By Ann Taylor Boutwell
Dec. 1-4, 1977: The Grand Ole Opry Show opened at the new Georgia World Congress Center. Two shows daily starred some of the biggest names in country music at the time, including Barbara Mandrell, Jack Greene, Jeannie Seely, Little Jimmy Dickens, Dickey Lee and Smoky Mountain Sunshine.
Dec. 4, 1964: Fire destroyed the Mayfair Club at the top of a sloping lawn at 1456 Spring Street. The two-story building was the focal point of Jewish civic and social activity for 26 years. The Mayfair Club, founded in 1930, first met in the Atlanta Biltmore. After it opened in 1938, the club was visited by Eleanor Roosevelt, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, mayors Ivan Allen and William Berry Hartsfield, senators Herman Talmadge and Richard Russell, and Governor Carl Sanders.
Dec. 10, 1895: Atlanta celebrated Lollie Belle Wylie Day in the Woman’s Building at the 1895 Cotton States Exposition in Piedmont Park. The distinguished Atlanta resident was a journalist poet, playwright, musician, civic leader and entrepreneur. Widowed at age 27, the Alabama native was the Atlanta Journal’s first paid society editor. In 1890, she was an organizer and officer of the first Woman Press Club of Georgia and in 1914 a founding member of the Atlanta Writers Club. With business partner Ephie E. Williams, Lollie opened a small office on Alabama Street where for several years they published a weekly paper printed on pale pink paper, called Society. On August 19, 1922, the Georgia Legislature officially adopted the song “Georgia,” lyrics by poet Robert Loveman and music by Lollie as the state’s official song. The anthem would remain until 1979 when it was replaced by “Georgia on My Mind.” She is buried in Oakland Cemetery.
Dec. 13, 1939: Gone With the Wind actress Ann Rutherford, who played Careen O’Hara, toured the Atlanta Journal’s plant, presses, and newsroom. She told Angus Perkerson, author Margaret Mitchell’s former boss, “But what I want most to see is the desk where Margaret Mitchell used to work.” The desk is now on view at the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum.
Dec. 19, 1939: The community of Little Five Points switched on its holiday light display at Bass Junior High campus, 1080 Euclid Avenue. The ceremony included a gigantic Kris Kringle and reindeer on the building’s exterior while a brilliant start glowed from the roof. Bass opened in 1923 as a junior high and later became a high school. The property was used as a school until 1996, when it served briefly as a temporary home for Mary Lin Elementary School. The site is now the Bass Lofts.
Dec. 20, 1909: The first-ever indoor winter circus – The Rhoda Royal famous two-ring Circus and Wild West Show – opened in Atlanta’s new city auditorium. Royal created the circus after seeing a similar one at the London Hippodrome. Although Atlanta was experiencing some very cold weather, the auditorium was warm with steam heat and bright with electric lights.“It’s fine,” said Gov. Joseph Mackey Brown. “Really, it’s the best circus I ever saw. I enjoyed every minute.”