By Jane Smith

    GULF STREAM — Rose Rita Bianchini, who moved to Broward County with her husband in 1971, died at her home on Sept. 23, surrounded by her family. She was 86.
In 1991, the Bianchinis moved to Gulf Stream. Every Sunday her two sons and their families would gather to enjoy a day at the beach, said her granddaughter, Alessandra Bianchini.
While they were at the beach, Mrs. Bianchini would make a big Italian dinner that featured spaghetti and meatballs, pasta e fagioli and other Italian favorites.
    “She was the favorite aunt of my many cousins,” the granddaughter said. The late Frank Bianchini had 11 siblings and they in turn had 39 kids. “There were at least 80 second cousins, people of my generation. Everyone loved Aunt Rita.”
    Born in Philadelphia, on Dec. 11, 1926, Mrs. Bianchini was the daughter of Salvino and Rose Italiano Luciano. She graduated from South Philadelphia High School.
    The Bianchinis met at the Bang Bang dance on the Wildwood, N.J., boardwalk. The couple were married Sept. 21, 1946.
They spent their honeymoon in Miami Beach at the Shelborne Hotel, the granddaughter said.
    Her husband was a World War II vet who fought in the Pacific theater.
After the war, he entered his father’s business, S. Bianchini and Sons. The company excelled at resetting original stones in older buildings. When he moved to Florida, he became a developer and builder.
    When Mr. Bianchini died on Dec. 17, 2010, he had one photo in his wallet — that of his wife on their wedding day.
    Mrs. Bianchini’s survivors include: her two sons, Frank Bianchini Jr. and Michael (Marie) Bianchini; five grandchildren, Aimee Sciulli, Jason Bianchini, Gabriella Bianchini, Alessandra Bianchini and Gianni Bianchini; four great-granddaughters; and numerous nieces and nephews.
    She was buried Sept. 30 alongside her husband of 65 years at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach.
    Instead of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Mrs. Bianchini’s memory to the Diabetes Research Institute, 200 S. Park Road, Suite 100, Hollywood, FL 33021.

By Ron Hayes
    DELRAY BEACH — On the wall of the Prudential insurance office where he worked, John Scalzo Jr. kept a calendar adorned with a lush photo of the Bahia Honda bridge in the Florida Keys.
    Deep in a snowy New Jersey winter, he would ponder that calendar, dreaming of a new life somewhere warm and sunny.
In 1989, Mr. Scalzo quit his job, talked his best friend, Dan Mehler, into quitting too, and moved his wife and three children to Delray Beach.
    The childhood friends bought a small, unimpressive produce store at 2708 N. Federal Highway and went to work chasing that dream.
    For the past 23 years, they were “Johnny Mango” and “Danny Mango” to countless loyal customers who dropped by for fresh produce, exotic plants, antique furniture and ceramic art.
    Mr. Scalzo died Aug. 30 at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, where he was being treated for pneumonia exacerbated by scarring of the lung tissue. He was 59 and lived in Boca Raton.
    “He started with simple produce, then added a deli and Italian groceries,” the store’s manager, Bradley Frey, wrote in a memorial posted on Johnny Mangos’ Facebook page. “Before long, he started carrying cut flowers and did Christmas trees and pumpkins for the holidays. He added plants to the picture, then orchids. He always had to change things around, always improving.”
    But credit for the store’s success belonged to Mr. Scalzo’s warm personality as much as his hard work.
    “He was never at a loss for words,” Danny Mango recalled. “He could start a conversation with anyone, perfectly comfortable talking with strangers. He knew how to greet people.”
    Danny Mango still chokes up as he remembers the business partner he’d known since they were children. Easing back into work has not been easy, he said, because a copy of Mr. Scalzo’s obituary is posted by the cash register.
    “We have customers who’ve been coming since we first opened, more family than friends,” Danny Mango said. “They see Johnny’s passed, they start crying and we all start crying.”
    For many, it may be the first time they knew John Scalzo Jr. To them, he was always “Johnny Mango.”
    “We worked many hours, for many a year, for little money,” Danny Mango said. “Within the last three or four years, we’ve really started being successful, and the terrible thing is, he won’t be here to enjoy it.”
    In addition to his best friend and business partner, Mr. Scalzo is survived by his wife, Lorrayne, of Boca Raton; twin daughters, Danielle Hyatt and Nicole Scalzo, both of Boca Raton; and a son, Jarett Scalzo, of Los Angeles; his brother and sister, Joseph Scalzo of Margate and Kathy Scalzo of Boca Raton; and three grandchildren.
    A funeral service was held Sept. 4 at Lorne & Sons Funeral Home in Delray Beach.

By Emily J. Minor
    
DELRAY BEACH — John C. Lake, 73, who moved to South Palm Beach in 1991 to be closer to the two daughters he so loved, died Sept. 3. He had been battling Parkinson’s disease for about 15 years.
Born May 18, 1940, in Orange, N.J., Mr. Lake spent most of his professional years as a lands acquisition developer and builder in Colorado, said his daughter, Megan Lake. One of his largest and most successful projects was the 2,200-unit Hunter’s Run development in Aurora, Colo., but he was responsible for building many other award-winning single-family homes, town homes, condominiums and apartments in the Denver area, she said.
    Plus, he was a heck of a nice guy. “Oh my gosh, he was such a sweetheart,” said Lake, a local Realtor who lives in Delray Beach. “Sweet. Loving. Very caring.”
    Lake said her dad loved ice cream, golf and the beach. When he opted for semi-retirement about 22 years ago, he chose South Florida to be near family.
    Before the Parkinson’s got the better of him, he would walk every day along the ocean, she said.
    Eventually, Mr. Lake developed dementia and was moved to Abbey Delray South, she said.
    “He always had a very good sense of humor,” she remembers.
    Besides Lake, another daughter, Kelley Johnson, also of Delray Beach, survives him — along with a son-in-law, granddaughter and his longtime life partner, Joan Pickford of South Palm Beach.
    A service was held Sept. 28, and the family asks that any memorials be given in his honor to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, NY 10163.
Lorne & Sons Funeral Home handled the arrangements.

