Buckhorn Inn Celebrates 80th Anniversary

Throughout 2018 we will be taking a look back to 1938 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Buckhorn Inn.  It was in 1938 that Douglas and Audrey Bebb first opened the doors to what has become the oldest inn in eastern Tennessee.  We thought it would be fun to take a look back at what was going on in the world 80 years ago.

Hubert Bebb was the architect for the Buckhorn Inn, built in 1938.  

• This is also the 80th anniversary of . . .

• This week let’s take a look at what was going on in the arts and popular culture.
• Benny Goodman and his orchestra became the first jazz musicians to headline a show in New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
• The play Our Town by Thornton Wilder was performed for the first time in Princeton, NJ. The play earned him a Pulitzer Prize in the same year.
• Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks premiers in Washington, DC.
• Aaron Copland and Eugene Loring’s ballet Billy the Kid premiers in Chicago.
• Superman appeared for the first time in Action Comics.
• Margaret Hamilton’s costume catches fire during the filming of The Wizard of Oz.
• The first cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny is released.
• Information Please debuts on NBC radio.
• Frida Kahlo had her first solo art exhibit.
• Porky and Daffy, a Loony Tunes animated short film, is released.
• Popular movies were Boys Town starring Spencer Tracey and Mickey Rooney, Jezebel starring Bette Davis, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• The comic strip Dennis the Menace first appears.
• Northwestern University awards an honorary degree to Charlie McCarthy (a dummy).
• The Howard Hawks film Bringing Up Baby starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant is released.
• Orson Welle’s radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds causes widespread panic.
• Kate Smith sings God Bless America for the first time on her radio show.
• Ella Fitzgerald records “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”.  It hits #1 later in the year.
• Al Capp creates Sadie Hawkins Day.
• Notable births in 1938 include:  Allen Toussaint, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, Natalie Wood, Christopher Lloyd, Kenny Rogers and Jon Voight.
• The world lost in 1938:  Blues singer Robert Johnson, author Thomas Wolfe, soprano Alma Gluck, and Popeye creator E.C. Segar.
• For more events, check out http://www.onthisday.com and http://www.thepeopleinhistory.com as well as Wikipedia.

Be sure to watch this space for periodic looks into the world in which the Buckhorn Inn’s first guests were living!