Wisconsin Public Television University Place History Sandwiched In  Kristine Weir-Martell, "Ten Chimneys: More Than a Great Museum"  April 5, 2011 UP577    cc >> Welcome ladies and gentlemen, we're very pleased to have here today at the Wisconsin Historical Museum as part of our History Sandwiched In series, Kristine Weir-Martell from Ten Chimneys, where she's going to share us some insights of Ten Chimneys, which is more than just a museum. If you could help me applaud and introduce Kristine, we'll get started in just a moment. [APPLAUSE]  >> Kristine Weir-Martell: Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to see so many of you here today. It's such a beautiful sunny day, I asked someone if perhaps the rain had come and that's why everyone was coming in. So I so appreciate you being here today. Thank you so very much. I want to start by asking how many of you have visited Ten Chimneys before? Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming. The intent of this program today is to really talk about the programming that we do at Ten Chimneys. 

And our public programs, our part of the program that we do in terms of the tours that you have had a chance to experience. So thank you so much for coming. We have tours for the public. We also have tours that serve American theater. So we're going to be talking about both of those components of our programming today. We have a lot of questions about where do these programs actually begin. And I guess the easiest thing that I would say is that the programs began in 1915. I wasn't there at that point, but they began in 1915. Alfred Lunt purchased a small three-acre parcel of land in Genesee Depot, and he put up this original main house. He wanted a place for his mother and his stepsister and stepbrother to come. 

He wanted to put down roots and he wanted to make sure that they always had this place to come to. He also wanted a place to come back to. He wanted a place where he could refresh and rejuvenate. He was a world traveler. And he wanted to make sure that this was a place that he could always be rooted. This was also the place where he asked Lynn Fontanne to marry him. This has a lot of history to it. Those of you who have toured know that the house looks a lot different now than it did at that point. But this is the way that it looked when Alfred first brought this to be, put this together, this small little house that was here. The question comes then well, what are some of the programs that you do at Ten Chimneys? If this is where it started, what are some of the programs that happen at Ten Chimneys? As the house grew, Lynn and Alfred made sure that they always brought their family back to this particular place, back to this house. 

And one of the spaces in the house is their drawing room. And in their drawing room is this glorious piano that's here. We think that this is Alfred's sister, Louise, who is playing the piano. It started as a black Steinway. It was first built in 1932 and the Lunts purchased it in 1934. It's clearly not a black Steinway anymore. It's grown into this beautiful, we call it the Noel Coward piano. And it was a place where the family would gather. This is a piano and it's a space that begs for song and it begs for people to gathering around it. In fact in a letter that Lynn wrote to her friend Alexander Wilcot in 1938, she said Christmas was lovely with the family. 

We sat down 20 to dinner, including the two little nieces and one little nephew, aged 11, 12, and 13, respectively. They all had milk by their places, but were allowed each a glass of champagne. Johnny finished his dinner quickly and accompanied the dessert course on his concertino with Jingle Bells and Home Sweet Home. We played all the old favorites on the gramophone, too. It was all very sentimental and lovely. Karen and Louise sang carols softly in high sweet sopranos with their heads together, looking like the children they were when I first knew them. The whole family, three generations, from Hattie on down. This is where it started. And this is what this space looks like today. I think it's a space that still begs for song and music to take place and people to gather. 

You'll notice that there are no ropes or barriers up in the drawing room. And we invite our guests to come right in and to get very close to all these beautiful spaces. Well, one of the programs that developed out of that Christmas and out of the gathering around the piano was a program we call Music in the Drawing Room. I think it's a very creative title that we've come up with. We've got music and we're in the drawing room. We started this program in 2006. And the intent is to bring celebrated cabaret singers from New York back to Ten Chimneys to this beautiful piano and bring the space back to life. And so we have had KT Sullivan and we've had Steve Ross and we have the very shy, retiring Mark Nadler play last year. As you can see, he really took this piano out for quite a ride. He said I gave the piano the ride of its life. 