By Ron Hayes
SOUTH PALM BEACH — Penny was a sorority pledge at Newark State Teachers College. Sol was in the Navy.
    “I’ve got a nice brother,” his sister said. “Would you like to meet him?”It was 1947. They went dancing at Meadowbrook.
Two years later, she graduated on a Friday, and they were married that Saturday night.
    When Sol Davidson died on Sept. 19, he and Penny had been married for 64 years.
    Mr. Davidson was 88, and a resident of Horizon West since 1990.
    “I tell everybody I was hanging onto his coattails every minute of our marriage,” Penny Davidson said recently. “He took care of so many things I didn’t want to take care of, and he urged me to do the things I loved.”
    Born in Newark, Mr. Davidson earned a Ph.D. from New York University, where his doctoral thesis, “The Culture of Comic Books,” is recognized as one of the first scholarly works to take popular culture seriously.
    Mr. Davidson spent his professional life in personnel management, first for Dial Finance in Des Moines, Iowa, and later as an independent management consultant.
    In 1982, he suggested they buy a trailer and go in search of a place to retire.
    Penny said no. “We’ve got to do something different.”
    They rented a houseboat and embarked on a five-month, 5,000-mile odyssey, up the Ohio River to visit a son in Pittsburgh, then down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. And finally docked in Delray Beach.
    During the next eight winters, the Davidsons lived aboard their boat and Mr. Davidson traveled to West Palm Beach to lead a writers group at the Howard Park Community Center.
    In 1990, they moved permanently to Horizon West.
    “We didn’t like South Palm Beach,” Mrs. Davidson said. “We loved South Palm Beach.”
    While she pursued her love of the visual arts, Mr. Davidson organized the “South Palm Beach University,” bringing area professionals to Town Hall for lectures and demonstrations.
    And then, in 2000, he imagined an even bigger adventure. “He wanted to go around the world in 80 days,” Mrs. Davidson recalled. “But not anyplace you could go by plane.”
    The grand plan had to be modified — they flew to Beijing and home from Amsterdam — but in between the couple visited China and the Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Romania, by trains, ferries and rickshaws.
    They flew home from Amsterdam when bad weather prevented a stop in Belgium.
    “So I’m going to live without Belgium,” Mrs. Davidson said. “But I cannot imagine having had any other life.”   
    In addition to his widow, Mr. Davidson is survived by three sons, Cliff Davidson, Ron Flax-Davidson and Osha G. Davidson; seven grandchildren, Ian, Jacob, Skylar, Devorah, Sienna, Sarah and Liam; and a great-grandchild, Ezra.
    Contributions in his memory may be made to either Hadassah, 5341 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, FL 333484, or the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104.

Kimberlee Duke Marshall and Tim Marshall’s CopySource Inc. 67 was recognized as one of the fastest growing privately owned companies in the country for the second year. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    In August, Inc. magazine’s 5,000 list ranked Coral Springs-based CopySource, Inc. No. 67 in the Miami metro area, recognizing the company for the second consecutive year as one of the fastest-growing, privately held companies in the United States.
    That’s no small accomplishment, considering CopySource, a company that provides document management services and systems, was founded six years ago when the economy was at an all-time low.
    “Out of 7 million applicants, Inc. magazine chose 5,000 companies,” said Ocean Ridge resident Kimberlee Duke Marshall, who co-owns the company with Tim Marshall.  “It’s a very exciting time for us. Within the chosen few, we are grouped in a Business Product and Services category, where we are ranked No. 67.
    “As a small business owner, you handle it all at all times: the challenges of selling, delivering, financing, managing and growing the business, and staying true to your goals while leaving room for new ideas and market changes.”
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    Paradise Bank, a locally owned community bank, reported a net income of $2.7 million for the six months ending June 30, representing an 8 percent increase over the same period in 2012. This equates to a return on average earnings assets of 1.19 percent and places Paradise Bank No. 1 in the Gold Coast region, according to the financial advisory service Hovde Group.
    The bank also reported a low nonperforming asset ratio of 1.03 percent for the same time period. Paradise Bank is at 2420 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Its branches are at 1351 N. Federal Highway, Delray Beach, and 540 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale.
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Beaulieu

On Sept. 21, The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce honored winners and finalists during its annual Luminary Gala.
Stacy Beaulieu, a chamber member since 2006 and a board-certified marital and family law attorney, was named Business Person of the Year. Beaulieu has grown her Delray Beach firm to be the largest woman-owned law firm practicing exclusively marital & family law in Palm Beach County.  In addition to her work, she is involved in a number of community groups, which include the Achievement Center for Children & Families, Caring Kitchens, the Delray Beach Public Library and the Delray Beach Athletic Club.
Stuart & Shelby Development Inc. was named Business of the Year and Arts Garage was named Non-Profit of the Year.
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At The Great Soiree, Oct. 12, members of the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce will honor outgoing Board Chairman Keith O’Donnell of Avison Young and incoming Chair Randy B. Nobles at a Roaring Twenties-themed dinner dance at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Tickets are $195, and must be purchased in advance. Call 395-4433.
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    Palm Beach County real estate new listings in August were at their peak, a time that harks back five years, according to August housing reports announced by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches. Year-over-year new listings for single-family homes increased 28.1 percent. Year-over-year, new listings for town homes and condos rose 7.3 percent.        

