Million Dollar Quartet, Final Theater Poster

Posted on by Thor

For this poster I did extensive research on what record album c overs looked like in 1956. The Million Dollar Quartet jam session took place on December 4, 1956, at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. It was an impromptu gathering featuring rock ‘n’ roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.  The session was a chance meeting where the four musicians played together, captured by Sun Records owner Sam Phillips. A local newspaper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar, published an article the following day featuring a photograph of the four men, leading to the “Million Dollar Quartet” nickname.

On my first pass at the poster, Elvis didn’t quite look like himself, so I had to tie him down some more.  I also did not have the red radiating beams which is an effect I saw on another album of the day. The beams reference Sun Studios where the performance happened. Those radiating beams gave the poster the pop that I was looking for.

Million Dollar Quartet is a Tony Award-nominated musical by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. The show brings this historic night to life with a score of their hit songs, telling a story of music, fame, and personal drama. The score includes over 20 chart-topping hits like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Walk the Line,” “Hound Dog,” and “Folsom Prison Blues”.

I unfortunately didn’t have the time to go to the show to sketch. There really should have been a sketch artist in the room when these 4 performed together. The show was   in honor of Harvey L. Massey. I once sat next to Harvey and his wife Carol in the Shakespeare Theater. They were seated in the seats above the entry doors. I decided that those seats were the perfect angle from which I should sketch the show. I asked if it was alright if I could sit next to them to sketch. Harvey was a huge supporter of the Orlando Shakes productions. Had I realized who he was at the time I might have been to intimidated to sit down next to him and sketch the show.

Harvey L. Massey, was the retired Chairman and CEO of Massey Services. Massey Services is the pest service that almost every Central Floridian uses to keep pests from their homes. The company grew to more than $200 million in revenues with more than 1,700 employees. He passed away peacefully on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at the age of 81.

Coney Island Drive Inn

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I drove west towards Weeki Wachee. Along the way we stopped at Coney Island Drive Inn (1112 E Jefferson St, Brooksville, FL 34601). This place has served the same huge foot long hot dogs and sausages for the past 40 years. Stepping in felt like going back to the 1950s. Elvis posters adorned the walls, along with vintage pop logos and advertising. I ordered a standard foot long with mustard and sauerkraut along with
fries. It was good. Pam naturally had something a little more interesting. I wish this place was closer to Orlando. If I had my way, I could live on hot dogs and pop. I taste the varieties of hot dogs much the way a sommelier tastes fine wines, and this was a rare blend.

They serve John Morrell all-meat Hot Dogs, both short and the
“World Famous” Foot Long Hot Dogs. Everything is cooked with
steam. The Hot Dogs can be served many ways and they will custom make
them any way requested. The Coney Sauce is a meat sauce
with no beans, or they also have a made from scratch chili with beans. They offer a variety of specialty Hot Dogs as well as Corn Dogs and many other sandwiches.

On July 7, 1960, Darrell and Gertrude Todd and family from Brooksville opened Coney Island Drive Inn in an old boat manufacturing building. In 1961 Elvis Presley was in Inverness, Florida filming a movie and legend has
it he ventured down to Coney Island Drive In for one of the famous foot longs. The business has changed owners four times over the years, but Fred Rice was the master hot dog slinger for over 24 years and he still keeps an eye on the place. If you are ever driving West on 50, this a definite required stop for a foot long.

Saint Pete’s Roman Catholic Church

Posted on by Thor

After sketching at the Lynching Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, I wandered the empty streets in search of another subject. I settled in to sketch Saint Pete’s Roman Catholic Church, but discovered the major problem of using a digital sketchbook on location… the battery dies.

A small wooden church was built on the site in 1833 and was dedicated in 1834.  A brick building which is part of the present structure was built in 1852. The current Spanish style tower and facade were added in 1882.

After the battery died I searched for a lunch spot where I might be able to recharge. I found Chris’ Hot Dogs which was opened by a Greek immigrant in 1917. Until the 1960s he offered curb side service which resulted in long lines of cars waiting to be served. The dogs are served with a secret chili sauce only known by a few family members. Millions of customers were served in the first 10 decades. President Franklin D. Roosevelt often ordered boxes of hot dogs when his presidential train traveled through town. Other presidents included Truman and George Bush one and two. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Hank Williams Jr., and Elvis Presley all sampled these delicious hot dogs. My two dogs were soggy with chili sauce, but quite good. People in the know, lined up at the bar and had their dogs within minutes.  I sat at the bar, which reminded me of the many bars in the south where sit-ins were held during the civil rights era.

I eventually found a plug in a public park, but by the time the pad was recharged, I decided I didn’t have time to go back to complete the sketch. It had to stay the way it was. It shows my loose thought process early in a sketch before details are added.

All Shook Up Brings the 50’s to Life in Mount Dora

Posted on by Thor

Opening the Sonnentag Theatre at the IceHouse‘s 67th season, All Shook Up, the Joe DiPietro musical features the love songs of Elvis Presley and characters and plot devices from “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare to Mount Dora. The plot was paper thin with characters that were stereotypes with no any depth. The show was a reason  to string together as many Elvis songs as possible. Love was the driving force for the action and the music with back up by a live band backstage was fun, fast paced and at times spectacular. The set designed by David Clevinger had a barrage of commercial images and scenes. It was much like the show with many elements thrown together with no single point of interest. I became frustrated by the many set changes which would force me to stop sketching as the theater went black.

A small Midwestern town’s  moral code is set by the Mame Eisenhower decency act. Then a roustabout (Fredy Ruiz) drives into town dressed like James Dean on a motorcycle. His motorcycle needs repair and Natelie, (Whitney Abell) the town mechanic is immediately smitten. She does everything she can to win the roustabout’s love and she doesn’t succeed until she decided to dress as a boy to approach him as a friend. The roustabout only has eyes for the exotic curator at the town museum (Carly Skubick) but she sees him as a brute with no culture. When she lets her hair down, watch out! Everyone in town seems to fall in love with the wrong person and then the show spins out of control to try and find balance and meaning in unrequited love.

Director, Darlin Barry, faced challenges bringing the show to the stage. The lead actor playing the roustabout wasn’t showing up to rehearsals so she had to do something. Fredy stepped into the roll from withing the cast of about 20 actors. When everyone including the ensemble are on stage dancing the stage is close to overflowing. I was made aware of this dress rehearsal by stage mom Kathy Wilhelm Witkowski, who’s daughter Corina was in the show. Corina introduced herself before the show and let me know that she had almost been in one of my sketches last year when I sketched the Buddy Holly Story at the Icehouse. She was on stage checking her cell phone on stage right and she walked back stage before I put her in the sketch. I kept my eyes open for her but she didn’t appear on stage until very late in the first act when she posed as a statue with five other women in the museum. It was a perfect sketch opportunity, and I penciled her in the sketch several times as a statue but couldn’t find a reason for showcasing a statue in the middle of the action that I had put in the sketch already. I had to erase her for the sake of the composition.

Sylvia, (Laurie Sullivan) who owns the local honky-tonk sang brilliantly. She courted Natalie’s widowed father Jim (David Coalter). Songs in the show include “Jailhouse Rock,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “One Night with
You,” “Love Me Tender”, “Devil in Disguise” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” A five-piece
band will accompany the singers with music director Justin Ward Weber on
keyboards. The music often bought back memories of working on Lilo and Stitch which incorporated many of these Elvis songs in the soundtrack.

All Shook Up is a simple fun summer romp. It runs July 18th to August 3rd.

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The show is already 85% sold out. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 on Thursday and for seniors. Student tickets range from $10 to $15. For reservations or for more information, call 352-383-4616.