Bon Vivant Chic - Life Well Lived

Dr. Robert Entel on Life, Legacy and the Love of the Beatles

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Ernestine:

welcome to Bon Vivant Chic Life Well Lived the podcast for anyone who wants to cut through today's noise and just listen for a few minutes to meaningful conversations on the human experience and the power of connectedness. I'm your host Ernestine Morgan, an advocate for kindness with a passion for showcasing human interest stories that matter. Today I'm delighted to be spending a few minutes with Dr. Robert Entel Besides being an exceptional radiologist in our Tampa Bay community, Robert is also a passionate collector of Beatles memorabilia. His Beatles museum will be opening in St. Petersburg, Florida. Let's get started.

Robert:

Ernestine it's great to be here.

Ernestine:

Oh, thank you so much for sitting down and just chatting a little bit, can you share a little bit about, where you grew up and what life was like?

Robert:

I grew up in charming Dunedin, Florida. I was five years old when we moved here from New York. My father was trained as a physician, a radiologist in New York, and came down and my mother and him wanted to make a life for themselves, and they found Dunedin just very charming, and that's where I grew up. It was actually wonderful growing up here. It was not a busy area. It was a little bit on the slow side, but I have many good childhood memories.

Ernestine:

What are some of your fondest memories?

Robert:

Some of the things we did were basic things as kids. I loved to fish. I was in the Boy Scout, I remember getting the Eagle Scout. We loved the water sports. We lived on the water, which was wonderful. I enjoyed the Boy Scouts, very much. And I let the camping trips, we would camp out on Honeymoon Island and some of the other smaller islands on the Intercoastal I can't say it was that. Unique and unusual of an upbringing, but I did enjoy it as a child.

Ernestine:

Oh, you have, a brother, right? And a sister?

Robert:

Yes. I have a wonderful brother and sister, my sister, runs the, Syd Entel galleries that my mother started their art galleries and safety harbor, and she's been running them for many, many years. They started in 1980 and they do a lot of things in the Tampa Bay area and have been pretty much a premier gallery for many, many years. And my sister's also very involved with a lot of community activities, a lot of boards, Susan Benjamin's, her name, and I'm lucky to have her as a sister. My brother, left after high school. He went to schools in New England and New York and stayed there. He's an addiction medicine specialist, a physician who specializes in that, which is something I'm not sure I could get involved in. That's pretty tough stuff.

Ernestine:

Interesting.

Robert:

And he is a well-known artist as well,

Ernestine:

is he so art really is part of your DNA, your mom actually? Started the art harvest with the Junior League, didn't she? At the Dunedin Fine Arts Center?

Robert:

Yeah. She actually started the Dunedin Fine Arts Center, which is the largest visual arts center in the southeast. It started in the same spot off of Michigan Avenue in Dunedin. It grew organically to what it is today, and I'm proud to be part of that. My family was always a patron of the arts even though I'm not artistic myself, which is probably why I collect Beatles stuff instead, I have been involved in the arts, through the family and very proud of it. It's added a lot to this area.

Ernestine:

What was your very first job and how did it shape you?

Robert:

That's a good question, because my first job was a radiologist back in 1990. When I finished my training in Chicago, my dad hired me, I joined his group, and that's the first and only job I've ever had as a doctor.

Ernestine:

Wow.

Robert:

It's been, 35 years as of this month, and I'm just proud to. Come back to my community and help serve my community as a physician.

Ernestine:

Tell us about that.

Robert:

Yes. When I was away for 15 years and came back, I just wanted to come back and be a good radiologist, make daddy proud type of thing. But there was much more to it than that. Coming back to the community, I was able to take care of a lot of my childhood friends. Baseball coaches, scout leaders, teachers, who are my patients. It was very difficult for me coming back when all these people were exemplary figures, mentors and good friends growing up and then seeing them when they're not healthy anymore and I'm their doctor and they're my patient, and that did have an effect on me.

Ernestine:

Have there been any pivotal moments or decisions that changed the course of your life?

Robert:

I would say the most pivotal decision was actually coming back here in 1990 to join my dad's radiology group and making my life here professionally and personally. I could have gone anywhere else. I remember my father saying,'cause I wanted to do maybe stay in academics and do a little more. He said, Robert, you can do that, but we have a job for you now. We're not sure we'll have one a year from now. So I said, I better get there. That decision of course affected everything, everything about my life, since moving back here in 1990.

