Category Archives: History

Ark Rep production of prize winning CLYBOURNE PARK focus at Clinton School today

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ClybourneThe Arkansas Repertory Theatre works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting educational panel discussions on various Rep productions. The latest in these takes place today, Thursday, January 23 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.

Arkansas Repertory Theatre producing artistic director, Bob Hupp, will host a panel discussion on the upcoming production of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and 2012 Tony Award for Best Play.

Clybourne Park is a bitingly funny and fiercely provocative new play about the volatile combination of race and real estate. In 1959, a white couple sells their home to a black family, causing uproar in their middle-class neighborhood. Fifty years later in 2009, the same house is changing hands again and neighbors wage battle over territory and legacy revealing how far our ideas about race and gentrification have evolved.

Panelists director Cliff Fannin Baker, Jess Porter and John Kirk from the UALR History Department, along with Bob Hupp, will discuss how Clybourne Park relates to issues of race, real estate, history, and legacy in our own community.

Clybourne Park opens tomorrow night (with previews last night and tonight). It runs through Sunday, February 9. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evening performances are at 7 p.m., Friday, Saturday evening performances are at 8 p.m. Sunday Matinees performances are at 2 p.m.

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Preserve Our Past Art and Essay Invitational for students in grades 5-8 announced

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ahpp logoStudents in grades five through eight throughout Arkansas are invited to participate in the 23rd annual “Preserve Our Past” art and essay invitational sponsored by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, AHPP Director Frances McSwain announced earlier this month.

Students can enter an artwork or essay based on a historic Arkansas property that is at least 50 years old, focusing on how those places reflect Arkansas history or why it is important to preserve the state’s historic sites. All entries must be postmarked by April 1, 2014.

First-, second- and third-place winners in each category will receive a trophy and winners in the art division will have their artwork framed, while those awarded honorable mention will receive ribbons. All students who enter will receive a certificate. Winning entries will be displayed at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock throughout May, which is Arkansas Heritage Month.

For more information or an entry form, write AHPP Art and Essay Invitational, AHPP, 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201, call (501) 324-9786, send an e-mail inquiry to shelle@arkansasheritage.org, or download the form at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/preservation-services/youth-education/Pop.aspx. Please include your name and mailing address on any phone or e-mail messages.

The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.

Little Rock Look Back: Webb Hubbell, Little Rock’s 64th Mayor

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https://i0.wp.com/www.webbhubbell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Webb_0951-240x155.jpgOn January 18, 1948, future Little Rock Mayor Webster “Webb” Hubbell was born. After playing football in high school, he played for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.  He also received his law degree from the U of A.

At the age of 30, already a successful attorney, Hubbell was appointed to the Little Rock City Board of Directors to fill a vacancy in September 1978.  In 1980, he was elected to a four year term on the City Board.

In June 1979, there was a vacancy in the office of Mayor of Little Rock.  Hubbell was selected by his fellow City Directors to serve as Mayor until December 1980.  In January 1981, he was selected to serve another term as Mayor.  In June 1981, he stepped down as Mayor but continued to serve on the City Board of Directors.

In 1984, Hubbell was appointed to serve as Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court to finish out the term of Richard B. Adkisson.  Following his service on the court, he returned to the practice of law at the Rose Law Firm.  He later served as the Associate Attorney General in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration.

Hubbell resigned from the Justice Department due to an investigation of his billing practices at the Rose Law Firm, which stemmed from the Whitewater investigation.  Following conviction, he served time in prison.  Since his release he has been an author and management consultant.  His novel, When Men Betray, will be published by Beaufort Books in May 2014.

Little Rock Look Back: First Little Rock Council Meeting in 1832

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TowncouncilplaqueOn January 16, 1832, Mayor Matthew Cunningham MD presided over Little Rock’s first council meeting. Since Little Rock did not yet have a government hall, the Mayor and his wife hosted the meeting at their house. The Cunninghams owned the entire block which was bordered by what is now Main Street, 3rd Street, Louisiana Street and 4th Street.

A plaque at 3rd and Main Street commemorates this meeting and was placed there in the 1930s. The Cunningham’s house was likely closer to the southwest corner of the block. The plaque is on the Fulk building which contains Bennett’s Military Supply. The block also includes the Mann on Main project, which is comprised of the buildings originally constructed for the Gus Blass Department store.

Little Rock was chartered as a town in 1831 and elections were subsequently held. Dr. Cunningham outpolled Rev. W. W. Stevenson to become the first Mayor.

Joining Mayor Cunningham at the first meeting were the original four Town Council members – Charles Caldwell, Benjamin Clemens, David Holt and John McLain.

In 1931 a plaque, as part of Little Rock’s Centennial, a plaque was erected to note the first meeting. The plaque erroneously implies that the first meeting was in 1831. This mistake is understandable since the first election was in 1831. The plaque also refers to the body as the City Council. It was, in fact, the Town Council. There would not be a City Council until 1835 when Little Rock was elevated to City status.

Little Rock Look Back: Martin Borchert, Little Rock’s 57th Mayor

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https://i0.wp.com/www.ruebelfuneralhome.com/photos/img238.jpgOn January 16, 1916, future Little Rock Mayor Martin Borchert was born in Stuttgart.  After graduating high school he moved to Little Rock.  He started work at ACME Brick and spent 21 years there before engaging in other business interests.  Among these businesses were Martin Borchert Co., ASCO Hardware, Dtection Systems Inc. and Component Systems Inc.  In 2005 he was inducted into the Arkansas Construction Hall of Fame.

