THE SPECTATOR: THE SMITHSONIAN & THE SIMON THEATER

  

If you haven’t been to The Barnhill Center in Downtown Brenham to see the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit yet, you are running out of time.  This is the final week for the Smithsonian exhibit titled “Crossroads – Change in Rural America” to be on display at The Barnhill Center.  It was quite a coup for Brenham to be chosen as one of only seven communities in Texas to host this exhibit, which focuses on how rural America has changed over the decades.  During my visit, I was not only fascinated by the Smithsonian exhibit, but also by “A Century of Simon”, which traces the history of the Simon Theater and the many shows and movies that it hosted.  As a kid growing up in Brenham, watching a movie at the Simon Theater was one of the few entertainment activities we had back then.  Seeing the old movie posters and reading about the Simon Theater’s history brought back many memories from my past.  There are even stories about a touring burlesque show whose scheduling on a Sunday caused such a stir that protests broke out.  That was way before my time of course….but Its crazy how history tends to repeat itself.  The Barnhill Center is actually celebrating the Simon’s one hundredth birthday on Saturday, January 25^th, with a vintage vaudeville act, a jazz band, jugglers, a comedy act, and birthday cake.  Tickets are available at www.thebarnhillcenter.com.

One other thing you might be interested in is The Texas Film Round-Up.  This weekend on Friday from 6 ‘til 8 p.m., and Saturday from 10 ‘til 3, you can bring old film or videotapes to The Barnhill Center, and they will digitize them for free.  Your videos must be Texas related, and they will be returned to you along with a digital version.  You also must agree to let the Texas Film Commission keep a copy of your video for historic purposes.  Not a bad deal  to get your videos put into a format that you can actually use.  As part of The Texas Film Round-Up, on Friday night at 7, the Barnhill Center will have a special screening of “Starring Brenham”, featuring old videos and photos of events like the Maifest Parade, Salt Grass Trail Ride, along with many local businesses.

I encourage you to make the time this week to visit the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit and “A Century of Simon” at The Barnhill Center before they are gone. It’s free, so you can’t beat the price.  And I’d like to congratulate and thank Jennifer Eckermann and her staff at Visit Brenham, along with Barry and Sharon Brass, for all of the hard work they put in bringing these exhibits to us.

And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.