In honor of National Proposal Day on March 20, the Sun asked residents to send in their proposal stories. Here is a story that was received:
Submitted by Jean Steuernagel
I met my husband while doing a photo shoot for Cuisine magazine in West Hollywood. Tom was a video editor for MTV. One weekend, I had to go out of town, which allowed Tom to put his “Casablanca” proposal into action.
He rented an upright piano, then borrowed a camera and lights from his studio. In Los Angeles, they rent out lookalike celebrities for events, so Tom rented Humphrey Bogart, complete with white suit and Lucky Strikes. A makeup woman from Universal made Tom to look like Sam the piano player.
One a smoggy Sunday afternoon, Tom sat at the piano while Bogie leaned against it. Lights, camera, action, take one. The fake Bogie recited his famous line, “Play it again, Sam.” Then Tom looked squarely into the camera and said, “Jean Marie, will you marry me forever?” He edited his modified scene into the original movie.
The next night he invited me over for dinner. When I arrived, he poured some champagne, and then hit the play button on the VCR. “Casablanca” was fast-forwarded to just before the crucial scene. As I sipped my drink, I watched the TV in utter disbelief. Seconds after his proposal, I noticed a diamond ring in the bottom of my champagne glass. Of course I said yes.