And this is during the music in the drawing room performance. So he really brought the space to life. People loved what he was doing. And loved the way that the space came back to life. On April 29th and 30th, we are going to welcome Christine Ebersol and Edward Hibbard to Ten Chimneys. I'm sure you're familiar with some of them and some of the work that they've done. Christine Ebersol in 2009 starred with Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett in a Noel Coward revival of Life Spirit on Broadway. During the run of that, the producers came to her and said this is a Noel Coward play and we're wondering if you could spend some time with Noel Coward songs and maybe come up with those you think would be a good interlude between the acts. So Christine Ebersol spent some time with Noel Coward songs, and like so many who spent time with Noel Coward songs, fell in love with them. And so she eventually recorded a CD of Noel Coward songs which are amazing and wonderful and critically acclaimed. 

Edward Hibbard, you may recognize from the show Fraser, he spent 11 seasons on the show Fraser. And so both of them are going to be coming to Ten Chimneys the end of this month. They're going to be presenting "Love Noel, the Letters and Songs of Noel Coward." So they'll be reading some of his letters and they'll be singing some of his songs. And, of course, we're so thrilled to have them come and spend some time at Ten Chimneys. Ten Chimneys was a place where people gathered. They still gather, but when Lynn and Alfred were there, they brought people to their table. They wanted to make sure that they were developing lasting relationships and it didn't matter if you were Katharine Hepburn or if you were Noel Coward, or one of my favorite shots. If you were working on the farm with Alfred, he brought these local farmers to Ten Chimneys and they worked on the farm. This is a photograph that was taken about the 19030s. So it's during the depression. 

Lynn and Alfred believed strongly in community service and they brought these community members to Ten Chimneys. I often wondered if we had mic'd that what the conversations were around that table. Just so you're aware, the sweaty mess who's serving them, that's Alfred Lunt. Okay, he's the one who was a La Cordon Bleu trained chef, but if you came to Ten Chimneys, you were nourished and you were nurtured and again it didn't matter who you were or what walk of life you were in. They loved to gather around the tables that were at Ten Chimneys. This is another great shot of them. This was taken in their cottage. This was originally a chicken coop. And they had a wonderful architect from Chicago named Charles Dornbush who came to Ten Chimneys. It wasn't Ten Chimneys then. 

It was probably a half a chimney at that point. And he created this beautiful cottage for them. This is Lynn and Alfred early on in their marriage. And this is where they began their life together in this lovely little cottage. It was a place that they spent a lot of time in, even in the end of their life, as well. You can see that it hadn't changed much. But they gathered around tables. Lynn was a very accomplished seamstress. She made a lot of her own clothes. She made most of the draperies at Ten Chimneys. 

She was known to make nightgowns for guests who didn't bring them with them and needed to stay overnight. She loved to sew. Alfred was a very accomplished cook and chef, as well. You can see him standing by the stove and by one of the tables that's at Ten Chimneys. This is where their life began. This is where they brought people back. And there's a wonderful artifact, you are history buffs, so I thought a great artifact would be something you would like to see. This particular artifact is in the cottage living room at Ten Chimneys. It is a wooden bowl that is perhaps from the 18th or 19th century, late 18th century, early 19th century. It was a family bowl. 

So it was a bowl that would be put out on the farmhouse table and all of the members of the family would gather around and they would eat out of the exact same bowl. Again, you know, imagine the conversations that would be taking place around this wonderful bowl that's here. I thought it was appropriate for a lunchtime gathering, that we would have some perhaps utensils and a bowl that we could all metaphorically share from as we're looking at this. It's a beautiful, beautiful bowl and around the outside of it is written in Swedish, "One must praise the day when the sun has set." It's got a great history to it. And it's a beautiful artifact that was at Ten Chimneys. The Lunts also brought their famous friends to the table to again have these great conversations. Do you recognize who this is at their table? >> Helen Hayes. >> It is indeed. It's Helen Hayes. This is a beautiful example of a Biedermayer table and they're sitting in their terrace room and they're enjoying tea with Helen Hayes when she came for a visit. 

