ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702240020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BOSTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
It was the kind of high-society, black-tie benefit Frasier Crane might have attended, where some of the guests wore feathered masks and Sam Malone could only have gotten in to tend bar.
At least one rogue ``Cheers'' buff apparently crashed the charity auction and made off with an autographed script of the TV show's last episode.
Now everybody wants to know his name.
``We can only assume it was somebody who came from outside,'' said Janet Bailey, manager of the 182-year-old Handel & Haydn Society, a classical orchestra and chorus. ``The guests were donors and supporters of ours for many years, and it's hard to imagine that they would have stolen from us.''
The script of the ``Last Call'' episode was one of 100 items to be auctioned last weekend at the $250-a-plate Carnival of Venice gala to raise money for the society's programs in city schools.
George Wendt, who played beer-guzzling Norm Peterson on the show, donated the script, signed by eight members of the cast. It was the only item marked ``Priceless'' in the auction catalog.
With classical music playing in a Four Seasons Hotel ballroom Saturday night, about 200 guests in tuxedos, cocktail dresses and Venetian masks sipped champagne, sampled grilled shrimp and Beluga caviar and made written bids on items including the script, a $2,500 sheepskin coat and a trip to Venice.
The script had drawn a high bid of $1,000 when the guests went into another room for a dinner of potato-wrapped sea bass and tomato coulis.
That's when it was discovered missing. A guard said he saw nothing and surveillance tapes turned up no clues.
``You could almost picture Lt. Columbo coming in at the end to try to figure it out,'' Bailey said, referring to a different famous TV show.
Organizers chose not to inform police, hoping the thief would come forward and return the script. That has not happened.
LENGTH: Short : 44 linesby CNB