Mayor Borchert was elected to the Little Rock City Board of Directors in 1964 and served from January 1965 through December 1968. He chose not to seek a second term.  In 1967 and 1968 he served as Mayor of Little Rock. During this time, he laid out the vision for what has become Riverfront Park along the Arkansas River.

Other civic achievements included being a member of the Board of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, being on the Governor’s Citizens Advisory Committee, a member of the Pulaski County Quorum Court, vice chairman of the Arkansas Planning Commission, and being on the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council. In 1967 he served on the President’s National Advisory Council to the Small Business Administration. Mayor Borchert served on the Little Rock Water Commission, including a tenure as chairman. In 1985, he was chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Policy Board and as chairman oversaw the transfer of the Central Arkansas Transit system to the Central Arkansas Transit Authority. One of the achievements of which he was very proud of was that he was one of the very first in Arkansas to receive an Adopt the Highway road.

Mayor Borchert was married for 57 years to Rosemary “Biddy” Branch Borchert.  They had two children, a son, John “Topper” Borchert and a daughter, Leslie Borchert Wilson.  He died on May 11, 2007.

DOLLY turns 50 in Little Rock this week

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It was fifty years ago this week, on January 16, 1964, that HELLO, DOLLY! opened on Broadway.  The 50th anniversary national tour is playing in Little Rock tonight through Thursday (the actual 50th anniversary date).

Winner of ten Tony Awards including Best Musical, Hello, Dolly! is one of the most enduring Broadway classics. Emmy- award winning Sally Struthers (All In the Family, Gilmore Girls) stars as the strong-willed matchmaker Dolly, as she travels to Yonkers, NY to find a match for the ornery  “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire” Horace Vandergelder. Featuring an irresistible story and an unforgettable score including the title song, “Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “It Only Takes A Moment,” and the show-stopping “Before the Parade Passes By,” Hello, Dolly! has been charming audiences around the world for 50 years.

Joining Struthers in the cast are John O’Creagh as Horace Vandergelder, Matt Wolfe as Cornelius Hackl, Lauren Blackman as Irene Molloy, Garett Hawe as Barnaby Tucker, Halle Morse as Minnie Fay, Brad Frenette as Ambrose Kemper and Hilary Fingerman as Ermengarde.  Others in the cast are Michael Baxter, Zachary Berger, Erin Chupinsky, Joseph Cullinane, Brooke Robyn Dairman, Lucas Fedele, Michael Gorman, Jamey Hood, Liesl Jaye, Louis Jones, Lauren Krautmann, Joseph Nicastro, Michael J. Rios, Lisa Rohinsky, Taylor Schramm, Tony Triano and Paige Wheat.  Also in the cast is A.J. Hughes who played one of the leading roles in the 2012 Arkansas Rep production of White Christmas.

The production is directed by Jeffrey B. Moss and choreographed by Bob Richard.  Others on the creative team include Charlie Morrison (lighting design) and Peter Fitzgerald (sound design).  The production is produced by Big League Productions/Daniel Sher and is brought to Little Rock by Celebrity Attractions.

Hello, Dolly! features a score by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart.  It is based on Thornton Wilder’s 1955 play The Matchmaker, which was a reworking of his earlier effort The Merchant of Yonkers (which played roughly a month in 1938).  Wilder based his play on Johann Nestroy’s Einen Jux Will Sich Machen (which is loosely translated as “He Wants to Have a Lark”).  Nestroy’s play is based on the English play A Day Well Spent by John Oxenford.  Wilder took the minor character of the matchmaker and named her Dolly Gallagher Levi for The Merchant of Yonkers.  He expanded the part (though he himself termed it “minor revisions”) for the reworking of the play in the 1950s.  The new play starred Ruth Gordon as the meddling matchmaker.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

It is appropriate that Hello, Dolly! be one of the final touring shows to play Robinson Center Music Hall before it is closed for renovation.  Original star Carol Channing brought the production to Little Rock on her national tour, one of the first times an original Broadway star brought a show to Robinson.

Little Rock Look Back: Basketball Comes to Robinson Auditorium

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Entrance to Robinson off Garland Street. Used to attend basketball games.

Entrance to Robinson off Garland Street. Used to attend basketball games.

While Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium is known today as a performance and meeting venue, in its early days it was also the home to sports. Seventy-four years ago tonight the first basketball game was played at Robinson.

One of the first regular activities which took place in the lower level exhibition hall was a series of boxing and wrestling matches.  Building on the success of this, basketball came to the convention hall in January 1940.

A series of games featuring Little Rock High School and North Little Rock High School were announced by Coach Earl Quigley to take place from January 11 through February 16, the official opening day for the facility.

At that time, neither high school had a gymnasium; therefore both schools played their basketball games on their school auditorium stages with fans seated in the audience. The convention hall offered a regulation size floor (made of pecan block parquet) with seating for over 1,300 people along the sidelines and in the balcony.  The first men’s basketball game in Robinson Auditorium took place between the Little Rock High School Tigers and the North Little Rock High School Wildcats on January 11, 1940.

The Tigers lost the game before a crowd estimated to be 1,300.  Earlier in the evening there had been an exhibition between two women’s basketball teams.  The cost for admission to the games was 35 cents for the reserved seating and 25 cents for general admission.