“That’s because the average and median prices have moved up off of the bottom enough that many reluctant sellers who were upside down are now in a position to change their housing situation without having to short sale,” said Kevin Kent, past president.  
Median and average sale prices on the rise means it’s becoming more of a seller’s market, added President-elect Barb Kozlow.          Year-over-year the median sale price rose in single-family homes 16.3 percent and in townhouses and condos 29.6 percent. The average sale price also increased year-to-year in single-family homes at 14.5 percent and in townhouses and condos 13 percent.           Kent also pointed to another reason for the increases.
“People, who have sought other solutions (modification, etc…) and are now seeing the closing window of opportunity to complete a short sale prior to the expiration of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act on Dec. 31, are anxious to put their property on the market and complete this final solution.”          

The Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act, which was extended to the end of 2013, allows homeowners facing short sales, reduced loan principals, or foreclosures to avoid paying taxes on any debt still owed to the bank.    
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    Locals, now is a good time to check out Eau Palm Beach. The weather has cooled down; the kids are back in school; and the snowbirds haven’t arrived yet.
The five-star hotel Eau Palm Beach is offering its Florida friends a “Love thy Neighbor” package. Room rates start at $199, and $200 worth of spa credit are offered for $100.
The room package, available through Dec. 1, includes a Champagne welcome, high-speed Internet access, complimentary newspaper and access to the fitness center, two pools and four restaurants. The package can be booked at eaupalmbeachloves thyneighbor.com.
The spa package must be booked by phone at (855) 580-3933 with the code word LOVE. Guests must show Florida identification upon arrival.
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During autumn, after months of summer sun, it’s time to reinvigorate the skin, say the folks at The Seagate Hotel & Spa in Delray Beach, and there’s no excuse not to indulge, thanks to its new fall package featuring five anti-aging treatments, as well as its new manicure and pedicure specials with savings up to 27 percent.
    The Seagate’s Pink-Lady Spice Manicure and Pedicure honors National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with 10 percent of the proceeds donated to the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.” Available during the month of October, the Pink-Lady includes an infused essential oils foot bath, lower-leg apple-spice rub, hot-stone massage, apple mask and nail polish.
    Seagate’s Halloween-themed fall package, available through Nov. 15, includes a resurfacing facial, body polish, body glow, eye lift treatment and paraffin hand treatment, with a complimentary pumpkin spice martini. Call (877) 577-3242 or visit www.theseagatehotel.com.
    Many spas and wellness centers offer their signature treatments for $50 each during National Spa Week, Oct. 14-20. Visit spaweek.com.
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     Periwinkle celebrated its second year on the Avenue last month with cocktails, tropical treats, a Lauren Gold trunk show, giveaways and style consultations. Although the party is over, Periwinkle’s founder, Caroline Delafield, invites customers to see her fall arrivals. Periwinkle is at 339 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach.
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Let’s get on the ball for Rooney’s 12th Annual Golf Foundation Charity Tournament, scheduled for Oct. 25 at PGA National. Rooney’s the Gastropub, Rooney’s Beer Company and Palm Beach Kennel Club will coordinate the tournament with a committee of volunteers.  This year, the tournament will benefit the Autism Project of Palm Beach County, FAU Honors College, Pathways to Independence and Potentia Academy. Since 2001, Rooney’s Golf Foundation has donated more than $396,000 to local Palm Beach County charities.
The tournament will be played at PGA National Resort & Spa on the Champion, Palmer and Fazio courses.  To participate as a player, sponsor or buy raffle tickets, call 683-2222, Ext. 141.
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The Spodak Dental Group is nearing completion of  its new 13,000-square-foot, LEED Gold Certified dental facility on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. The new state-of-the art “green” facility will house a team of dental and medical professionals under one roof.
A key design goal was to create abundant natural lighting, and indoor spaces that feel a part of the surrounding landscapes and gardens via  large windows.

Christine Davis is a freelance writer. Send business news to her at cdavis9797@comcast.net.

By Tim O’Meilia
    
BRINY BREEZES — Jerome F. Skrandel, who guided the mobile home town of Briny Breezes as its town attorney for nearly four decades, died unexpectedly Sept. 19 in Palm Beach Gardens, with his beloved family at his side. He was 84.
Jerry, as he was called, signed on as the town’s attorney in 1975 after he had previously represented the corporation that owns the town. His first major case was to successfully defend the town against a lawsuit by a biker bar that threatened to disrupt the low-key, seaside lifestyle of the park.
    “He was our rock. We could go to him for anything,” said Mayor Roger Bennett, who sat next to Mr. Skrandel at monthly council meetings where they needled one another. “He was such a resource.”
    In a town of snowbirds with little familiarity with the nuances of Florida municipal law, the council depended on Mr. Skrandel’s guidance.
    “He always had our interest at heart,” said Town Clerk Nancy Boczon, whose only advice from the previous town clerk was “Make sure Jerry’s at every meeting.”
    In recent years, instead of hiring an expensive outside planning firm to rewrite the town’s comprehensive land use plan, the council gave the job to Mr. Skrandel, not only saving money but getting someone intimate with the town’s needs.
    Mr. Skrandel was also town attorney for Jupiter for 17 years, city attorney in Boca Raton and worked for the city of West Palm Beach. He also ran a private law practice.
    Mr. Skrandel was born Sept. 30, 1928, in Chicago. He attended high school on Staten Island at the Augustinian Seminary and continued his college education at Loyola, where he obtained his law degree at DePaul University.
    He is survived by his wife, Pat, and their four children.

