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John N. Ringling

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An international celebrity of circus fame, John N. Ringling amassed a fortune through his entertainment interests and business ventures. With his beloved first wife, Mabel Burton, the couple built an elegant Sarasota Bay mansion to house their…

Gamble Rogers

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In his 30-year career as one of the South's most well-known folk musicians, Florida native Gamble Rogers appeared as the headline performer at thousands of concerts throughout the U.S. and Canada. Long before his tragic death in 1991 while trying…

Mel Tillis

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Mel Tillis has ranked in the top echelon of country music singers and songwriters for nearly 40 years. Best known for his performing, Tillis also is a force in songwriting, having penned hit songs that made profound impacts on other performers'…

Tennessee Williams

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Tennessee Williams, whose name has been synonymous with American Theater almost since the production of The Glass Menagerie in 1945, adopted Key West as his home in the 1940s and lived off and on there for more than 30 years. Williams won many of…

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

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In 1983, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in music. Today, she is widely acknowledged as one of the most acclaimed American composers, writing largely in the post-modernist, neo-romantic style. A graduate of…