The title of Frankie Valli’s 1976 hit, “Oh, What a Night,” was the theme for this year’s record-breaking Saturday Night Alive fundraiser, but it was the lyrics that described the event to a T.
A couple of lines in particular.
The capacity crowd of 800 “felt a rush like a rolling bolt of thunder” when the Jersey Boy himself ambled to center stage and fired up his trademark falsetto. Yet even if the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer had sung all night, the audience would have agreed “As I recall it ended much too soon” because a one-hour show, plus curtain call, only allowed for a sampling of the dozens of chart-toppers he and the Four Season recorded in a career that has spanned some 40 years.
The “ended much too soon” line especially applied to the select few invited to assemble after the show in the office of Denver Center for the Performing Arts Chairman Dan Ritchie. For 27 years, invites to this exclusive gathering have been a precious and coveted commodity, offered to few other than the chairpeople and major donors.
For some reason, Valli wasn’t in a picture-taking mood, and so it fell to development staffer Linda Mitchell to step into the room ahead of him and inform folks like Ed and Gayle Novak, Ralph and Anne Klomp, Walt and Wendy DeHaven, Don Howe, Margot Gilbert Frank, Hilja Herfurth, and Leo and Susan Kiely that there’d be no photos.
“Talk about a bunch of disappointed millionaires,” my spy reported.
The Novaks (he owns The Broker restaurants) chaired SNA 2008 while the Klomps, owners of Trice Jewelers, were in charge of the auction. Their efforts resulted in a record $670,000 raised for the DCPA’s Arts in Education programs.
Howe, senior vice president of CBS Radio, and Walt DeHaven, general manager of CBS4, headed the corporate committee while Leo Kiely, CEO of Molson-Coors; William Dean Singleton, publisher of The Denver Post; James Kleckner, Rocky Mountain regional vice president for Anadarko Petroleum; and Steve Akers, regional executive with Wachovia, were the event vice chairmen.
Everything else, though, was first class and on schedule.
Epicurean Catering’s beef tenderloin dinner was served in the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom that had been festooned in hot pink and orchids by BJ Dyer and Guenther Vogt of Bouquets, who reworked the room to a clublike setting for the dessert buffet and dancing that closed the evening out.
In the small-world department, Dutchess Scheitler carried a message to Valli from her dad, Joe Iacino. He’d been talking to his buddy, Yogi Berra, by phone earlier in the day and when he told Berra that Dutchess was going to see a Frankie Valli show that night, Berra reminded Iacino that Valli was a longtime friend and asked him to ask her to pass along his best wishes.
Other guests were Qwest’s new boss, Ed Mueller, and his wife, Susan, who were being introduced by their Realtor, Rollie Jordan, and her beau, Bruce Granger; Don and Mary Lou Kortz; the soon-to-be-installed co-presidents of the Denver Center Alliance, Cindi Burge and Jaylene Smith; Graham Phipps and wife Carole McEnroe; Faye and Dr. Reginald Washington; and Red Cross President Christine Benero. Longtime DCPA supporters Joe and Helenn Franzgrote were unable to attend (Joe’s illness precludes public appearances anymore) so about 20 of their friends posed for a group picture and a “wish you were here” sign to be forwarded to them.