Marvin Ray and Ronald French are celebrating 50 years of the Elephant’s Foot Antiques shop.  
Libby Volgyes/The Coastal Star

By Jane Smith
    
At The Elephant’s Foot Antiques shop, the customer is not only the king but often the educator.
    “We learn from our customers,” said Marvin Ray, co-owner and president. “Collectors are the experts.”
    Ray came to Florida for a two-week vacation 48 years ago and ended up buying a 2-year-old consignment shop in Palm Beach. When he bought the 900-square-foot store, he was managing a computer keypunch department in Chattanooga, Tenn.
    The Elephant’s Foot Antiques shop, marking its 50th year, sits in the former Ranch’s Drug Store in West Palm Beach. It has 6,500 square feet of display space with a parking lot on the north side that it shares with a tenant, the Rhythm Café.
    The parking lot attracted Ray to buy the building in 1993. Convenient parking is important to customers, he said. Plus, he said, it was the only building for sale in the Antique Row area at the time.
    The shop had been in West Palm Beach for 15 years when Ray took on a partner, Ronald French. He was a nursing home administrator, saying, “I gave up old people for old furniture.”
    May and French buy what they like and hope their customers like it, too. “Right now, the retro look is in,” French said. That means traditional furniture is doing better than the painted pieces that had been selling well.
    The variety of merchandise they carry has allowed the shop to survive the lean years when the real estate market collapsed. They sell antique furniture and quality reproductions. In addition, the shop also offers crystal stemware, chandeliers and candelabras, mirrors, lamps and artwork.
    The most expensive item in their shop is a 12-foot-wide Georgian breakfront china cabinet that dates to about 1780. The mahogany piece is priced at $69,000.
    The shop has two full-time employees: Terry Watts, manager, and Bobby Franano, sales associate. During the season, all four work on the floor.
Ray and French are storytellers, too. The shop got its name from the previous owner who had an elephant’s foot umbrella stand in her hall. As a child, all her unwanted games, toys and other items went into it. Thus, the Elephant’s Foot Antiques shop offers one person’s unwanted items that soon will be another person’s treasures.

The Elephant’s Foot Antiques, 3800 S. Dixie Highway, 832-0170;  10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, until Oct. 31, then 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday; closed during August; www.theelephantsfootantiques.com.

By Emily J. Minor

From the time it opened in 1826, Lord & Taylor has been considered the go-to store for women’s dresses. The gray lady of fashion, if you will.
Neatly arrayed on their tidy racks was something for everyone, from a breezy sundress for the polo match to a navy blue tailored number for a business meeting. Today, of course, Lord & Taylor has expanded into shoes, handbags, swimwear, even menswear.
But why is the Lord & Taylor label so iconic? Who in the heck were Lord and Taylor?
And why are we talking about this?
Well, if you want an all-around Me Island experience — valet parking, personal shopper, a seamstress to hem your slacks just-so, even a guys lounge with a flat-screen TV — you might’ve hit the jackpot.
Lord & Taylor is scheduled to open a new store Oct. 10 in Boca Raton’s Mizner Park. And, yes, it’ll have all the above.
“Lord & Taylor has gone through some changes,” says Lori J. Durante, a fashion consultant and historian who runs the Museum of Lifestyle and Fashion History in Boynton Beach. “And their image is just as their name sounds. They had a strong, conservative Old World image, if you will.
“They were famous for having an in-depth dress department. If you needed something for a gala, this is where you went.”
Today?
“Consumers change and you often have a new audience, and that is where Lord & Taylor has been refocusing,” she said.
Eileen DiLeo, executive vice president of stores at Hudson’s Bay Co., Lord & Taylor’s parent company, said they’re thrilled with the chance to offer “chic, elevated fashion that is tailored for Florida’s climate.” (We’re hoping this means Michael Kors himself will attend the grand opening, whipping up something light and sassy with mosquito netting, right there on the spot.)
And while that probably won’t happen — sigh — DiLeo said they will carry designer lines like Kors, Theory, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Coach. The two-level store will be 80,000 square feet. And the company’s not kidding about a lounge for the men. Besides the flat screen, they’re promising “comfortable seating and reading materials.”
Appropriate stuff, we’re sure.
It would seem all these new business decisions would make Samuel Lord and George Washington Taylor proud. The store’s founders — What, you were hoping for a British lord and a hapless tailor? — Lord and Taylor founded the store in 1826 on Catherine Street in Manhattan. Lord was an immigrant from England and Taylor was his wife’s cousin.
The business partners specialized in hosiery, misses’ wear and elegant cashmere shawls.
By 1870, they were so successful they’d moved to the new cast iron building at Broadway and 20th. Their flagship store, later built on Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th streets, was named a New York City landmark in 2007.
In their famous script logo, the ampersand in Lord & Taylor is really more of a dash. It began that way in the early years, handwritten a little differently each time, and has always stood for the “human, personable, hands-on style of the store,” according to the company’s history.
In its most recent heyday 15 or so years ago, the company operated more than 80 retail stores — eventually closing 32 of those stores because of sales numbers. They’ve been owned by the May Co., Federated Department Stores and now Hudson’s Bay Co.
But when fashion lover Durante thinks of Lord & Taylor, she can’t help but think classic and clean. And she thinks they’ll always have that on the rack.
Through the years, the store well known for its sturdy gift boxes emblazoned with the wispy red rose (Those boxes aren’t coming back, BTW) has chalked up some interesting “firsts.”
They were the first department store to decorate their Christmas windows with elaborate displays, rather than store merchandise. They were the first department store to open a branch store in the suburbs (Manhasset, N.Y., 1941).
And in 1946, Lord & Taylor became the first department store to hire a female president. Well-dressed, ambitious and not afraid to speak up, Dorothy Shaver was constantly scrutinizing the store’s customer care, taking surveys, scribbling notes. Eventually, she pitched the idea of pairing one customer with one sales girl, for one-on-one service.
Yes, Dorothy Shaver invented the personal shopper. And indecisive women everywhere thank her. 

The Mizner Park store opens to the public at 10 a.m. Oct. 10.  A ticketed preview party will be held 6-9 p.m. Oct. 9. Tickets are $25 and are on sale through the Junior League of Boca Raton or the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.

