, Ohio honored its favorite son the weekend of June 9-11 with the grand re-opening and 40th anniversary celebration of the Ted Lewis Museum.
The schedule included a recreation of the Ted Lewis Orchestra Revue of 1952, with Museum Curator Joseph Rubin in the role of Ted Lewis; a concert by the Circleville Cadet Band, a group to which the famed bandleader belonged as a youngster growing up in this Southern Ohio community; a screening of the 1943 film, Is Everybody Happy; a historical lecture and phonograph demonstration; presentation of the turn-of-the-20th-century Dr. Cooper’s Medicine Show; and a kids carnival at Ted Lewis Park.
A special visitor for the occasion was singer Cathy Basic Van who toured with Lewis from 1955 to 1960 and who took part in the Saturday night Revue. “Ted Lewis was a fantastic performer who demanded perfection. He had a way with the audience and how he’d pull them into his stories. He genuinely loved these people and won them over by letting them know he cared and wanted to please them. That’s one of the biggest things I remember about him and learned from him.”
Founded in 1977 by Lewis’ widow, Adah Becker Lewis, the museum holds and exhibits Ted Lewis’ archives, memorabilia, and music library. There’s a timeline of Ted’s life and his performance history. Upon Ted Lewis’ passing, the Smithsonian Institution along with Yale and Harv
