Stardate: 2021-April-08
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Let’s follow the “Tennessee Williams Trail”
and go on a Tennessee Williams hunt!
Tennessee Williams considered himself to be a poet first,
but here’s a peek into why he’s considered to be America’s greatest playwright:
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Spring in Saint Louis is the perfect time to go on a Tennessee Williams hunt.
Here are your clues…
starting with Tennessee’s birthday in March,
you can go looking for the violets that have broken the rocks…
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Tennessee’s grave-marker at Calvary Cemetery can be hard to find.
Take a picnic on a lovely Sunday and
look for the red-bud tree that blooms in early April…
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The marker is located in a corner of section 15A –
pick up a map that looks like this
at the front gates of Calvary Cemetery.
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In 1918 “Tennessee” (Tom) Williams moved to Saint Louis as a child when his father,
a traveling shoe salesman,
was promoted to a job at the International Shoe Company.
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Remember this would have been in the wake of WWI and during the 1918 pandemic.
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The International Shoe Company is now the City Museum,
and the first home of Tennessee Williams has now been occupied by Our Little Haven,
a home for traumatized children….
Thomas’s father was an abusive alcoholic…
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Our Little Haven is located across the street from the Saint Louis Basilica,
where services were held for Tennessee Williams upon his death in 1983.
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You can buy timed tickets to the City Museum,
where Thomas got a job as a teen and escaped via the “Stairs to the Roof”,
so a Tennessee Williams hunt works well as a pandemic adventure.
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Perhaps a better starting point might be Writer’s Corner
and Left Bank Books.
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Start at the Tennessee Williams sculpture
and have a warm weather walk around the CWE neighborhood looking for clues….
Here’s your adventure map!
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Much was written by Tennessee Williams
and much has been written about him.
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We’ll leave the words to professional authors like the Wash U Professor
for which this story-map was created.
Professor Schvey discovered a “new” poem by Tennessee Williams
and wrote a whole book about it…
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by Henry Schvey
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It’s fun to watch Saint Louis fall in love with Tennessee Williams,
and perhaps Tennessee Williams is also falling in love with Saint Louis.
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Be sure to post clues about your Tennessee Williams adventures below,
and finish your hunt at the annual Tennessee Williams Festival in May!
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