The Plate: Charred octopus salad
The Place: Bäd Ragaz Hall and Biergarten
1417 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach; 336-3297; badragazbiergarten.com
The Price: $17
The Skinny: A Greek charred octopus salad or tender meatballs in tomato sauce not what you expect at a biergarten? The menu is only half the surprise. The décor is movie-set ready — for some futuristic German beer-hall event, perhaps.
While a nod to the traditional biergarten is the community benches and tables on one side of the room, the other holds the banquettes featuring high-tech tap tables (available by reservation). Draw your own beer here, by paying in advance for your brew of choice (think $10 on pump No. 2 at a gas station). High tops and a scene-stealing central square bar fill the rest of the spacious room.
Unique beers — more than 50, mostly European — are available by bottle; check the blackboard for recommended newcomers.
The menu swings from German to Italian to a touch of Greek, like the octopus salad we’re enamored with. Perfectly charred octopus pieces mixed with tender potato chunks and white beans are served over a bunch of frisée and dressed with simple olive oil and lemon juice with a dash of oregano. But if wursts and schnitzels are what you prefer, they’re here, too.
— Jan Norris

Krista Severeid (Maria von Trapp) joins audience member Loretta Swit following the performance. Courtesy photo/Amy Pasquantonio

By Thom Smith

     Bows taken, bouquets presented, the curtain closed, the clock striking 11. The Wick Theatre’s production of The Sound of Music had traversed its public debut with nary a hitch. Marilynn Wick’s day was  nearly over, but her work is far from done.  
    “I’ve climbed a lot of mountains, but now I guess I’m at the top,” Wick declared from the stage as she clutched her flowers. But in the lobby as she accepted personal accolades, she would smile, then sigh. She’s a tough cookie and she knows that one show does not a season — nor a history — make.  “It’s a start,” she said, “but we have a lot of work to do.”
    If the characters who played Maria and Captain von Trapp seemed to have good chemistry, credit the matrimonial bond that joins New York-based stars Krista Severeid and Tony Lawson.
    But theater does not succeed unless the supporting actors are strong, and with a veteran like Lourelene Snedeker as The Mother Abbess, it’s hard to lose. The Wick stage and Boca are like home to the West Palm-based actress. In her four-decade career in South Florida, she had trod those boards often when it was The Caldwell Theatre Company, and before that at the long-gone Royal Palm Dinner Theatre down the road. Snedeker’s first theatrical role was as one of the children.
    Good returns, too, for Mia Matthews, as Frau Schraeder, after stints in child-rearing and the Palm Beach social scene, and Alan Gerstel after a long run as a TV news anchor.
    Much credit, of course, goes to director Michael Ursua, who like so many in the company sees double duty. At the post-performance reception, he offered up show tunes at the lobby piano, with vocals by another familiar face and voice, Missy McArdle, who seemed to be everywhere and doing everything before the show began.

Jan McArt raises a glass at the opening of The Sound of Music at the Wick Theatre.

In the audience: Boca’s typically ebullient grand dames Jan McArt, who nurtured the Royal Palm theater, and Countess Henrietta de Hoernle, now 101, whose philanthropic largess built the Caldwell.
Also checking out the house, another show biz grande dame, Loretta “Hot Lips” Swit. She spent several minutes in deep discussion with Marylynn Wick before heading off to her hotel for the evening, and she’ll be back. The former M*A*S*H star, who turns 76 in November, will star in Wick’s revival of 42nd Street in January.
    Also in attendance were county tourism director Jorge Pesquera, former Boca Town Council Member Wanda Thayer and Boca woman of all seasons Yvonne Boice.
    “This was a big white elephant,” county mayor and former Boca Mayor Steven Abrams said. “We didn’t know if it would be torn down and replaced by apartments or offices. Now look. It’s beautiful. It’s great for Boca and for the county. Marilynn’s done a great job. “
    The von Trapps, et al, will be in residence through Oct. 20, followed by Irving Berlin’s White Christmas from Nov. 14 to Dec. 25.
    The Wick’s costume museum is still a few weeks away from being ready, but the café, with its Tavern on the Green wallpaper, is open, as is the gift shop, with its gelato and pastry bar. And if you need that special costume — including lederhosen for Oktoberfest straight from The Sound of Music — the Wick rents them.  

Lemongello

One final Wick note: In the middle ’70s, after a deluge of commercials during soaps and late night movies, nearly 2 million fans of old standards and soft rock ordered a double album titled Love 76. Peter Lemongello appeared on The Tonight Show 25 times, plus the shows of Dinah Shore, Joey Bishop, Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin. Concerts at Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden sold out. But his record company never figured out how to market him.
    Lemongello, 66, now lives in Boca. In the winter he hits the local condo circuit and spends summers on the Jersey Shore, Long Island and the Borscht Belt. Peter and family took in The Sound of Music Friday night, but it was son, Peter Jr., who picked up the mike, offering his best Elvis on Jailhouse Rock and Hound Dog. At age 14, the Spanish River High freshman still has time to polish his act. Stay tuned.
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The word is out. The old Bridge Hotel on Lake Boca Raton will be renamed The Waterstone — “Where Boca Comes Ashore.” With the new name will come a new entrance: The old tunnel will give way to a new lobby and two new restaurants. Outside a new 270-foot seawall will entice boaters to the only dock-to-dine facility in Boca. Now if they can only get rid of the iquanas.
                      ***
    For your musical pleasure …

