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Calvin Coolidge: "More Than Two Words"

Friday, February 3, 2012

Mount Dora and Lake County residents will have a chance to "meet" the 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, at a free performance at the historic Mount Dora Community Building (next door to City Hall) on Baker Street on Sunday, February 12th at 2:00pm.

We join President Coolidge at a press conference. "Silent Cal" met more frequently with reporters than any other president. Thanks to the "new radio", more people heard Cal's voicethan the combined voices of all previous presidents. He was our first president to broadcast from the White House and the last president to never drive a car or fly in an airplane. He was also the last president to travel on horseback to deliver an address - that, at the commencement of work on Mount Rushmore where he coined the phrase "Shrine of Democracy".

You may well wonder how he ever merited the nic name "Silent Cal." The fact is, he had no capacity for small talk.

Calvin Coolidge - "More Than Two Words" opens an extraordinary window onto our past with a performance that has changed textbooks and the opinions of many regarding our 30th president.

Like Calvin Coolidge, actor Jim Cooke was born in Vermont and lives in Massachusetts. Jim Cooke, using Coolidge's own words, will provide insights into the life of the 30th President who with his wife Grace, vacationed from January 11 to February 121930 at the Lakeside Inn. In addition to entertaining audiences and educating Mount Dorans about their most distinguished visitor ever, Jim Cooke, who is also an historian and author, will be collecting material for a well-illustrated and researched monograph amassing all the available details of the Coolidge's month-long vacation in Mount Dora.

During that vacation in Mount Dora, Grace Coolidge helped to dedicate a new Mount Dora Community Building- the very same building where the two free performances of Calvin Coolidge: "More Than Two Words" will be performed.

The W. T. Bland Public Library would like to thank the following groups who came together to bring Jim Cooke (a.k.a. Calvin Coolidge) to Mount Dora: Mount Dora Library Association, Mount Dora Community Trust, Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce, What to Do In Mount Dora, Visit Mount Dora(TM), Mount Dora Historical Society, the Lakeside Inn and O'RyanCordes Marketing.

Check out the following web-sites for additional sightings of Calvin Coolidge - http://coolidge.oryancordes.com, www.lakesideinn.com, www.mountdorahistoricalsociety.com and www.crankyyankees.net (Jim Cooke's website).

For additional information, call (352) 735-7180 option 5.