So they've got these wild extremes. But probably the most famous table and the one around which we really want to know what conversations took place was their dining room table. This is the Lunts in their dining room and this is probably one of the most famous tables at Ten Chimneys because of the people who would gather around it. Noel Coward was a frequent guest at Ten Chimneys and a frequent enjoyer of the meals that were served around this table. And he often said dinner would begin at 8:00 at night, and if it was done by 1:00a.m., we called it a short night. So, again, you can imagine, you know, what they talked about. They talked about theater and they talked about their relationships and their friendships and art and play rights and what was going on in Hollywood and Broadway and the small town of Genesee Depot. Kathryn Hepburn was also a frequent guest at this table and she was quoted as saying, "Every time I was visiting with the Lunts in Genesee Depot, I was in a sort of daze of wonder. The dining room, the table, the China, the silver, the food, the extraordinary care and beauty and taste, a sort of dream, a sort of vision." It remains a sort of a dream, I think, and a sort of a vision. You can see the same dishes that are there, the beautiful sterling silver and the wonderful China. 

You can also get a little bit of a glimpse of the candelabra that's there, it's a beautiful candelabra. And if you look closely you can see that the candle sticks are tipped. We've had guests that said, you know, you should fix those. We said if we go back to the photograph before, you can see that they're tipped there also. So I'm not sure if that's the way the Lunts wanted them to be or they just couldn't find a way to get them upright either. But we haven't been able to find a way to get them upright, as well. But we figure if it's good enough for Noel Coward and Kathryn Hepburn and Lawrence Olivier, and Helen Hayes, and Alfred and Lynn, it's certainly good enough for us at this point. So this leads us to another part of the programming that we do. We've talked about the idea of conversations around these tables that have been in place at Ten Chimneys for so long. Again, being creative with our title, we have a program at Ten Chimneys called Conversations at Ten Chimneys. 

And so we bring people who either knew the Lunts. Last summer we had Jim and Gloria Erwin who were there. If you are Packer fans, you probably know that Jim Erwin was the voice of the Packers. What you may not have known is that Jim and Gloria were also great friends with the Lunts. So we brought them back to Ten Chimneys this last summer and they gave these wonderful stories about their relationship with the Lunts and about their time at Ten Chimneys. We've also had Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies buffs will know him. He came to Ten Chimneys. And again, great storytellers and great opportunities to continue to foster wonderful conversations that happened at Ten Chimneys. Those are some part of the programing that we do at Ten Chimneys that are part of the public programming that happens there. We also do programming that's related to supporting American theater. 

And that goes all the way back to Alfred, as well. In 1906, Alfred attended Carroll College Academy. It's gone through a variety of different names, but Carroll College Academy in 1906. He spent four years and then two years later attended Carroll College. He was acting in over 12 productions that were there. This is Alfred in the corner. The brooding young man sitting on the chair looking out. And the woman behind him is a woman he has said "Showed me how to make something of my capabilities." She was the substance of my education. And this woman's name was May Nickel Rankin. She was his teacher there and he said it was because of her that I found my way. 

He went on to say, Miss Rankin was a disciplinarian who never showed it. She was an encourager, she inspired us. She also instilled excitement in what we were doing. And so he got his start because of this wonderful mentor who was in his life. It planted a seed in Alfred and in Lynn, as well, that mentorship was so important. You have to make sure that you're bringing up the next generation. And so what Miss Rankin did for Alfred, Alfred and Lynn made sure that they are doing, that they did for others in their lives. And so they count people like Montgomery Cliff and Helen Hayes and Lawrence Olivia and Dick van Patton, and that may be a name that you know as well, as the people they mentored. In fact Dick van Patton was just back at Ten Chimneys. He published a book two years ago called "80 is Not Enough." So he came back to Ten Chimneys and participated in our Conversations at Ten Chimneys lecture series. 

And he was wonderful. Just a lovely moment is when he walked into the bedroom which he stayed in when he was at Ten Chimneys. And he got very quiet and as he's looking around, he's 80, and he turned and he said to us, "I feel 16 all over again. It hasn't changed a bit." And I thought what a lovely thing to say. He also said this about his time at Ten Chimneys. "In 1945, I spent three weeks living on the farm and working with the Lunts on 'Oh, Mistress Mine.' I stayed in the bedroom reserved for their closest friend, Noel Coward. Each day we rehearsed the play for several hours in their living room. Later I went swimming in their pool. And in the evening, Alfred, who was a master chef, cooked us dinner and brought us to the table. When I think back on those weeks at Ten Chimneys I'm astonished at how fortunate I was. 