Yanni

Manalapan resident Yiannis Hryssomallis, better known as Yanni, returns to the Kravis Center Dec. 11. Truly a man of the world, the native of Kalamata, Greece, is in the middle of a world tour that has taken him to London, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Middle East, China, Brazil, Canada and even Texas.    
If big band jazz is your bag, head to Pine Crest School in Boca Nov. 19. The Swing and Jazz Preservation Society’s monthly concert features Duffy Jackson’s Big Band. Coming Feb. 18, little darlin’s, the Diamonds.
    If you prefer some classical music to raise a joyful noise, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church might do the trick with its 26th season of “Sound of Angels.” Next up Oct. 22, violinist Tomas Cotik and pianist Tao Lin will perform selections from Bach, Schubert, Poulenc and Piazzola (278-6003).
    Meanwhile, two concerts remain in the inaugural fall season of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival at two sites. A program of Francaix, Shore, Stephensen and Brahms will be offered Oct. 10 at the Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University in Boca and Oct. 11 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Delray. The final program — Albinoni, Bernstein, Jolivet and Stravinsky — is set for Nov. 14 at the Wold Center and Nov. 15 at St. Andrew’s. (www.pbcmf.org)
    Spyrogyra opens at busy month at Jazziz (Oct. 2-3), followed by Manhattan Transfer (Oct 8-10), Jane Monheit (Oct. 15-16), Keiko Matsui (Oct. 22-23) and Christopher Cross (Nov. 4-5).
                      ***
    Out in La La land, Colombian bombshell Sofia Vergara was the fashion hit of the Emmy awards evening in a stunning red lace gown by Vera Wang. Though he was present, little mention was made of her fiancé, Delray homey Nick Loeb, but then Vergara tends to be the dominant presence wherever she is. According to one of the TV gossip shows, Loeb may have just avoided one of those infamous “malfunction” moments as he inadvertently caught the train of Vergara’s gown with his shoe as they took the paparazzi stroll into the Nokia Theatre. Vergara grimaced, but everything stayed in place.

Zuckerman

Life didn’t go quite so well for Boynton Beach real estate agent Amanda Zuckerman, who went from house mother to homeless on CBS’s Big Brother. In early September, rivals outfoxed Zuckerman by putting her on the block and then evicting her on a 3-2 vote.
Zuckerman admitted she was dumbfounded, but confided to host Julie Chen that she wouldn’t leave empty-handed. Apparently, as a gesture of good faith (Is that possible on BB?), Elissa Slater, who also was evicted, had given Zuckerman her wedding ring in exchange for her jewelry. “If it’s real, yeah, it’s going to stay in my suitcase!” Amanda told Chen. She also claimed McCrae Olson, her ally in the boardroom and the bedroom, will join her in Boynton now that the “competition” is over.
    The winner: Andy Herren, an openly gay college speech instructor from Illinois. He may have lost his job during the show for improper remarks, but the $500,000 winner’s prize should ease the pain.
                      ***
    Back home in Boca, Vice Mayor Susan Haynie hopes to be to move up a notch in the city’s electoral hierarchy when elections are held next March. Meanwhile, she apparently has claimed a new unofficial title, according to the license plate on her car: MS BOCA.
                      ***
    Those restaurant wunderkinders, Dennis Max and Burt Rapoport, are at it again.
    Max has teamed with Delray entrepreneur Wes Spicer to open Sonoma House, a private event and catering spot in Boca. Sitting on an acre of gardens a block southeast of Glades Road and Federal Highway, it can accommodate up to 350 guests for weddings, luncheons, business meetings and birthdays.
    Rapoport is so fired up about the success of Burt & Max’s, their new restaurant way out west in the Delray Marketplace, that he’s planning to build a new restaurant in the vacant lot next door. He’ll call it Apiero (that means infinity in Italian), it’ll offer a Mediterranean menu.
    “We’re doing great, much better than expected,” Rapoport said as guests watched a football game on the outside bar’s big-screen TV. “I didn’t want somebody else to get the space first. We’ve been getting people from Boca and Delray since we opened, but now that Lyons is open, we’re seeing a lot of people from west Boynton.”
    The biggest problem at the Marketplace seems to be parking — not enough space for customers who want to park themselves and too many spaces reserved for the valets. Management is aware of the problem. Plans to expand parking await county approval.
    In the interim the center has added 200 spaces by shuttling employees to offsite parking on weekends. And more space will soon be available when property on the north side of the theaters becomes available for employees and valet parking.
    “At first when we ran out of parking we thought we had a good problem,” Marketplace general manager Amy Ferguson said. “Now it’s a bad problem … but we’re fixing it. The county is looking at several options and we believe whatever it approves will work out.”
                      ***
For people who like to do their own cooking, George’s Meat Market in Lantana was the place to go … until a few weeks ago. The original George was long gone and his grandson was managing the place from Tennessee. The equipment was old. Finally, the bridge construction drove the final nail. George’s closed … but not for good.
    Palm Beach attorney and investor Bill Sned owns the property on Third Street just south of Ocean. He’s bought the business and hopes to resurrect George’s by early November. Sned, who also chairs the West Palm Beach Housing Authority, has bought new equipment, has signed up vendors and hired back most of the former staff.
    “My son Trey and I decided it would be a fun diversion, and it’ll be better than ever,” Sned said. “But really it’s all because my wife (Patricia) would run down there to buy chicken salad a couple of times a week.”
                      ***
Here and there …  
    The Norton Museum of Art has added an espresso bar.
    Picture Wilt Chamberlain, all 7 feet 1 inch of him, on a polo pony. That happened at a special celebrity match nearly 25 years ago during the glory days of Royal Palm Polo in Boca. No polo there now. Today the barns are run-down, weeds have replaced the manicured grass and mildew covers the grandstand. Toll Brothers wants to change all that. The builder has asked the city of Boca Raton to annex Royal Palm’s 122 acres and approve construction of 223 homes. Starting price: $1.2 million.

