Thomas "Tennessee" Lanier Williams III

1911-1983

Tennessee Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in American history.  Between the mid-1940s and the early 1960s, he wrote several award-winning plays, including The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  Known for gritty characters and heartbreaking themes, these plays combined poetic language with dramatic flair and are recognized today as American classics.

He was born in Columbus, Mississippi and was known in his early life as "Tom" he was the second of three children in his family.  Tom attended University City High School where his writing started to draw attention.  In 1929, Williams enrolled in the journalism departmet at the University of Missouri in Columbia.  His first known play, Beauty is the Word, won an honorable mention in the school's annual Dramatic Arts Contest. In 1937, two of his plays, Candles to the Sun and The Fugitive Kind, were staged in St. Louis. Tom later enrolled at the University of Iowa.  He worked in the drama department and graduated with an English degree in 1938.

After graduation, Wiliams submitted plays to a competition in New York City.  Since the age requirement was twenty-tive, he changed his birth date from 1911 to 1914 and his name to "Tennessee" Williams.  He won a special $100 prize in the contest and was, from that time on, known professionally as Tennessee Williams.  He gave several reasons for adopting a new name:  It was a reaction against his early inferior work published under his real name; his new name had been a college nickname; he chose the name because his father was from Tennessee plus he felt the name was unique.  

Williams' breakthrough hit, The Glass Menagerie, was filled with characters based on his troubled family.  It opened in Chicago to great reviews in 1944 and moved to Broadway the following year where the opening night audience applauded through twenty-five curtain calls!  

The Glass Menagerie won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1945 and was the first in a long string of successes for Williams.  A Streetcar Named Desire won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Dram in 1948.  The Rose Tattoo won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1951 and in 1955, Caton a Hot Tin Roof won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Williams' last major success on Broadway, Night of the Iguana, opened in 1961 and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.

Tennessee Williams' plays changed American theatre.  Many of his plays were successfully adapted into award-winning movies and television programs.  Several have been revived on Broadway and in theatres.  They are considered American classics.  The city of New Orleans puts on the annual Tennessee Williams Literary Festival.

 

Mallory Square

in

Key West, Florida 

"Where the Sun Sets & the Fun Begins"

The iconic phrase "See you at Sunset!" has embodied the spirit and history of Key West since the nightly event took off in the late 1960s!  Beginning two hours before sunset, it's a celebration and view that had captured the love and astonishment of iconic figures from Mark Twain in the 1800s to Tennessee Williams in the late 20th century!  

The Key West Sunset Celebration invites everyone to partake in watching the glowing pink and red sun sink into the Gulf of Mexico horizon.  The nightly festival host visitors from all over the world who come to take part in the magicians, artists and food vendors that combine for an incredible cultural experience.

  

Sunset Celebration is a nightly arts festival at Mallory Square Dock.  The participants of this attraction consists of arts and crafts exhibitors and psychics, street performers, food carts and thousands of tourists from around the world.  Each night around two hours before sunset masses of people, both locals and tourists alike, flock to the water's edge to experience a multiculture happening and to watch the sun set in a place known as "the Keys".

The best place to watch the sunset?

On the deck of a Sebago boat, of course!

Catamaran Champagne Sunset Sail

Starts at $49.95

 

Jimmy Buffet 

1946-2023

James William Buffett was born on December 25, 1946 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the child of Jamest Delaney "J.D." Buffet, Jr. and Mary Loraine Peets Buffett.  J.D. served as a flight mechanic in the Pacific with the Army Air Corps in World War II and moved the family to Mobile soon after to work for Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company.  Buffett's parents wanted their son to be either a Jesuit priest or a naval officer and sent him to parochial schools.  He was a Boy Scout and altar boy in St. Ignatius Parsih in Mobile and graduated in 1964 from McGill Institute (now McGill-Toolen Catholic High School), an all-male college preparatory school.  His youthful interests in fishing, boating, swimming and surfing along the Gulf Coast are passions he maintained as an adult which influenced many of his creative endeavors.  

Buffett entered Auburn as a freshman in 1965 and pledged the social fraternity, Sigma Pi.  He learned guitar from another pledge, Johnny Youngblood because he saw it brought Youngblood success in meeting coeds.  Buffett was unable to balance his newfound interests in music and girls with his college classes leaving Auburn in April of 1966.  To avoid the draft during the Vietnam War, he enrolled the following September at Pearl River Junior College in Poplarville, Mississippi.  

