July 3, 1963 - “PT-109,” the film version of President Kennedy’s wartime adventures, premiered last night at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles for a $100-a-plate audience of 1,000 persons. The unprecedented banquet-premiere was held as a benefit for the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Child Study Center at St. John Hospital, Santa Monica. (Pictured at the premiere are, left to right, Sargent Shriver, Rose Kennedy, Jack Warner, and Patricia Lawford.) The center is an outpatient facility named after the President’s late brother, who was killed in World War II. Among those in the first-night audience were the President’s mother, Mrs. Rose Kennedy, and his sister, Mrs. Patricia Lawford. Motion picture celebrities attending the premiere included Cliff Robertson, who stars in the film as the young Lieut. Kennedy, and co-stars Robert Culp and Ty Hardin. One special guest was Pat McMahon, a mail carrier from Cathedral City, Calif., who was a member of the crew of the PT-109 when she was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Lieut. Kennedy saved McMahon’s life in an exploit depicted in the film. Another former crew member of the PT-109 who attended the premiere was Ray Starkey of Garden Grove, Calif. He was a torpedoman aboard the craft.
Comments