PANORAMA
THE SUMTER ITEM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014
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O’Brien honored for extensive acting career BY NICK THOMAS Tinseltown Talks Throughout the 1930s, Shirley Temple sang and danced her way into the hearts of Depression-weary movie audiences. A decade later, adorable Margaret O’Brien endeared herself to millions seeking Hollywood diversions as World War II came and went. In acknowledgement of her influence on other young actors, O’Brien was presented with the Actors Fund Shirley Temple Award on Dec. 4. And on Monday, she will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Council. Far from retired at 77, this year O’Brien completed work on a new film version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which also features Mickey Rooney. It’s due for release next spring — see http://socalemc.com/ jekyllhyde/?p=194. “It’s called the ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,’” said O’Brien. “I’ll always cherish this movie because it’s the last film Mickey made.” O’Brien’s connection to Rooney goes back to the 1941 film “Babes on Broadway.” “That was my first movie when I was only 3 years old,” she said. “Mickey and I didn’t have any scenes together, but I can still remember him walking by and saying ‘Hello, what a cute little girl!’” In her second film, “Journey for Margaret,” based on the William L. White novel, O’Brien’s acclaimed perfor-
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Margaret O’Brien and Mickey Rooney, both former child stars, play Mrs. Stevenson and Mr. Louis in “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” It was Rooney’s final film. mance was significant both professionally and personally. “I so connected with the character that I legally change my name from Maxine to Margaret,” she explained. An avid reader as a child, O’Brien was thrilled to tackle more roles based on the books she grew up with – “Little Women,” “Jane Eyre” and “The Secret Garden.” “How many children get to play a character from their favorite books?” asked O’Brien. “I knew them so well, it was just fabulous to create them on the screen.” Starring in almost 20 films throughout the 1940s, little Margaret astonished audienc-
es with a display of adult emotions though she was not yet even a teenager. “I think movie kids are just a little more mature in some ways,” she said. “I knew it was a job, not playacting, and that others depended on me to know my lines. I took my work very seriously.” Her range of emotions was evident in the MGM classic, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” but also in less widely known films such as “Our Grapes Have Tender Vines.” “The screenplay was by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, so it was not shown for many years,” O’Brien said. But now people know and love this great story. Edward
G. Robinson played my father and said it was one of his favorite roles.” In one rather dangerous flood scene, O’Brien’s character is swept away in a tin bathtub by the rising river waters. “They put braids on Jerry Maren who was my stand-in,” said O’Brien. “So I was doubled by one of the ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Munchkins!” In her teen years, O’Brien’s cuteness blossomed into youthful beauty. At 19, a stunning photo was featured on the cover of Life Magazine. However, throughout the ‘50s, she only appeared in three feature films, including the horse racing drama “Glory.” But, she says, it wasn’t be-
YESTERYEAR, FROM PAGE C1 • The Sumter Kiwanis Club is sponsoring an Annual IrisGarden Week, with each and every Civic Club of the community cooperating, to bring into Sumter visitors from all over South Carolina to witness the very finest flower show in all America — the perfect Iris Garden — a wonderland of beauty, located a short distance from the city, where the owner, H.C. Bland, has created for all of our citizens the show-place of the south. Of course, there are many lovely gardens all through the low country, but when one wishes a thrill of beauty, no spot can approach the magnificence of thousands of iris, every imaginable color, in full bloom. 