The Six Degrees Of Edward Durrell Stone

I arrived at the History Museum, and I was embarrassed. 

Edward Durrell Stone’s son was about to give a talk on his architect father.  There were only 10 people in the auditorium.  Edward Durrell Stone had designed Busch Stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals, but we had just torn that baseball stadium down a few years ago.  Maybe that was why the turnout for this talk was so low.

I sprang into action, went up to the speaker, and started chatting with him so that he would not dwell on the pitiful turnout for his talk. 

I regaled him with tales of my visit to Paducah, Kentucky, where his father had designed the City Hall.  In fact, the City Hall in Paducah is a smaller version of the US Embassy in New Delhi, which Edward Durrell Stone had also designed.  I had saved myself plane fare to India by driving down to the Ohio River!

It was time for the talk to begin.  I turned around, and was relieved to see that more people had filed into the auditorium.  There was now a respectable crowd.  Looks like people who enjoy architecture always arrive at the last minute.

Edward Durrell Stone’s son began his talk, with an accompanying slide show.  He mentioned that his father had done the interior design on Radio City Music Hall and on the Roxy Theater in Manhattan.

The Roxy Theater!  My grandfather, a skilled cabinet maker, had helped build the stage at the Roxy, which opened in 1927.  

My mind instantly went off on a tangent, thinking about my grandfather.  I also recalled my visit to the Roxy when I was 15 years old.  The Roxy was a rival to Radio City, and featured a stage show of high-stepping showgirls.  I saw “Windjammer”, a film in Cinemiracle ---- a format that was trying to compete with Cinerama.

The Roxy, alas, was torn down 2 years after I saw “Windjammer”.  The theater lives on in a photograph of Gloria Swanson posing in its ruins.

My mind went back to the talk, where Edward Durrell Stone’s son was proudly announcing that his father’s building, the US Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair, had been featured on a postage stamp.  A picture of the postage stamp appeared on the screen.  Even though the audience consisted of architecture buffs, their collective mind started to wander.  The stamp on the screen cost 3 cents, and everyone began to reminisce about the days of affordable postage.

My mind returned to the talk again.  Now Edward Durrell Stone’s son was talking about Two Columbus Circle, an oddly Venetian-looking building in Manhattan.  My mind was off on another tangent.  The printing company my father worked for had printed the booklets for the grand opening of Two Columbus Circle.  I was thinking about my Dad, and his company, and his involvement with printing.

My mind got back in time for the end of the talk.  I realized I had spent most of the evening in the History Museum playing “The Six Degrees of Edward Durrell Stone”.

- . - .- . - . - . 

NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com