Tag: Dabney Coors

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: “The Angel of Memphis Arts”

Dorothy Orgill Kirsch, center, with Mario Monterosso and Dabney Coors at a "Simple Song of Freedom" event in 2023 (Credit: Michael Donahue)

It was time to honor Dorothy Orgill Kirsch.

You’ve probably seen her for years at cultural events around Memphis.

Earlier this month, Kirsch was the guest of honor at an ARTSmemphis tribute at the group’s headquarters. “It was attended by a representative of every single organization invited,” says longtime family friend Dabney Coors.  “She has supported all of them.”

The celebration was to recognize “65 years of Dorothy Orgill Kirsch’s support for all of our arts organizations,” And, Coors says, “We are going to celebrate her ongoing gifts to the city.”

According to the City of Memphis proclamation, organizations Kirsch has supported include Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Memphis, Playhouse on the Square, and Theatre Memphis, as well as ARTSmemphis.

Other groups she underwrote include Memphis Zoo, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Rhodes College, TheatreWorks, Hattiloo Theatre, Ballet Memphis, and New Ballet Ensemble. “Every theater, every ballet group, you name it, she has underwritten it,” Coors says.

Debbie Litch of Theatre Memphis, Whitney Jo of Playhouse on the Square, Dorothy Orgill Kirsch, and Dabney Coors at the Kirsch tribute at ARTSmemphis headquarters (Credit: ARTSmemphis)

Kirsch also supported Mario Monterosso’s “Simple Song of Freedom” humanitarian project for the war in Ukraine. She underwrote 30 musicians and 30 singers for the project.

Monterosso envisioned using Memphis performers in a video similar to “We Are the World” based on the song by Bobby Darin. The video, which he wanted to use to send a message of peace and freedom, includes a wide range of performers, including Carla Thomas, Kallen Esperian, Amy LaVere, Larry Dodson, Gary Beard, the Stax Music Academy choirs, and the First Baptist Church gospel choir with Rev. Keith Norman. It ended with Priscilla Presley quoting Mother Teresa.

In her speech at the tribute, Coors, who referred to Kirsch as “the angel of Memphis arts” says, “Dorothy was tapping her hands and feet when she listened to ‘Simple Song of Freedom’ and she said, ‘Yes. I want to support this effort.’”

Monterosso premiered his video December 20th at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Carla Thomas with Mario Monterosso at the “Simple Song of Freedom” premiere at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Kirsch “loves Memphis beyond everything else,” Monterosso says. “In my opinion, every time she sponsors a project, it’s like she’s sponsoring Memphis.”

She “likes to see Memphis behind every single project,” he says, adding,  “Everything she does represents Memphis around the world. And this is incredible.”

People like Kirsch “are very rare,” Monterosso adds. “People who do things just because of their love of art, their love of the city where they great up and live their entire life, is so incredible.”

We Saw You
Categories
News News Blog

Priscilla Presley to be Honored at Theatre Memphis

Priscilla Presley (Credit: Christopher Ameruoso)

Priscilla Presley will be honored at a black tie celebration, “Priscilla Presley: The Artist, The Woman,”  July 22nd at Theatre Memphis.

“This is a community thank you to Priscilla for all she has done for the Memphis community,” says Dabney Coors, Theatre Memphis board member and a friend of Priscilla, who was married to Elvis Presley.

The evening will include a formal presentation in the theater with music followed by a dinner and music in the lobby.

 “I truly am honored by this,” Priscilla says in a phone interview. “Gosh. I’m a little overwhelmed because I love Memphis. I love the city. I love Tennessee.”

And, she says, “I never expected this. It’s just taken me back a bit.”

Coors, immediate past president of the Theatre Memphis board, came up with the idea for the celebration. “The idea has been in my head for the last eight years,” Coors says. “I said to Priscilla when she opened the Guest House (at Graceland), ‘Priscilla, you give and give and give to Memphis.  And one day we’re going to turn this around and we’re going to give to you.’”

Why this year? “Because this is the 40th anniversary of Priscilla opening Graceland,” Coors says. “She saved Graceland from being sold. When she was 34 years old and she became the executor of the estate, it fell to her to decide what to do with Graceland. And the bankers, the lawyers, and the IRS told her she had one option and that was to sell.

