The Ava Gardner Museum Celebrates Its Tenth Anniversary

Museum Opened In its Permanent Location in Downtown Smithfield in October 2000. End Quote

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC (1888PressRelease) September 24, 2010 - Seeds of the Ava Gardner Museum were planted in early spring of 1978, when Doris Cannon wrote a column in The Smithfield Herald urging that something be done to honor the legendary film star in her native territory.

At the same time, Dr. Thomas M. "Tom" Banks, a clinical psychologist in Pompano Beach, FL, penned a letter to the Herald's editor, Wingate Lassiter, inquiring about the newspaper's photos that he might copy and add to his large collection of Ava memorabilia.

Banks grew up in Wilson, 30 miles from Smithfield, and as a boy rode his bicycle on the campus of Atlantic Christian College, where teenage Ava waited for her ride home each afternoon after typing and shorthand classes. When he learned that she had gone to Hollywood in the summer of 1941, he began collecting everything he could find about her, and continued his "hobby" for the next 50 years.

Banks and Cannon had never heard of each other, but within a few days of her column and his letter, the two were on the phone and she had convinced him to have an exhibit in Smithfield with the possibility of something bigger in the future.

The first exhibit, held in the summer of 1979, was a three-day event held in the former Wilson Furniture Company building across the street from the Smithfield Post Office. Special guests were Ava's brother, Jack Gardner, and sisters, Inez Gardner Grimes and Elsie Gardner Creech, all of Smithfield; and Myra Gardner Pearce of Winston-Salem, NC. Ava, who was living in London, England, and her sister Beatrice "Bappie" Gardner Cole of Los Angeles, were unable to attend.

The success of the show led Banks and his wife to return in the summer of 1980, where a similar exhibit was held in the Public Library in Smithfield, with the addition of screening The Killers, the film that made Ava a star in 1946.

As Dr. and Mrs. Banks were preparing to return home to Florida (she was a public school media specialist), they learned of the Brogden Fire Department's plans to burn the old and dilapidated "Teacherage." A former boarding house for teachers at the rural Brogden School near Smithfield, Ava lived with her parents at the Teacherage from age 2 to 13. The Fire Department planned to build a new fire station on the lot. Banks quickly postponed his trip home to Florida and negotiated with the Fire Department, donating another lot near The Teacherage and purchasing Ava's former home for a minimal sum.

In the summer of 1981, the Teacherage became the first Ava Gardner Museum. The small country Museum drew wide-spread media attention and large numbers of guests. Noted visitors ranged from film star Virginia Mayo to Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood; acclaimed author Allan Gurganus to the Romanian Ambassador to the U.S, to name only a few.

Ava visited the museum in Brogden in 1985. Finding the museum locked, Ava declined to have someone bring a key, saying, "I know what's in there. I lived it."

In August of 1989, a few days from the end of the Museum's summer season, Dr. Banks suffered a stroke in the Museum and died a few days later in Duke Hospital. He was 62 years old.

Ava died at age 67 on January 25, 1990 at her home in London, and her funeral was held in Smithfield on January 29. Mrs. Banks returned from Florida for the funeral and, in honor of Ava's memory, she and Cannon were hostesses at the Museum for several hours following the service.

Mrs. Banks graciously returned to Brogden in 1990 for one final summer at the Museum but without Tom's presence and enthusiasm for the project, she proceeded with her husband's original plan to donate the museum collection to a public institution. This decision was made after she approved a suggestion by Frank Creech, Smithfield Town Board member and renowned sculptor and art instructor. His idea was to launch a project to renovate the old Smithfield Water Plant by the Neuse River to house a permanent Ava Gardner Museum and a Johnston County Arts Center.

A Museum committee was formed, with Creech and Cannon as co-chairs, and included Ray Gibbs, then director of Smithfield Downtown Development Corporation and town manager Ron Owens. A temporary Museum was established in an empty store on South Third Street, across from Worley Brothers Appliances, a business operated by Norwood Worley, then mayor of Smithfield. When Mayor Worley noticed would-be visitors with their noses pressed against the Ava Museum windows in off-hours, he walked across the street, unlocked the door, and gladly gave them a personal tour.

After a while, plans were made for renovation of the building for use as apartments, and the Museum moved to another South Third Street site and continued plans for the Water Plant renovation. Legendary actor Gregory Peck, Ava's co-star and life-long friend, was among the many who visited the Museum at its new site.

During this period, a number of Museum committee members traveled to New York City, where a fund-raising event for the Water Plant project was hosted by syndicated columnist Liz Smith at the New York Museum of Television and Radio; Smith's colleague and newspaper editor St. Clair Pugh, a Smithfield native; singer/actress Lena Horne, and actress Elaine Stritch were in attendance.

However, as time went on, unexpected problems (including extreme dampness near the river), derailed plans for the old Water Plant, and so the Museum committee turned to other possibilities for a permanent site in Smithfield. Deidre Kraft of Smithfield succeeded Creech and Cannon as committee chairman in 1996, and another key player entered as Donna Bailey-Taylor, executive director of the Johnston County Visitors Bureau, became involved.

In August of 1999, the Museum's board made an investment in downtown Smithfield by purchasing and renovating a 6,400 square foot building that became the permanent home for the Museum's vast collection. In October 2000, the new Ava Gardner Museum opened its doors and has continued to draw national and even worldwide attention with approximately 12,000 visitors each year. The Sixth Annual Ava Gardner Festival will celebrate the many years of hard work to bring the Ava Gardner Collection to a permanent location.

For more information about the Ava Gardner Festival, including Festival Package rates, please call the museum at 919-934-5830.

The Ava Gardner Museum is located in downtown Smithfield, at 325 E. Market Street and more information may be found on the museum website, www.avagardner.org or by calling 919-934-5830. The museum is open Monday-Saturday, 9am-5pm and Sunday 2pm-5pm with admission of $6.00 adults, $5.00 seniors and groups and $4.00 children.

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