Ernestine:

Tell us about this hobby of yours. When did you start collecting Beatles memorabilia?

Robert:

Actually, I always liked The Beatles. I was a little young. I just loved their music. I could relate to them. I just felt comfortable around them. If I was a little down, I'd think of The Beatles or play a song and it would lift me up. I always liked them, but I never really. Had many Beatles records. I never went to their concerts. However, when I was a medical student in 1982, I was actually doing some elective work in London and I was on Portobello Road and I saw somebody selling some beetle items and I had nothing else to do, and it was just a couple pounds. So I picked up a record,, a handkerchief, little memorabilia pieces. I brought it back to the states. I put'em in my sock drawer and when I'd open it to get my socks, I'd see it in there and I'd say, that's neat stuff. I think I'm gonna collect more. So I started collecting locally, went to Oldsmar Flea Market, went to antique stores. Ended up meeting some people that had collected stuff and the collection began. Pretty soon it occupied all my drawers on top of my dresser and all over my bedroom my bedroom essentially became a museum. I had it in my house for 35 years, and occasionally people would say, Robert, why don't you open a museum? I said, look, I'm a doctor. What do I know about museums? However, eight years ago, someone. Asked me to open up the museum with them. We became a 5 0 1 C3. We opened up in a small place actually in Clearwater and then shortly after that, Dunedin. We were amazed by the interest and the pieces, we had on display. We didn't have that many at the time, but we've accumulated. Over 1600 pieces of memorabilia now. I'm very, very proud of that. It's an eclectic collection. It's a fun collection. The museum is free. It's open 11 to three in Dunedin, right in downtown Dunedin, Thursday through Sunday, and we get close to 10,000 visitors a year,

Ernestine:

Yeah.

Robert:

We knew all along it was time to expand, but we never could really find our footing. We looked in Clearwater, we looked again in Dunedin, we looked in Tampa all over the place and other cities, actually were trying to recruit us, but we settled on St. Petersburg and we feel that St. Peter's certainly the sweet spot for our museum. And we're gonna start building that out. And hopefully early 2026, the museum will open. St. Petersburg is such an amazing place. It's got so many museums, the Dali Museum, the Jai exhibit, the Florida Holocaust Museum, the James Museum, and now they're gonna have a Beatles museum we'll be right in the downtown area prominently featured on Second Street. And Second Avenue North and we're really excited. One of the reasons why I'm personally excited is because we can only show a very small amount. Of the memorabilia in our current museum in downtown Dunedin, the St. Pete's space is much larger. It'll be able to show a great deal of memorabilia, including the Beatles clothes. They wore, instruments. They played a Ringo drum set. Pinball machines, slot machines, jukeboxes and tons more games and toys and posters. It's gonna be a feast for anybody who loves the Beatles.

Ernestine:

Oh, that's great. I guess your bedroom will be cleaned up then too, right?

Robert:

It's still a mess, but it's not filled with Beatles stuff, but don't tell anyone.

Ernestine:

That's great. There's records, there's toys, there's clothes, how do you define what items are worth putting in the museum?

Robert:

That's a very good question. We built a good team and we're working with Creative Arts who've done many exhibits, including a Titanic exhibit. They started 34 years ago. They're based in pinellas Park, they actually did the window dressings for the department stores in Manhattan. And they're really enthusiastic about this. And we have a team internally in the museum that's cataloged everything. Our 1600 items we're not done. And it's a very big task going through those and deciding which ones we're gonna display and how the museum's gonna be designed, and that's. The phase we're in now, we wanna make this museum fun for the entire family. We get kids in there with Beatles shirts that are eight years old, know more about the Beatles than I do. And then of course we get all ages and, people from all over. We just had someone come from Brazil. We had somebody who has a Beatles museum in Russia and he wants to,. Have a relationship with us. It's really incredible how just collecting stuff at a flea market could have turned into something like this.

Ernestine:

Yeah, that is incredible. And this is an opportunity for grandparents to show the next generation and part of really pulp culture. Right. And look at our history.

Robert:

Definitely. We just had a three generation group come in, the grandfather, the son and daughter and the grandchild. They were all Beatles fans. They all loved the Beatles. The Beatles are multi-generational., They transform generations., McCartney. And Lenin were the, basically the modern Mozarts, and, their compositions. They've written hundreds of songs. And, I keep listening to songs. I say, I really like that song. Who wrote it? Lennon McCartney. Or George Harrison. It's really incredible the legacy they have and how it keeps growing over time. It doesn't fade, it actually grows.

