My Date With A Movie Star
By: Brian Dickens Barrabee
Tags: Food, Humor, Date, Education, Celebrity

Every once in a while things just seem to work out.

Maybe the stars are in proper alignment.

Maybe anything!

You have the feeling, life seems so well-choreographed that you want to throw back your head, raise your fists toward the heavens and shout: YES, THERE IS A GOD — drums rolling, cymbals clashing.

Photo by Chris Karakis on Unsplash

Her name was Norma Eberhardt. The name Dauphin was added after she married famed French director and WW ll French Resistance hero Claude Dauphin in 1955.

Norma lived about a mile away from my family in Oakhurst, New Jersey close to the beaches of the North Jersey Shore about 50 miles south of New York City.

Although Norma and Claude (when they weren’t gallivanting around Europe involved in movies) lived in a beautiful home in Oakhurst which was not at all ostentatious. I remember it as having a white post and rail fence around it, not for privacy, more for style.

Norma was discovered as a young teen at the Easter Parade on the Asbury Park Boardwalk. A New York photographer was taken with her unique beauty accentuated by her eye color; having one dark brown and one crystal clear blue.

His photographs launched her career as an international model and cover girl.

Norma performed in early live radio and television dramas and later in featured roles in Dragnet (1959), Hogan’s Heroes (1969) and other series. Her movie credits include Problem Girls (1953), Live Fast Die Young (1958) and a starring role in a film that has become a cult favorite, Return of Dracula (1958).

She and Claude divided their time between New York, Oakhurst, Hollywood and Paris; according to the Asbury Park Press.

A sophisticated beautiful woman of the world in her late 20s; who also happened to be a TV and movie star; who also happened to have married a famous director (and war hero); who also happen to have one brown eye and one blue eye was just the guest speaker that Mrs. Venturi needed to spice up the attendance at her Latin Club Banquet in my junior year of high school.

Mrs. Venturi was the beloved Latin teacher in APHS. She continued to battle a dwindling interest in Latin as a language, slowly losing out to Spanish and French. Mrs. Venturi tried her best to keep the students interested in the (all but the religiously, medically and academically) dead language.

One way she did this was by appropriating her family's wildly popular Italian restaurant on Main St in Asbury Park once a year. She’d invite all the kids in her combined junior and senior Latin classes for an Italian meal (read: spaghetti, a meatball, salad and brownie with choice of water or Coke) at the Venturi family restaurant.

Business casual togas required.

My junior year Mrs Venturi invited Norma Eberhart Dauphine to be the guest speaker at the dinner. In her infinite wisdom, our Latin teacher figured that Paris is close enough to Italy. The geographically challenged Latin Club students won’t know the difference.

She was right.

Norma didn’t drive and Claude was in Europe. Mrs Venturi lived next to her restaurant in Asbury Park 10 miles away.

There was the challenge of transporting Mrs. Dauphin to the banquet.

Liz Baron was a senior student in Mrs. Venturi’s Latin class, 4th period. The Baron’s lived a couple of houses away from the Dauphins. Liz knew Norma in passing. She worshiped her to a degree.

Mrs. Venturi arranged for Liz to give Norma a ride to the banquet.

A win, win right?

Ever hear of a win, win, win?

Liz was my ride to the banquet also

Carpe Diem, Brian!