Theatre Royalty in Wisconsin: Lunt & Fontanne's Ten Chimneys

Tomorrow is May 1st.  And May 3rd marks the beginning of the tourist season at Ten Chimneys in Genesee Depot, WI.  If you are unfamiliar with Ten Chimneys, it was the summer home of acting legendary couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, both of whom are buried at Forest Home Cemetery.  I had the incredible opportunity to tour Ten Chimneys last summer, and it is the Wisconsin equivalent to Memphis's Graceland, which I don't use that term loosely.

For as little as $35.00 you can see where Lunt and Fontanne spent not only their summers while they worked on Broadway, but also became their retirement home which includes the main house, rehearsal space, pool and country cottage in the Scandinavian style.

By the 1920's, Lunt and Fontanne were the most respected theatre couples of their era, even earning the respect of fellow actors Lawrence Olivier and Helen Hayes.  They insisted on appearing onstage only together, and they created the most realistic onstage love scenes of any theatrical costars in history.

Genesee Depot was where Lunt grew up, and he had such a love for the area that he insisted his mother as well as his son & daughter-in-law inhabit the guest house, pictured above, especially when he and Lynn were working back east.

One of the most important gifts to the Broadway community has been the foundation of the Lunt-Fontanne theatre on Broadway, home to many critical and box office theatrical successes, in New York. 

Although you cannot take photos of the interiors of the buildings, the tour itself was extremely fascinating.  The most interesting fact I learned (and saw) was that, despite the fact that Lynn Fontanne was British, she loved Alfred and America so much, she decided to become a full American citizen and displayed the British and American flags together in their study.

In addition to the summer tours, there are yearly artist-in-residence programs led by some of Hollywood and Broadway's most prolific stars.  This year, it's time for "Seinfeld" star Jason Alexander to grace Ten Chimneys with his acting skills and knowledge.  Past residents have included Olympia Dukakis, David Hyde Pierce and Alan Alda.

 

For more information on Ten Chimneys, go to http://www.tenchimneys.org/.

 

Summer Recap: Wisconsin Soldiers Home & Veterans Cemetery

Way back in May, well before Memorial Day Weekend, I made a conscious effort to visit one of Milwaukee's most treasured landmarks for the very first time.  Not sure about its location (or parking for that matter), I always avoided going to the Wisconsin Soldiers Home, which is located on the VA Medical Center Grounds off of I-94 behind Miller Park.  But this is a historic area not to be missed for any Milwaukee visitor.  Built shortly after the Civil War, the grounds were used for over a century to care for Wisconsin's wounded soldiers home from the battlefields of, not just the Civil War, but both World Wars and the wars in Korea and Vietnam.  It also contained a tuberculosis hospital on its grounds in the 1920's as well as many other residential and recreational buildings.

Many of the grounds' remaining buildings were built between 1901 and 1917.  The grounds contain a towering main building (above/below), a library, a chapel, a recreation center, and a theater.

Unfortunately, many of the buildings on the grounds are in a very bad state of disrepair.  Fortunately, remodeling has begun on some of these buildings.  So, it was kind of hard to get super photos of the buildings since a lot of them had fencing around them.

 

 

Besides the Wisconsin Soldiers Home, the grounds house Milwaukee's veterans' cemetery.  One photo could not do the cemetery justice due to its vast expanse.

In this last photo, I decided to get a little creative.  I had just read a piece online about finding contrast in subjects.  So when I spotted this one grave marker where the writing was in black amongst all of the other carved writing, I knew it would make a good photo.

You can help save the Wisconsin Soldiers Home by visiting Save the Soldiers Home.  For more information, including a full history of the Soldiers Home, click here.

Summer Recap: Elm Grove Civil War Reenactment

To begin the recap of my summer 2015, in late May, the Elmbrook Historical Society in Wisconsin, held its annual Civil War Reenactment on the grounds of the Dousman Coach House Museum.  The Coach House was once a working farm in the Milwaukee suburb of Elm Grove, and is now a museum to how life was like in the 19th to early-20th Century.  

 

The reenactment itself consisted of many interesting tents displaying what life was like during the Civil War, from cooking over an open flame to the popular sports of the day to how household items were packaged including baking vanilla (pictured below).

One of the most fascinating tents was the medical tent, where a real (retired) physician gave a talk on how war wounds were handled at the time.  He even displayed the types of bullets used on the battlefield and the instruments used to extract them from the soldiers.

