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'Well done, Mommy, well done!'

TED KENNEDY sat in box No. 1 at the Academy of Music, flashing that legendary ear-to-ear Kennedyesque grin, as he watched one of Philadelphia's big political moments.

TED KENNEDY sat in box No. 1 at the Academy of Music, flashing that legendary ear-to-ear Kennedyesque grin, as he watched one of Philadelphia's big political moments.

It was the night of Oct. 13, 1970, barely a year after Chappaquiddick, and his wife, Joan Kennedy, was performing Mozart and Debussy on the piano, backed by 60 members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She had studied piano since childhood, but had never played with a full symphony orchestra before.

Playing violin that night was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Milton J. Shapp. At ticket prices ranging from $4 to $400, the event reportedly raised more than $40,000 for Shapp's campaign.

It was a first for Shapp, too: He hadn't played the violin in public since he was 16.

The two-hour concert also featured Metropolitan Opera tenor Jan Peerce in a duet with Shapp's son Richard, then 22, a senior majoring in music at Temple University.

Anything for politics.

Mayor James H.J. Tate was there. So was U.S. Rep. Bill Green, who later would become mayor as well.

Playing to an audience of 2,500, the statuesque Joan Kennedy looked calm, confident and stunning in a long, black V-neck gown. She got two curtain calls.

After the concert finale, Ted Kennedy rushed backstage to his wife. She reached out for him. He did not reach out for her. He did not kiss her, according to published reports.

Ted Kennedy put his arm around his wife's shoulder. "Well done, Mommy, well done!" he said.

Then the crowd moved a half block up Broad Street for a black-tie cocktail party in the North Cameo Room of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel.

In his review the next day, Inquirer classical-music critic Daniel Webster wrote: "It was apparent that she has a good deal of musical polish and sense of proportion."

Joan Kennedy later wrote a book on teaching children about classical music.

As for Shapp's campaign, the Kennedy magic may have helped: The following month, Shapp was elected governor over Republican Raymond J. Broderick, the incumbent lieutenant governor, by more than 500,000 votes. He was re-elected in 1974 by a large majority. Shapp died in 1994.

Ted Kennedy and Joan Bennett Kennedy, a former model with a master's degree in education, were married Nov. 29, 1958. They had three children. The couple separated in 1978, but reunited in 1980, when Kennedy made a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. After he lost to President Jimmy Carter, the Kennedys' marriage dissolved. They divorced in 1982.