B. Trucks

The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County kicks off its 2013-14 Culture & Cocktails series Nov. 4 at The Colony hotel in Palm Beach with “Hits & Mrs.”, a conversation with Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks and his artist wife, Melinda.
The Capitol Steps, proof that Washington is capable of actually producing something that really is funny, perform Oct. 19 and 20 at Lynn University.
    Halloween in Lake Worth is just too big for one day. The month of revelry begins Oct. 4 with A Bloody Good Time at Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery and continue every weekend with Girls’ Night Out (Oct. 10), a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Full Moon Blood Drive (Oct. 18), a ghost tour by bus (Oct. 19),  and the Lake Worth Monster Mash (Oct. 26).

Thom Smith is a freelance writer. Contact him at thomsmith@ymail.com.

Oct. 9: Benefit Achievement Centers for Children & Families during a decadent evening of glamour and giving and champagne, wine and dinner bites. Time is 6 pm. Cost is $85 to $120. Call 266-0003 or visit www.delrayindulgence.com. ABOVE: Guests at last year’s event: Ibe May, Deb Kropornecki, Gini Dollard and Gale DuPuis. Photo by James Greene

By Amy Woods

    When organizers of last year’s “Indulgence, The Ultimate Girls’ Night Out” fundraiser faced the possibility of having to turn away an unexpected overflow of guests, they quickly regrouped.
    A new venue: the Delray Beach Club; an expanded invitation list: more than 350, and the addition of a VIP hour will help make the Achievement Centers for Children & Families’ benefit a second-year success story.
    “It was so popular,” said Emma-Jane Ramsey, the nonprofit’s events and marketing manager. “We sold out and well exceeded our numbers. We wanted to step it up this year. We needed to.”
    The event will take place Oct. 9, when guests will enter the doors of the recently renovated waterfront club.
    “I want our guests to walk away wowed, having enjoyed the whole experience,” Chairwoman Donna Hauser said. “I want them to feel as if their kind support and donations were not only greatly appreciated, but having them so excited by the event, they will support us once again next year.”
    Event-goers can expect decadent delights, including Champagne, wine and dinner bites, soothing services, such as mini-massages, reflexology treatments and intuitive readings, and products to pamper the face and body.
    Proceeds from Indulgence, The Ultimate Girls’ Night Out will help the Achievement Centers for Children & Families continue to provide toddler and after-school care to more than 700 economically disadvantaged children annually. Money raised also will benefit a new summer-camp program at Pine Grove Elementary School.
    “Our goal, of course, is to earn as much money as we can for the children and families and gain exposure to bring awareness to the community,” Hauser said. “Children have always held a warm place in my heart, and this has truly been a labor of love.” 

If You Go
What: ‘Indulgence, The Ultimate Girls’ Night Out’ to benefit the Achievement Centers for Children & Families
When: 6 p.m. Oct. 9
Where: Delray Beach Club
Cost: $85 for general admission; $120 for VIP access
Information: Call 266-0003 or visit www.delrayindulgence.com

Members of the media and former Caldwell Theatre supporters welcomed the debut of the new stage venue by attending a cocktail hour in its renovated lobby, visiting The Wick Tavern — an homage to New York City’s famed Tavern on the Green that features the original chandelier from the historic restaurant — and browsing in the gift shop. Photo: (from left) Yvonne Boice, Christine Lynn, Elaine Wold, Marilynn Swillinger and Pat Thomas. Photo provided

As part of a new community-service project, Taste History, a nonprofit that gives food tours of South County, adopted Urban Farm and organized its first harvest. The seeds were sown by student volunteers from American Heritage School Boca Delray, as well as Atlantic Community and Palm Beach Lakes high schools. ‘The students tilled the soil and helped to usher in the re-harvesting season,’ said Lori Durante, executive director of Taste History. Photo: Students Kelli McCourt (left) and Allegra Nolan (right) with Durante. Photo provided

More than 150 people attended a presentation by Clyde Butcher at the Boca Raton Downtown Library. Photo: Prior to his presentation, Butcher conducted a discussion with students studying advanced photography at Boca Raton High School. Exhibit runs through Nov. 8. Photo provided

Guests took in music, food and appearances by Nat King Cole Generation Hope founders Casey and Timolin Cole. The more than $5,000 brought in will provide music education to low-income children. Photo: Lisa Silver, Kai Thompson Hernandez, Laura Stoltz and Susan Chambers.
Photo by
Janis Bucher

More than 400 members of Rotary International donated more than 1,600 pounds of food to Treasure Coast Food Bank and will provide nearly 2,000 meals for hungry families. The effort involved Rotarians from zones 33 and 34, which stretch from Delaware to Florida and throughout the Caribbean. Photo: Judith Cruz, Treasure Coast Food Bank CEO; Joseph Mulkerrin of Rotary International; and Rotarian Betsy Owen. Photo provided

Suncoast Community High School Culinary Club, Burger Fi and Autism Speaks joined forces to create an afternoon to break down social barriers and foster friendships between teens and those with autism and autism-related disorders — all while creating gourmet burgers. Photo: Sam Gelfand, guest speaker; Samantha Krasker, club co-founder; Steve Lieber of Burger Fi in Delray Beach; and Lucy Krasker, club co-founder. Photo provided

Beachgoers at South Inlet Park in Boca Raton must navigate trash in addition to seaweed. Photo provided by Bill Miller

