I
did the coolest thing when I was in Atlanta.
My
sister and I were shopping in “Rustique.”
She typically listens to Christian radio, but a secular station was
playing that morning. And behold, the
station broadcast tidings of great joy!
A sing along version of the Sound of Music was arranged at the historic
Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta two days hence.
I
love TSOM, but my sister is a demented fan and has seen it hundreds of
times. However, due to our big age gap,
she had never seen it on the big screen the way I first did.
We
started our special outing at Mary Mac’s Tea Room, an Atlanta institution
since just after the Second World War, when women widowed by the war started
little restaurants to support themselves.
The term “tea room” was thought to put a little genteel finish on it; I
agree that the term "tea room" has a certain cachet.
I
had a noteworthy salad, and corn bread with “pot likker” for the first
time. My nieces had grilled cheese and
chicken and dumplings, while Sis had country fried steak. The service was superb, I felt that I had a little slice of the past,
a glimpse into a Southern world which really doesn’t exist anymore.
Then
off the Fox, an Art Deco jewel.
Imagine
if you will, a huge theater of people warming up for the big event by singing, “Yodalay-hee,
Yodalay-hee, Yodalay hee-hee, Yodalay hee” from the “Lonely Goatherd”
song. Before the big show, there were
look-alike contests of everyone from Rolf (Nazi telegram boy) to the
Baroness.
We
were given little goodie bags with signs to hold up, silk edelweiss to throw,
and little poppers to make noise with when Georg von Trapp kisses Maria for the
first time. We “do a deared” and “climbed
every mountain,” and “so-longed and farewelled.” We booed Nazis and hissed at the Baroness. And an incredibly good time was had by all. All the lyrics were subtitled on the screen, but I doubt anyone needed them except maybe for "Something Good."
Can
you think of a more perfect day? And
with that said, “Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you!”
