A real cast of characters

Ellen McCarty

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- “Fractured Follies,” the 21st annual Boys & Girls

Club fund-raiser, brought in more than $100,000 Friday for the club’s

operation, said Tanya Grimes, the chief executive.

Of that, $30,000 will go toward paying off the debt at the Huntington

Valley Boys & Girls Club facility in Huntington Beach.

Complemented by silent and live auctions, the show poked fun at classic

TV shows, including “CHiPs,” with Fountain Valley Chief of Police Elvin

Miali playing a renegade “CHiP,” and the “Beverly Hillbillies,” with

Huntington Beach Mayor Peter Green, Huntington Beach Union School

District Supt. Susan Roper and Fountain Valley Councilman Larry Crandall

striking oil.

It’s hard to imagine these prim and proper professionals acting goofy,

but that’s exactly what was intended by the script’s author, Fountain

Valley Mayor John Collins.

“The actors have a better time than anyone else,” he said. “You get to do

something stupid on stage and get away with it.”

Grimes, however, said it was hard to measure who was having more fun. At

times the audience laughed and talked so loud that Collins, the master of

ceremonies, could barely be heard.

State Assemblyman Scott Baugh performed Grime’s favorite skit of the

night, portraying Jackie Gleason’s character, Ralph Kramden, from “The

Honeymooners.”

“The support in the room was incredible,” Grimes said. “As the night

progressed, it became more and more spirited.”