Why should we let Los Angeles have all the fun when there’s plenty of glitz and glamour to spread around in the Sandhills?
Photographs by Tim Sayer and John Gessner
Dreamgirls
Jennifer Hudson won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2007 in her acting debut in Dreamgirls, adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name. Her character, Effie White, is left behind when Curtis, the man she loves and the group’s manager, replaces her as the lead singer of The Dreams, the Motown group based on The Supremes, that rises to stardom without her. Barely getting by in inner city Detroit with her daughter, Magic, Effie revives her career when she reconciles with her brother, C.C., who writes and produces her comeback hit, “One Night Only.” Our Effie, Courtney Pearson, is an Appalachian State University alum in a graduate program in the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, who teaches sixth grade English at West Pine Middle School. And what better stage for Effie to belt out her comeback single than at Casino Guitars in Southern Pines, the place where musical dreams really can begin?
Photograph by Tim Sayer
Gown from Brides Etc.
Makeup by Gabriela Villaseñor/Retro Salon
Mary Poppins
In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to see Mary Poppins seated at a window table in Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlour and Gift Shoppe in Pinehurst. After all, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. With her portrayal of the title character in the 1964 Disney movie, Julie Andrews won an Academy Award for Best Actress in her feature film debut. Our Mary Poppins, Christy Tucker, didn’t float down from the sky with the use of her umbrella, nor does she carry an enchanted carpetbag. Christy does, however, have three children of her own to nanny, 4-year-old Wyatt and his 2-year-old twin brothers, Wesley and Whitt. As perfect a setting as Lady Bedford’s may be for a spot of tea, don’t expect any penguin waiters or a tea party on the ceiling with Uncle Albert because, well, that would just be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Photograph by John Gessner
Costuming by Marcie Haberstroh/Showboats Neverland
Makeup by Megan Weitzel/Retro Salon
Hair by Meredith Jacob/Retro Salon
The Blind Side
In 2010 the Oscar for Best Actress went to Sandra Bullock for her appearance in the film The Blind Side, playing the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy, who opens her home to a teenage football prodigy, Michael Oher. Running away from one foster home after another, Oher, who now plays left tackle — the blind side — for the Carolina Panthers, is left homeless by the death of his father and the drug addiction of his mother. Slowly but surely he becomes a member of the Tuohy family and is eventually adopted by them. Our Leigh Anne is Kelly Kilgore, the mother of two daughters, Ava and Audry, and the owner of RIOT (Run in Our Tribe), a running and specialty athletic store on Pennsylvania Avenue, who pulls off the performance with the help of the Pinecrest Patriots. Jehari Whitfield (78) turns in a solid portrayal of Oher, aided by his teammates Will Robson (76), Langdon McFay (44), J.D. Robinson (81) and Davis Byrd (80).
Photograph by John Gessner
Hair and makeup by Ariana Cooper/Beautopia
Ray
Brother Ray. The Genius. Jamie Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his gritty portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 movie Ray. Blind from the age of 7, raised on a sharecropping farm in Florida, Ray Charles passed away shortly before the film’s release. Charles learned to read music using Braille at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, but it was his creative combination of blues, rhythm and blues and gospel that produced an entire new genre. His fame came at personal cost, including a struggle with drug addiction. Charles’ long list of hits included “I Got a Woman,” “What’d I Say” and “Georgia on my Mind.” Who better to sit in at the piano for Charles than Paul Murphy? The pastor of the Trinity AME Zion church in Southern Pines started playing at The Carolina Hotel, where this picture was taken, in the early 1980s.
Photograph by John Gessner
Costuming by Marcie Haberstroh/Showboats Neverland
Annie Hall
Giving neuroses a good name, comedian Alvy Singer, played by the movie’s writer/director Woody Allen, falls in love with Annie Hall, portrayed by Diane Keaton, who won the Oscar for Best Actress in the 1977 eponymous movie. Together they stand in line for the movie The Sorrow and the Pity, where Marshall McLuhan makes an imaginary appearance to explain to another theatergoer why he’s gotten it all wrong. Alvy and Annie fall in love over a meal of boiled lobster, but the relationship falls apart when they move in together. They reconcile, if only temporarily, when he rushes to Annie’s rescue after she calls him in a needy panic — though only to kill a spider. We found our Annie, Annie Arroyo, a graduate of James Madison University who works for First Flight Digital, the media arm of The Pilot, hanging out not in Manhattan but outside The Given Outpost in Pinehurst.
Photograph by Tim Sayer
Costuming by Marcie Haberstroh/Showboats Neverland
The King’s Speech
When King Edward VIII abdicates his throne in order to marry the American socialite Wallis Simpson, his brother, Albert, aka “Bertie”, succeeds him as King George VI. Colin Firth won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the royal who conquered his awkward stammer in the 2010 film The King’s Speech. Cautioned by his father, George V, about the importance of communication in the age of radio, Albert seeks the aid of an Australian, Lionel Logue, whose sole training came from working with shell-shocked soldiers after World War I. With Logue’s help, Bertie takes the mic following Britain’s declaration of war with Nazi Germany and delivers his radio address almost flawlessly. While Logue points out some less-than-perfect w’s, Albert replies, “Well, I had to throw in a few so they’d know it was me.” Southern Pines Assistant Town Manager Chris Kennedy, a 10th generation North Carolinian, rises to the occasion as our king at the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities.
Photograph by Tim Sayer
Costuming by Marcie Haberstroh/Showboats Neverland
Roman Holiday
A crown princess sets off from the embassy of her undisclosed country to explore Rome da sola. She finds love, and Audrey Hepburn found an Oscar for Best Actress in the part of Ann in the classic 1953 romantic comedy. An expatriate American newspaper reporter, Joe, finds, but does not recognize, the princess (who calls herself Anya Smith) and invites her — in an abundance of caution — to spend the night in his apartment. Her regal comportment amuses Joe, played by Gregory Peck. In the morning, having slept through a scheduled interview with Princess Ann, Joe pretends to his editor that he was actually there until his boss tells him the interview was canceled. Joe sees her picture, realizes who is in his apartment and senses a scoop. Hijinks ensue. Our Ann is Ella Burkes, a stylist at Bamboo, a Boutique Salon in Southern Pines. She doesn’t have a crown but she does have a wiener dog, Norman.
Photograph by Tim Sayer
Hair and makeup by Ella Burkes/Bamboo Salon
Costuming by Marcie Haberstroh/Showboats Neverland
