Genuine Florida

Here Swampy visits the Clewiston Movie Theatre. Originally built by the prevalent sugar companies in the area back in 1941, it is still opeerating as a theater. A very nice retired couple bought it recently and have been consistanlty working on bringing the theatre back to it’s hey-day. I really like the exterior painting that really brings the art deco charm of the building out.

Below is an interior shot of the main theatre. The couple have also reworked the back of the theatre to be a secondary showplace for special theatrical showings and events.

This is Karl Dappen who plays saxophone at various locations around Apalachicola. Here he is at Verandas Bistro on a Saturday night. One song you can request is the Jimmy Van Heusen tune, ‘Apalachicola, F-L-A’. The music is the opening song for the Bob Hope & Bing Crosby 1947 film, ‘Road to Rio’. Dappen deftly plays the complicated song and entertwines ‘Old Folks at Home’ at the same time. It’s a must-hear while visiting Apalachicola.

Below is a view of downtown Apalachicola from the veranda of the Veranda.

This is a neat set of essays mostly about books and authors that set their stories in Florida. Nifty tidbits of info up to the book being published in 1997. Lots about John D. MacDonald, T.J. MacGregor, Carl Hiassen, Edna Buchanon and the many other mystery writers. This is before Tim Dorsey and Jonathan King.

Here’s Tom Jones at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City. He had just toured New Zealand and on his way to South Carolina. This was his Florida stop. Here is Sandra’s review.

Below is Swampy and Tom Jones on stage. Swampy gets lost in the shadows this time.

Swampy heads over to Lori Wilson Park on A1A in Cocoa Beach to visit a marker of Florida history. Here the entrance street is named ‘I Dream of Jeannie’. The NBC television series from 1965 to 1970 was based in Brevard County. Character Captain Tony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman, lived in Cocoa Beach and, though filmed in California, most of the series took place here. The series involved an astronaut whose wayward spacecraft delivers him to a desserted island. The astronaut, Captain Nelson, finds a bottle. Upon rubbing the bottle Captain Nelson finds himself with a genie for the next five years on television.

Connections Trivia: The series title, ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ is a swipe of the song ‘ I Dream of Jeannie (With the Light Brown Hair)’ by Stephen Foster, who wrote Florida’s state song, ‘Old Folks at Home’.