Memories of Opryland and Nashville Giveaways

In the Spring of 1985, I was a junior at Indiana University majoring in Telecommunications (oh good Lord, my hair!) and my good friend Margie Wineman was a Music Education Major. On weekends, she would trek on down to Nashville, Tennessee, to perform in the show "For Me and My Gal" at the American Music Theatre at Opryland. She was a fantastic performer, and had the most beautiful voice. The first two photos here were taken at the Opryland Hotel after one of her performances:



I remember being impressed by the Opryland Hotel, with its indoor trees, gazebo, and waterways.



The rest of the photos shown here today are from "For Me and My Gal," which was a salute to music from the turn-of-the-20th-century and George M. Cohan. The show was held in the American Theatre:



The signage in front:



Margie is visible in the oval cutout, 2nd from the right:



A barbershop quartet to rival the Dapper Dans:



Margie took the microphone to sing a solo to her sweetheart:



Here, she gets serenaded while sitting on the same park bench:



My seat for the show was on the right side of the auditorium; I always got excited when Margie performed stage right...I didn't have to shoot over the heads of the orchestra players for those shots!





For one of the performances, I switched sides to get a shot of her in this can-can outfit. She glanced right at the camera:



What Cohen tribute would be complete without a rip-roaring finale?



My memories of the park itself are somewhat hazy; I spent most of my time there watching Margie's show...over...and over...and over. I do remember it being a very quaint and low-key place, with a beautiful carousel:



For a number of reasons that kept the park from being financially viable, Opryland was closed in December 1997.

See more vintage Daveland Opryland photos on my Opryland web page.