TV Quote of the Day (‘Designing Women,’ on the REAL ‘Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia’)

[Sugarbaker family nemesis Marjorie Lee Winnick, having just made catty comments about Suzanne, a former beauty contest contestant, thinks incorrectly that she’s now the only one in the room.]

Julia Sugarbaker [played by Dixie Carter]: “I’m Julia Sugarbaker, Suzanne Sugarbaker’s sister. I couldn’t help over hearing part of your conversation.”

Marjorie Lee Winnick [played by Pamela Bowen]: “Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was here.”

Julia: “Yes, and I gather from your comments there are a couple of other things you don't know, Marjorie. For example, you probably didn't know that Suzanne was the only contestant in Georgia pageant history to sweep every category except congeniality, and that is not something the women in my family aspire to anyway. Or that when she walked down the runway in her swimsuit, five contestants quit on the spot. Or that when she emerged from the isolation booth to answer the question, ‘What would you do to prevent war?’ she spoke so eloquently of patriotism, battlefields and diamond tiaras, grown men wept. And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia, she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton, that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, further, faster than any baton has ever flown before, hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks! And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for sixteen and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation, as flames illuminated her tear-stained face! And that, Marjorie—just so you will know—and your children will someday know—is the night the lights went out in Georgia!”— Designing Women, Season 1, Episode 2, “The Beauty Contest,” original air date Oct. 6, 1986, teleplay by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, directed by Jack Shea

Photo of the Day: Fountain in Fall, Forsyth Park, Savannah

I covered Forsyth Park in a prior post, but the beauty of this Savannah landmark is such that I thought it would be worthwhile to have a different shot, this time of its fountain.

I am told that the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the South occurs in this city. It seems that one of the customs on that wonderful day is to dye the water in this fountain green.

Photo of the Day: Taking in the Sights, Savannah, GA

I guess at this point in the year, it’s every bit as muggy, maybe worse, in the Deep South as it is in the baking New York area. But that’s not how it was last fall, when I spent one lovely afternoon in Savannah. Many other people, such as those I photographed on this horse-drawn carriage, were also absorbing everything they could on the cobblestone streets, from stately old homes to aged oaks covered with Spanish moss.

Photo of the Day: Bay Street View of River, Savannah GA

From a height at Bay Street, I took this photo of River Street in Savannah, when I was visiting this lovely Georgia coastal city this past November. This stretch of the Savannah River, once lined with cotton warehouses, now consists of antique shops, boutiques, galleries, brew pubs, restaurants and night spots—a mecca for tourists.

Photo of the Day: Savannah River, Savannah, GA, November 2014

The basin of the Savannah River covers 10,577 square miles, with somewhat less than half lying in North and South Carolina. The photo I took here, however, is probably of its more familiar part, next to the great coastal city in Georgia with the same name.

I took this shot in mid to late afternoon, when I was on vacation in nearby Hilton Head, S.C., and up for the day in the city. It is an impressive, beautiful place, and a walk by this waterway should not be passed up by travelers wanting to see the more obvious tourist attractions such as antebellum homes.

Photo of the Day: Cotton Exchange, Savannah, GA

I took this photograph a month and a half ago, when I was visiting Savannah one afternoon while on vacation.

The original Savannah Cotton Exchange was built in 1872. To get an idea of just how immense a contribution that cotton made to the Southern economy before the Civil War, remember that seven years after the conflict left the entire region devastated, export revenues from the crop had reached $40 million, and Georgia was, once again, the leading cotton producer in the country.

This particular Savannah Cotton Exchange was erected in 1886 at 100 East Bay Street, making it one of the first major buildings constructed completely over a public street.The architect, William G. Preston, a Bostonian, was particularly active in the region around this time, having also designed the DeSoto Hotel (since torn down for the Hilton DeSoto), a brick mansion just south of Gaston Street, as well as the the Chatham County Courthouse (1889) and the Guard's Armory (1893), now Poetter Hall, part of the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Features of the Cotton Exchange include  the use of red brick with a terra-cotta façade, iron window lintels and copper finials and copings. Unfortunately, its magnificence outlasted its useful life as a commercial structure. Although at the time of construction cotton had helped make this part of Savannah “the Wall Street of the South,” and even exactly a century ago over 5.2 million acres of land in Georgia were allocated to the crop, it would all be different in a few short years.

A tiny insect from Central America, the boll weevil, had been sighted in Texas in 1892. By 1915, it had reached all the way across to Thomasville, Ga. Its impact was immediate—and ruinous. By 1923, cotton acreage in Georgia had plummeted to 2.6 million acres—half its 1914 peak—and would fall to only 115,000  by 1983. The pest would finally be eradicated a few short years after that, but not before having fundamentally altered the entire economy and way of life for a region.