In light of the Overton Park Shell’s recent rechristening and Memphis magazine’s concurrent dive into the Shell’s history, “The People’s Stage,” let it be known that one fount of knowledge on the topic is the Overton Park Shell itself — especially now, as final preparations are made to open the backstage rooms to tours. With the office walls, greenroom, and other areas now bedecked with a freshly curated display of Shell-related materials, the performers, crews, and visitors can better know the significance of the bandstand as they walk its floors. Those backstage spaces – at various times open to all, shelter for some, or V.I.P.-only – now pay tribute to those who performed there in what’s now known as the Connie Abston Archive & History Exhibits at the Overton Park Shell.
The backstage reboot was masterminded by Cole Early, the Shell’s video crew director and, lately, archives volunteer. Judging from the detailed, polished display, it’s been a labor of love for all the volunteers, and now Early has further plans for the space. “We’re going to start partnering with Memphis Mojo Tours. They already offer a Stax Museum add-on and a Sun Studio add-on. Well, this will be an add-on as well. The guided tour will start out here on the stage, and we’ll give people an idea of what the park’s all about.”
As a practice run for such a tour, Early walked me through the exhibit areas, starting with the stage itself. Being the site of Elvis Presley’s first public performance, a great many visitors would likely come here for the stage alone. That is where tours will begin. “Since we’re a concert venue, I’ll also take the time to sprinkle in some production terms, just to educate people about the concert industry,” said Early. “And we’ll talk about the acoustics of the Shell. And that it was established in 1936. The tour will then come inside here.”
With that, he led me through one of the center stage doors to the foyer, its walls emblazoned with a statement from its founding day. “During the dedication, the mayor said ‘This is a pledge to the future of music in Memphis.’,” Early said. “This section will cover that and the importance of the WPA to the arts. The importance of Overton Park in the national sense. What was here before the Shell, then the early shows there, like M.O.A.T. [Memphis Open Air Theater], Music Under the Stars, things like that.”
He points to a playbill for one of the acts who started it all: Ralph Dunbar and His Bell Ringers. “He was important,” Early noted. “Before the Shell, it was a natural bowl and they had all kinds of stuff. During the early Depression, before the Shell was built, this cat started doing dirt floor productions out here. And Marion Keisker was a teenager who appeared in the first production; then twenty years later, she worked at Sun and recorded Elvis.”
It’s a beguiling thread of history, leading naturally to a section on Presley’s apprearances at the Shell, starting with a quote from the singer. “That’s what he said, ‘When he was shaking his hips he didn’t know what was going on.’” Early points out. “So this will be all about the ’54 show. And this will be the ’55 and ’56 shows. Blues will be here. And what I just call the classic rock era for shorthand, from the early ’70s will be here. Over here will be the period after the fence came down, the late ’70s. People like Joyce Cobb and the Bluebeats and Keith Sykes. That era.”
Altogether, the different images and plaques cover everything from Johnny Cash’s 1955 appearance, to Black Sabbath’s terrifying and brief appearance (see below), to the Save Our Shell movement that carried the structure into the 21st Century. Portraits of luminaries who have performed there, painted for the exterior in 1999, now hang in both of the larger rooms.
From there, tribute is paid to many more performers in a rotating photography exhibit that brings the exhibit up to the current era. “The theme of this area is ‘Keeping the Pledge – The Next Generation at the Shell,’” Early said. “So you’ve got Lisa Marie Presley, Rosanne Cash, Rev. Robert Wilkins’ son, John Wilkins’ family, the Rufus Thomas family, Shardé Thomas, the Sons of Mudboy.
“And this next section is called ‘Crossing Over,'” Early continued. “Honoring those Levitt Shell era artists we’ve lost since 2008. Unfortunately, we’ve got to add Tim Goodwin and Howard Grimes. And there’ll be more over time. These are all by Andrea Zucker. She’s been taking pictures since day one here.
“I’ve been working on it for 2 1/2 years,” he added. “I just happened to find the poster of the New Moon, New Era show with ‘ZZ Tops’ misspelled on it. Sid Selvidge and Jim Dickinson are among the listed acts — a sweet poster by Randall Lyons. So I found that, and then started finding other stuff.”
As do visitors to the exhibit now, as one image or artifact after another pulls you in deeper. “One of my favorites is this photo of Steve Cropper, and you see the edge of the Shell with him on his Telecaster,” Early said. “Marcia Hare, who held the umbrella over Furry Lewis in the documentary, Memphis ’69, donated her sunglasses.” Even ticket stubs have a place in this exhibit, I found, as we returned to the ‘classic rock’ section.
“Black Sabbath played here twice,” Early explains, “the Paranoid tour and the Masters of Reality tour. And during the Masters of Reality tour, some guy in a trench coat cut himself and started writing stuff in blood everywhere. The band was 20 minutes into their set and got all creeped out and left. Tony Iommi kicked over his amp and walked off. And we found a guy who took a picture during those 20 minutes. So we have blown up that image, with the ticket stub. It’s pieces like that, that are Shell-specific, that I’m thrilled to death to have.”
Visit www.overtonparkshell.org for details on touring the Connie Abston Archive & History Exhibits at the Overton Park Shell.
Paul Koudounaris