Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

 

Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, also called the Madhouse Coliseum or Phoenix Memorial Coliseum, is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, located at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. It hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992, as well as indoor soccer, professional roller hockey, multiple professional minor league ice hockey teams, and roller derby.

History

The Arizona State Fair Commission began planning an "Arizona State Fairgrounds Exposition Center" as early as February 1960.^[2] The Commission envisioned an indoor facility which could be used during the state fair as well as year-round. In 1964, Phoenix architect Leslie Mahoney, of the firm Lescher and Mahoney (designers of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix) presented the final plans to the commission, and construction began that summer.^[3] Tucson architect Lew Place (son of University of Arizona chief campus architect Roy Place, who later took over his father's firm) was also involved in the design. The structural engineering firm was T. Y. Lin International.^[4]

The distinctive saddle-shaped, tension-cable roof, supporting over 1,000 precast concrete panels, was considered innovative architectural engineering. It may have been at least partially influenced by the equally innovative Dorton Arena at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh, completed in 1952. Veterans Memorial Coliseum contains a series of murals by Phoenix artist Paul Coze. The design influenced later arenas' architecture, including the defunct Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, and the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta.

The Coliseum in 2007

In April 1965, the name was changed to honor Arizona's war veterans. There was an early controversy over whether alcohol would be served at the new facility, but legislation was signed in April 1965 by Governor Sam Goddard providing for limited liquor sales. The Coliseum opened November 3, 1965, with a production of Ice Follies.^[5] The final cost was estimated at $7 million, all privately funded.

The Coliseum suffers from a leaky roof dating back to at least its first anniversary, when management put a 25-foot (7.6 m) candle on the roof to celebrate the building's first birthday. The candle broke the roof's seal, which caused a number of leaks over the years.^[5][6]

Concerts

On January 21, 1967, The Monkees performed at the Coliseum on their first ever live tour, which was filmed and portions used in episode 4753 The Monkees on Tour. The episode first aired on NBC, April 24, 1967. The episode included footage of the band's stay at Mountain Shadows Resort.^[7] On November 11, 1969, The Rolling Stones played a show for their Let it Bleed tour at the Coliseum. On September 9, 1970, Elvis Presley kicked off his first tour after returning to live performing, to a sell-out crowd of 13,000 as he did his first tour of 1973 on April 22 in front of 15,000. On October 18, 1993, Nirvana kicked off their In Utero world tour with a sold-out concert at the Coliseum.

Basketball

The arena hosted the Phoenix Suns of the NBA from 1968 to 1992. During the Suns' tenure, the Coliseum was affectionately referred to as "The Madhouse on McDowell" (for McDowell Road on which the arena is located) by both fans and the local media.^[8] Ironically, it was Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn who conferred the nickname during the 1970 playoffs.^[9] The first home game for the Suns at the arena took place on October 18, 1968, a 116–107 win against the Seattle SuperSonics.

A preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers had to be canceled on October 6, 1974, after a leaky roof rendered the floor unplayable.^[5][6]

The Coliseum hosted the 1975 NBA All-Star Game, and the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship there in 1976.

The last regular season home game for the Suns at the arena took place on April 16, 1992, a 101–121 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. The final Suns home game at the arena took place on May 11, 1992 during the playoffs, a 151–153 double overtime loss to the Trail Blazers in the second round.

Due to renovations at Talking Stick Resort Arena (now Mortgage Matchup Center), the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury was to play at the Coliseum for the 2020 season, though the COVID-19 pandemic moved the Mercury to a league-wide bubble environment at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.^[10]

Seating capacity

Seating capacity for basketball went as follows:^[11]

Years	Capacity
1965–1971	12,371
1971–1975	12,534
1975–1976	13,036
1976–1977	13,274
1977–1981	12,660
1981–1985	14,660
1985–1987	14,519
1987–1989	14,471
1989–1991	14,487
1991–1992	14,496

Tenants

This arena seats 13,730 for ice hockey and 14,870 for basketball. In addition to the Suns, the Coliseum hosted the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League from 1967 to 1974 and the WHA from 1974 to 1977 and of the now-defunct International Hockey League from 1989 to 1997, the Phoenix Racquets of World Team Tennis from 1975 to 1978, the Arizona Thunder of the World Indoor Soccer League from 1998 to 2000, and the Phoenix Mustangs of the now-defunct WCHL from 1997 to 2001. The Coliseum was again home to pro sports starting in 2006, when the IBL's Phoenix Flame played home games there until their move to Grand Canyon University.

