Appearing among fedora-wearing “Casablanca” fans Friday night at the National Museum of American History’s new Warner Bros. Theater was Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, who answered questions alongside renowned film historian Richard Schickel. Bogart’s relation to his father was apparent in more ways than one: besides the physical similarities, he shares the same gravelly voice and affinity for snappy one-liners for which his father was famous. His mother was 19 when she married his father; he was 44.
“He was no fool and neither was she,” Bogart said.
Bogart was eight years old when his father died of cancer, and so he has only “snapshot” memories of the man whom was more legend to him than anything.
“All I knew of him really was celluloid. I saw him on film and that was his personality. He was Rick, he was Charlie Allnut … Every once in a while I’ll just have a picture of my father as being alive, wearing a certain jacket or with a certain expression, and I’m not even sure that he wore the jacket, but I think he probably did,” he told Yeas & Nays.
Bogart cited Martin Scorsese and John Huston as other personal favorites. Good writing, he said, is what made his father famous, and is what is missing from most movies today.
“I think there are some films that have good writing, but I don’t think you have to have it as much anymore because of the special effects and the digitizing. But, on the other hand, the adventure movies have become really good. You can do a lot more now than you could do back then because of the special effects.”
Bogart’s appearance kicked off a three-day film festival at the new Smithsonian theater and also marked “Casablanca’s” 70th anniversary. A new set of movie memorabilia was also showcased, which included costumes worn by Humphrey Bogart, Bacall, Ingrid Bergman and Clint Eastwood, who appeared in Washington and helped open the Warner Bros. Theater last week. The display also includes robes from “Harry Potter” and the Best Picture Academy Award for “Casablanca.”
