Sudden Spring

Week 63: Hunstville, AL

The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it.
If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
--Tallulah Bankhead

After the shameful dilapidation and neglect of Detroit, there couldn't be a starker contrast than picturesque Huntsville. Civic pride is everywhere here; the streets, parks and buildings pristine and meticulously clean. Citations for "beautification" from the city are posted everywhere. It's so clean, the only graffiti I have seen here is one sentence scrawled in magic marker on the side of a building that reads, "Beauty is all around, waiting to be found!" Huntsville is sort of the epitome of a small Southern city--it reminds me a bit of Greenville, S.C. but not quite as hip and artsy. Our hotel and our venue, the Von Braun Civic Center, lie adjacent to charming Big Spring Park, which is beautifully landscaped, its pond inhabited by migratory flocks of geese.
The Hunstville Museum of Art is also located in the park. The handsome building is about ten years old, and while it seems to have a great deal of public support, it has no permanent collection on display and the current exhibits I found rather meagre and not especially interesting; although there was a collection of silver animals executed in exquisite detail by the Italian silver artisans at the House of Buccellati. The museum seems mainly to be a venue for events and weddings. Yet, Huntsville's true art exhibition is its extraordinary historic districts full of magnificent Federalist and antebellum homes.

On Wednesday of this week there was a sudden heat wave. The temperature rose into the 70's with humid balmy breezes and bright sunshine. I saw my first robins of spring as I roamed the Twickenham and Old Town Historic Districts, marveling at the period homes, all immaculately restored and wonderfully maintained. One historic home is open to the public and I stopped in for a very entertaining tour.
The Howard Weeden House was built in 1819 and was home to artist and poet Maria Howard Weeden. Weeden was born in the house, but her family had to flee when Union soldiers commandeered the home during the Civil War. Upon the return of the Weeden family, the house had been looted and the family was impoverished. Maria (who was called by her middle name, "Howard") had a talent for art and for writing and she became fascinated by the African American ex-slaves who lived in the Huntsville area. She began painting sensitive and finely executed portraits of various black inhabitants of the town, and published several books of her paintings which were accompanied by poems and "ballads" that Weeden wrote based upon the stories told to her by these early African Americans. The poems are written in the original dialect and are meant to capture the essence of the slave vernacular with authenticity and affection. Unfortunately her works are not only largely forgotten but there have been efforts to suppress them as being disrespectful to African Americans.
However, Weeden House director Barbara Lauster-Scott has great reverence for these works and has devoted herself to educating the public about Howard Weeden and her legacy, while single handedly keeping this historic home operating as a museum. Barbara alone is worth the $5 admission fee! A charming, articulate woman with a delightful sense of humor and a rich Southern drawl, Barbara can recite all 200 of Weeden's poems and gave us a sampling of them during our tour. She regaled us with history, ghost stories about specters seen and heard within the house, and delightful tales of the visitors who have passed through the museum. We were allowed to roam the house and take photographs following Barbara's 25 minute lecture. Regrettably, the museum receives no public funding and so the house is in disrepair and badly in need of restoration and refurbishment. The few objects and pieces of Federalist furniture are in a sorry state, although the house itself is a lovely early 19th century structure and there are several fine period portraits on display, as well as original etchings of Weeden's work. It seems to me that while that work is a reminder of the shameful history of slavery in America, it is also a record of a generation of African Americans that we otherwise wouldn't have; the paintings are so fine and so detailed that Selznick Studios used them as reference material for the design of the slave costumes in "Gone With the Wind." It's hard to believe that the State of Alabama, as well as organizations to preserve African American heritage, would not want to provide funding to keep this, the oldest historic home in Alabama that is continuously open to the public, in better condition for generations to come.




I suppose the most famous person to come out of Huntsville is the late, great Tallulah Bankhead.
This husky voiced, outrageous star from the golden age of Hollywood is one of my favorites. Her birthplace is still here, and there is a Bankhead Parkway, which is named after Tallulah's father, who was one of the leading citizens of Huntsville and a speaker in the House of Representatives. Tallulah started as a popular stage actress, originating many great roles including the viperous Southern belle Regina Giddons in "The Little Foxes," and went on to make many Hollywood films, most notably "Life Boat." She was famous for her cocaine habit and alcoholism, her bisexual antics, and for calling everyone 'Dahling'--which she admitted she did because she could never remember anyone's name. The anecdotes about Tallulah are legion (and I can pull any number of them out of a hat at parties, complete with vocal impressions of Bankhead), including the one in which she was meeting with Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House and had to use the toilet. She apparently kept the conversation going with the First Lady while seated on the pot with the door open! And this is one of the tamer tales of Tallulah's merry hijinks.

Huntsville has been nicknamed "Rocket City," as it is the home of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Redstone Arsenal. There are also tourist and family attractions like the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and the U.S. Space Camp. Some of the company members took a "field trip" to the center to take a dip in the large tanks that the astronauts use for zero gravity training. I opted not to take the plunge, but I am sure a good, wet time was had by all. I have been content to keep a simple schedule, absorb the quaint beauties of the town and perform for the enthusiastic crowds our show has attracted here in Huntsville. As quickly as the spring weather came, it vanished, the temperature plummeting and bringing with it a chilly wind. It's easy to endure the nippy air as we are heading to Florida next week for two whole weeks. Big sigh! I also received good news this week that I will be continuing on with the tour at least until fall, which means the highly anticipated West Coast premiere of "Spamalot" in San Francisco and Los Angeles this summer! The adventure continues...

Look who it is!
I was reunited with my dresser from Birmingham this week, the lovely Sandy. Sandy is a salt of the earth lady, and I was so happy to work with her again this week. As I mentioned back in Birmingham, she is a cancer survivor and a union activist, as well as a talented interior decorator. She had her birthday this week and it was nice to be able to celebrate with her. Well, it's off to palm trees and balmy breezes. I don't mean to rub it in, honest, but the Florida weather will be a welcome change.