Says Priscilla: “When I was told that, I made a comment: ‘That will never happen.’ And those were fighting words for me. I searched for someone who could help me. I had a lot of people to choose from.”

She looked “from New York to Kansas City to here in Los Angeles. And Jack Soden (president and CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises), for me, was the best as far as helping me open it up. And here we are today.  And thank God he is still with us and a wonderful partner.”

 “She has brought 22 million international tourists to Memphis,” Coors says. “And impacted our Memphis economy more than six billion dollars over 40 years. Every queen, president, and rock and roll star who comes anywhere close to Memphis wants to go to Graceland. Graceland is considered the second most famous home in America after the White House.”

 Priscilla says, “When we opened Graceland, I never thought it would be the success that it is today. And people of all ages are coming to Graceland.”

One of her missions is to bring younger people to Elvis, she says. “You know our generation loved and cared for Elvis. My concern was that the younger generation learn and know who Elvis Presley was.”

Now, that generation is “passing it down to the next generation. Keeping the Elvis tours at Graceland certainly helped. People can’t believe his accomplishments.”

She and Elvis had “a wonderful relationship,” Priscilla says. “We never had the normal divorce. We still remained friends and cared for each other very much.”

Priscilla now lives in California, but she says, “I do not really consider California a part of me. Both my kids were born here and they live here. That’s the only reason I stick around. If I had my choice, I would be there in a minute. I would. I miss Memphis. I miss my friends. I miss the laughs. I miss the stories.”

 When she comes to Memphis, Priscilla likes to “go over to The Peabody hotel and hang out a little in there. Get a bite to eat and go over to Lansky’s. Check in and see how they’re doing. It’s always nice to keep the friends you had from the beginning.”

As a non-profit, Theatre Memphis has to raise money for the event, Coors says, and they already have 50 sponsors. “Memphis has stepped up.”

Debbie Litch, Theatre Memphis executive producer, says, “Theatre Memphis is privileged and honored to pay tribute to Memphis’ national and international ambassador Priscilla Presley.”

And, she says,  “As Theatre Memphis celebrates our 100th anniversary on May 20, 2022 as one of the nation’s most recognized and oldest community theaters in the nation, we want to recognize an extraordinary lady who has championed our Memphis community for over a half century.

“We are also excited to establish the Priscilla Presley Theatre Memphis Scholarship that will be awarded annually in honor of this outstanding woman to help an established or aspiring artist to achieve their artistic dream.”

Tickets are $300 apiece. Other seats will be reserved for the “community member status” section.

Among the entertainers taking part in the event will be Gary Beard, John Paul Keith, and Mario Monterosso. A special VIP area will be included.

For tickets and more information, call Theatre Memphis at (901) 682-8323.

Categories
Special Sections

Remember the Merrymobiles

40ac/1249930268-merrymobiles-hutchison69.jpg

If you don’t remember Merrymobiles, you didn’t live in Memphis in the 1960s.

The brainchild of a local ice-cream vendor named Robert Heffelfinger, these red, white, and blue merry-go-rounds on three wheels rolled down suburban streets in the summertime. The putt-putt of the little one-cylinder engines and tinkling bells suspended from the aluminum canopy told every kid in the neighborhood, “The Merrymobile’s here!” and they’d scramble outside and wait on the curb, their fists clutching nickels and dimes. The driver could reach into freezers on either side of his seat and hand out ice-cold popsicles, Buried Treasures, Drumsticks, Eskimo Pies, and other mouthwatering delights. The prices were a treat, too. Back then, a popsicle cost six cents, an ice-cream sandwich a dime.

At one time, some 80 Merrymobiles operated out of the Merrymobile Ice Cream Company’s headquarters on Broad, but by 1973 the fleet had dwindled to a dozen. When the firm went out of business a few years later, most of the little cars ended up in a dump in Tipton County (or so I heard). But a handful survived, and one from the early 1950s, identified by a metal tag as number 43, sat forlornly outside Sid’s Auto Frame Alignment Shop in Millington for years.