Brogan: Remembering Raquel

The news that Raquel Welch had passed away on Wednesday caught me by surprise. There had not been any rumors of her being ill. Even more startling to me was the realization that she was 82 years of age. I suddenly confronted the knowledge that I must be also getting older since as far back as I can remember, there had been Raquel Welch.

In the 1960's. Life Magazine would arrive at our house in the mail every Friday afternoon. When I'd get home from school, I would peruse it and Raquel was often featured in the magazine, it seemed. I remember seeing her on the giant screen at the Capitol Theatre in such features as "Fantastic Voyage" and "One Million Years B.C." A few years later, when I started working at the Concord Theatre, the films of Raquel Welch were regularly shown.

Theresa Cantin, the theater's owner, liked the public response each time a Welch film was shown.

"Only John Wayne movies attract a larger male audience..." she noted on one occasion.

Some of those features were certainly not "Oscar worthy" but with titles such as "100 Rifles", "Flareup" and "Kansas City Bomber", a lot of seats were filled. When she appeared in a slightly better feature such as "The Last of Sheila", written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, the resultant audience was more of a mix.

Because of the notoriety it attracted, Theresa, her sister Rena (Constant) and I made the trek to Cinema 93 in 1970 to see "Myra Breckenridge". It was rated X and Theresa wondered aloud whether we were all going to Hell, but we were unanimous in praising Raquel's performance, considering the circumstances under which she found herself.

A few years later, Raquel won a Golden Globe as Berst Actress for her performance in "The Three Musketeers". She also starred in some television specials, singing and dancing and earning some degree of respect from critics in the process.

Finally in late 1981, at the age of 41, she made her Broadway debut in the Kander and Ebb musical, "Woman of the Year". She replaced star Lauren Bacall for two weeks, earning such praise from critics including the NY Times, that she returned in 1982 to play the role for more than 6 months. During that run, she never played to an empty seat at the legendary Palace Theatre in New York City.

I made it my mission to see the show. Fortunately, my dance teacher in Manchester, Joel Conrad, knew Tony Charmoli, the show's award-winning choreographer. He arranged to have one house seat made available for me in the early fall of 1982.

I flew to New York on New York Air, retrieved my ticket and sat mesmerized as Raquel received ovation after ovation for a sterling performance. She clearly showed that she was up to the challenge and hard work associated with doing a Broadway production, 8 shows a week. (44) WOMAN OF THE YEAR Raquel Welch - YouTube

Arrangements had been made for me to briefly go backstage after the performance, to secure a personally autographed photo for Theresa Cantin to display in the theater lobby.

Raquel could not have been more gracious as I shared "Theresa stories" with her. She loved the fact that Theresa had run her theater for more than half a century in a business controlled by men, but never wavering in her work ethic to bring the best films possible to her audiences.

We walked out the stage door together to find more than a hundred people waiting to applaud, cheer and take pictures of Raquel. She smiled and posed and signed autographs for more than a half hour as I watched the scene unfold. Finally, I said I needed to get back to my hotel. I was staying at the Helmsley Windsor at 100 West 58th Street. I had walked to the theater and planned to walk back.

Raquel would not hear of it and demanded I get in her waiting vehicle. Her third husband, Andre Weinfeld was already in the SUV waiting for her. We made small talk while Raquel signed a few more programs before waving and saying goodbye to the crowd.

While driving to my hotel, she signed an 8 1/2 X 11 photo to Theresa and talked about how much fun she was having on Broadway.

"It's so much more of a family than Hollywood is. People really care and they've welcomed me with such kindness..."

As I stepped out of the vehicle upon arriving at my hotel, Andre shook my hand warmly and Raquel kissed my cheek, thanking me again for flying down from New Hampshire, "...to see my little show..."

Thank you, Raquel, for the memories you created for millions for over half a century.