Buffett turned to music to pay his college expenses, working first as a street singer on weekends in New Orleans and then at engagements along the Gulf Coast with band members, Doug Duncan and Susan Pitman.  Buffett's real education came from living in the hippie counterculture of the late-1960s French Quarter in New Orleans.  Nevertheless, Buffett maintained his grades and transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg to complete a bachelor's degree in history in 1969.  

In 1973, Buffett signed with ABC-Dunhill Records.  The Living and Dying in 3/4 Time in 1974 contained Buffett's first hit single, "Come Monday".  Buffett struggled to find a niche in the music industry because his songs could not be easily categorized.  He formed the Coral Reefer Band in 1975 and their album Changes in Latitudes in 1977 featuring Buffett's most popular song, "Margaritaville" reached number eight on Billboard's charts.

In the late 1980s, Buffett branched into entrepreneurship.  He opened the first of several Margaritaville restaurants in Key West in 1987.  In 1989, he invested in the Ft. Myers Miracles, a minor league baseball team with actor and comedian, Bill Murray.  IIn 1998, he launched Radio Margaritaville, available for subscription on Sirius satellite radio.  In 2000, Outback Restaurants paid Buffett $1 million for the rights to name a chain of restaurants named Cheeseburger in Paradise, after the title of a hit song from his Son of a Son of a Sailor recorded in 1978.  

Buffett also took up writing, publishing Tales from Margaritaville, a collection of short stores in 1989.  His 1992 mystery novel, Where Is Joe Merchant? spent months on the New York Times best-seller list for fiction.  He also co-authored the children's book Jolly Mon (1988) and Trouble Dolls (1991) with his daughter, Savannah Jane and illustrator, Lambert Davis.  His autogiographical A Pirate Looks at Fifty (1998) topped the New York Times non-fiction list right after its release and his novel A Salty Piece of Land (2004) was a best-seller, too.

A flight enthusiast, Buffett owned and flew a number of seaplanes.  On August 25, 1994 Buffett survived a crash of his seaplane, Lady of the Waters in Madeket Harbor, Nantucket.  

Buffett's collaboration with country music star Alan Jackson on the hit single "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere in 2003 earned the Country Music Award for Vocal Event of 2003, a Grammy nomination for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals and the Amerian Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Song of the Year for 2004.  

Throughout his life he continued to tour regularly, performing benefit concerts for survivors of hurricanes and other disasters.  He was also a recognized environmentalist, especially in the efforts to save manatees and their habitats in the Florida Everglades.

This talented musician left us on September 1, 2023 though his legacy will live on through his music and the causes which were close to his heart.

 

 Who was Ernest Hemingway?

Ernest Miller Heminway was a Nobel-prize winning author, journalist, war reporter, big game hunter, bullfighter, deep sea fisherman and all-round man of action.  Hemingway packed more into a year than most of us manage in a lifetime.  He lived in Chicago, Toronto, Paris, Havana and traveled around the word, but also loved the quiet of places such as Key West, Florida and Ketchum, Idaho.

Hemingway is most often associated with the giant, sour, frozen daiquiri known as the Papa Doble which he drank at La Floridita in Havana where he once consumed 16 in an evening!  He remarked that one "felt as you drank them, the way downhill glacier skiing feels running through powder snow". Sloppy Joe's Saloon was his local during his days in Key West though while in Ketchum he was a regular at the Olympic Bar.  During his time in Paris, he frequented Les Deux Magots, Cafe de Flore and the Dingo Bar.  While in Madrid, Spain he favored Museo Chicote.  While traveling, Hemingway made a point of visiting most of the world's best bars.

Hemingway had many famous drinking buddies.  During the 20s in Paris, Hemingway drank with the cream of the era's writing and artistic talent, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pablo Picasso.  Later in life, many of his close relationships were with men who shared his passion for fishing and the outdoor life.  

