T’was the night before Christmas
When all through the Town,
The ghosts of our Christmas Past roamed a-round.
Looking for somewhere to light for the night,
To break bread and share some earthly delights.
To gather and feast as blithe spirits will do,
To sample some claret and holiday brew.
From Port City legend and lore they came
Looking for someplace to savor the same
Pleasures of life that we all hold so dear
When family and friends gather this time of year
It’s lonely, after all, to be a figure from pages
Which is why this dinner was one for the ages.
As snow fell peacefully on Wilmington Town
The word quickly spread that a place had been found.
A City Club table was gloriously laid
For members to share on their own Christmas Day.
And thus for one evening the spirits all came
Bringing their bounty of grace, charm and fame.
Miss Hannah Block was the first to appear
The Grand Dame who gave us so much we still cheer
From Azalea queens to USO shows,
A one-woman force of nature, you know.
She welcomed the guests as each one arrived
Making every soul feel so briefly alive
Sweet Meadowlark Lemon, the Globetrotting Ace
Was next at the table to take his place
Followed by Charlie Kuralt in rare mode,
Spinning new tales from “Far Out” On the Road
Next came lovely Caterina Jarboro,
The first black woman to sing opera on stage
A Metropolitan nightingale, tender in age
“Did you know, dear,” Miss Block remarked from her seat,
“I restored your childhood home on Church Street?”
“How so very kind,” Caterina replied,
“Shall I sing you a bit of “Aida” in kind?”
As usual Rose Greenhow was just a bit late,
The Confederate spy-hostess who met her sad fate
By drowning at sea as she tried to escape
From a Union gunboat with a gown filled with gold
And sunk to the bottom, the legend holds.
The “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet was last to arrive,
Recalling Port pleasures while he was alive.
“The women! The Grog! The sword-fights and plunder!
How I loved Olde Front Street’s forbidden wonders!”
The dinner was served by an elegant ghost
In white tie and tails, this manservant host.
Who kept candles blazing and mulled wine a-flowing
The laughter and toasts and a jolly fire roaring.
Until the wee hours when it finally stopped snowing,
“I think it may be time for us all, dears, to be going!”
Said Madame Hannah as the first light dawned,
Over snowy rooftops and powdery lawns.
The Port City was waking to a glorious morn
When snowflakes and dreams of Christmas are born.
Our dinner guests lofted a final glass
To toast their companions from Christmas Past
Then bid each other a kindly adieu,
Away in the morning they gratefully flew.
– Noah Salt
Our Cast
Special thanks to Flora Verdi for our holiday centerpiece, Cape Fear Antique and Jewelry for our candelabras, Operahouse Theatre Company for costume assistance and City Club at De Rosset for a scrumptious dessert service, hospitality and use of their parlor.
Meadowlark Lemon, a native of Wilmington who rose to international stardom as the “Clown Prince of Basketball.” Lemon is recognized in the Basketball Hall of Fame for his career playing for the Harlem Globetrotters. His TV credits include “Hello Larry,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Alice,” and his own cartoon character on “Scooby-Doo.” Later in life, he became a minister and motivational speaker.
Travis Corpening is the director of the Nixon Minority Male Leaders Program at Cape Fear Community College. He played semiprofessional basketball and his YouTube tutorial videos have over 1 million views. (traviscorpening.com)
Caterina Jarboro, a native of Wilmington, was the first African-American opera singer to perform on a prominent American opera stage. A soprano, she sang the lead role in Verdi’s “Aida” with an all white company in 1933. She toured the US and Europe for over twenty years, including stops at Carnegie Hall. Her mother was an American Indian.
Laraisha Burnette is a singer/songwriter, actress and graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She’s known locally for her award-winning portrayal of Billie Holiday in “Lady Day.” She is the daughter of the R&B legend O’Bryan.
Noah Salt loves Christmas, the whole Christmas season. Don’t ask us why, no one quite knows the reason.
Sam Robison is a well-known local actor/director just off a string of five back-to-back productions. He is often cast as the writer.
Rose O’Neal Greenhow, “Wild Rose,” the famous Confederate spy, graced our port city many times before drowning in the Cape Fear River when her vessel ran aground. Legend has it that she was weighted down with gold coins sewn in her dress, fruits of her memoir she wrote about her imprisonment. She is buried in Oakdale Cemetery.
Tamica Katzmann is local actress and model that can be seen on stage and screen. No stranger to coins, she also works in banking.
Charles Kuralt, a Wilmington native, won ten Emmys and three Peabody Awards for broadcast journalism. He hosted the primetime series “Eyewitness,” but is best known for his “On The Road” segments for CBS Evening News. He wrote five books including North Carolina Is My Home.
Kevin Wuzzardo is the News Director at WWAY TV NewsChannel 3.
Stede Bonnet “The Gentleman Pirate” known for his stylish attire and wig, started out as a British army major and a sugar plantation owner in Barbados before he took to the high seas for pirate pleasures on his vessel, Revenge. Blackbeard stole Bonnet’s ship after the pair docked in North Carolina. Bonnet was later captured near Southport and brought to Charleston to be hanged.
Patrick Basquill is an actor/director with the company Fake Brothers Productions. He played Stede Bonnet this summer on Bald Head Island’s ghost walk.
Hannah Block, a Jewish girl from Virginia by way of New York City, a cabaret singer and organizer, Block led the USO wartime entertainment effort. A woman of firsts: first female lifeguard at Carolina Beach, first organizer for the Azalea Festival pageant, first female City Council member and Mayor pro tempore.
Kaitlin Baden is a singer and actress who, by day, teaches and chorus and drama at Myrtle Grove Middle School.
