« Previous

Ava Gardner Festival Features Heritage Tours

Published at: 03:07 pm - Thursday July 29 2010

At each year’s Ava Gardner Festival, one of the most popular parts remains the heritage tour that gives fans an opportunity to visit places significant to Ava in her hometown.

On Saturday, October 9th, heritage tours will be scheduled throughout the day.  Visitors will be shown points of interest in Ava’s hometown and will end with a visit to her gravesite at Sunset Memorial Park.

The Little Brown Jug

The Little Brown Jug, located at 100 West Market Street, has long been THE corner bar in Downtown Smithfield.  Earlier this year there was a threat that The Little Brown Jug may be torn down for the new bridge to be built over the Neuse River, but thankfully, the distinctive building was saved.  Jack Gardner, Ava’s brother, built it in the 1940s.

Howell Theatre

The Howell Theatre, located at 141 South Third Street, was built in 1922 by Mr. Rudolph Howell as a one-screen cinema, seating approximately 600 movie-goers. It was built in the heart of downtown Smithfield, NC, becoming an integral part of the downtown business community.

In 1932, Ava’s mother, Mollie, took Ava to see Red Dust starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow at the Howell Theatre in downtown Smithfield. Little did Mollie or Ava realize that Ava would later star with Gable in the successful remake of this picture: Mogambo.

Ava Gardner’s Birthplace

Ava Gardner was born at 740 Avenue Road in the Grabtown area of the Brogden community southeast of Smithfield.  As a toddler, she climbed out onto the porch roof and had to be coaxed back into the house with the promise of a bowl of peaches.  Today the home is owned by the Allen family and is their residence.

Brogden Teacherage

From ages 2 to 13, Ava and her family lived in the “teacherage”—a boarding house for young lady teachers at the local Brogden school.  Jonas Gardner labored as the caretaker and Mollie Gardner served as the cook for the residents of the house.  The Gardners lived here until effects of the Great Depression forced the Teacherage to close.

In the early 1980s Dr. Tom Banks saved the Teacherage from being demolished, and operated the first Ava Gardner Museum within this building during the summer for nine years.  Located at 7209 Brogden Road, this home is owned by the Wayne White family and is their residence.

Sunset Memorial Park

Ava Gardner requested that her remains return home to be laid to rest along side her parents and siblings.  Ava’s gravesite is located one mile from the museum, at the intersection of Highways 70 Business and 210.

Heritage tour passes are $10.00 and will be available for purchase October 8th.

For more information about the festival, including Festival Package rates, please call the museum at 919-934-5830.

Posted in: Ava Gardner Museum by Director No Comments , , , , ,

Ava Gardner Festival Package Available!

Published at: 03:07 pm - Thursday July 22 2010

The Ava Gardner Museum is offering a special Festival Package for Two for $99 that includes:  access to the Festival Gala, festival-long museum admission, heritage tour passes, and movie tickets to all films.  Purchasing the Festival Package is a savings of more than $30.  

The Ava Gardner Festival Gala, scheduled for Friday, October 8th, is an exclusive event with a guest list held to only 150 attendees.  The Museum will unveil its newest exhibit, Ava on the Small Screen, allowing attendees of the Gala to be the very first to see the new exhibit.  Items from Ava’s television projects The Long Hot Summer, Harem, A.D., and multiple appearances in the television series Knot’s Landing will be featured.  This exhibit will run through the end of May 2011. 

On Saturday, October 9th, heritage tours will be scheduled throughout the day.  Visitors will be shown points of interest in Ava’s hometown, including Ava’s birthplace, the Teacherage where she grew up, the Howell Theater where Ava first went to the movies, and will end with a visit to her gravesite at Sunset Memorial Park. 

During the Festival, the classic Ava Gardner films The Barefoot Contessa and The Night of the Iguana will be screened at the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield during the afternoon of Saturday, October 9th.  That evening at 7:30 PM, the musical Show Boat will be screened at the Neuse River Amphitheatre, 200 Front Street, Smithfield Town Commons. 