The Coliseum hosted the Arizona Derby Dames banked track roller derby league from 2008 to 2015.

The arena hosted truck pulling sanctioned by USHRA in the late 1980s. It was frequently featured on USHRA's truck pulling series on ESPN.

The Coliseum also housed the Phoenix Inferno (also known as the Phoenix Pride) of the MISL from 1980 to 1984.

The Coliseum also hosted a Saturday Night's Main Event taping on Feb. 15, 1986 (shown on NBC on March 1, 1986), when King Kong Bundy attacked Hulk Hogan at the end of his title defense versus Magnificent Muraco. Hogan suffered (kayfabe) rib injuries, setting up their steel cage main event match at WrestleMania 2.

It hosted the WCW WrestleWar 1991. The Coliseum was also host to the Phoenix Mustangs hockey team as part of the West Coast Hockey League and the Phoenix Eclipse ABA basketball team.

The arena remains open for some events, even though the Suns left in 1992 for America West Arena (now Mortgage Matchup Center), schedules concerts, comedy shows and other events in the Coliseum during the Fair's annual season (which begins each October). For several years, it hosted portions of Arizona's high school basketball championships; those were moved to the newer Gila River Arena (now Desert Diamond Arena) in 2005 and returned to the Coliseum for 2020.^[12]

In the fall of 2005, the Coliseum sheltered up to 2,500 evacuees from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The evacuees were relocated to other housing in time for the opening of the Fair that October.

The Coliseum most recently hosted Sam Smith on his In The Lonely Hour Tour in the summer of 2015. The Phoenix Suns would also return to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum for a pre-season scrimmage on October 3, 2015, as a part of their "We Are PHX" movement, as well as unveiled signs commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Coliseum's existence.^[13][14]

In the late spring and early summer of 2021, the Coliseum was the site of the controversial multi-month audit of Maricopa County's 2020 presidential election ballots by the Republican caucus of the state Senate.

The Phoenix Union High School District holds its high school graduation ceremonies for all its schools starting on Tuesday after the third Monday in May for three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday).

The History Shop: Phoenix THEN and NOW – Old Arizona Photos Past and Present

The Grass Harp by Truman Capote (Novel)

 

First edition hardback
Author	Truman Capote
Language	English
Genre	Southern literature
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	1951
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print: (Hardcover / paperback)
Pages	216 pp
OCLC	282815

The Grass Harp is a novel by Truman Capote published on October 1, 1951.^[1] It tells the story of an orphaned boy and two elderly ladies who observe life from a tree. They eventually leave their temporary retreat to make amends with each other and other members of society.^[2]

Conception

Not wanting to take up his incomplete first novel, Summer Crossing, Capote began writing The Grass Harp in June 1950 and completed it on May 27, 1951. The novel was inspired by memories of his childhood in Monroeville, Alabama, particularly of a treehouse constructed in the 1930s in a large walnut tree in his cousin Jenny's backyard. This large tree house, accessible by an antique spiral staircase, featured cypress wood construction and a tin roof, and was furnished with a rattan sofa. Capote spent time in this tree house with his cousin Sook or other childhood friends such as Harper Lee.^[3] The novel was additionally inspired by his cousin Sook's dropsy medicine, which she made yearly until the age of 62. She took the recipe for it to the grave, despite Jenny's wanting first to patent the recipe and then to sell it to a manufacturer.^[4]

Capote completed The Grass Harp while he was vacationing in Taormina, Sicily. The last section was airmailed to the publishers Random House just days after he finished writing it, but it was not published for four months because the editors, specifically Bob Linscott, did not care for the ending of the novel.^[5] Linscott thought that the ending was weak because, once the characters were up in the tree house, Capote "didn't know what to do with them." He asked Capote to rewrite the ending, and Capote made some changes in it, but he did not completely rewrite it.^[6]

Truman Capote initially wanted to title the novel Music of the Sawgrass. It was Bob Linscott who gave it the title The Grass Harp. ^[6]

