Date: Saturday, 16th October 1999
Place: Borobodur Restaurant (Indonesian cuisine), 123 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Guest Speaker: David Dale, noted journalist and commentator with The Sydney Morning Herald.
It was with some feeling of pleasant surprise that it dawned on Richard and Tony that they had placed a grain of sand inside the oyster and now had a pearl. The enthusiasm of fellow Phantom connoisseurs for our new club is exemplified by the fact that Stephen Baggs drove up on Friday from Bairnsdale, Victoria (staying with Bryan and Fiona in Wollongong), just for the dinner and then drove back on Sunday. Stephen... we salute you!
The evening began with purple Champagne and prawn crackers as the guests arrived up that long, steep staircase to the top room at the Borobodur. Veterans of the first dinner and newcomers soon mingled noisily.
While waiting for the dinner to start guests were able to view the latest painting in Dietmar's Phantom Generations project. This is a dramatic representation of the 2nd Phantom galloping towards Walker's Table. Another surprise was a display of one of the original Phantom costumes made for the Phantom Movie, including leather gunbelt and holster. This was acquired quite by chance as one of Bronwyn's clients knows a lady who was involved in their design and making. She graciously (and trustingly!) lent it for the occasion. Bill tried on the holster and mask. Richard gave it a workout in his backyard the next day.
Apologies were received from Glenn Ford and Jennifer owing to teething troubles (the baby, not Glenn), Simone White and Craig MacIntosh, Kerry Thew (he received a better offer... lucky Devil!), Gerry Forliano and Ellie Clark. An unexpected addition to our company was Dietmar's charming wife, Julia.
Special treats awaited each guest or couple at their places. These were a pure white Phantom bust accessorised for the occasion in purple bow tie, a program of the evening's events and a folder containing membership certificates, a copy of Nazi Gold (see Stephen Baggs' Bandar Village), a charter and letter of good wishes from the granddaddy of all Phantom lovers, Bob Griffin, and information on Dietmar's Phantom Generations project.
During the evening, five lucky members won a lucky draw prize which in each case was a copy of that perfectly horrid 1961 pilot for the never to see the light of day Phantom TV series. And they were happy to win!
After a speech of welcome by Richard, entreés were served and all settled down to fulfilling one of the main Raisons d'Être of the Club, the enjoyment of fine food and wine in the company of friends. Many thanks to the Borobodur for the excellent fare! After the main course Tony introduced David Dale and we all settled back to enjoy an amusing, interesting, well researched, erudite and conversational talk on comics in general, the satirical magazine (Mad and its imitators) and their influence on the young, on society and yes, Jim Shepherd, you were 100% right, we should have recorded it. It will be done next time.
A purple berry dessert prepared by Bronwyn capped off the repast and it was agreed by all that the evening was a great success. We believe Lee Falk would have approved.
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