For accommodations, two local hotels are offering special Ava Gardner Festival discounts.  The Best Western Smithfield Inn (919-989-4047) is offering a special rate of $64.00 + tax and the Sleep Inn & Suites of Smithfield (919-209-2360) is offering a 15% discount on rates.  Call the hotel directly and mention the Ava Gardner Festival to take advantage of these special discounts.

For more information about the Ava Gardner Festival or to take advantage of the Ava Gardner Festival Package, please call the Ava Gardner Museum at 919-934-5830.

Posted in: Ava Gardner Museum, Events, Exhibits, Films by Director No Comments , , , , ,

Celebrate John Huston’s Birthday at the Ava Gardner Museum

Published at: 11:07 am - Tuesday July 20 2010

The first time they met, he chased her around his pool in San Fernando Valley. The second time they met, they became lifelong friends.

John Huston actually played a small part in Ava’s breakout role in The Killers, having adapted the Hemingway short story to the screenplay with Anthony Veiller.  But it was their work on The Night of the Iguana that brought the two Hollywood legends together.  Ava said of the film that it was the “start of my relationship with John, one of the greatest and most enduring friendships of my life, one that lasted until the day he died.”

They later worked together on other projects, including The Bible and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. “The director I trusted most of all was John Huston.  Working with him gave me the only real joy I’ve ever had in movies,” recounted Ava in her autobiography Ava: My Story.

To celebrate their friendship, the Ava Gardner Museum will offer “Buy One, Get One Free” admission Thursday, August 5th – John Huston’s 104th birthday.  Visitors only need to mention that it is John Huston’s birthday to receive this special discount.

The Night of the Iguana will be shown during the 2010 Ava Gardner Festival, scheduled for October 8-9, which marks the 10th anniversary of the Ava Gardner Museum.

Posted in: Ava Gardner Museum, Day to Day, Events by DocentSarah No Comments , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ava Gardner Festival Gala

Published at: 03:07 pm - Thursday July 15 2010

The Ava Gardner Festival Gala, scheduled for Friday, October 8th, is an exclusive event with a guest list held to only 150 attendees.  The Museum will unveil its newest exhibit, Ava on the Small Screen, allowing attendees of the Gala to be the very first to see the new exhibit.  Items from Ava’s television projects The Long Hot Summer, Harem, A.D., and multiple appearances in the television series Knot’s Landing will be featured.

Tickets to the Gala are $50 per person.

A Silent Auction will also be held during the Festival Gala.  Items up for auction in the past have included vacations, gift certificates to local businesses, and even Ava memorabilia.

“The Gala is a glamorous affair Ava fans look forward to every year as a kickoff to the annual festival, as well as to be the first to see the newest exhibit.  It is also the Museum’s largest fundraiser and for years has been successful in raising much needed funds for Museum exhibits and programs,” stated Jessica Meadows Hammett, Executive Director of the Ava Gardner Museum.

The Ava Gardner Museum is offering a special Festival Package for Two for $99 that includes:  access to the Festival Gala, festival-long museum admission, heritage tour passes, and movie tickets to all films.  Purchasing the Festival Package is a savings of more than $30.

For more information about the Ava Gardner Festival or for tickets to the Gala, please call the Ava Gardner Museum at 919-934-5830.

Posted in: Ava Gardner Museum by Director No Comments , , , , ,

2010 Ava Gardner Festival

Published at: 03:07 pm - Thursday July 08 2010

Each year the Ava Gardner Museum celebrates Ava’s life and career by hosting the Ava Gardner Festival.  This annual event includes heritage tours, screenings of classic Ava Gardner films, and special exhibits.

This year’s festival will kickoff during the Ava Gardner Festival Gala on Friday evening, October 8th and will continue Saturday, October 9th from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.   The 2010 Ava Gardner Festival marks the 10th anniversary of the Ava Gardner Museum.

In August of 1999, the Museum’s board made an investment in downtown Smithfield by purchasing and renovating a 6,400 square foot building that became the permanent home for the Museum’s vast collection.  In October 2000, the new Ava Gardner Museum opened its doors and has continued to draw national and even worldwide attention with approximately 12,000 visitors each year.  The Sixth Annual Ava Gardner Festival will celebrate the many years of hard work to bring the Ava Gardner Collection to a permanent location.

