E.T. The Extraterrestrial presented by the FWSO Pops Concert

FWSO POPS CONCERT
E.T. The Extraterrestrial

The first Sunday in September, The Travelling Toe and a Dear Friend attended the matinee performance of the FWSO Pops Concert, featuring E.T. The Extraterrestrial.  

The orchestra was led by guest conductor.Constantine Kitsopoulos.

Constantine Kitsopoulos
Guest Conductor

How the concert worked was that a huge movie screen rolled down from the ceiling at Bass Hall to center stage and the Steven Spielberg movie was projected on the giant screen, while the FWSO provided live musical accompaniment.  Yes, they were able to pick the right place in the movie for a short intermission that did not interfere with the flow of the movie.  

E.T. The Extraterrestrial
movie poster

The concert was so enjoyable.  A fun movie with live music played by world class musicians!

There were 2 young boys sitting next to us at the concert and first of all they were very well behaved and thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie. If you have seen it then you know the scene towards the end where several young lads take off on their bicycles and E.T. helps them fly in the sky, well the 2 young boys next to us were so excited and loved seeing this scene.  And in full disclosure, The Travelling Toe must admit she and Dear Friend enjoyed it too.

Any music composed by John Williams is always a special treat to hear.

John Williams
composer

"Cafe Society" (movie critique)

CAFE SOCIETY
movie poster

Before it left the area, The Travelling Toe and a Dear Friend went to see Woody Allen's latest movie, "Cafe Society".  Woody wrote the screenplay, directed it and also provided the narrative during the movie.

The movie opens with the story of a young man, Bobby Dorfman, who lives in NYC and works for his father, a jeweler. But Bobby is looking for a more exciting career.  He decides to leave NYC for the glitz and glamour of the 1930's Hollywood scene.  His mother's brother, Phil is an important talent agent in the film industry.  Phil eventually decides to employ Bobby as his gofer.  Vonnie, Phil's young secretary, shows Bobby all around Hollywood and Bobby begins to fall in love with her.  But Vonnie tells Bobby she is in love with a married man and he is planning to leave this wife for her.  Well, Dear Readers, you can read the handwriting on the wall on that one, because Uncle Phil is her lover.  When Bobby finds out the truth, he leaves Hollywood and returns to NYC.  His gangster brother, Ben, has "inherited" a thriving nightclub.  Bobby takes over the management of the nightclub and makes it even more successful. Bobby eventually meets and falls in love with another Veronica.  They get married and have a baby.  One night while Bobby is working at the nightclub, he sees Phil and Vonnie coming through the door.

So Dear Readers, do Bobby and Vonnie rekindle their romance?  Or do they decide to stay with their current mates, Vonnie in Hollywood with Phil and Bobby in NYC with Veronica? As you know faithful readers, The Travelling Toe does not reveal the end of any story.


CAST

Jesse Eisenberg
Bobby Dorfman

Steve Carell
Phil

Kristen Stewart
Vonnie

Blake Lively
Veronica

Woody Allen

The best parts of the movie were the period clothes and hairstyles, plus those fabulous cars and the Big Band music.  They all played a major part in making this movie a real tribute to the golden age of Hollywood.

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 2 middle toes up with a Singapore Sling!

Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.

"Florence Foster Jenkins" (movie critique)

FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS
movie poster

Recently the Friday Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe picked "Florence Foster Jenkins" as the movie of the week.  The movie is based on events surrounding a real person, Florence Foster Jenkins.  

Florence Foster Jenkins
internet photo

The events take place in the later 1940's in New York City.  Florence, even as a young girl, dreamed of having a musical career as she was a promising pianist.  However due to nerve damage to her hand, she could not continue her dreams of becoming a classical pianist.  So she changed directions and channeled her efforts into pursuing a career as an opera singer. The only issue with that career path was that she could not carry a tune.  Her husband and manager, St.Clair Bayfield, went to great lengths to ensure she never heard or read the bad reviews of her performances.  She was a great benefactor to various musical establishments in NYC so Florence was indulged.  Eventually, Florence decided that she must present a program at Carnegie Hall. In order to do that she needed a pianist, so she held auditions for an accompanist. One young man, Cosme McMoon, was hired not really knowing what he was going to be asked to do   When it came time for the concert at Carnegie Hall, St.Clair and Cosme were very worried about how the audience would react to her unique singing style.  Unbeknownst to St. Clair she had mailed out over a 1,000 tickets to solders and sailors so they could attend the performance. The concert hall was full and as the curtain comes up, Florence walks center stage and Cosme begins to play the introduction to the first selection.

