Neighborhood notebook: Tampa Bay Hotel comes alive with museum exhibit
By STEFANIE GREEN, AMY SCHERZER
Published September 3, 2004
DOWNTOWN - Henry B. Plant Museum's Upstairs/Downstairs at the Tampa Bay Hotel, a series of vignettes that portray life at the opulent 1891 resort, opens its annual lineup with a new character, Richard Harding Davis.
The series begins at 2 p.m. Sunday at the University of Tampa museum and continues every Sunday featuring a different character based on an actual hotel guest or employee.
Chris Holcum plays the part of the dashing Mr. Davis, an influential war correspondent who stayed at the hotel in 1898 as volunteers geared up for the Spanish American War. Two Tampa women, Sandy Frye and Nancy Cole, wrote the script, "embedding" Davis with the first wave of Rough Rider troops. His first-hand dispatches from Cuba informed and inflamed millions of readers and created a national hero, Teddy Roosevelt.
Returning Upstairs/Downstairs characters are laundress Maggie Stroud played by Gloria Bailey (Sept. 12), hunting and fishing guide Arthur Schleman played by John Snell (Sept. 19), head waiter Otis Freedman played by Donald Polk (Sept. 26), guest and first lady Edith Roosevelt played by Nonie White (Oct. 3) and telegrapher Pauline Smith played by Barbara Eaker (Oct. 10). The schedule repeats through May 29.
All performances are open to the public with a museum donation. Call 254-1891.
School to dedicate bridge in crash victim's memory
PALMA CEIA - The Academy of the Holy Names will dedicate a bridge over MacDill Avenue at 8:30 a.m. today in memory of Michael P. Antinori.
Antinori, of Culbreath Isles, died in June 2002 at age 30 after his single-engine Cessna crashed in Lutz. His family, which owns American Bedding Industries in Brandon, donated $1-million for the 162-foot-wide pedestrian bridge. The bridge links the athletic and academic centers at the prekindergarten through 12th grade campus at 3319 Bayshore Blvd.
Know your wines? You could get free drinks
SOHO - Charlie's Wine Cellar & Wine Bar, 533 S Howard Ave., hosts a blind taste challenge at 9 p.m. Saturday.
Participants who can identify two red and two white wines by varietal, such as a chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon, drink for free. Otherwise, it's $10.
For information, call 250-1967.
Tampa General offers free screenings, classes
HISTORIC HYDE PARK - Tampa General Hospital offers free health screenings for blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Thursday at the hospital's site at Old Hyde Park Village, 1604 Snow Ave.
The hospital also offers free classes on women's health issues from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Fridays at the same location.
