Stephen Bogart - In Search of My Father

Review by Maggie Perkovic Feb 4th 2010.
I remember reading excerpts from this some years ago in the Daily Mail feeling that the author had a very big chip on his shoulder, this edition was published in 1995 so quite why it has now emerged I'm not sure. My son sent me this as a belated christmas present but I have enjoyed it very much.
I am a great fan of Bogart, seen most of his films and enjoyed the great romance he had with Lauren Bacall. His son Stephen was eight when he died and Bogart was an older dad in so far as he was nearly 50 when his son was born. He didn't really want a family but Bacall did and as he adored her he went along with the arrangements with a little girl arriving 4 yrs later.
Stephen felt that his dad did not understand children, he took his son to dine at Romanoff's but understandably at 7 he got bored and started rapping his water glass then banging his feet under the table. by the time they left the restaurant they were not speaking to each other, on arrival at home Bogart took the boy to his mother and said 'never again', which his son echoed with feeling.
His story speaks of a good father in so far as he fed and clothed his family, never neglected any of them in the material sense but simply did not understand the needs of the young. He spent very little time with his children and this is the chief whinge in the book, plus the fact that event o this day fans will say how much they admired his parents. 'If only once someone asked about me' he complains 'instead of quotes from Bogarts many films, as if I was hearing them for the first time!!'. His mother writes a forward and she has let him tell the story as he feels it.
Two interesting anecdotes, after Bogart died, Sinatra was a great consolation and even proposed to Bacall, then changed his mind!! Unfortunately, he didn't tell her, she had to learn it from the press!
Stephen doesn't remember this but when his parents were with guests entertaining Noel Coward, the boy brought a large brass serving tray down on Coward's head as he sat on the sofa. The famous playwright didn't even turn round to see who'd done it, just said in his clipped British accent "Bogart dear, do you know what I am going to give darling little Stephen for Christmas? A chocolate covered hand grenade!"
The book described life as a child of a famous start a s a mixed blessing. At his dads memorial service he felt angry that all these people tried to be part of it, it was his dad after all. He covered his face in front of the photographers and at school reacted really badly to any mention of his loss.
This book is helping him to face his past and gives us quite an insight into lives of famous people, whose sons and daughters he grew up with and probably shared a lot of angst with them. Worth reading but I still think he has a chip on his shoulder!!!
review by Mags