50 YEARS AGO – 1965 Feb. 28–March 6 It was a frantic finish to the basketball season for Bantam girls Saturday at Columbia as they fought their way to runner-up honors in the annual Hand Invitational Tournament. Coach Peggy Davis’ girls battled Thaxton Junior high of Orangeburg down to the final seconds of the championship game but when time ran out the Orangeburg girls held a 38-36 winning margin. This left McLaurin with a 144-1 record for the season – their best in a long time. And they had the big, silver runner-up trophy to show off at school. • On August 4, 1890, the late E.H. Moses sold his first block of ice in Sumter. From that beginning developed the Sumter Ice and Fuel Co., which is now managed by his two sons, E.H. Moses Jr. and D.M. Moses, and his grandson, E.H. Moses III. The 75th year of artificial ice making in Sumter is being celebrated by this company. Sumter’s first ice plant was opened by Mr. Moses, his father, Perry Moses, and his brother Josh Harby on a site almost where the plant of the Nu-Idea Furniture Co. is now located. It was known as the Sumter Ice Manufacturing Co. • School District 17 is complying with the Civil Rights Law by submitting a voluntary desegregation plan to the U.S. Department of Education. Today was the deadline for state school districts to sign a pledge of compliance with the Rights Law or submit a school desegregation plan. Failure to comply with one of these alternatives would result in a cutoff of federal aid. The city school system last
year received slightly more than $400,000 in federal aid. • Plans to select the outstanding young educator of Sumter were announced today by Dick Lee, president of the Sumter Junior Chamber of Commerce. Jaycee chairman of the project is Dewey Alexander. “Our search is part of a nationwide Jaycee program,” said Lee, “to spotlight the achievements and dedication of professional educators, both male and female, between the ages of 21 and 35.” • A huge liquor still was destroyed by Lee County Sheriff’s department deputies yesterday in the Lucknow area. I’ve never seen a more modern operation,” said Sheriff Huggins this morning. “It was a push button deal.” The deputies destroyed 5,000 gallons of mash and a 300- to 400-gallon cooker. • Sumter County’s only professional Walking Horse training stables will hold its grand opening Sunday. Open house will be from 2 until 6 p.m. and the general public has been invited. Owned and operated by a husband-andwife team, Connie and Mary Hinson, the new 17-stable barn on the Camden Highway is a dream of a lifetime,” according to Hinson. “We are both horse lovers from way back,” says the horseman. “Mary comes by her interest in horses from her father, who purchased her first horse when she was four.” 25 YEARS AGO – 1989 Dec. 1–7 Manning native Ervin S. Duggan was recently appointed by President George Bush to fill a vacancy on the Federal Communications Commission. Duggan, 50, was born in Atlanta and later moved to Manning. He was appointed Nov. 30 to fill the Democratic seat on the commission vacated by Patricia Dias Dennis, whose term expired June 30. Duggan is called a “family values” communications specialist, and was appointed by the president for the five-year term. • For four generations the Rhodes family has farmed the land near Mayesville, and for much of that time it was done the same way – with mules and hoes and hands. But much has changed since 1937 when Samuel McBride Rhodes Jr. began farming the 1,200 acres of land that make up the Rhodes farm, which is
1965 -- Getting the ticket drive for the Mac Frampton concert off to a good start are, from left, seated, Mrs. John M. Evans, Mrs. A.D. Plowden Jr. and Mrs. Esther Siegel, co-chairwomen of the benefit. Standing are Ken Dawson, president of the National Honor Society, and Jimmy Buck, project chairman of the Honor Society. one of eight bicentennial farms in Sumter, Lee and Clarendon counties. In fact, Rhodes says he doesn’t believe farming could possibly change as much in the next 50 years as it has during the past 50. • Kershena Dickey scored 30 points and made 10 steals to lead the Mayewood girl’s team to a 57-32 win over Mount Pleasant Saturday at the Lady Vikings’ gym. Sandra Fulwood yanked down nine rebounds to go with six points, and Christi Dennis had seven points and five rebounds. • Cars and trucks honked Saturday morning as they whizzed by XP Chemicals Inc. on Cain’s Mill Road, where about a dozen area residents were protesting the company’s treatment and storage of hazardous waste. The protestors ranged from teenagers to retirees to a pregnant woman toting a sign that asked, “What of My Unborn Baby?” Others carried signs saying such things as “Don’t Poison Me CP” or “Where is our Right to Clean Living?” or “No More Hazardous Waste.” Protestor Andrea Stephens said she is concerned about possible air pollution coming from the plant and with the effect of chemical spills. • The Pentagon approved the annexation of Shaw Air Force Base into Sumter’s city limits Friday, a move that will increase the city’s population by nearly 6,000 and pave the way for major economic benefits. The annexation, which was proposed by Sumter City Council and endorsed by Shaw, should make Sumter the state’s seventh largest city by population and could push it to No. 6. The city will increase in size from about
