Next Saturday a gang of us will gather at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Harbor to pay tribute to as fine of shipmate and human being as graced this Earth: Swede Johnson, 95, Crossed the Bar recently, leaving his many friends to reflect not only on Swede's lifetime accomplishments, but on the character of a man who gave of himself to help others.
Swede was a sailmaker by trade and worked at the Baxter and Cicero loft in Newport for more than 30 years making winning sails for Sabots, Starboat World's Champions (Bill Ficker and Don Edler), TransPac winners (KITTEN, LEGEND, NALU II, PSYCHE, HOLIDAY Too), and numerous Radio Controlled models. Swede also encouraged youngsters, including Dave Ullman and Scott Allan, to become sailmakers and mentored them in early years.
Swede loved to tinker, and created the first commercially available tiller pilot for small boats in 1960, well before the better known TillerMaster. Swede also built dozens of model boats for friends world-wide, usually at no charge. If you look closely, you can see a model of Swede steering this cool little Pinky schooner he built for "Fred."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0ozFgTKSg
One of the little pleasures of being an aficionado of maritime history is running across a good mystery. And Swede Johnson left us with one.
In the mid-1940's, actor Humphrey Bogart bought the beautiful, 55' Sparkman and Stephens yawl SANTANA, and berthed her at Newport Harbor Yacht Club as a retreat from his Hollywood stresses. It was onboard SANTANA that Bogie courted rising star, actress Lauren Bacall. Bacall was only 19, barely half Bogart's age, but she could hold her own on the silver screen with Bogart as well as in real life. The conservative NHYC members were upset that there potential illicit goings on aboard SANTANA with an unmarried woman involved at their docks.
NHYC demanded Bogart, a good sailor since his youth, set things right or vacate the Club.
So Bogie and Bacall got married in 1945 to make things legal. As a present to Bogie, Lauren Bacall commissioned Swede Johnson to build her new husband a full model (1/2" scale) of Bogie's favorite boat, SANTANA. Swede completed the SANTANA model in 1951, about the same time Bogie won the Oscar for Best Actor in "African Queen." He gave it to Bacall at no charge.
During recent weeks of sleuthing, we discovered a black and white photo of Bogart, and his two year old son Stephen, admiring Swede's model of SANTANA in early 1952. Bogie's Oscar sits on top of the glass case.
Humphrey Bogart, a heavy smoker, died in 1957. His wife and co-star, Lauren Bacall, decreed the only thing to be on the alter at Bogie's funeral at All Saints Church was to be the model of SANTANA, the one that our friend Swede had made. Most of Hollywood attended Bogie's Funeral. No cameras were allowed inside the church. But in the quest to find what became of Swede's model of SANTANA, we discovered a 3 second movie clip taken inside the church of SANTANA on the alter.
Swede's SANTANA model on the All Saints Church alter can be briefly seen at 13-15 seconds here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPUtrB4CYRc
The SANTANA model then disappeared. Swede believed his model had been buried with Bogart. But that couldn't be true, as Bogart was cremated.
I contacted as many of the later owners of big SANTANA as possible. For many years SANTANA graced the docks of the St.Francis Yacht Club. In 1982, with guest skipper Tom Blackaller at the helm, SANTANA came from behind to beat the famous DORADE in a 12 mile grudge match race off the City Front. There was also a 3/8" scale model of SANTANA donated to St.Francis YC by the wife of her W.L.Stewart, her original owner. But that model has the original schooner rig of 1935, and is smaller than Swede Johnson's model.
Nobody knew where the SANTANA model was.
It finally surfaced this week, in time for Swede Johnson's tribute at Balboa. Swede's beautiful model belongs to Humphrey Bogart's son Stephen, the then 2 year old in the 1952 photo. In reply to my query I received this answer:
Hi Skip:
Condolences on the loss of your dear friend. That beautiful model of the Santana is one of Stephen's proudest possessions and dearest memories of his father, and it is prominently displayed in his home. Wishing you all the best, The Humphrey Bogart Estate
Thanks to SSS Forum members "chautauqua" and "red roo" for their assistance. Swede would be happy to know his model lives on. I'm sorry I can't post photos of Swede Johnson's models at this time, but the Forum appears to have a technical glitch.