Monthly Archives: December 2019

Moscow Ballet’s GREAT RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER at Robinson Center for two performances today

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This Christmas season give your family the gift of Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker!

Step into a simpler time filled with sweet dreams and Christmas magic. With world-class artists, over 200 dazzling costumes, stunning sets, towering puppets and soaring birds, don’t miss your chance to ring in the holidays with this acclaimed Christmas extravaganza.

The New York Times, “Hot Ticket!” Celebrate this cherished holiday tradition and relive the dream with Tchaikovsky’s timeless score. Get tickets for the whole family now!

MOSCOW BALLET’S GREAT RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER will perform at 3:00 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 26, 2019.  Platinum tickets include Premium Nutcracker Ornament, a Moscow Ballet Book, and a pre-show Meet and Greet.  Gold Circle tickets receive a Premium Nutcracker Ornament and the official Moscow Ballet Book.  VIP ornaments and books can be purchased at the merchandise table.  Meet and Greet will begin 45 minutes prior to the showtime and will meet at the merchandise table.

New York Times, Chief Dance Critic, “Knockout… Brimful with feeling…Expansive… Kids…were wide-eyed with delight”

Christmas Child – future Broadway star Fay Templeton born on Dec. 25, 1865

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Though largely forgotten today, Little Rock native Fay Templeton was one of the leading stars of vaudeville and Broadway in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

She was born in Little Rock on Christmas Day in 1865.  Her parents were touring here with the Templeton Opera Company. Her father, John Templeton, was a well-known Southern theatre manager, comedian, and author. Her mother, Helen Alice Vane, starred with her husband.  The family of three left Little Rock a few weeks after Fay was born, once her mother was able to travel.

She made her stage debut at age three, and her New York vaudeville debut at eight. At fifteen, she married a co-star but separated after six weeks.  She made her legitimate New York stage debut at nineteen in a revival of Evangeline.

In the late 1880s and early 1890s, she spent most of her time in Europe, appearing on stage and touring shows.  By 1895, she was back on stage in New York.  She then starred in a series of shows first for the vaudeville team of Joe Weber and Lew Fields, later for George M. Cohan. She introduced the songs “So Long Mary” and “Mary Is a Grand Old Name” in the latter’s Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway.  Her work with Cohan is portrayed in the Oscar winning film Yankee Doodle Dandy and in the Tony winning musical George M!

She retired from the stage after marrying Pittsburgh businessman William Patterson. But by 1911, Fay was once again touring with Weber and Fields.  She retired again in 1913, this time staying off stage until 1926. She then played the role of Buttercup in a revival of HMS Pinafore and would be known as the definitive Buttercup for the rest of the 1920s and into the 1930s.  When her husband died in 1932, she returned to the stage.  In 1933, she starred with Bob Hope in the Jerome Kern musical Roberta.

In 1936, she entered the Actors’ Fund Home in New Jersey, but later moved to San Francisco to live with a cousin.  She died there on October 3, 1939, and is buried in Valhalla, New York.

Templeton returned to Little Rock several times throughout her life as she was criss-crossing the US on tours.

Christmas Day birth of Eli Colby, youngest person to serve as Little Rock Mayor

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On Christmas Day in 1814, future Little Rock Mayor Eli Colby was born in Warner, New Hampshire.

At the age of 23, he moved to Little Rock in 1838.  After arriving, he soon became the editor and publisher of the Times and Advocate newspaper.  As a publisher and printer, Colby also had the contract to print official state notifications and documents in the early 1840s.

Politically, Colby served as a Justice of the Peace for several years.  In September 1843, he was elected Mayor of Little Rock in a special election to fill a vacancy. He was 28 years and nine months old, making him the youngest mayor in Little Rock’s history.  He left office in January 1844.  He died March 15, 1844, at the age of 29 after a long illness and was buried with Masonic honors.

No image of him is known to exist.

An early Christmas present in 1937, Robinson Auditorium groundbreaking on Christmas Eve

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On December 24, 1937, at 11:30 a.m., Little Rock Mayor R. E. Overman, Ewilda Gertrude Miller Robinson (the widow of Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson) and  Alexander Allaire of the PWA turned dirt to participate in the brief groundbreaking ceremony for Little Rock’s municipal auditorium.

That morning, the Arkansas Gazette ran a brief story on the upcoming groundbreaking.  The story mentioned that the building would be named in memory of the late beloved Arkansas politician.  This appears to be the first public pronouncement of the Robinson name for this civic structure.

Among others in attendance at the groundbreaking were Mrs. Charles Miller (sister-in-law of Mrs. Robinson), Mr. and Mrs. Grady Miller (brother and sister-in-law of Mrs. Robinson), the mayor’s wife, the three architects (George Wittenberg, Lawson Delony and Eugene John Stern), and D. H. Daugherty and Will Terry of the City’s Board of Public Affairs.

Construction had to start by January 1, 1938, in order to receive PWA funds.  By breaking ground on December 24, there was over a week to spare.  The site had been selected in late October 1937, and the purchase had not been finalized.  But the PWA did give permission for the City to let a contract for excavation, demolition and filling on the site.

The groundbreaking took place at the corner of Garland and Spring Streets which was on the northeast corner of the block set aside for the auditorium.  Today, Spring Street does not extend north of Markham; the street was closed to make way for the parking structure and what is now the Doubletree Hotel.  That section of Garland Street is basically an alley that runs parallel to Markham north of City Hall, Robinson Auditorium and the Doubletree Hotel.

Little Rock chosen as 2020 Hottest Foodie City!

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Little Rock has been named “America’s Next Hottest Foodie Destination 2020” by the Foodie Flashpacker blog. Little Rock won 39% of public votes, beating out 32 other cities from around the country including Walla Walla, WA, Albuquerque, NM, Dallas, TX and Minneapolis, MN.

No other city even came close to Little Rock!

Food and travel bloggers, and general public were invited to vote for Little Rock.  Voting started on December 16 and ran for a week.

Foodie Flashpacker Nathan Aguilera has spent the past six years traveling and eating dishes across 60+ countries on 5 continents. Nathan shares his experiences with people everywhere through the Foodie Flashpacker blog.

Happy Festivus! Prepare for those Feats of Strength and Airing of Grievances

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In honor of Festivus 2019, here is a photo of Jason Alexander (aka George Costanza) when he was at Arkansas Rep in January 2016 to conduct auditions for the play WINDFALL which he directed at the Rep.  He is pictured with Bob Hupp, who was then Producing Artistic Director of Arkansas Rep.

Alexander has continued collaborating with Hupp at Syracuse Stage, where the latter went in 2016.

Little Rock resident Judge Reinhold was not in THAT “Seinfeld” episode, but did star in another iconic epsiode as “The Close Talker.”