At the Gala on Friday, October 8th, the Museum will unveil its newest exhibit in the Museum’s largest showcase, Ava on the Small Screen. Ava’s last film projects were two made for television movies (The Long Hot Summer and Harem), one mini-series (A.D.), and multiple appearances in the television series Knot’s Landing, all of which were received with positive reviews of her performance.  Costumes from all of these projects will be on display, along with interpretive panels detailing Ava’s career on television.  This exhibit will run through the end of May 2011.  Tickets to the Gala are $50 per person and all-day admission to the Museum on Saturday, October 9th is $5.00 for everyone.

On Saturday, October 9th, heritage tours will be scheduled throughout the day.  Visitors will be shown points of interest in Ava’s hometown, including Ava’s birthplace, the Teacherage where she grew up, the Howell Theater where Ava first went to the movies, and will end with a visit to her gravesite at Sunset Memorial Park.  Heritage tour passes are $10 per person.

During the Festival, the classic Ava Gardner films The Barefoot Contessa and The Night of the Iguana will be screened at the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield during the afternoon of Saturday, October 9th.  That evening at 7:30 PM, the musical Show Boat will be screened at the Neuse River Amphitheatre, 200 Front St., Smithfield Town Commons.  All film screenings are free to the public.

The Ava Gardner Museum is also pleased to partner with the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation as they host the Fourth Annual Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival. The Independent Film aspect is separate from the Museum, but will run prior and concurrently with the Museum event in Downtown Smithfield.  For more information about the Fourth Annual Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival, please call Chris Johnson, Executive Director of the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation, at 919-934-0887.

For accommodations, two local hotels are offering special Ava Gardner Festival discounts.  The Best Western Smithfield Inn (919-989-4047) is offering a special rate of $64.00 + tax and the Sleep Inn & Suites of Smithfield (919-209-2360) is offering a 15% discount on rates.  Call the hotel directly and mention the Ava Gardner Festival to take advantage of these special discounts.

For more information about the festival, including Festival Package rates, please call the museum at 919-934-5830.

Posted in: Ava Gardner Museum, Events, Exhibits, Films by Director 1 Comment , , , ,

Vote for Ava to be “Most Beautiful American Woman of All Time”!

Published at: 11:06 am - Wednesday June 30 2010

Stylelist is doing a poll to find “The Most Beautiful American Woman of All Time.”  Ava made the list of choices and is now at 5%.  The top 5 currently are:  Grace Kelly at 28%, Jaclyn Smith at 10%, Halle Berry is at 8%, Marilyn Monroe at 5% and our Ava.

Vote for Ava as Most Beautiful American Woman of All Time TODAY and spread the word!

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/06/29/most-beautiful-american-woman-of-all-time-vote-now

Posted in: Misc, Press by Director 5 Comments , ,

The Most Photographed Woman In the World Exhibit is Now Open!

Published at: 10:05 am - Saturday May 22 2010

This past Thursday night brought out many members of community as we all came together to celebrate the opening of the FIRST Ava Gardner Museum multi-media exhibit, The Most Photographed Woman In the World.  Together with the Greater Smithfield Selma Chamber of Commerce, which also held their monthly Business After Hours at the Museum, the evening was a smashing success!  Lots of smiles and positive comments as attendees mixed and mingled with each other all the while viewing the new exhibit and the rest of the Museum’s collections.  Here are a few pictures captured from the evening:

Attendees hear from Jessica Medows Hammett, Executive Director of the Ava Gardner Museum and Rick Childrey, Executive Director of the GSSCC

Checking out the displays

Three ladies enjoying themselves so much that they were happy to pose for a picture!

Checking out The Most Photographed Woman In the World

Mary Edna Grantham and a friend posing right in front of Ava

We hope to many of you visit over the next several months so that you too can see why Ava truly was THE Most Photographed Woman in the World at the height of her career.

