Clyde Pound to Pound Keys

The Garland County Library will kick off its Jazz Appreciation Month with a lunchtime program featuring keyboard player Clyde Pound at 12:30 on Friday, April 1^st.

“No, it’s not an April Fools,” Karen Covey of the library said. “Mr. Pound will play his keyboard and reminisce about jazz and all the icons he’s worked with.”

Pound, who currently lives in Hot Springs and plays in Shirley Chauvin’s band, S’Wonderful, attended San Francisco State College as a music major and subsequently performed with many star entertainers in hotels and nightclubs throughout the country. Clyde performed jazz engagements with Dizzy Gillespie, Maynard Ferguson, Dave Pell, Bud Shank, Vido Musso. He also performed with vocalists Chris Conners andJohnny Mathis, and toured with the Bob Scoby Frisco Jazz Band.

Pound became band leader at the famous Hungry nightclub in San Francisco and worked with Laura Nyro, Mel Torme, Noel Harrison, Bill Cosby, Robert Klein, Richard Pryor, Carol Sloan, Melanie, Gail Garnett, Tommy Leonetti, Flip Wilson, Jackie Vernon, Professor Erwin Corey, Rod McKuen, and many others.

“We can’t wait to learn more about jazz from Mr. Pound and hear him play,” Covey said. “People are encouraged to bring a lunch and have a bite to eat during the program, so I guess it might be sort of like a supper club. We’ll bring a little bit of that old time Vegas feel to the Garland County Library.”

Other jazz events in April at the library include concerts by Bob Boyd Sounds on April 10^th and The Happy Tymes Jazz Band on April 17^th. All events are free, but registration is required. Call the library at 623-4161 or 922-4483 to reserve a seat or for more information.

Whatever Happened to Dogpatch USA?

We will present the short documentary film “Dogpatch USA” Friday, March 25^th at noon. The lunchtime event will feature a question and answer session with filmmaker Matt Rowe. Viewers are encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch.

Drive by a narrow strip of land off Arkansas Highway 7 some 20 miles south of Harrison, Arkansas, and you will see a deserted collection of rundown primitive buildings. The former theme park Dogpatch USA — based on Al Capp’s comic strip “Lil’ Abner” — opened in 1968 to large crowds. Capp characters and rides entertained a generation of visitors. Today, the park’s future remains a mystery.

Produced by students in the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism at the University of Arkansas, the film tells the story of the roller coast ride of the park’s fortunes.

O.J. Snow, a Harrison, Ark. realtor, thought an Ozark trout farm reminded him of the places pictured in “Lil’ Abner.” He convinced Capp to license the strip’s theme and characters.

One of the film’s producers, Matthew Rowe, said, “Dogpatch U.S.A. was conceived in the shadow of the highly successful Disneyland in California, which the world perceived as a money-making machine. Dogpatch’s success was short-lived. We found in our research that there were red flags popping up all over the place even as the park was built.

“Actually, the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Department was strongly against the venture because of the negative stereotype it portrayed of the state,” added Rowe.

Groundbreaking took place on October 3, 1967. The press interviewed Al Capp when he attended the groundbreaking. He told them was involved in the project in a mystical way. He had been approached before, but “This was the first time anyone approached me who had the feeling for it.” Dogpatch Opened on May 17, 1968 with a crowd of 8,000 and the first year made a $100,000 profit.

Rowe and the other producer Dixie Kline placed an article in the Harrison Daily Times requesting for old photos and video footage of the park in its glory days. Their efforts were rewarded with a lot of archival material. The team traveled to the Harrison area to interview several former employees and park visitors.

“We interviewed one guy who had visited the park as a child,” said Kline. “He started crying when he talked about his time at Dogpatch; he was so passionate about it. He is actually still hoping it will open again.”

For the 1969 season, former six-term Arkansas governor, Orval E. Faubus, served as general manager. Faubus compared running Dogpatch to running the state, saying, “Both are like running your own private little war . . .”

In 1972, Jess Odom, who had bought the park in 1969, expanded it to include a ski resort called Marble Falls. Dogpatch USA faced insurmountable issues: the late arrival of the snow making machine, Arkansas’ string of mild winters, Arabs cutting the oil supply that drastically reduced tourism, doubling interest rates, “hillbilly” TV programs becoming passé, and Al Capp’s retirement. People still visited the park and families still had fun. Failed bond issues, a lawsuit for personal injury, and the hottest summer in Arkansas’ history compounded the park’s problems in 1980, the year it filed for bankruptcy.

Dogpatch closed in 1993 and town changed its name back to Marble Falls. The park was put up for auction. Ford Carr, president of Leisuretek Corporation and Westek Corporation, and his brothers, received a quit claim for the property. In 2002, Carr put the 141-acre property on eBay with a minimum bid of $1 million, but there were no bidders.