Ernestine:

Ringo's Star was just here, the BayCare sound.

Robert:

He was just here. And actually, I'd like to tell you something about that. Unfortunately, I couldn't go because I was doctoring at Morton Plant Hospital that night.

Ernestine:

Oh

Robert:

I was disappointed, but I gotta take care of my patients. I love my patients. That's number one. And Beatles number two. Actually my family's number two, yeah. We were asked by Ruth Ecker Hall to present. A gift to Ringo he apparently gets stuff from so many people that he can't carry it around from concert to concerts. What we did do is we gave a thousand dollars check to the Ringo Foundation.

Ernestine:

Oh, nice.

Robert:

And we weren't able to present it to him, Ruth Ecker did. But we're very proud to make a contribution to Ringo's Foundation. Which is, from what I've heard, is very worthy and he's very proud of it. That's his favorite thing to receive.

Ernestine:

Oh, that's terrific. I'm excited to see the new museum in St. Pete. Mid 2026. Right.

Robert:

We're hoping.

Ernestine:

And you have opportunities for the community to support your efforts there as well, don't you?

Robert:

We've gotten a lot of great PR from St. Pete that is really Museum City. They're welcoming us with open arms. They're very excited. We've already been, contacted by multiple publications. I just did Radio St. Pete, which is a radio show. A couple weeks ago, NPR contacted us, Tampa Bay Times has done an article. This is exciting. It's not just exciting for us. It's exciting for all of. St. Pete and the Tampa Bay area. From what I'm told, I still have trouble believing it that we're the only permanent Beatles museum in the States. There's exhibits, there's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that has a floor and traveling exhibits, things like that. But this is the only permanent museum, whether it is or isn't. We're certainly very unique and look forward to showcasing the Beatles legacy in the city of St. Pete.

Ernestine:

What are some life lessons you've learned that you wish you knew earlier?

Robert:

My family's always been very philanthropic. My mother and father have always taught me to be that way. It was more leading from example. They didn't sit me down and say, this is the way you need to be, but I watched them all these years. Not so much when I was a kid because I was too busy playing with my friends, but coming back, I really appreciated all the stuff they've done. And I think philanthropy doesn't necessarily mean. Money, you can give time, you can give your talent, and you can give your treasure. There's multiple ways to be philanthropic, and I think I've learned to be that way through my folks. When I was at the Morton Plant Meese Foundation, which is an exemplary foundation, and a model for foundations, hospital foundations all over the country. I was very proud to be on that board because I knew how much we were helping people in the community and it was great to be around that. And the people I met were like-minded. These are people that give themselves to others. It's so easy to get. Confined to a cocoon and not get out. But these people got out and were an example to me of how. We should lead our life. I've been trying to do that in my philanthropic pursuits, and I want to continue to do that., When we leave here, all we really have is our reputation, and I want to make sure I was able to make lives easier for other people.

Ernestine:

What lessons about family and relationships would you pass along to a younger generation?

Robert:

I can tell you that my primary relationships with my family, I have a small family, and I realize there's all sorts of family dynamics that goes on. Every family's different. However, I value those friendships and family relationships, and I would like to, imbue that upon other people, because. Relationships are very important we're social people. We've gotta intermingle with folks at work, folks when we're out socializing and family. And I've just learned that my family's very important to me and I value that very much. And I like to hear when other people tell me wonderful things about their friendships and families.'cause I realize how important it is. My parents, Irwin and Intel, my sister Susan Benjamin, and my brother Dr. Richard Intel all mean a lot to me.

Ernestine:

What advice would you have for anyone interested in practicing medicine or still in school or just starting the journey?

Robert:

Everybody's different. I highly encourage anybody who would like to pursue the medical fields. It doesn't have to be a physician. There's many different avenues that you can go to get involved in. A very noble cause, which is helping other people through medicine and health. Anybody who. Wants to be a physician. I will tell them that it is a long haul. There is a lot of dedicated years of your life you'll have to put towards that before you can hang your shingle, but I encourage it. Anybody that wants to do the MD or do route. Should pursue it. Once you get out, there's many different things you can do. You can work at a hospital, a clinic, you can work medical, legal work. You can do research, work at universities. There's just a whole host of ways you can proceed once you became a physician. And it is stressful. And I come home sometimes and my head is like mush, but I really enjoy it. I love my relationship with my patients and, that fulfills me. It makes me very happy. Oh I do a lot of the procedures and radiology. When I come to their bedside and I'm getting their consent or doing the procedure, I try to put a smile on their face. I like to give them a little bit of hope, even when I know that they're in. Very difficult times with their health. I like to give them a sense of hopefulness that they will recover and there's some good times ahead.