Hemingway fell in love with Key West when he arrived in the early 1930s.  He had said that it was unlike any other place he'd ever been and the greatest place in the world anytime, any day.  It was here that he and his wife, Pauline bought their home at 907 Whitehead Street across from the Key West Lighthouse and where he worked every morning writing novels that would become some of his best known pieces.  After spending several hours in the eary morning writing, Hemingway would hang out at Sloppy Joe's with the locals and the bar's original owner, Joe Russell.  Hemingway and Russell became great friends and would often go fishing together.  In fact, they, along with several other Key West locals were referred to as The Key West Mob and were known for their fishing expeditions to the Dry Tortugas and Cuba.  They were also known for their nicknames which is where the legend of Papa Hemingway came to life.

For Hemingway, Key West was a town of inspiration and familiarity.  He lived like many others in Key West which included fishing, visiting and drinking with his buddies.  He wrote books that were often based on the people he was closest to in his life.  To Have and Have Not, one of his acclaimed novels, was based on Key West during the Depression.  Hemingway left an indelible impression on the community.  At Sloppy Joe's, visitors can see his original bar stool where he sat almost daily and his home hosts thousands of visitors every day, allowing everyone to see where it all took place.  A tour of the Hemingway House is a treat, revealing original items and artifacts that belonged to the Nobel Prize-winning author.  Guests can even meet the descendants of his beloved six-toed cat and see the penny he stuck into the cement after Pauline had the pool built in their backyard for a cost of $20,000.  His spirit is alive throughout the mansion and the streets of the community he called home for nearly 30 years.

The Hemingway Home was added to the National Registry of Historic Places

on

November 24, 1968

 

The Ernest Hemingway Cottage, also known as Windemere, was a boyhood summer home of author, Ernest Hemingway on Walloon Lake located South of Petoskey, Michigan.  The cottage was built in 1900 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.  The architect was Grace Hall Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's mother.

The Hemingway family in 1905

Marcelline, Madelaine, Clarence, Grace, Ursula and Ernest

6502 Lake Grove Road

Circa 1920

The Hemingway Cottage is a single-story frame structure with a gabled roof and white clapboard siding measuring 20 feet by 40 feet.  The main section of the cottage contains the sleeping and living rooms, along with a bathroom and utility closet.  A smaller section contains the kitchen and a breezeway, orginally screened, but now enclosed connects the two sides.  The interior is covered with unpainted clapboard.  The kitchen has been modernized.  A smaller "annex" building constructed a few years after the main cottage stands a few yards away.  A modern garage is located behind the cottage. 

In 1898, Dr. Clarence Hemingway and his wife, Grace purchased four lots at this site on the shore of Walloon Lake.  In 1899, they identified a location to construct a cottage.  In 1900, the couple spent $400 to have this cottage constructed on the site which they dubbed "Windermere".  The family spent summers at the cottage.  Their son, Ernest born in 1899 spent every summer at the cottage from 1900-1920. 

In 1921, Hemingway and Hadley Richardson honeymooned at the cottage.  Hemingway returned to the cottage only once more in his lifetime in the early 1950s. After his mother passed, Hemingway was willed the cottage.  Although he did not visit, he retained ownership until his own passing in 1961.  At this request, Hemingway's widow transferred ownership of the cottage to his young sister, Madelaine who used it until her own passing.  It later was given to Hemingway's nephew, Ernie Mainland.  When the nephew passed in 2001 and was survived by his wife, Judy and their son, Ken.

Hemingway used the northern Michigan setting in a number of his works most featuring his character named Nick Adams.  The cottage appears in several of his novels.

Ernest Miller Hemingway

1899-1961

                                          

 

500 Griswold Avenue

Detroit, Michigan

The beautiful mosaic behind the security desk

in the Guardian's lobby.

Welcome to the Guardian Building

Visitors Please Sign In

The mural reads as follows: 

"Founded on principles of faith and understanding this building is erected for the purpose of maintaining and continuing the ideals of financial service which prompted the organization of this institution."

The Guardian Building is a landmark 43-story office skyscraper in the Financial District of downtown Detroit.  Built from 1928 to 1929, the building was originally called the Union Trust Building and is a bold example of Art Deco architecture including art moderne and Mayan Revival designs.  The architect was Wirt C. Rowland. The building opened in March of 1929.  On June 29, 1989 it was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark.  The building is owned by Wayne County and serves as its headquarters. 

The Roaring Twenties were the backdrop for the renowned architect Wirt C. Rowland to create a building like no other! 