Imagine, a 16-year-old actor today being invited to live with and rehearse every day with someone like Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Spacey, or Meryl Streep. I learned more about acting in those three weeks than I ever imagined possible." We follow the Lunts' lead in terms of how we celebrate mentorship at Ten Chimneys. And one of the programs that we have is called Play Readings at Ten Chimneys. And it includes the Milwaukee Repertory Theater Intern Company. They come to Ten Chimneys and they read plays that were either done by the Lunts or from the Lunts' era. I always love the conversations I have with people who aren't sure what this program is all about. They'll say, let me get this straight. These aren't professional actors. No, they're interns, but they're going that way. Okay. 

And they sit with the book in their hand? Yes. And they read the plays? Yes. And there are no costumes? No. And it's good? And my response always is, yes. It's like the old radio shows, some of you remember "The Shadow Knows," those old wonderful radio shows. They really bring these plays to life. There may be a bow tie, there may be a scarf. But they're wonderful plays and they still translate so well by today's standards. This was a play that was done in 2008. It was the play "Clarence." And it was the play that launched Alfred Lunt's career. 

Alfred played this kind of eccentric etymologist, who eventually finds his way. And this young man with the bow tie and the big smile on his face is playing the title role of Clarence. Another great image that I love that was taken from this program, this was in 2009. This was the play "Idiot's Delight." And you can see how animated these young actors are as they come to Ten Chimneys. The Lunts are not there obviously mentoring them. But there is a mentorship of place. And there is a mentorship of knowledge of who the Lunts were and what they did in their lives. Perhaps my favorite photograph, though, that I think will really illustrate this is this next one. These are these young actors who are in our program center. You can see that they've got their script in hand. 

You can see that they're taking notes, they're listening to the director who is telling them what they should be doing and how they should be doing it. Behind them and rimming this entire space are these glorious photographs of the Lunts in their most famous roles. And off to the side, if you look way to the left of this photograph, you'll see that one of the actors who was playing the narrator that day is looking up at the Lunts, perhaps being reminded in whose shadow they're performing, but also on whose shoulders they're standing as they're at Ten Chimneys. That idea of mentorship is so important and so vital. We wanted to keep that going. In 1996, when Dr. Joseph Garton started Ten Chimneys Foundation, he knew it had to be more than a museum. And it's a great museum, but it needed to be more than that. And so he thought, you know, how do we serve American theater? What do we do? How do we make American theater, you know, continue to grow and to continue to feel supported? And so we developed a program called the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program. And the idea is that those who are in the middle of their career, their established regional theater actors, they have been mentors in their lives. They've been mentored and now they are the mentors. 

But who is mentoring them? So again, following the Lunts' lead, how do we develop a program to mentor those who are now the mentors, you know, the mentors themselves? And so this program, again the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program, brought together these incredible actors from around the country. And our inaugural master teacher is sitting at the head of the table. Do you recognize who that is? Her name is Lynn Redgrave. And so Lynn Redgrave came to Ten Chimneys and she was our inaugural master teacher. Again, so established in her career and in her life. I don't know if you know this or not, but she was named for Lynn Fontanne. That may be something new. I think it's a fun story. In the early 1940s, when the blitz hit in London, Vanessa and Corin Redgrave were small children and their parents Michael, and I can't think of her mother's name were in London at the time. And Lynn and Alfred called Michael Redgrave and said, we know that the blitz has hit. 

And we're so frightened for you, we're so frightened for your children and if you would like to send them to Ten Chimneys, we'll care for them. And Michael said, you know, that's so lovely of you to say but we're actually going to leave London at this point because we're expecting our third child and we don't want to be in danger. We don't want to be in harm's way. And so they left London and shortly thereafter gave birth to a daughter, who they named Lynn. They were so touched by what the Lunts had done, so they named her Lynn. We thought it was appropriate that Lynn Redgrave come to Ten Chimneys and be the inaugural master teacher. I love the differences of photographs. So this is their first night. They come to Ten Chimneys, they spend a week at Ten Chimneys under the tutelage of a master teacher. They're at this dining room. 

