sisters a teddy bear and a record
bearing his hit Won’t You Be My Teddy Bear.
Reproductions of the gifts are now part of the museum’s collection.
On
a plane trip in the late 50s, the Wall sisters, from Ashville, met none other than Elvis
himself. Always known for his
generosity, The King gave each of the Wall
sisters a teddy bear and a record
bearing his hit Won’t You Be My Teddy Bear.
Reproductions of the gifts are now part of the museum’s collection.
Local
folklore places Roy Rogers at Ashville’s Canning Plant.
“They fired him,” Lemon says of Rogers, “because he played his
guitar and sang during work time, and the people quit working to listen to
him.” The
story has never been
confirmed or denied and “Roy would never admit to it,” quips Lemon.
In tribute to the famous actor's role in this small town, a life-sized cutout of Roy Rogers—a six-shooter in each hand and an ear-to-ear grin on his face—stands prominently in the museum.
A midget from the Ashville area played a, ahem, small role as one of the munchkins in the 1938 production of The Wizard of Oz. Pictures of his Hollywood contribution stand proudly right alongside those of Roy Rogers.
Di
d
you know that Sally Kellerman—best known for her role as Major Houlihan in
M*A*S*H—is related to Ashville? Her great grandfather, Daniel Kellerman,
helped design the village.
Ashville's ties to Hollywood don't end there. None
other than mega-star Harrison Ford came to Ashville's nearby Rickenbacker Air Force
Base to film parts of Air Force One.
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