So Dear Readers, if you saw the movie then you know what happened at the concert.  And if you did not see the movie then you will just have to go see it or at least read about it. And her recordings are still available.  Florence became a legend not only for what she did do, but for what she so valiantly tried to do. We all have dreams and sometimes they do come true.

Meryl Streep
Florence Foster Jenkins

Hugh Grant
St.Clair Bayfield

Simon Helberg
Cosme McMoon

Side Note:

Simon Helberg plays Cosme McMoon.  You might know him as Howard on "The Big Bang Theory".  He was excellent in this role and it was enjoyable to seeing him playing a different type of character.

This is a sweet, funny and sometimes sad movie but we felt it was so worth seeing.  The Travelling Toe gives this movie 1 big toe up with a bag of ear plugs!

                                                            ear plugs for all




Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.

"Calendar Girls" presented by Theatre Arlington

CALENDAR GIRLS
play program

Before another round of bronchitis hit The Travelling Toe, she along with 2 Dear Friends, attended the Sunday afternoon performance of "Calendar Girls" presented by Theatre Arlington.  If the name of the play sounds familiar to you is that it was a very successful movie in 2003. In 2008, it was adapted to the format of a stage play by Tim Firth.

Tim Firth
playwright

The play program describes the story as follows:

When Annie's husband dies of leukemia, she and her friend Chris, resolve to raise money for the local hospital by creating and selling a calendar.  They manage to persuade four other friends and fellow WI groups members to pose nude with them for the "alternative" calendar, which turns out to be a huge success.  But Chris and Annie's friendship is tested with the resulting media circus and their new-found fame.  Based on an uplifting and very impressive true story of eleven WI members who posed nude to raise money for the Leukemia Research Fund, this quirky, poignant and hilarious story will touch your heart and your funny bone.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the play so much and the actresses were very good and for the most part were able to maintain the British accent needed.  They were extremely brave when it came time to pose for the calendar pictures on stage in front of the audience.  But it was very discreetly done in good taste.

Calendar Girls
show photo

To find out more about the Women's Institute in England, click on the link below.

Women's Institute

Waggoner Mansion Decatur, TX

WAGGONER MANSION
picture from pinterest

While visiting the town of Decatur, several of the local folks told us about the Waggoner Mansion.  It sits on a small hill at the end of Main Street.  The house is privately owned and is not open to the public.  Which is sort of a shame as this would be a big tourist draw, especially if it was part of the candlelight tour at the holidays.

Dan Waggoner, a cattle baron, build the house in 1883.  It sits on over 13 acres of land.  It is make of fossiliferous limestone and has an ornate cupola on the roof line.  In it's time it was known as "El Castile".  


Wise County Historical Society

According to the Wise County Historical Society website, the house has a large basement, 16 rooms, 6 1/2 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms downstairs.  Apparently about 90% of it's original craftsman details and materials has been retained.  The article indicates that the interior is in good condition.  However, we saw that the exterior sports many windows boarded over with plywood.  There are numerous "No Trespassing" signs all around the property so The Travelling Toe could only capture a few images of this mysterious mansion.  It is sheltered by large bushes and trees.

Two photos below by The Travelling Toe.

In the photo to the right, the wood covered windows can be seen.  However, above the plywood, it appeared that the original leaded glass windows were intact.






El Castile is a fine example of a Texas Victorian home.  










One interesting factoid about this house is that it served as the template for Reata in the movie "Giant" staring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.  Compare the picture at the top of the page, to this one of Reata.  It seems to reflect an interesting resemblement between the two houses.

REATA
from "Giant"

Stick with The Travelling Toe and you will learn all sorts of trivia tidbits!

Wise County Courthouse Decatur, TX

WISE COUNTY COURTHOUSE
DECATUR, TX

The current Wise County Courthouse was built in 1896 in the Richardson Romanesque style .  The architect was J. Riely Gordon who was also the architect for the Ellis County Courthouse.  The Travelling Toe has a previous post on it.

The edifice is made of pink granite.  It was cut on site at the quarry in Burnet County, Texas.  Each block was numbered and shipped to the site.  Vermont white marble was used on the interior. The tower clock was purchased in 1896 from the E.Howard & Company, clock company. 

