A sellout crowd packed the Civic Auditorium, even to extra seats in the orchestra pit, to greet the extravagant entertainer. The highlight of the evening was a Gershwin medley that began with Rhapsody in Blue and included perhaps a dozen of the composer's best show tunes. Claire Alexander, a blonde and beautiful soprano . . . joined the star in a duet of popular songs and also sang several arias with what she called the world's most expensive accompanist. After I went on television, everything became sort of blown up and exaggerated, and that's how the costumes developed into what they are today. I have to keep topping myself.
People expect something a little more wild than the last time.
Bennett Shores included 680 units. Alpha O. Paynter, who opened the landmark Copper Kettle restaurant in Atlantic Beach and Homestead restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, died at 75.