Charlie Chaplin’s violin. John Wayne’s Stetson. Officer’s keys from one of the last men to leave the Titanic. Items associated with the 1910-1913 British exploration of Antarctica. A mechanism that will not only open your wine but pour you a glass. What would you bid to own a remnant of history? What does it mean toRead more
Blog
What is it about paper? Since high school, I have wandered through flea-markets, estate sales and now Ebay, collecting postcards, gum wrappers, motel soap wrappers, movie posters, maps, newspaper clippings, old scrapbooks, old photos, funny LP covers- the list goes on and on. As I have the opportunity, I will be sharing some of these thingsRead more
Sister Parish decorated Jackie and John Kennedy’s Georgetown townhouse, and they later asked her to do the family quarters at the White House. She claims they didn’t pay all their bills! When a newly married Duchess of York asked her to decorate her new home, Buckingham Palace canceled her commission. Having Sister Parish was way too expensive forRead more
Think of this the next time you send a package – an American success story
During the 1936 Summer Olympic games in Berlin under the disapproving eyes of Adolph Hitler, two track and field athletes, Nazi German Luz Long and Black American Jesse Owens, became unlikely friends.
In these days of mega-mansions and monster homes, it’s helpful to be reminded that celebrities did not always live in such palatial surroundings. Fred McMurray starred on his own TV series and in over a hundred movies in a career that lasted almost 5o years. When he bought his 1,500 acre ranch in 1941, he chose toRead more
Andy Warhol is reported to have gone to Catholic mass everyday. His subjects include a reinvented Christian iconography seldom recognized as such until after his death. Could his little seen film, Sunset, from 1967, be related to this exploration of spiritual subjects? Susie Tommaney explains how the film came to be: “During the Age of Aquarius, Menil Collection foundersRead more
This story sounds like something out of National Inquirer, but it’s true. Mary Todd never saw the wedding gift Abraham Lincoln bought for her in 1841. Instead he gave it to Mary Curtis. It’s now on the market where you can buy it for for $175,000. Here’s the link to read where.Read more
My friend, Fred Smith, shared this short essay on his grandfather’s life. I have thought about it often and wanted to share it. It’s a good reminder for those of us who share on social media and write blogs: “My grandfather, Bunyan Smith, was a pastor in one of the poorest sections of Nashville, andRead more
Those of us who have been involved a long time in the arts have visited hundreds of exhibits in both galleries and museums. Very few are as hard-hitting and memorable as one I saw last week at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin. Goya:Mad Reason is an exhibition of nearly 150 printsRead more
