The Sheila Variations

Funny only if you remember the song:

At college my sister used to play brunch-coffeehouse gigs. This was the early 80s. Her repertoire was James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, that kind of stuff. One day an elderly woman came up to her between songs and asked, "Do you know 'Key Largo'?"

Maybe you have to know my sister, too.

You be obsessed with Bogie, and I'll be obsessed with Betty Bacall (which I have been anyway since I first saw "To Have and Have Not" when I was about 11). That bit about the gold whistle is incredible.

You be obsessed with Bogie, and I'll be obsessed with Betty Bacall

Deal.

Also I think I'll remember Bogie's last words and stick with scotch.

Sheil..do u know the story of how the original Rat Pack formed... Bogie/ Bacall..Judy Garland/Sid Luft..Sinatra and his wife..they would have raucous parties and other people were jealous that they weren't included..where Gershwin would play and Frank and Judy would sing in-between poker games and shots of booze...some bitter columnist refered to them as that "rat pack" over on blah-blah street(cant remember it)..so Judy went and bought all the core members diamond custom made rat pins with ruby eyes..and the original rat pack was born..dont u love the idea of them all hanging out at their houses getting looped and being living legends...hooray!

Mitchell -

I love that story. Lauren Bacall would talk about how Frank Sinatra would walk right into their house, and stroll right to the bar. Immediately.

TOO MUCH FUN.

Also - when Bacall came to our school, she was FILLED with scorn for what she called the "fake" rat pack, which came later - the Dean Martin, Peter Lawford crowd ... she saved most of her scorn for Shirley Maclaine claiming she was in the "rat pack".

It was so funny. There is Betty Bacall, a gorgeous woman in her ... 60s? 70s? And it was like she was in junior high, still mad that someone "copied" her.

I loved it. It was so human!

Red - I am WAY jealous of you getting to meet Betty Bacall. I was once at some really dull function - I don't remember when or where - but there was a rumor that Bacall was going to be there. I stayed all the way to the end, and beyond, constantly watching the door for what would have been the thrill of a lifetime for me. She never showed - I'm not sure there was even anything to the rumor - but I would have stood on my head for a week for a glimpse of Betty Bacall.

Normally I don't get into the movie thing much - but now you've gotten me started. Two fantastic Bacall movies on TV channels I don't get this month - "Blood Alley" with John Wayne (Chinese civil war, and one of my all-time favorites) and "Confidential Agent" (Spanish Civil War) with Charles Boyer.

Dude - she was wonderful, in person. Just wonderful. A couple things I remember, off the cuff - but I'll look at my notes, and post them later:

One of the things she said about Bogie was, in that "I've smoked all my life" voice was, "Listen - we weren't together long, but we had a lot of fun together."

She was just as ballsy and down-to-earth as he was. No sentimentality - only a deep deep love.

She said, about their courtship, and marriage: "I was a baby. I knew nothing. He taught me everything. He was a good man."

I mean, the images that pop into one's head at that. It made me love him. He was in his 40s, she was 19 ... he was her tutor, in many ways. But he didn't make her feel small. He thought she was the cat's meow.

Also - she was filming a movie while he was dying. The progression of his disease was rapid. He wasted away. She was doing another film at the time - I can't remember which one.

Someone asked her, "What was that like? Did you wish you were home all the time, or...?"

And she said (again, in that voice that I know you can hear in your head!), "Listen, Bogie wanted me to do it. He loved it when I was working, and he thought it was important that I keep working."

A truly modern marriage.

And lastly: I catered a STUPID event at the Dakota Hotel (where Lennon was killed- and also where Lauren Bacall lived) - Because it was the Dakota, it was a cast of thousands, millionaires, Julian Lennon, etc. We were outside. Millionaires were eating with paper plates. It was great. I manned the hot dog stand. And Lauren Bacall came over and got a hot dog. I said to her, the second I saw her, "You came and did a seminar at my school - and I just want to thank you so much for everything!" (I'm goofy and un-shy and awkward like that.)

She was like a little kid. "Oh, thank you so much - thank you so much for saying that!"

We talked for a bit, and during our conversation, the heavens opened up and unleashed a monsoon. She (Lauren freakin' Bacall) huddled under the umbrella on my hotdog stand, holding a hotdog, eating the hotdog - it was no big deal to her, it's so down to earth.

We talked about my acting training, my school ... I said, "I was so happy when Barbra Streisand cast you in Mirror Has Two Faces - it's always so nice to see you on screen."

And CW - I am not lying, or exaggerating, when I say that she gave me this look, and in that look - she looked like any other desperate hungry actress of 25 ... and she said, "I just want to work!! No one ever offers me work for some reason - and I just want to work!"

Betty Bacall. A classy dame. She will "work" until she dies.

By the way - I don't say any of this to brag. It's just that: if anybody I knew had had some kind of encounter with Ewan McGregor or Eminem or Jeff Bridges - knowing how I feel about them, then they had BEST tell me all about it!

Lastly: I remember Betty talking about how she was obsessed with Betty Davis to the point of wanting to stalk her. (This was when Bacall was a teenager.)

And she said to us, at our school, "All I did in high school was go to Bette Davis movies with my best friend. And we would cry and smoke."

I loved that! She said it in such a blase tone,"We would cry and smoke."

Also: smoking in a movie theatre?? Yeah!

Red you have made my day with your Bacall stories. Thanks for feeding my obsession, too.

CW - any time!

Dug out the tape last night, in between "s" panic ...

Want to know the first thing Bogie said to Bacall? She was coming out of Jack Warner's office, having just been given the part in To Have and Have Not - She had not met Humphrey Bogart yet. But she passed him by as she came out of the office.

He stopped her - knowing that they would be working together. He "grinned" at her, apparently, and said, "We're gonna have a lot of fun together, baby."

He was talking about just the making of the movie ... and while Lauren Bacall told the story, she suddenly rolled her eyes and said, "Little did he know!! Little did I know!"

So romantic!

One of the framed photographs I have in my home is of Lauren Bacall. Not signed or anything; it was a gift from someone who knew I have a thing for her.

Probably because my first name is Steve.

I do know how to whistle, but I don't think it will do me any good :-)