Posted in: Exhibits by DocentLisa No Comments , , ,

Newest Exhibit Opens this Thursday

Published at: 10:05 am - Tuesday May 18 2010

I hope you will be able to attend the unveiling of the Ava Gardner Museum’s newest exhibit, The Most Photographed Woman in the World, this Thursday, May 20th from 5-7pm.  The staff and board of directors are very excited about the Museum’s first foray into digital exhibits.  With the sheer numbers of photographs of Ava, there is no way the Museum has space to ever exhibit them all.  In this exhibit alone, there are 133 different photos, and each is displayed for about 4 seconds each, which means the slideshow lasts a little over 9 minutes.

The same evening we’ll be unveiling our Lena Horne tribute.

We hope this is just the first of many digital exhibts, eventually being able to provide interactive displays that include film clips and audio bites.  Even if you aren’t able to make it this Thursday for the opening, the exhibit will be up through October 2010, so make plans to come to the Museum soon!

Posted in: Ava Gardner Museum, Exhibits by Director 1 Comment , ,

Ava Gardner Museum Honors Lena Horne Through Memorial Tribute

Published at: 09:05 am - Thursday May 13 2010

On Sunday, May 9th, star of the screen and stage Lena Horne passed.  She was 92 years old.

Lena joins other stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood that have passed in recent months, including Kathryn Grayson, Jennifer Jones and Jean Simmons.  Lena made her film debut in The Duke is Tops in 1938, but her experience in Hollywood would be a disappointment.  MGM struggled as to how to best utilize an African-American actress beyond small, supporting roles.  In 1943 MGM loaned her to Twentieth Century Fox for the all-black musical Stormy Weather, a box-office success.  Her rendition of the title song became a major hit on the musical charts.
 
Lena appeared in 16 feature films but after years of frustration with Hollywood, Lena returned to her roots as a nightclub performer.  In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989.  Lena also became heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963.  Lena performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982 and she sang and acted on radio and television.
 
Lena Horne and Ava Gardner were close friends who considered themselves spiritually akin.  When the role of Showboat’s Julie LaVerne became available, Lena wanted the part, but it went instead to Ava.  Ava knew Lena was better for the role and was angered over the reasons why the part wasn’t given to Lena, but there was no friction between the two friends.  In Ava: My Story, Lena said of Ava, “She felt that life was crappy and that a lot of people got mistreated for weird reasons, and she liked to see people like each other.  She was a real good dame.” 

In the past, the Museum has honored the passing of Ava’s colleagues and co-stars.  The Museum will display a memorial tribute to Lena Horne honoring her life and career beginning May 20th, 2010.

Posted in: Exhibits by DocentLisa No Comments , , , ,

Share Your Visit With Us!

Published at: 12:05 pm - Friday May 07 2010

Everyday we have visitors who arrive with cameras in hand ready to capture their favorite memories from their time here.  Whether it be shots of them standing just outside the entrance, with “Ava” (our cut-out), next to displays, or even the displays themselves, we have folks who are true shutterbugs.  There  has to be a story with each memory.  We want YOU to share your story with us right here on this blog! There are a couple of ways you can do that. 

After your visit, send us an email with a few (1-5) of your favorites from the pictures you took along with a short description of your visit, or of why you took that particular picture, or of what that particular display meant to you, etc.  Include a one or two sentence description of who you are (i.e. “Jane Smith stopped by the Museum on her way north from a lengthy vacation in Florida for the winter” or “Jane Smith is a mom of two fabulous children, the family dog, and a couple of Barbie dolls from her childhood.” or whatever moves you).  We’ll post your “story” up on here as a “Guest Blog”.

Another way – do what this guy did. 

Take some pictures, create a slide show, & upload it to You Tube.  Then, email us the link, a short description, and that short bio (as exemplified above).  We’ll post your video here.

Either way, we’d LOVE to hear all about your visit and, if you don’t mind us sharing it with our fans, we’d appreciate it.

Y’all have so many wonderful stories about why you came to see Ava and I’m sure you have just as many tales of the pictures you take too.  Share them with the world…or at least our fans.  You might encourage others to come see for themselves why the Ava Gardner Museum is a GREAT place to visit!

Posted in: Day to Day by DocentLisa No Comments , , ,
« Previous