12 square miles to nearly 18. The increased population will make Sumter eligible for more state and federal grants while sparking more economic development in the northwestern section of the city. • Diane Woodrum won the 1989 Sunset Ladies Club Championship with a score of 246 in the three-day tournament held this week. Deckie Jones finished second in the championship flight. Kitty Sutter won the first flight with Gert Geyer placing second. Tudie Comley was the winner of the second flight, and Garland Nettles was the second-place finisher. • Creativity will be the crucial ingredient in two brand new courses being cooked up and served with panache by faculty within USC-Sumter’s Division of Arts and Letters next spring. The two courses making their debut on the Miller Road campus in January of 1990 include “Oral Interpretation” (THSP 340) and “Coiled Basketry” (ARTS 258), according to USC-Sumter’s Arts and Letters Division Chair E. Lee Craig. • The Sumter County Museum announces the opening of a new permanent exhibit titled “The Country Store” and a temporary display of vintage women’s and children’s clothing. Both features are located on the third floor of the Williams-Brice Home. Adjacent to the “Economic History Room,” the store exhibit brings together a variety of items from many rural general stores once found throughout Sumter County, including the Lenoir Store of Horatio and the Aycock Store of Wedgefield. • It may not be the way he envisioned it happening, but Sumter tailback Derrick
cause her “cuteness factor” had evaporated. “Movie contracts were ending and television came along,” she explained. “My mother thought I should get into television, so I worked on many great shows from that period.” In recognition of her film contributions, O’Brien was one of only a dozen children to receive a Juvenile Academy Award when the prize was intermittently given from 19351961. However, in 1954, a family maid who took the statuette home to clean, vanished with it. Forty years later, it was found and returned. “It’s safely locked in a cabinet now – never to be polished again!” joked O’Brien. For much of her adult life, O’Brien has also been committed to charitable causes, including AIDS awareness and programs that assist actors. And while she considers herself conservative, she dresses flamboyantly and still sports a nose piercing acquired some years ago. “I love creative fashion and hunting for unusual items to make jewelry from. That’s about as offbeat as I get!” she said. “My mother raised me to be pretty well-grounded, so I never had the problems that a lot of child actors faced. Acting has been a wonderful career, and still is.” Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for more than 450 magazines and newspapers.
Witherspoon will play for South Carolina in the 53rd Shrine Bowl Saturday at Charlotte Memorial Stadium at 1:30 p.m. Witherspoon was named to the squad late Friday night along with seven other players by Laurens’ Bobby Ivey, who is the head coach for South Carolina, and his staff. “I found out that I was on the team about 12 o’clock Friday night when Coach (Sumter’s Tom) Lewis called me,” Witherspoon said by telephone Sunday from the motel where the South Carolina squad is located. “I was shocked. Everything happened so quick. Coach Lewis told me I had to pack my bags and be ready to go in the morning.” • Five new members were inducted into the Sumter Sports Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Shaw Air Force Base Officers Club Monday. The newest members are Ellie Durant Brunson, Iris Hill Edens, Robert Epps, the late Marvin Montgomery and L.F. Scott. Brunson, Mrs. Edens, Epps and Scott were all presented with plaques recognizing their accomplishments and their inductions. Montgomery, who was honored posthumously, had his plaque presented to members of his family. The Hall of Fame, formed in 1984, now has 41 members. • Jack Munsey believes Sumter’s downtown area is one of the most unique in the country. That’s why he and his seven partners in Main Streets Inc. decided to open their new restaurant and bar in the heart of town. Main Street’s Bistro and Grille will celebrate its grand opening Thursday at 35 N. Main St. The festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. in conjunction with the monthly Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce Business Card Social. The social and the grand opening are open for anyone who’s interested. • The National Bank of South Carolina has appointed Mayor Stephen M. Creech, Rowland P Alston, Henry C. Bynum and Dr. Robert C. Wimberly to serve on the bank’s Sumter advisory board. The permanent appointments were recently made by NBSC’s Board of Directors. The advisory board is designed to serve as a “liaison” between the band and the community, according to NBSC’s Public Relations Specialist Michael Dey. Reach Item Archivist Sammy Way at waysammy@ yahoo.com or (803) 774-1294.