Rowe said, “The ghost of Dogpatch USA still hangs around; there are people today who still feel passionate about its place in Arkansas history.”

For more information about this event, contact the Garland County Library at 623-4161 or 922-4483.

Comic Book Days @ the Garland County Library

Holy 741.59 Batman! The library is hosting a series of comic book programs on March 29th, 30th and 31st for kids and young adults from ages 6-17. On March 29th @ 4 pm, we will have "Drawing Comics with Michael Shaeffer" which is open to kids ages 6-11. The class will last one hour and afterward the library will show the DC Animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (rated PG). Then, on the 30th at 4 pm, the library will host "Drawing Comics with Michael Shaeffer" again for young adults ages 12-17. That class will be followed by the movie Green Lantern: First Flight (PG-13).


Last, but certainly not least, Dana Fleming will be teaching a class called "Wonder Wallets!" on the 31st @ 4pm where students will recycle old comic books into a cool and superpowered place to keep your money or, if you're anything like me, a fortress of solitude for that one dollar bill. This class is open to young adults ages 12-17 and will be followed by the film Superman Doomsday (PG-13). All of these programs are registration required and they are filling up faster than a speeding bullet. So do your best Wally West impersonation and call or come by the library to register:

Garland County Library
1427 Malvern Ave
Hot Springs, AR 71901
(501)623-4161 or (501)922-4483

Yearnin' for Yarnin'

Knit-wits get ready. Two of our talented library artisans, Erin Brady and Erin Mckenzie, are ready to share their skills and expertise with Garland County Library patrons in the upcoming “Yearnin’ for Yarnin’” program. Erin and Erin will be teaching beginner- level stitches and strategies for knitting and crocheting. Participants need only bring themselves. Yarn, needles and hooks will be provided by The Friends of the Library. With the basic skills taught in these two workshop sessions, participants should be able to begin a simple project of their own (a potholder, a scarf, an afghan, etc). Moreover, the ladies will introduce resources that will allow students to improve their techniques and embark on more intricate projects. Remember, space is limited and registration is required, so sign up as soon as possible. The workshops will run from 2-4 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, March 23rd and 24th. For more information or to register call 623-4161.

Oaklawn Jockeys + Tennessee Williams

Thanks to everyone who made our visit with Oaklawn jockeys Calvin Borel, Terry Thompson and JoeJohnson so memorable -- especially to the jockeys themselves. Next Tuesday at noon, we'll visit with Rolly Hoyt. Rowland "Rolly" Hoyt, a Massachusetts native, became interested in racing while attending college in Boston and eventually secured a job on the publicity staff at Suffolk Downs. He became involved in broadcasting at Suffolk and Rockingham Park before moving to Philadelphia Park as a host on the Racing Network. He has written for the Daily Racing Form and currently writes the Morning Line column for the Sentinel Record. Register now for a seat.

*************

The Garland County Library will celebrate the 100^th birthday of Tennessee Williams with a program called “Ten by Ten,” featuring an event which will include a discussion of the playwright’s life and works, prize giveaways, and a screening of “A Streetcar Named Desire” on March 12^th at 1 p.m. , followed by screenings of nine more film adaptations of his plays throughout March.

Williams (1911-1983), known as “Ten” to his friends, wrote numerous novels and short stories, but is best remembered for his plays depicting the transition from the Old South to the modern era, including the Pulitzer Prize winners “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1948) and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1955).

Greg Gibson, a faculty member of the English Department at Henderson State University, will lead a discussion about Williams’ life and works, including “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

“Williams does such a magnificent job of capturing the human experience,” Gibson said. “Although he sets most of his plays in the South, I think they have a broad appeal that speaks to us across both time and culture.”

“As for ‘Streetcar’, I'd say that it's probably his most famous work, although people often misread the dark undercurrents that run throughout the play. I think readers have the tendency to make Blanche DuBois a caricature, when it fact she is a deeply tragic character. The movie, particularly Marlon Brando’s performance as Stanley Kowalski, really changed the acting style in American movies to a new kind of realism.”

Other films in the series will include “The Rose Tattoo” (1955), “Baby Doll” (1956), “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958), “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959), “The Fugitive Kind” (1960), “The Roman Summer of Mrs. Stone” (1961), “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1962), “The Night of the Iguana” (1964), and “The Glass Menagerie” (1973).

“This will be a great series of movies,” Karen Covey, Circulation Supervisor at the library said. “They have all-star casts, including Paul Newman, Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Burt Lancaster, Joanne Woodward, Katharine Hepburn, and so many others. If you like gritty southern stories with some sizzle to them, full of intrigue and atmosphere, then this series is for you.”

Registration is required for the March 12^th discussion. Call the library at 623-4161 or 922-4483 for more information or to register. For a complete list of films and show times, visit the library’s website at http://www.garland.lib.ar.us/.