In the 1920s, the city of Detroit was a worldwide industrial and commerical hub and the city grew with unprecedented prosperity.  It was in this era that a newly organized banking group -- the Union Trust Company -- was anxious to communicate their public image through their flagship headquarters and new offices.  The Union Trust Company commissioned the architectural firm of Smith Hinchman & Grylls (now known as SmithGroup) to design their headquarters and they turned the task over to head designer, Wirt C. Rowland.  While working for Smith Hinchman & Grylls, Rowland played a key role in the design of many prominent Detroit buildings including the Buhl Building, Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church and the Penobscot Building expansion. His most brilliant contribution to Detroit's skyline is the Union Trust Building.

With the design for the Union Trust Building completed in March 1927, a full city block was cleared to make way for the 496-foot, 40-story steel-framed skyscraper sheathed in 1.8 million orange bricks -- a specially formulated shade dubbed "Guardian Brick" by the architect and manufacturer. It was the second tallest building in Detroit and the world's tallest brick building.  The cost to build came in at $12 million.  The use of brick is unusual in a building of this size from this era.  Usually, granite and limestone were used and the Guardian was the world's tallest masonry structure when it was completed in early 1929 -- the year of the Stock Market Crash.  The Union Trust Company fell victim to the crash, but was saved by investors who believed in the future of Detroit and was reorganized into the Union Guardian Trust Company.  The building became known as the Union Guardian Building and today is known simply as the Guardian Building.

The Guardian Building is one of the most significant and striking Art Deco skyscrapers in the world!  

The building's taller north tower and small octagonal south tower are connected with a nave-like block similar to the plan of a cathedral.  In fact, the Guardian Building was once promoted as "the Cathedral of Finance."  Its grandeur was, and still is, unconventional.  Vistors are awestruck by the explosion of color, craftsmanship and blending of Native American, Aztec and Arts & Crafts influences.  

The exterior of the Guardian Building is faced with stunning tangerine colored bricks resting on a granite base.  Polychromed terra cotta on the upper stories was purposefully over-scaled to be seen by motorists on the street below.  

We no longer live in a leisurely age...the impression must be immediate, strong and complete.  Color has this vital power.

Wirt C. Rowland

Designed by Michigan architects, erected by Michigan contractors and built by Michigan artisans:  the Guardian Building is virtually a temple of Michigan commerece and ingenuity.  The Griswold Street entrance is crowned with a semi-dome lined with symbolic custom tiles by Mary Chase Stratton's Pewabic Pottery of Detroit. Michigan artist Ezra Winter designed the large glass mosaic featured in the main lobby as well as the spectacular mural in the original banking hall.  Flanking the sides of the main entrance are reliefs designed by Detroit's own architectural sculptor, Corrado Parducci.  In all, 40 artisans worked on the structure's painted murals and ceilings intricate tile work, mosaic and stained glass, marble fixtures and vaulted lobby.  

The lavish use of elegant and timeless materials is plentiful throughout the building.  Italian Travertine marble is used for steps and wall surfaces, contrasting with the deep red Numidian marble imported from Africa.  Brilliantly colored Rookwood tiles fill the lobby's vaulted ceiling.  Monel metal was used in the large ornamental screen dividing the banking hall and main lobby.  Even the office corridors and restrooms are lined in a Tavernelle marble from Tennessee.

The Guardian Building is a timeless depiction of creativity and accomplishment.  It represents a past era enriched by people who believed in the success of Detroit and its many cultures.  The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark, the highest honor given by the National Park Service.

Today, under new ownership and management, the Guardian Building encourages commerce in a new era.  Its strong foundation can once again provide a prestigious address for commerce and opportunity.  

The Guarding Building was designed for the future and shall long represent a spirit of innovation and commitment to success.

The Guardian Building offers a variety of event venue spaces available for rent including the Promenade and the Guardian Club.

The Guardian Building Executive Board Room

Interested in a "behind the scenes historical tour"?  Contact City Tour Detroit.

www.citytourdetroit.com

(313) 757-1283

Michigan Mural

by Ezra Winter

Winter's six-story Michigan map mural is his best-known in the state.

Ezra Augustus Winter, Muralist

1886-1949

Among his best-known works includes the Fountain of Youth

in the foyer

 of 

Radio City Music Hall.  

 

The Fox Theatre Marquee

2211 Woodward Avenue

The marquee while not original to the building has become one of Detroit's most recognizable landmarks!  