They've been brought back again to the table at Ten Chimneys. I listened in the kitchen and the conversations were great. I can report that. But again, a gathering at that table at Ten Chimneys. So it's this first night that they're there. But they also spent time in the drawing room with Lynn's tutelage and with her mentorship as well looking at Shakespeare and studying Shakespeare. There were a couple of quotes from some of these Lunt-Fontanne Fellows that I thought were so terrific. Naomi Jacobson who is in the very corner here, you can see her just coming forth said "This week has been more than inspirational. It's been transformational. Honestly, I look at my career and really my life now as before Ten Chimneys and after Ten Chimneys." And Dan Donahue said, "It's like being in an environment where stepping back from the work is actually part of the work itself. 

It's an inspiring place that somehow reverberates with the intention of the people who lived before. They use the place the same way we do, to refuel, to be inspired, and to become rejuvenated." On the last night of their stay at Ten Chimneys, we have a public program that is called the Concluding Program. We bring all of the fellows together and at that point in 2009, Lynn Redgrave as well, and they give us a glimpse into what their week was like. We don't have any public tours that week. The week really is for them. Again, the Lunts brought people to Ten Chimneys when they were there. Like their friends, Noel Coward, and Lawrence Olivier and Katharine Hepburn to talk about theater and to be mentors and to support theater. And so this program in 2009 began. We carried it on in 2010 and you get that shot again in the dining room. They're all so upright and wearing their best clothes and here they are. 

And that doesn't last long, because at Ten Chimneys they again are bringing out their books. We had Lynn Redgrave scheduled to come back to Ten Chimneys in 2010 and in May of that year passed away. So in her place, Barry Edelstein is from the Public Theater in New York. He's a brilliant man and he said absolutely I'll be there. I know what this program is and I know what you are doing for theater. I support this and I will be there. Barry is the man on his knees, kind of passionately describing what he would like these actors to do. So this space is not only alive with music, but you can see it's also really alive with actors and the discussion of theater. This is the actors on stage the last night that they were there, as well. And that stoicism that started in the dining room has certainly given way to joy and humor, and again saying this is a place that, you know, is transformational for them. 

They're taking their final bow that night on the stage after they've done their concluding presentation. We, of course, are a bit quiet right now. This is the main house again. It's quite a different space than it was when Lynn and Alfred first developed Ten Chimneys. And what I'm excited to share with you at this point is that we'll have another Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program that's going to be happening at Ten Chimneys this summer. We open for the tour season on May 3, so mark your calendars and we'll have people all over the estate. But we'll also have another person coming back as our master teacher at Ten Chimneys and it is Olympia Dukakis this summer who is going to be coming back and shepherding our new flock, if you will, of actors who are coming from all over the country. They're coming from DC, and they're coming from California, and Chicago, and Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, and all over the country. And they'll be back at Ten Chimneys the week of July 24th through the 31st. And I suspect we'll have another very stoic photograph of them in the drawing room. 

And then in the dining room. And then we'll have a public program where they'll share some of their experiences from the course of that week. The last thing that I want to share with you, I was told that, you know, you'd perhaps want to do some questions and answers as well, is this last photograph. After Lynn and Alfred had both passed away, their dear friend Helen Hayes was asked to offer some reflections on her relationship with them. And so she recounts the last conversation that she had with Alfred Lunt. She said Alfred had called her and began, Alfred said, "I called because I can't see anymore. I can't watch the television. I can't read. So I just sit and I remember. And I had a long session of remembering you. 

I began to laugh as I thought of all the things I remembered about us over the years. I laughed for a good hour or two just remembering and remembering." Helen Hayes went on to say, "The bitterness of fate is that his eyes which he used better than anyone I ever knew failed him late in life. But neither his head nor his heart failed him. The Lunts were my friends. They were my idols, my teachers, and my mentors. I think of all the lucky things that happened to me in my life in the theater, the Lunts were the luckiest." People ask us, from where do you get these programs? And my response is, well, we're just following in the footsteps of the Lunts. Thank you so much. [APPLAUSE]