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Miller & Rhoads Hilton Hotel/Condo Conversion

tombarnes

By tombarnes
in Richmond

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burt Megalopolis

burt

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I hope so. That entry has been very fun to update, and I hope that people appreciate it.

Steve, I just read your wikipedia update on Hansford. In addition to all his TV and film work, he appeared in several Broadway plays and was nominated for a NY Drama Critics Circle award for his performance in NUTS. A movie was made of the play and the film starred Barbra Streisand, but Hansford did not recreate his award-nominated role. Other of his Broadway Credits include WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

PS, I get my decades confused. I now believe it was primarily in the mid 50s to early 60s when he played Santa at M&R.

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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Steve, I just read your wikipedia update on Hansford. In addition to all his TV and film work, he appeared in several Broadway plays and was nominated for a NY Drama Critics Circle award for his performance in NUTS. A movie was made of the play and the film starred Barbra Streisand, but Hansford did not recreate his award-nominated role. Other of his Broadway Credits include WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

PS, I get my decades confused. I now believe it was primarily in the mid 50s to early 60s when he played Santa at M&R.

Thanks for the additional information, Burt. I didn't add it all, but I did make mention of his stage and screen talents.
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BGW Whistle-Stop

BGW

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Steve, I just read your wikipedia update on Hansford. In addition to all his TV and film work, he appeared in several Broadway plays and was nominated for a NY Drama Critics Circle award for his performance in NUTS. A movie was made of the play and the film starred Barbra Streisand, but Hansford did not recreate his award-nominated role. Other of his Broadway Credits include WE BOMBED IN NEW HAVEN, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

PS, I get my decades confused. I now believe it was primarily in the mid 50s to early 60s when he played Santa at M&R.

Burt, do you know right off if Hansford has a musician son also named Hansford? I figure the odds of there being two "Hansford Rowe"s that aren't related are pretty slim...

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burt Megalopolis

burt

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Yep, BGW. Hannie Rowe, who lives in Montreal, is Hansford's son by his first wife, Eloise.

Hannie, who grew up in Richmond, travels all over the World performing. Last time I saw him was about 6 years ago when he did a gig at Hole in the Wall on Laurel Street.

His step-mother, Ales Rowe (Hansford's 2nd wife) lives in Ginter Park and is the mother of Hansford's other son, Blake. Blake, also a musician, lives in Ossning, NY.

Ales tells me that about two months ago, Hannie was in Richmond and played a gig at Cary Street Cafe.

PS: In Hanford's filmography posted on wikipedia, it did not mention that one of his first films, THE THANKSGIVING VISIOR actually starred his son, Hansford (Hannie) opposite Geraldine Page. Hannie's film career was rather short-lived, and he moved on to music.

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burt Megalopolis

burt

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Steve. here's another M&R Santaland tidbit: When Hansford relinquished the role in the mid 60s, he turned over Santa to his brother, Dan Rowe who is still occupying the throne wherever it may be found downtown.

The picture Tommy posted of a father & child standing above Santa is NOT Hansford, but his predecessor. Ales (Hansford's 2nd wife) seems to think his name started with an "S".

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BGW Whistle-Stop

BGW

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Yep, BGW. Hannie Rowe, who lives in Montreal, is Hansford's son by his first wife, Eloise.

Hannie, who grew up in Richmond, travels all over the World performing. Last time I saw him was about 6 years ago when he did a gig at Hole in the Wall on Laurel Street.

His step-mother, Ales Rowe (Hansford's 2nd wife) lives in Ginter Park and is the mother of Hansford's other son, Blake. Blake, also a musician, lives in Ossning, NY.

Ales tells me that about two months ago, Hannie was in Richmond and played a gig at Cary Street Cafe.

That's funny-I used to be a big fan of one of his former bands. His current band is actually playing at Cary St next week, so I was quite surprised to see the name pop up in a conversation about Miller & Rhoads! Gotta love the internet for things like this.

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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Steve. here's another M&R Santaland tidbit: When Hansford relinquished the role in the mid 60s, he turned over Santa to his brother, Dan Rowe who is still occupying the throne wherever it may be found downtown.
That's facinating, Burt. Thanks for the info, which has been added and credited :)
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burt Megalopolis

burt

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BGW. Ales says she hasn't heard from Hannie about next week's Cary Street Cafe gig, but she says that he doesn't always tell her everything. He has aunts, uncles and cousins all over town. She says the band is called BON which is also the name of his band partner who lives in Carolina.

Steve, thanks for taking such an interest in this Saga and for posting it on Wikipedia.

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burt Megalopolis

burt

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Burt, Ive noticed you've been spelling "Miller" in Miller and Rhoads as "Millan." Im not correcting your spelling in any way what so ever, but is that a way they used to spell it or call it before it became Miller and Rhoads perhaps? Ive been curious :D

Burban, it just rang my memory bell. Usually when we old folks discussed downtown shopping, the phrase "Thalhimer 'n Millan Rhoads" was uttered as if the two magnificent stores were one. :) But we had to differentiate when asking one to "meet me under the clock". At Thalhimers (notice the "h" is silent), that phrase meant outside underneath a clock atop the angled window corner of 6th and Broad. AT M&R, it meant under the protruding clock on the first floor near the bank of elevators.

Millan Rhoads was the dignified, conservative grand dame - sort of like Fifth Avenue's Lord and Taylor. Thalhimer's was chic, suave and very New Yorkish, not unlike Macy's.

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Cadeho City

Cadeho

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ME kill Christmas? I don't recall any pictures of you at his knee after the age of 6. :rofl:

I called the Santa hotline and sent letters... I guess they didn't want to take me after then. It was 1989 when I woke up earlier than expected...

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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Steve, thanks for taking such an interest in this Saga and for posting it on Wikipedia.
It was my pleasure, Burt. Millier & Rhoads was a big part of my early growing-up years. I never got to see any of their downtown stores in full bloom, but I remember the suburban stores in Roanoke, Lynchburg and North Carolina like it was yesterday.

In fact, I pass by the old downtown Roanoke "Millan Rhoads" on my walk to lunch each day. One day, I'm going to bring a camera with me and shoot some new pictures of it. I have some from about ten years ago from a class project I did in college. You can still see the labelscar from the old sign.

Steven, what's the status of the Hecht/Macy switchovers?
It's going to be somewhere around the second week of September, say September 9.
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jonbeattie Whistle-Stop

jonbeattie

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It was my pleasure, Burt. Millier & Rhoads was a big part of my early growing-up years. I never got to see any of their downtown stores in full bloom, but I remember the suburban stores in Roanoke, Lynchburg and North Carolina like it was yesterday.

In fact, I pass by the old downtown Roanoke "Millan Rhoads" on my walk to lunch each day. One day, I'm going to bring a camera with me and shoot some new pictures of it. I have some from about ten years ago from a class project I did in college. You can still see the labelscar from the old sign.

It's going to be somewhere around the second week of September, say September 9.

Hey Steven, They just told me they are Macys now, Is that true or are you speaking of the Signage Changes??

I confused :blink:

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StevenRocks City

StevenRocks

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Hey Steven, They just told me they are Macys now, Is that true or are you speaking of the Signage Changes??
At this point it is mostly the signs and ads and old May Company merchandise that's been discontinuerd that's left to turn over. Hecht's is offically part of Federated Department Stores and takes its major directives from Atlanta or New York, depending on store location, though the old Arlington headquarters office is still open.
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