Familiar face takes helm at Museum of History

By LENNIE BENNETT

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 28, 2001

The St. Petersburg Museum of History was packed with well-wishers Jan. 19 for a cocktail reception to welcome Mathias Bergendahl as the new executive director. If his name sounds familiar, it's because he spent several years with the Florida International Museum overseeing marketing and public relations.

The only person in this convivial crowd who was perhaps even happier than Bergendahl about his appointment was Mary Wyatt Allen, the individual most responsible for the health and well-being of the museum and, in the absence of a director, its unpaid, de facto leader.

Nice to see were heads of other arts organizations there to congratulate Bergendahl, including Evelyn Craft of the Arts Center and Bob Patterson of Great Explorations, the Hands On Museum. Michael Milkovich of the Museum of Fine Arts took a break from readying a major show, "Abraham Bloemaert and His Time," which opens today. (If you're not attending the Super Bowl, you might want to drop in at the museum for the 3 p.m. lecture by Dr. Marcel Roethlisberger of the University of Geneva.)

I followed Aila McEwen around the buffet table, which took a long time since the spread laid out by Ed Shamas was considerable, until we met up with Joe McEwen who was coming at it from the opposite direction. Mrs. McEwen is the only person I know who sometimes dispenses tiny Cuban cigars from her handbag. I was updated by Betty Shamas on family news: Happy birthday to her sister Janie Beam and congratulations to their niece, Dr. Julie Shamas, who has come home to practice in the Bayfront Medical Center emergency room.

"Now we can get in there without waiting," said Ed Shamas.

Museum board president Camilla Kilgoe circulated through the crowd that included Bergendahl's wife, Lari Averbeck; Helen O'Brien and Charlie Cosby; Harriet Strumm; Bill and Joan Tucker; Jeanette Wenzel; Betsy Owens; Barbara Smith; Bill and Hazel Hough; Kathy and Mike Slicker; Jan Knowlton; Connie Kone; Gus and Frances Stavros; Bobbie O'Malley; Patricia Kelly; Murry and Mary Cross; and George and Pam Campbell.

Bergendahl is busy curating his first show at the museum, a "Florida Kitsch" exhibition which opens April 20. Most of the items are on loan from Larry Roberts of Micanopy and Fred Frankel of St. Pete Beach, a trove of artifacts and quirky souvenirs dating from 1890 to the present. Sounds like a fun show.

You just didn't know who you were going to run into at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort on Friday, two days before You Know What. I saw a lot of long cars and men in sunglasses, usual indicators that out-of-towners of note have arrived. So was the sign the management puts in the foyer imploring us local rubes not to ask for autographs. Thank goodness free speech is protected under the First Amendment, allowing us to say hello to VIPs, which is what Jerod Elliott did when Spike Lee walked by.

"He nodded," said Elliott, 19. "It was cool."

Elliot and I were there to attend the annual Sunrise Award Luncheon for the Suncoast Center for Community Mental Health, which I will write about in greater length on Wednesday. Expectations were high for celebrity sightings at the posh hotel.

And while keynote speaker Dr. Joyce Brothers certainly qualifies as a celebrity during normal times, she is far too accommodating and friendly to be considered a Super Bowl Weekend celebrity. We were all looking for bigger, more elusive game.

Elliott, working as a volunteer at the check-in table, was in the catbird seat and scored again. "Evander Holyfield walked by," he said.

Joan Putrino, hearing from her trainer that Hugh Hefner and some of the bunnies were occupying the penthouse, said she wasn't working out in the Vinoy exercise room for a few days because she didn't want to run into one of the svelte women.

"I hear he's wearing his pajamas," she told me.

"The Super Bowl is not about football," Cary Putrino said.

Master of ceremonies Dick Crippen agreed. "Penny (his wife) and I are going to Bernie Little's house (hydroplanes, Anheuser-Busch distributor) in Lakeland to watch the game. Augie Busch is going to barbecue. You're allowed to make as much noise as you want during the game. But when the Budweiser commercials come on, you have to be very quiet."

Looking ahead

Tuesday

AMOUR DU COEUR: Infinity, the League to Aid Abused Children and Adults, hosts a luncheon and fashion show to benefit Center Against Spouse Abuse, Brookwood, a Young Women's Residence and the Child Protection Team. 11 a.m. St. Petersburg Yacht Club, 11 Central Ave. $40. 866-1276 or 360-0350.

Saturday

LAISSEZ LES BONS TEMPS ROULER: The 70th annual Charity Ball takes a New Orleans theme -- but not Mardi Gras, planners insist. The decorations, created by volunteers under the supervision of professional Vickii Block, promise to be the usual extravaganza. The menu by Michael's on East seems to follow a back-to-basics trend in catering that I welcome. I am tired of over-wrought presentations and overly ambitious entrees that work well at dinners for eight but are failures when translated for 800. The Charity Ball's menu sounds like a winner: seafood in remoulade sauce, chateau of beef on a bed of hashed potatoes and shiitake mushrooms, baby carrots and a dessert buffet with white and dark chocolate fondues, fruits macerated in liqueurs and starring Bananas Foster. Unlike last year, cocktails will be held in the Coliseum, along with dinner, after which patrons will repair to a party tent for dessert and dancing. 535 Fourth Ave. N. 7 p.m. $150. 867-2827.

Feb. 10

AND THE BEAT GOES ON: Women's Service League presents this year's Best Groomed List at a luncheon and fashion show to benefit the YWCA Family Village. 11 a.m. St. Petersburg Yacht Club. $40, 576-4221.

CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S CLUB LUNCHEON: A Treasure Hunt is the event's theme, with Marvin Dawkins discussing his beach searches for "treasures." Tony Horning will entertain and Pat Cowan will be featured speaker. Noon. The Orange Blossom, 220 Fourth St. N. $14.50. 323-7356.

CASINO CABARET, DREAM NIGHT: Shorecrest Preparatory School fundraiser includes a silent auction, gaming tables -- for fun only, of course -- buffets of appetizers and desserts and entertainment. Cash bar. $100, which includes two drink tickets and entry into the grand prize drawing for $5,000 tuition credit or cash. 7 p.m. Renaissance Vinoy Resort, 501 Fifth Ave. NE. 522-2111, ext. 107.

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