Synopsis

The story begins with Collin Fenwick losing his mother, and then his father, and moving into his aunts' (Dolly and Verena) house. Catherine, the servant, also lives in the house and gets along, for the most part, only with Dolly. Dolly is famous for her medicine, which she makes by going out into the woods with Catherine and Collin and randomly picking plants. They then go to an old treehouse, which is propped up in a Chinaberry tree. One day, after Dolly has an argument with Verena (Verena wants to mass-produce Dolly's medicine), Dolly, Collin, and Catherine leave their home and start walking. They go to the treehouse in the Chinaberry tree, and decide to camp out there. Verena, meanwhile, informs the sheriff of her sister's disappearance; the Sheriff organizes a search party, and eventually arrests Catherine. During the course of the novel, others come to live in the treehouse, such as Judge Cool and Riley Henderson. In a climactic event, a confrontation among the search party and the residents of the tree house leads to Riley getting shot in the shoulder. After Judge Cool discusses the situation, everyone agrees that it was a pointless struggle, and old relationships are invigorated once again. Many people leave as friends. The story ends with how a "grass harp, gathering, telling, a harp of voices remembering a story."

Characters

• Collin Fenwick: An orphaned boy who takes up residence in a Chinaberry tree with Dolly. When the story opens he is 11 years old, but he is 16 years old for the majority of the narrative; he is small for his age. Collin serves as both the protagonist and narrator of the novel.
• Dolly Talbo: Aunt of Collin; she takes up residence in the Chinaberry tree. Her character is based on Truman's older cousin, Sook Faulk.^[7]
• Verena Talbo: Dolly's sister; she urges the Sheriff of the town to investigate the disappearance of her sister Dolly.
• Morris Ritz: A man who woos Verena, and is popularly believed to open a factory with her but soon runs away with her money.
• Catherine Creek: An African American servant who runs away with Dolly and Collin, and also takes up residence in the Chinaberry tree.
• Riley Henderson: A boy who becomes friends with Collin. He briefly takes up residence in the treehouse of the Chinaberry tree.
• Junius Candle: The town Sheriff; he is persistent in finding perpetrators and organizes a massive search party to find Collin and Dolly.
• Judge Cool: He is considered the free thinker of the town and helps Dolly and Verena come to terms with one another. He is the "wise man" of society, and in general, solves conflicts posed in the novella.

Reception and critical analysis

The New York Herald Tribune lauded the novel as "Remarkable...infused with a tender laughter, charming human warmth, [and] a feeling for the positive quality of life." The Atlantic Monthly commented that "The Grass Harp charms you into sharing the author's feeling that there is a special poetry - a spontaneity and wonder and delight - in lives untarnished by conformity and common sense." Sales of The Grass Harp reached 13,500, more than double those of either A Tree of Night or Local Color, two of Capote's prior works.^[1]

The Grass Harp was Truman Capote's favorite personal work, despite its being criticized as overly sentimental.^[6]

Adaptations

Play

Main article: The Grass Harp (play)

The Grass Harp was favorably reviewed when it was published, and it attracted the interest of the Broadway producer Saint Subber, who traveled to Taormina to urge Capote to write a stage adaption of the work; his offer opened up new possibilities for income at a time when Capote was still struggling to make his way. Working with intense concentration, Capote managed to complete a draft of the play in a year's time. He was personally involved in the selection of a production team. Capote's stage adaptation of his novel, produced by Saint Subber, directed by Robert Lewis, opened on March 27, 1952 at Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre, where it ran for 36 performances. The cast included Mildred Natwick as Dolly Talbo, Ruth Nelson as Verena Talbo, Jonathan Harris as Dr. Morris Ritz, Sterling Holloway as The Barber, Gertrude Flynn as The Baker's Wife, Val Dufour as The Sheriff, Jane Lawrence as The Choir Mistress, Lenka Peterson as Maude Riordan, and Alice Pearce as Miss Baby Love Dallas.^[8] Music was by Virgil Thomson and scenery and costumes were by Cecil Beaton.^[9]

Musical

Main article: The Grass Harp (musical)

