MOST UNUSUAL THEATER

                              A Gem in the Granite Cliffside

      One day in Cornwall, England I made an unexpected stop at the Minnack Theater. In the early 1920s a young girl, named Rowena Cade, had a vision of a theater by the bay built into the granite cliffside.. With the help of a couple  men she did create and build a perfectly gorgeous theater in the most spectacular setting. The magnificent theater seats 750 people. The acoustics are nearly perfect.

     Seated half way in the theater I could hear everything being said on the stage—without the use of any microphones---while I watched a rehearsal for an upcoming play.  Mostly Shakespearean plays are produced during the 17-week summer theater season.

     Ms. Cade never married. This was her life’s work. Fortunately she lived until 1983 so she could enjoy the fruits of her labors.  WW II interrupted progress and she experienced other hardships along the way, but her dogged determination produced a positively lovely theater. Flowers were growing everywhere in the theater in the form of rock gardens, just seeding themselves in the granite. The ocean many  many feet below made a wonderful backdrop for the theater. Before leaving the theater I visited the small gift shop and then sat on the edge of the cliff in a small totally glassed-in café to eat some ice-cream. It felt like being suspended over the ocean with the theater off to the right snuggled into the granite.  What an accomplishment for a woman to bring her vision to fruition producing such a magnificent legacy..

     I’m always happy to see places on TV, mostly PBS, travel shows where I have been, but I was pretty excited to see a professional’s pictures of the Minnack Theater. It’s always fun to

reminisce  a trip or event.

THE BIG BANG

                                                 A Terrible Accident

      Not be confused with the popular Big Band Theory of TV fame; this big   bang took place during WW I in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  This huge explosion happened in 1917 when the harbor was teeming with war ships transporting troops, supplies and munitions to Europe.

     The Narrows, appropriately named, is at the head of the harbor.  The French ship Mont Blanc was on her way out of the harbor carrying munitions ---400,000 pounds of TNT destined for Europe. The Belgian ship, Imo, had been diverted to Halifax and was sailing into the harbor.

     The Imo maneuvered a bit off course to go around a tug boat, then found herself directly in the path of the Mount Blanc. Horrified, both ships immediately went into reverse which swung their bows into each other causing a spark that set the Mont Blanc on fire.

     Aware of their cargo, the Mont Blanc  lifeboats were immediately lowered into the water and the Mont Blanc crew headed for Dartmouth on the opposite shore.  People gathered on shore to watch the burning ship drift toward Halifax.

     Those in the life boats kept shouting to the people on shore to go back over the hill, but the spectators did not understand French.  Once on shore a quick thinking sailor grabbed a baby out of its mother’s arms and ran up the hill. Of course everyone chased him, but that simple act saved many lives.

     In just twenty minutes the ship exploded with a vengeance destroying the entire north end of Nova Scotia.  It was the largest man made explosion before Hiroshima.  The Halifax explosion instantly killed 1800-2000 people and injured another 9000.

      A wire sent to stop a troop train heading to Nova Scotia instead made it to Boston. Only two hours after the explosion a medical relief train was ready to leave Boston.  A massive international relief effort followed to rapidly rebuild the city.

     In gratitude for the help Boston rendered during that awful time, Nova Scotia still, decades later, sends a large spruce tree for public display to Boston every holiday season.