Detroit's Finest Entertainment 

Take one of the 16 doors leading into the lobby that opens to high ceilings and beautiful black and white marble floors.  The lobby is just the appetizer to the auditorium.  The oval-shaped, main auditoriium is surrounded by intricate arches that conceal pipes from the original organ, massive columns and decorative gilded plaster of elephants, griffins, dragons and birds.  What looks like drapery is solid, painted plaster that spills out from the center of the auditorium.   

The elephant that heads the proscenium arch.

The proscenium is 70' x 30' and is adorned 

with animals, human figures, starbursts and flowers.

Views of the auditorium from the stage.

The "Green Room" behind the stage is signed by hundreds of performers who have taken the stage at the Fox!

The Fox Theatre was the first to include escalators and elevators for patrons and the first in the world to have custom, built-in equipment for presenting talking movies.  Detroit's Fox Theatre was originally billed as "the most magnificent Temple of Amusement in the World".  Built to replace the outdated Fox Washington Theatre near Grand Circus Park which was deemed too outdated and small at 1,862 seats.  Since opening in 1928 countless audiences have taken in films and performances at the Fox. The imposing ten-story structure was designed by C. Howard Crane and was built as part of the theatre empire of film mogul William Fox.  He owned hundreds of movie houses nationwide and many of which were named "Fox".  The Detroit location was particularly lavish.  The original "house staff" of doormen, ushers, designers and matrons numbered more than 400.

Leather-lined elevator located in a small elevator lobby just north of the main lobby.

Made by Otis 

After entering through a bank of elegant brass doors and an outer foyer, guests pass into an ornate 3,600 square feet and a six-story high lobby decorated with butterflies, lions and peacocks.  Beyond this is the elaborate main auditorium and is ringed by a pillared promenade.  The best seating at the Fox are the so-called dinner suites.

Throughout the interior, ornamentation and decorations designed by Eve Leo, Fox's wife feature Egyptian, Indian and Oriental motifs.  The theatre also boasts a 36-rank Wurlitzer pipe organ in the auditorium and a 3-manual 13-rank Moller organ in the lobby.  

The Wurlitzer Organ

Between featured films, the Fox's troupe of chorus girls would entertain the audience.  Live shows ranged from the Benny Goodman Big Band to Berry Gordy's annual Motown Revue.

Its opening show was the film, Street Angel which premiered on September 21, 1928.  The theatre routinely grossed $75,000 a week when admission was 35 cents.  The Fox remained open through the 1940s and showed a variety of newsreels and movies from World War II.  In 1956, the theatre hosted three performances by Elvis Presley. Elvis is known for bringing in an audience of over 12,000 screaming fans in a theatre that could only held 5,048 seats.  In 1953, the theatre was the first in Michigan equipped for CinemaScope and premiered the epic picture The Robe.

Mike and Marian Ilitch purchased the Fox in 1987 and went through an 18-month, $12 million restoration to return it to its original grandeur. Ilitch headquartered their various business enterprises in the building's extensive office space.  They also undertook a full renovation of the theatre's neglected splendor.  In 2006, Atanas Ilitch Holdings announced the construction and addition of the iconic Fox Theatre blade sign featuring LED lights in 18-foot letters spelling "FOX". The new multi-storied marquee was made to replace the badly altered original.  It reopened on November 19, 1988 with a performance by Motown legend, Smokey Robinson with the Count Basie Orchestra.

The colors are going to be vibrant. The neon is going to be vibrant.  Everything about it is going to be new, state-of-the-art and vibrant.  It will have the warm glow of real neon that will continue to protect the aesthetic soul of the historic structure that began with Vaudeville shows and 35-cent talkies.

Roger Briddick, Detroit-based Fairmont Sign Project Manager

Today, Detroit's Fox Theatre ranks as one of the most magnificent and profitable entertainment destinations in the country.  The opulence of this theatre is something to experience, in person!  The Fox holds concerts and special events including "Sesame Street Live" and the Rockettes.

The Fox Theatre is a beautiful theatre opening as the flagship movie palace for the Fox Theatre Chain.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1985 and designated a National Historic Landmark on June 29, 1989.

An original Fox Theatre auditorium seat

at the

Detroit Historical Museum

Photo by Dan Austin of HistoricDetroit.org

Christmastime at the Fox.