The book and lyrics were by Kenward Elmslie and the music by Claibe Richardson.^[10] The musical adaptation opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on November 2, 1971, after previews from October 26, 1971, and closed on November 6, 1971. Barbara Cook and the cast appeared on a CBS television Sunday morning talk-interview show, presenting several of the musical numbers with Richardson at the grand piano, during the musical's preview week and opening night performances.^{[citation needed]}

Film

Main article: The Grass Harp (film)

In 1995, Stirling Silliphant and Kirk Ellis adapted the novel for a feature film directed by Charles Matthau. The cast included Matthau's father Walter, Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Edward Furlong, Nell Carter, Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, Joe Don Baker, Bonnie Bartlett and Charles Durning.

The Grass Harp (1995)

 

The Grass Harp is a 1995 American comedy drama film based on the novella by Truman Capote. The screenplay, which is the final work of Oscar-winning screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, is adapted from the play. Directed by Charles Matthau, the film features a cast including Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Edward Furlong and Nell Carter.^[2] Piper Laurie won the Best Supporting Actress award from the Southeastern Film Critics Association for her performance.^[3]

Plot

In a small 1930s Alabama town, Collin Fenwick is sent to live with his father's maiden cousins—the sweet Dolly and the overbearing Verena—following the death of his mother. He soon discovers that the Talbo household is anything but normal. After also losing his father, Collin grows close to Dolly and housekeeper Catherine, and becomes acquainted with the eccentric townspeople, from the gossip-loving barber to a traveling evangelist with 15 illegitimate offspring. To escape Verena's oppression, Dolly, Collin and Catherine run away to an old treehouse in the woods. Their rebellion sparks a series of events that changes their lives, as well as the entire town.^[3][4][5]

Cast

• Piper Laurie – Dolly Talbo, a gentle eccentric and Verena's sister
• Sissy Spacek – Verena Talbo, a domineering entrepreneur with most of the town in her pocket, and Dolly's sister
• Edward Furlong – Collin Fenwick, an orphan sent to live with Dolly and Verena
• Nell Carter – Catherine Creek, a quick-witted hired housekeeper and Dolly's friend
• Walter Matthau – Judge Charlie Cool, a former judge attempting to find meaning in his retirement years, and Dolly's love interest
• Roddy McDowall – Amos Legrand, the effeminate town barber and gossip
• Jack Lemmon – Dr. Morris Ritz, a confidence man who charms Verena
• Mary Steenburgen – Sister Ida, a good-hearted traveling evangelist
• Sean Patrick Flanery – Riley Henderson, Collin's friend and eventual competitor for the affections of Maude
• Joe Don Baker – Junius Candle, the town sheriff
• Scott Wilson – Eugene Fenwick, Collin's father, who leaves him with Dolly and Verena after the death of his wife
• Mia Kirshner – Maude Riordan, Collin's "love interest"
• Charles Durning – Reverend Buster
• Bonnie Bartlett – Mrs. Buster
• Doris Roberts – Mrs. Richards
• Ray McKinnon – Charlie Cool, Jr.

Production

The Grass Harp is based on Truman Capote's 1951 semi-autobiographical novel. The screenplay is written by Stirling Silliphant and Kirk Ellis. Silliphant's previous credits include In the Heat of the Night, The Towering Inferno, and The Poseidon Adventure. The film is directed by Charles Matthau, son of Walter Matthau. It was filmed on location in Wetumpka, Alabama.^[5]

Reception

Despite generally good reviews, the film did poorly at the box office. With an estimated budget of $9 million, the film grossed roughly $1.5 million in ticket sales.^[6]

The New York Times review of the film states that the actors' performances were "uniformly expert, sharp renderings of distinctive individuals", and that Charles Matthau had "managed to set them in a landscape specifically distant and atmospheric".^[5]

The Los Angeles Times review calls it a beguiling film, and one that "celebrates rebirth and renewal but within a tough-minded view of life that never allows it to lapse into a fairy tale".^[7]

Variety calls it a "sensitive screenplay adaptation", and noted the film's "wonderful ensemble cast".^[8]

Summer Crossing by Truman Capote

 

Summer Crossing is the second novel written by American author Truman Capote. He started the novel in about 1943 and worked on it intermittently for several years before putting it aside. Capote's manuscript came to light almost 20 years after Capote's death, and the novel was published in 2005.