By Cheryl Blackerby
For four years, Bill Miller has walked across A1A from his condo in Boca Raton to the county beach at South Inlet Park, and for four years he’s been fuming about the garbage on the beach.
“I’ve complained about seaweed, debris, soda bottles, tin cans, cigarette butts, broken bottles. I’ve seen condoms and syringes,” he said. The problem is so bad he advises beachgoers to wear shoes on the beach.
It’s especially galling, he says, when he looks over at Boca and Deerfield beaches, which he said are noticeably more pristine. “Palmetto Park beach is nice and clean, and you go up to Spanish River Park beach and it’s nice and clean.”
He said he called the county, and someone came out to take photos, “but the beach hasn’t gotten better.”
His biggest complaint is about piles of seaweed, which he said smell and attract bugs. But the ugliness of seaweed lies in the eye of the beholder. Environmentalists say seaweed provides food for seabirds and helps stabilize sand and dunes.
The county stopped picking up seaweed on its beaches in 2010, said Debbie Thatcher, public information service manager for the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department.
“It’s not raked. It was part of a budget reduction. It was more of a dollars-and-cents thing, but we do pick up trash, and we do try to encourage volunteers,” she said, adding that seaweed is “a good food source for wildlife, and it breaks down and fertilizes dune vegetation.”
Just in case Miller gets any ideas about tackling the seaweed himself, individuals are not allowed to rake seaweed, Thatcher said. A permit from the Department of Environmental Protection is required for raking because of turtle nesting and other wildlife issues, she said.
Debris is regularly picked up by crews in the early morning before most people arrive. “The south end of the county and South Inlet Park beach in particular is checked and maintained every single day,” she said.
But Michael Halasz, one of the founders of Sea Angels (seaangels.org), a volunteer organization that cleans Ocean Inlet Park and other beaches, agrees with Miller on the state of South Inlet Park beach, which his group has cleaned.
“We recently did one of our green projects down there, and the beach is really dirty. It’s heavily used, and the county has refused to put more garbage bins and recycling bins there,” Halasz said. “We’ve offered to clean that beach, but the county won’t waive the parking fees for us and our volunteers.”
He said the county doesn’t do a good job cleaning its beaches. “They empty garbage cans and they leave. The city of Boca takes it more seriously. They banned smoking on the beaches, and it seems like their park beaches are cleaner. The county needs to step up.”
But his group doesn’t pick up seaweed. “We don’t have a problem with seaweed. It’s a natural food source for wildlife — unless refuse is trapped in the seaweed, then we’ll pick up the trash.”

By Rich Pollack
Highland Beach is planning to have a Christmas tree in front of town hall this year that won’t rapidly deteriorate and become a fire hazard.
Commissioners last month approved a plan to spend up to $5,500 for a commercial-grade, 14-foot artificial fir tree that comes complete with multicolored LED lights as well as decorations.
The tree, built for commercial outdoor use and thus more expensive than indoor residential Christmas trees, is needed, commissioners say, because the heat, salt air and other elements take their toll on a real tree.
Last year’s live tree, put up just a few days before the town’s Light Up the Holidays celebration on Dec. 10, barely made it to Dec. 25
“The day after Christmas, we had to take it down because it had become a fire hazard,” Commissioner Lou Stern said.
The new tree is expected to last as long as 20 years.
With the first night of Hanukkah falling on Nov. 28, the same day as Thanksgiving this year, the town is moving its Light Up the Holidays festivities to Monday, Dec. 2, to include the lighting of a menorah candle. Because of holiday schedules, the tree will need to be put up on Nov. 27.
Recognizing that it would be unlikely for a real tree to last almost a month outdoors in South Florida, the town began exploring the purchase of a commercial-grade tree.
“The timing just caused us to take another look at an issue we have every year,” Town Man-ager Kathleen Weiser said.

Florence Mascott flew WASP missions. Photo provided

Related story: Local pilot helps re-create women's WWII air journey

By Ron Hayes

“You know,” Florence Mascott says, proudly, “whenever the women pilots know there’s a WASP on the plane, they always come out and say, ‘Thank you for opening things up for us.’ ”
    This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, established Aug. 5, 1943.
Florence Rubin Elion Mascott was 18½ when she arrived in Sweetwater, Texas, in May 1944 to begin the four-month training to become a WASP.
She is 88 now, and a resident of Palm Beach for the past 37 years.
Everyone calls her Flip, a nickname from her childhood in Cambridge, Mass., where she looked up at the sky above Boston and fell in love with flight.
“When I told my mother I wanted to fly, to my surprise, she said that was wonderful,” Flip recalls.
She and two Civil Air Patrol cadets hitched 50 miles to Worcester each week for flying lessons. And then she heard about the WASPs.
You needed 35 hours of flying time.
She found a small flight school in Warrenton, Va., where she could board and earn the required flying time for $300. Her mother lent her the money.
“The school was actually a farm, and the runway was a cow pasture,” she says. “My teacher was an Argentinean. I think he was about my age.”
She earned the flying time, passed the tests, and paid her way to Sweetwater.
She has a photograph of herself then, looking spiffy in a leather flight jacket and goggles.
“The only thing that belonged to me was the shoes,” she says with a laugh. “They had no clothes for women, so we wore men’s khakis.”
For three months, Flip Rubin trained. Calisthenics, ground school and flight instruction in a Stearman PT-17. She did aerobatics, spins and stalls. She soloed.
“On hot summer nights, we carried our cots outside and slept under the stars,” she remembers, “until a coral snake was discovered under one of the cots.”
And then, in August, she resigned.
She was not alone. The government had announced that the WASPs would be officially dissolved on Dec. 20, 1944.
And her boyfriend had proposed.
“It was crazy,” she says now. “I was immature. All I needed was someone to say, ‘What are you doing to yourself?’ ”
The marriage didn’t last, but the friendships she made that summer did.
Today, Flip Mascott is active in the Wingtip-To-Wingtip Association, which promotes the WASPs’ legacy.
She sells jewelry adorned with Fifinella, a gremlin mascot designed by Walt Disney and adopted by the WASPs during World War II.
They are trying to raise $250,000 to sponsor a WASP float in next year’s Tournament of Roses parade.
And they are trying to make sure the WASPs are remembered.
“You know,” she says, “I was the youngest in my class. Most are in their 90s now. There’s only about 140 of us left.”