Ernestine:

Thank you for your kindness. What do you think is a secret to a happy, fulfilling life?

Robert:

Life? I've come to realize that you really have to be happy with yourself. You've gotta be satisfied with yourself. You've gotta be secure with yourself. A lot of people are always looking for the greener grass, and as the saying goes, the grass isn't always greener. It's just harder to mow. So if you're always looking for something better than what you've got, I don't think you could be happy. You should reach a point in your life where you say, this is who I am, I'm unique, I enjoy being myself. Then you can exemplify the best person, you happen to be to everybody else, and imbue that type of security to other people and make them feel good as well.

Ernestine:

Oh, that's very well said. You are Towards The end of your career, it sounds to me like this museum might be something that you'll continue on in the future. What does this look like for you, in terms of your transition, in your career?

Robert:

Well, eventually I'll retire, but right now I'm still working nearly full time and I still enjoy what I do. The patient contact's the most important to me, and I'll miss that when I retire and wake up one morning. It'll be a little less stressful, but I'll also miss it personally. So I'm gonna continue that for a few more years, but eventually, yes, I will hopefully. Move towards doing more, volunteer work, philanthropic enterprises, and also of course spending time with the museum. It's gonna be fabulous and i'm very excited about that and we'll have more time to devote for that once I do decide to retire.

Ernestine:

That's great. You've been in this role for a long time. It is a stressful job and I've met with you on a number occasions and you're reading x-rays you're in this dark. Box for quite a lot of your time and you're able to see patients as well what inspires you and keeps you motivated today to just continue to do what you're doing?

Robert:

I enjoy, patient care and as soon as I remove myself from that, I think my enjoyment levels will go down. I love making myself helpful to referring physicians who refer patients for our radiological procedures, and so I like. Interacting with them, the collegial interaction of doctors as well. I also like the professionalism of my hospital where I work i'm fortunate to be at a hospital, which I know you know very well, Ernestine, and I've just been blessed. I feel honored to be there. I've been in areas where. People say, I wouldn't let my parakeet go to that hospital. We're not like that here. The hospital that I've dedicated myself to for 35 years and my father before that for 35 years is a place where I feel patients get the best care and our team members really try to do the best they can to help our patients. Get better.

Ernestine:

You mentioned, earlier about philanthropy and philanthropy does mean different things to different people. What does philanthropy mean to you?

Robert:

I feel very privileged and honored to be in the position I'm in. the most joy I've gotten outta my life is by helping other people. I really don't need much for myself. So what can I do from this point on? Help other people try to have better lives, whether it's patients or community members in any way you can it doesn't have to be through. Dollars. That is very helpful and I'm supportive of that and try to do that myself. But also just giving your time, volunteering for organizations or if you paint teach a painting class as a volunteer, I'm a very strong proponent of volunteerism and commitment to the community. And we do have that in our area and I'm very proud of that. But it could be stronger and that's what I'd like to encourage as I move towards my retirement.

Ernestine:

Thank you so much. This has been wonderful. Great. Sitting down together and having a chat and, love your enthusiasm. Excited about the museum and thank you so much Robert, for sitting down with me.

Robert:

I want to thank Ernestine because she was an inspiration to me. She was a mentor for me in terms of my volunteerism. When I started practicing medicine 35 years ago, I really didn't understand anything about philanthropy, volunteering. Community efforts. By having such close interactions with the Morton Plant Meese Foundation, which Ernestine was at the helm for many years, it brought to me a better sense of who I am and motivated me to do even more for other people.

Ernestine:

Aw, thank you. That really warms my heart. Thanks again for joining us. You're a special guy.

Robert:

It's great to be here, and thank you for the opportunity.

Ernestine:

Thank you for your friendship too. Thanks for listening to Bon Vivant Chic Life Well Lived. I hope you'll tune in for more meaningful stories on the human experience and share with family and friends. All the episodes are available on Spotify Buzz Sprout, Apple and on my website, bon vivant chic.com. Till next time, remember, every day is a gift. Live it. Kindness matters.