Thursday, August 21, 2008

viva las artes

My wife's Aunt Margie was on the board of People's Bank when they commissioned a mural to celebrate the bank's 100th anniversary. Aunt Margie liked it so much, she helped form a committee to put eleven more murals all over Cuba, Missouri.

My wife and I stopped off to see the murals on our way to Branson earlier this week. We didn't yet know that we would also see the World's Largest Rocker a few miles down Route 66. Aunt Margie's son Tom served as our helpful tour guide.

Mural 3 features the faces of Cuba residents who lost their lives in World War II. Mural 4 commemorates Senator Harry Truman's 1940 campaign stop in Cuba. Mural 5 shows Amelia Earhart after she made a forced emergency landing in Cuba.



The best of all the murals is number 11. Bette Davis once took a break from a cross-country road trip in Cuba. An eager photographer asked to take her picture outside the Southern Hotel. She refused but he took the picture anyway and got into a scuffle with Bette's companion. The local newspaper published the photo and assumed that the man with Bette was her husband. They didn't question why Bette and her "husband" wouldn't want to be photographed together.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Tony W said...

Frank you have the most interesting family and some great stories you should write a book. I have always wanted to drive down route 66 I now know that I have to make the trip one day. Thanks for the awesome stories.

8/22/2008  

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