colorful stars of yesterday.
Susan Grandpierre, looking unrecognizable as the curly-haired, horn-tooting Harpo Marx, broke character to explain that she and the other celebrities – Groucho, Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Charlie Chaplin, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Gloria Swanson and Lucille Ball – were members of the Vero Beach Theatre Guild.
Many of the guests had also gotten into the spirit of evening, with white tuxes and lovely eveningwear, the perfect fashions for Rick’s Café Americana. Wonderful music by pianist Ed Shanaphy and bassist Taddy Mowatt added to the clubby atmosphere; they were joined later by gifted singer Kate Shanaphy for the after-dinner dancing.
Before dinner, Rotarians John Carroll and Paul Tripaldi presented a check to Julienne Price and Teddy Floyd, representatives of Every Dream Has a Price, to help fund construction of a duplex for homeless veterans.
“This is what we do as a Rotary Club; continue to help what’s being done in the community” said Tripaldi, current RCVB president.
Attendees were also treated to a stirring rendition of “I Believe” by inspirational gospel singer Wintley Phipps, founder of the US Dream Academy, which tutors and mentors children whose parents are in prison.
Famed in his own right as a screenwriter, producer and author, Stephen Humphrey Bogart spoke with humor and tenderness about his famous parents, who met on the set of To Have and Have Not, when Bacall was 19 and “Bogie” was 44. Although Stephen had just turned 8 when his father passed away, Lauren Bacall lived until last year, dying at age 84.
“She got to live her whole life as Lauren Bacall,” said Bogart adding, “She always said, ‘That’s not a bad run.’”
Bogart shared personal stories about his parents and growing up among the stars, raised alongside children of other parents in the spotlight – such as Frank Sinatra, Jr. and Liza Minnelli. He also showed a September 1954 Edward R. Murrow Person-to-Person interview, featuring the power couple at their Hollywood home. Sadly, Humphrey Bogart passed away just two years and three months later.
“I just feel really lucky to have the visuals to remember my parents,” said Bogart. “I feel really lucky to be the son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
The Rotary Club of Vero Beach, formed in 1926, is the oldest of the five Rotary Clubs in Indian River County. The others, which all fall under the Rotary International umbrella, are Sunrise, Oceanside, Sebastian and Orchid Island. Proceeds from Rotary Hollywood Gala will benefit local charities through the Rotary Club of Vero Beach Foundation.