The reenactment even had a tent where the Undertaker gave a talk on how they handled the bodies of soldiers transported back to their hometowns to be buried.  I found out that the Cargo train cars were created because they used to transport the dead soldiers on the trains along with the live travelers and the odors would be blown into the open windows of the travelers' cars.

 

The most interesting part of the reenactment was a speech given by a woman who acted as Mary Todd Lincoln.  I was lucky enough to get a candid photo of the actress bonding with a service dog.

I've always been a history buff, and I found the Elmbrook Historical Society's Civil War reenactment very fascinating.  I will definitely try to make it to their event next year.

A Day at the Milwaukee Public Museum

 I know it's been over a year since my last post, but it's not because I haven't been out taking photos around my city.  Between work, photographing, and trying to find time to relax, I lost track of time.  But, I'm making up for it by posting the places I've visited over the last year.

The first is the Milwaukee Public Museum, I place I have visited and loved since I was in grade school.  In fact, I remember when I was in 3rd grade, in 1983, was when the dinosaur exhibit (pictured above) opened to the public.  I remember that diorama being so scary for a 9-year-old, complete with jungle noises, thunder and lightening.

 One of the most popular exhibits at our museum is The Streets of Old Milwaukee, which, shortly after I visited, closed for remodeling.  It should be back open to the public soon.  The exhibit features many businesses that thrived in Milwaukee's early years including a candy store (that sells real candy), the Pfister Hotel, which is still located downtown, and the local optometrist.

There are also 2 floors of exhibits dedicated to cultures around the world.  My favorite was always Antarctica, complete with igloos.  But the Asian and African exhibits (pictured below) are fascinating as well.

Since this is Wisconsin, the museum has many dioramas and displays dedicated to the Native American tribes that flourished before it was settled by the Europeans.  As you can see below, many cities and roads got their names from Native American tribes, including Waukesha (where I used to live) meaning "little fox" and Wauwatosa (where I live now) meaning "firefly."

This last photo greets you at the entrance to the museum's exhibits.  It showcases humans' evolution from ape to homo-sapien. 

 The Milwaukee Public Museum, along with the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World, is one of the best places to visit if you love history.  Along with the exhibits I featured, there is also a rainforest, Wisconsin's indigenous animals & plants, a live butterfly room and an exhibit on how families live in many different European countries.

My Summer in Photos

I, for one, can't believe it's Labor Day Weekend and summer is quickly coming to a close.  What's worse, I haven't posted anything new since March!  It's not that I didn't do anything this summer, although not as much as usual due to money issues, but I did get out with my camera to a few fun places and events, and got to meet some new photographers in my area as well.

One of my most favorite places in my area is the Milwaukee Public Museum.  I've been going there ever since grade school, but hadn't gone in about 8 years.  I primarily went this year due to the "Body Worlds" exhibit, but also got to see some familiar subjects such as the dinosaurs (above), the Native Americans,

"The Streets of Old Milwaukee", one of the most popular exhibits,

All of the various ethnic exhibits,

and the Museum's "Butterfly Garden" where you get to interact with real butterflies.

I also met up with a new group in our area for a photowalk of Milwaukee's Walker's Point (or 5th Ward), which I knew about but never visited before.  Walker's Point is the home of Allen Bradley, and a very diverse cross-section of the city as a whole.  That weekend, they had rainbow flags on the light posts in celebration of the "Gay Pride" festival at Meier festival park.

On my walk, I came across a very nice alley garden.  Very jealous I don't have a green thumb.

While on the photowalk, my friend, her husband and I went on the brewery tour for Milwaukee Brewing Company.  I have to say, MBC's beer has become my favorite microbrew in the city.  Many different flavors and not too heavy for a hot day.

 And, they definitely have fun on the job.

And no summer of mine would be complete without an annual trip to the Boerner Botanical Garden for my flower fix.  Unfortunately, the long cold winter and spring kept a lot of my favorite flowers (especially roses) from blooming, but I managed to get a couple of good shots of them.

As well as other hearty little flowers.

 



And, I found out that I really like Dahlias, and they come in many different varieties.  My favorites were the Peony variety.

Hopefully with fall coming, I will get out more with my camera and check out some local festivals and areas I haven't been to before.  I hope everyone had a fun and safe summer!