The novel tells the story of an independent-minded young socialite whose romantic dalliances grow increasingly serious when her parents leave her alone in New York City for the summer while they travel to Europe.

Conception and critical reception

Capote started writing Summer Crossing in 1943 when he was working for The New Yorker. After taking an evening walk in Monroeville, Alabama, and being inspired to write his first published novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, he set aside the manuscript. On August 30, 1949, while vacationing in North Africa, Capote informed his publisher that he was approximately two-thirds through his first draft of Summer Crossing. He optimistically spoke of finalizing the manuscript by the end of the year, even making a vow that he would not return to the United States until he did,^[1] but he never submitted more than a first draft to his publisher.^[2] Capote had been making minor edits to the work over a period of approximately 10 years. Robert Linscott, Capote's senior editor at Random House, was unimpressed with the first draft. He said he thought it was a good novel, but that it didn't showcase Capote's "distinctive artistic voice".^[3] After reading the draft several times, Capote noted that the novel was "well written and it's got a lot of style", but that he just did not like it. In particular Capote began "to fear [the novel] was thin, clever, unfelt".^[4] Later Capote claimed to have destroyed the unpolished manuscript, along with several other notebooks of prose, in a fit of harsh self-criticism.^[5]

Manuscript recovery

When Capote left a basement apartment he had been renting in Brooklyn Heights around 1950, he instructed his landlord to trash anything he had left. The next occupant of the apartment, described as a "house sitter", nevertheless rescued materials that appeared valuable and held them until his death fifty years later. His nephew and heir came into possession of these materials and identified and arranged with Sotheby's to auction these materials in 2004. Included were manuscripts of works both published and unpublished, drafts, notes, photographs, and correspondence. The collection received no bids at auction because of the high reserve price that was set and because those responsible for Capote's estate had, with Sotheby's assistance, asserted their claim that ownership of the physical papers did not confer publication rights, which were held by the Truman Capote Literary Trust.

The New York Public Library reached an agreement to buy the papers and archived them in its permanent Truman Capote Collection. Capote's lawyer, Alan U. Schwartz, as trustee for the charitable trust established by Capote's will, made the decision to publish Summer Crossing after consultations to assess its quality and significance. He concluded: "While not a polished work, it fully reflects the emergence of an original voice and a surprisingly proficient writer of prose." The novel appeared in 2005. The first edition was set from Capote's original manuscript, which was written in four school notebooks accompanied by 62 supplemental notes.^[6]

An excerpt from the story was also published in the October 24, 2005, issue of The New Yorker.

Plot summary

The story takes place in New York City over the course of the hot summer of 1945.

Grady McNeil, a 17-year-old upper class Protestant débutante, steadfastly refuses to accompany her parents on their usual summer ritual of travel, in this case to France. Left in the city for the summer by herself, she pursues a covert romance with Clyde Manzer, a Jewish parking lot attendant, whom she had noticed several months earlier. Grady spends time with Clyde and meets some of his friends, and in turn the couple visits the Central Park Zoo together. There, Clyde mentions his brother's bar mitzvah as a way of introducing the fact that he is Jewish.

As the summer heats up, so does Grady's and Clyde's romance. The couple is soon wed in Red Bank, New Jersey. Once married, Grady meets Clyde's middle-class family in Brooklyn, and only then is the couple truly faced with the stark reality of the cultural divide between her family and his. Grady then realizes at her sister Apple's home that she is six weeks pregnant.

Grady has passed over a couple of opportunities to spend time with the handsome young Peter Bell, a man of her social stature who is romantically interested in her. Eventually Grady's sister, Apple, confronts her about her relationship with Clyde. In an abrupt ending, an inebriated Grady aims her speeding Buick with passengers Peter, Clyde, and Clyde's friend Gump so it will crash off the Queensboro Bridge, killing everyone.

Film adaptation

Plans for a film adaptation of Summer Crossing were announced 2013. Playwright Tristine Skyler was working with Scarlett Johansson on the screenplay and Johansson was slated to direct in her feature film directorial debut. She said: "Being able to bring this story to the screen as my full-length directorial debut is a life dream and deep privilege."^[7]