Greg Giese – “Beau Wilkes” from GWTW and “Elly Mae” from The Beverly Hillbillies To Appear At Missouri Festival

Greg Giese, who played two babies –Bonnie Blue Butler and Beau Wilkes—in the 1939 classic Gone With The Wind will be honored with a “star” on the “Walk of Fame” at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Marshfield,  MO on Friday April, 29.  The festival, which also features an impressive array of descendents of U.S. Presidents has a distinct Gone With The Wind flavor to it.

Giese will receive his star with this year’s cast:  Donna Douglas, who played Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies; Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys; former 4^th Congressional Dist. Representative Ike Skelton, Hubert Wheeler, Missouri’s first Educational Commissioner, and  (posthumously) Dorothy Walker Bush, mother of George H.W. Bush.

Rand Brooks and Fred Crane who stared in the movie and Judy Lewis, the daughter of Clark Gable were others with  Gone With The Wind ties who have been honored by the Marshfield Cherry Blossom Festival.

Giese, who lives in Belleville, Illinois will travel to Marshfield on Thursday for the Friday ceremony which starts at 1 p.m.

Following his event, at 4 p.m. at the Cross Bridge Church Sally Tippett Rains, author of The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s, Gone With The Wind and Gone With The Wind collector Rita Kiry Ryan will present a program featuring a display of GWTW memorabilia and a replica of Margaret Mitchell’s family scrapbook with pictures of the author’s Civil War relatives. Spring hats are encouraged a la Scarlett O’Hara, and refreshments will be served.

The Cherry Blossom Festival in Marshfield, Mo was started by Nicholas Inman, who had spent a year in Washington, D.C. doing an internship and enjoyed the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Inman, being very patriotic decided to bring a bit of Washington, D.C. to his hometown so he incorporated descendants of presidents in the festival. His love for literature and Gone With The Wind have led him to honor authors and include book signings in  the events.

The Cherry Blossom project was began in 2003, although the first official planting did not occur until 2004. The first tree was planted at the Webster County Museum by Missouri First Lady Lori Houser Holden. It was decided on by the local Tree City USA advisory committee that each Missouri First Lady would be asked to plant a tree. This occurred due to the fact that the nations First Ladies had planted the trees in the nation’s capital. In fact, First Lady Helen Taft planted the first tree in Washington, D.C.  The trees are still young but they anticipate their beauty in years to come.

Descendants of U.S. Presidents attend the festival each year and it is a historic and unique gathering with presidential descendants including

Scheduled to attend:

Merrill Eisenhower Atwater (Great-Grandson of Eisenhower)

Jonathan Sandys (Great-Grandson of Sir Winston Churchill)

Marie Clinton Bruno (Cousin of Bill Clinton)

Tom Washington & family

Bertram Hayes-Davis & family

Davis Webb

Devon Nixon

Greg Roosevelt

John Truman

Chris Truscott

Dr. Richard Harding

George Cleveland

James K. Polk family

Mary Todd Lincoln family

Lynn Jackson

And

Greg Giese from Gone With The Wind

Donna Douglas, “Elly Mae” from The Beverly Hillbillies

 

Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival

Schedule for Friday, April 29

9: 30 a.m. Future Leaders of America Forum (free event)

11:30 a.m.- Ozarks Honor Flight Luncheon, honoring the heroes of WW II (Holy Trinity Catholic Church, ticketed event)

(The Cherry Blossom Medal and the Brig. General Homer Case Medal of Patriotism will be presented)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Book signing will be held at this event.

1:00 p.m.- Missouri Walk of Fame Ceremony (free event)

(Honoring: Donna Douglas (Elly Mae Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies), Jerry Jones, Hubert Wheeler, Greg Giese (Gone with the Wind) and Dorothy Walker Bush)

2:30 p.m.- Dred and Harriet Scott Reconciliation Forum- Hosted by the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation (free event)

4 PM: The Sesquicentennial of The Civil War Through Literature: The Civil War Background of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind (Free Event, Cross Bridge Church)

Short talk by Sally Tippett Rains, author of The Making Of A Masterpiece, The True Story of Margaret Mitchell’s, Gone With The Wind and Gone With The Wind collector Rita Kiry Ryan. There will be a display of GWTW memorabilia and a replica of Margaret Mitchell’s family scrapbook with pictures of the author’s Civil War relatives. Spring hats are encouraged a la Scarlett O’Hara. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, April 30:

8:45 a.m.- Prayer Breakfast -Elkland Independent Methodist Church

10:30 a.m.- Commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War-Marshfield United Methodist Church, free public event

*Historical speakers, music and the dedication of the Honey Locust Tree symbolic of the Witness Tree from Gettysburg.

1:30-3 p.m. Presidential Forum at the Marshfield Assembly of God (Free Event) Featuring numerous Presidential descendants (autograph signing afterwards)

6 p.m.- State Dinner with Merrill Eisenhower Atwater (Great Grandson of President Eisenhower) as the keynote speaker. (Ticketed Event- see website for information)