To learn more about the E.Howard & Company clock company click on the following link:


E.Howard & Company

 The picture above shows one the several turrets on the courthouse.

metal fire escapes on the side of
the courthouse 

There are various memorials and plaques on the grounds of the courthouse.

Decatur was part of the Chisholm Trail and several markers on the courthouse grounds are on display to celebrate this piece of Texas history.

Chisholm Trail
marker

Chisholm Trail
marker

In the photo to the right to honor the Chisholm Trail, is a closer look at the beautiful pink granite as well the detailed engraving of the stone.  Very impressive


















Inside the courthouse, we found this fabulous and detailed wood door frame for the District Clerk's office.  The Texas Lone Star is carved on each side of the frame.

District Clerk's office

The Wise County Courthouse is on the National Registery of Historic Places and also designated a Texas Historic Landmark.

Photo above taken by The Travelling Toe from across the square.  Actually in front of Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes!

Day Trip to Decatur, TX

Wise County Courthouse

Recently The Travelling Toe and the Day Trip Divas drove about an hour northwest of Fort Worth, to visit the neighboring town of Decatur, which is the county seat for Wise County.

Wise County was named after Virginian, Henry A Wise, around 1856. The city of Decatur was named in honor of a Revolutionary War naval hero, Stephen Decatur, Jr.  (it doesn't appear he ever came to Texas and is buried in Philadelphia) 

Stephen Decatur, Jr

The Wise County Courthouse sits on a lovely square in downtown Decatur.  It will be featured in a separate post.

Surely you have heard the expression "Eighter From Decatur". In 1949, It was even a title of a popular C&W song by Bob Wills.  It seems that the true meaning of that phase has to do with a local cowpoke named Will Cooper.  When he rolled the dice for his sweetheart Ada,   he would call out, "Ada From Decatur, County Seat of Wise". Others eventually took up the expression and it was somehow changed to "Eighter From Decatur" meaning a hard eight dice roll.  Now we all know!

Wise County Heritage
Museum

Decatur Baptist College sign

Wise County Heritage
 Museum sign

Designation of the building as a
Texas Historical Landmark and
the National Registry of Historic Places 

After visiting the Wise Courthouse, we drove a short distance to tour the Wise County Heritage Museum.  It sits on a hill and it a beautiful old building.  It was formerly the home of Decatur Baptist College.  There were lots of interesting exhibits of early life on the Texas prairie. One of the fun things we saw was this old switchboard.  OK, we could not help ourselves, we had to laugh thinking about the old "Laugh-In" show with Ernestine and her "one ringy dingy".  

old switchboards

wagon wheel made from
different types of barbed wire

restored log cabin
on the grounds

After we finished at the museum, we decided it was time for a 

little retail therapy at the cute antique shops on the square. By then we were ready to have some grub.  We decided to eat at "Sweetie Pie's Ribeyes".  Ok, we really did not not have any ribeyes, we all had chicken salad sandwiches with fries, which were mighty good. There were several tables filled with men ordering a humongous ribeye pot pie.  The 3 of us could not have finished one of those even if we had shared it. Their popovers were yummy too. Since we had walked a spell, we decided that dessert was required and we each ordered an apricot fried pie.  It was served pipping hot and was so delicious. The only thing that could have made it better was a big ole scoop of vanilla ice cream....oh well, one can dream!

After dessert, we decided we better mosey on home and took off.  We did make one quick stop to get some photos of the Waggoner Mansion that sits at the end of Main Street.  The mansion was built by Dan Waggoner, a well know cattle man.  A separate post will describe this once beautiful but now rather derelict family mansion.

Waggoner Mansion

One more stop on our way to hitting highway 287 was the Petrified Wood Gas Sation.  It was built in 1927 by EF Boydston and in 1935, he covered it's exterior with chucks of petrified wood.  The cafe next door was also covered as well as the motor court that sits behind the gas station.   A grandson of Mr. Boydston restored the buildings to it's former glory.The cafe is still a thriving business based on all the pick-up trucks parked there at lunch time.  And it looked as if some folks were staying in the motor courts as well.  

Petrified Wood Gas Station

Petrified Wood Gas Station

Texas Historical Landmark

Petrified Wood Motor Courts

Well, that was the end of our exciting trip to Decatur, Texas.  As Dale and Roy once said, "Happy Trails to you till we meet again".

largest cities of Wise County