By Andrew J. Fenady

Directed by Jeannette Patey

Produced by Michelle Miller

 Methacton Community Theater continues its 2002 season with Andrew J. Fenady’s The Man With Bogart’s Face, a hardboiled detective mystery comedy rooted in the heritage of the good old detective movies of the 1940’s.   The show opens Friday, September  27^th and runs Fridays and Saturdays, September 28^th  and October 5^th ,  11^th and 12^th with one matinee performance on Sunday, October 6^th.   Performances are at the Trappe Building (Former PV Middle School) in Trappe, PA.

A man with a powerful fixation on Humphrey Bogart undergoes plastic surgery to make himself look exactly like the 1940's movie icon.  The operation is a complete success.  After the bandages are removed, he changes his name to Sam Marlowe (after Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe, two of Bogart's most famous movie detectives) and buys a trench coat and a big gun.  Sam hires Duchess (Denise Katrina of Oaks), a ditzy blonde secretary and opens the  Sam Marlowe, Private Investigator Detective Agency.

Sitting behind his desk slugging rye, Sam (Mark Sborlini of King of Prussia) waits for the clients to walk through the door.  And walk through they do.  At first business is a bit slow, but Sam's first two cases come within minutes of each other.  His first client is his oversexed landlady, Mother (Gloria Humphrey of Norristown), who has hired Sam to find her lost, exhausted husband, Little Nicky (Ken Brown of Mont Clare).

Sam's second case , however, kicks his new detective agency into high gear.  Elsa Borsht (Audra Dennis of Collegeville) needs Sam's help to identify the men following her father, Horst (John Corkum of Creamery).  When Gena Anastas (Maren Dennis of Collegeville), the daughter of a Greek shipping tycoon waltzes into his office, the case begins to get more complex. Sam is hired by Gena supposedly to help her obtain some embarrassing pictures before her father, Commodore Anastas (Dan Kostiuk of Limerick), discovers their existence.  But the deception abounds and soon Sam is caught up in a web of intrigue with Elsa, Gena, the Commodore, Turkish tycoon Mustafa Hakim (Samir Tamri of Frazier) and his steamy secretary (Julie Randall of Schwenksville), and a multitude of other eccentric characters, all in a quest for The Eyes of Alexander.  This is a case that would do Bogie proud!

There is a plot full of mystery, action and danger that is uniquely entertaining, hilarious and suspenseful.  But you’ll have to come and see the show to get the rest of the story.  If we tell you anymore, we could spill the beans, Baby!