Dixie Gardner

"Dixie Gardner"

For some time now, I have been thinking of having a blog just devoted to my art.  Having a long time interest in art, theatre, literature and history ... The Absinthe Theatre was born. I could see the blog and etsy banner in my mind's eye before I completed it today.  It is not always easy to duplicate in reality what our mind sees when you are dealing with the dreaded exact number of pixels to make this puzzle piece, a banner photo,  fit!

I also saw it fitting that I use an old photo in my blog banner of Dixie Gardner, former vaudeville performer and actress.  She worked with Mae Murray, the silent screen star of the early 1900s.  Dixie was a small town girl who was raised in Alabama but the bright lights of New York City beckoned. Oh, the tales she told of her life ... filming a movie in South America, life in Greenwich Village and the marriage proposal from a Spanish prince!

These tales were quite entertaining to a twelve year old girl.  I would never tire of hearing Dixie's stories and  don't think Dixie tired of telling them either. In fact, I felt she enjoyed reliving those days of long ago.  She came to help us out when my parents got a divorce and lived with us for a year or so.  To my brother, sister and me, she was simply Aunt Minnie, my grandmother's sister.