There’s a new “Papa” Hemingway in the island city where legendary author Ernest Hemingway lived during the 1930s. White-bearded Texan Richard Filip won the 2017 Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, the undisputed highlight of Key West’s annual Hemingway Days celebration.
Richard Filip poses at the transom of a replica of Ernest Hemingway’s fishing boat Pilar after piloting it to Key West. (All photos by Andy Newman, Florida Keys News Bureau)
The 71-year-old, a retired real estate franchise owner, triumphed over an astonishing 152 other entrants in the contest’s final round July 23 at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, where Ernest frequently gathered with literary and local cohorts. He won the contest on his seventh attempt.
While he looked uncannily like the author in a cream-colored turtleneck fisherman’s sweater — attire associated with Ernest in his later years — it’s not just appearance that Richard shares with Key West’s most famous literary resident.
“With Ernest Hemingway, I feel like he’s my brother from another mother,” the new “Papa” said as he stood outside Sloppy Joe’s after his victory, surrounded by previous look-alike winners. “I fish a lot, I hunt a lot … I drink a lot, then I drink a little more, and then I drink a little more!”
He also shares Hemingway’s enjoyment of boating — and proved it by discovering and chartering a replica of Ernest’s beloved fishing boat Pilar in South Florida. Before the contest, he piloted the venerable vessel on a three-day cruise from Miami to Key West, carrying supporters on the voyage of a lifetime.
“Sailing into Key West was just incredible,” Richard marveled. “I just looked around and thought, these are the waters that Ernest traveled in — and it was incredible to duplicate that and feel like I was a part of his life.”
Richard and the other Look-Alike Contest entrants were judged by a congenial brotherhood of past winners at Sloppy Joe’s. Judges included 2016’s Dave Hemingway who (despite his famous name) claims no relation to Ernest.
Crowds of spectators cheered enthusiastically for their favorites as they paraded onstage at the bar. Most tried to emulate the author in his later-years “Papa” persona, though Matt Collins impersonated a dark-haired “young Hemingway” and carried a vintage typewriter onstage.
Matt Collins, costumed as a “young Hemingway,” displays a vintage typewriter as he competes in the 2017 Hemingway Look-Alike Contest.
Matt, who was among the final five finalists, comes by his interest in Hemingway naturally — his father Wally Collins earned the look-alike title in 2014 and sat at the judges’ table.
The 2017 finalists also included repeat contender Michael Groover of Savannah, Ga., whose wife is celebrity chef Paula Deen. Paula applauded from the audience, surrounded by her husband’s other supporters, as Michael sang an offbeat parody of “The Beverly Hillbillies” theme song pleading for victory.
Hemingway Days salutes the vigorous lifestyle and literary legacy of the Nobel Prize–winning author, who wrote enduring classics including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “To Have and Have Not” while living in Key West.
Before the contest finals, look-alikes staged the “Running of the Bulls,” an offbeat spoof of the famed annual run held in Pamplona, Spain.
Both safer and a lot slower than the Pamplona challenge, the good-spirited promenade featured scores of bearded brethren ambling through the island’s historic downtown with a “herd” of manmade mock bulls.
Other Hemingway Days events included literary readings and presentations, the three-day Key West Marlin Tournament recalling Ernest’s angling prowess, and a “birthday party” (complete with cake) on July 21 — commemorating the 118th anniversary of “Papa’s” birth.
