Beyond Van Gogh

For the approximately 50 years we lived in Southern California, we would attend an event call the Pageant of the Masters in beautiful Laguna Beach.  Now, if I describe this event to you, you’ll probably say, What?  Let’s find out.   Pageant of the Masters creates living version of artist’s masterpieces, creating huge painted background and posing real people in costume and makeup on the backgrounds. What?  When I first heard of it, that’s what I said, but everyone said it was wonderful … and it sold out every year … so we went.  And it was wonderful.  The lighting made the paintings look like 2-dimentional faithful reproductions and each was accompanied by music from a live orchestra and a narrator talking about the painting.  It didn’t hurt that it was held outdoors in the Irvine Bowl on a balmy Socal evening.

Monday Smiles – 11/10/2014

Our weekend started early with a Friday afternoon trip to the Huntington Library in Pasadena.  The website for the library says that, The Huntington was founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities, and real estate holdings in Southern California.   Huntington was also a man of vision – with a special interest in books, art, and gardens.  He began his career working for his uncle Collis, who was an owner of the Central Pacific Railroad.  Money builds money and he eventually built his own financial empire which included the Pacific Electric Railway and Newport News Shipbuilding.  The mansion that is now the centerpiece of the Huntington Library was completed in 1911.  The guide for the library casually mentions that in 1913, Henry married the widow of Uncle Collis.  She was his age and shared his interests in collecting, the guide says.  Unmentioned is the fact that His divorce from his first wife, Mary Alice Prentice, birth sister of his Uncle Collis daughter, in 1910 and marriage to Arabella in 1913 after Mary Alice’s death shocked San Francisco society.  I wonder if ever slipped and called his new wife Auntie in bed?