Date:
Place:
Guest Speaker: Lewis Morley, Film Worker
I must say that the venue was superb. We had space, we had luxurious ambience, we had privacy, we had our own bar and we had excellent service.
As for every Dinner some familiar faces were missing for one reason or another and new faces were welcomed. Among the latter was Eddie Carpio, comic dealer, who was overwhelmed by our hospitality and bonhomie. Philip Connole arrived from Canberra with two charming ladies, Sue and Sarah, dangling adoringly at each side. Lucky man!
The cocktail hour was particularly noisy and frenetic, due I think to the fact that it had been a while between Dinners and there was much catching up to do. Certainly the schoolteacher in me had some difficulty bringing the troops to order.
There was a welcome reintroduction of the fabled Goody Bag thanks to Ed Rhoades in America who kindly gave permission to reproduce a DVD featuring Sy Barry and Phantom Movie trailers prepared for the recent annual lunch at Sardis in New York. Also in the Goody Bag were copies of half a dozen original Felmang drawings. These were left over from the last Dinner as they did not arrive in time. The originals went to top bidder Carlyle Seers. Thanks to Glenn Ford for the copies.
The raffle for Dietmar’s Phantom print was won by a delighted Brad Peach. It is worth mentioning here that his good friend Gary Horne flew down from Brisbane just to be at the Dinner. That Members are prepared to go to this expense and effort to join us is both gratifying and stress inducing … heaven forbid we have a dud of a Dinner!
The Guest Speaker, Lewis Morley, received rave reviews for his insights into the world of model making and special effects in the film industry. His presentation of the new Phantom Head Lamp (due out in October … more about this later … or contact Steve Panozzo) and the entertaining story of how he committed industrial espionage in New York provided much amusement.
Antonio Di Dio was pointedly absent due to a complete inability to read a calendar. He was missed. Nevertheless Gerry Forliano stepped into the breach as auctioneer and due to his boisterous manner and the quality of the artwork and collectibles offered, we were able to raise over $2 000 for the Westmead Childrens Hospital. A record $1 000 was paid by René White for a Sy Barry painting after a spirited bidding contest with Dominic Kelly via mobile phone in Canberra. The sick children thank you both. I hope soon to present the cheque personally at the hospital and will advise when this has been done.
A special thanks is due to Antonio Lemos for painting and donating a wonderful Phantom head. Stephen Baggs, who won it at auction, will be colour photocopying this masterpiece (image attached) and Dinner Guests will be sent a copy. But please be patient.
Mentioning everyone again who contributed becomes clichéd but it is never a cliché to acknowledge the attendance and support of Frew. Thanks, as always, to Jim and Judith Shepherd.
And now we move on to Dinner #20. This will be a special event (and expensive as I keep reminding you!) which I intend to hold in the first quarter of next year. I hope to have the date finalised by early December so you can all plan ahead. See you all then!