Patsy Cline Museum facts for kids
The Patsy Cline Museum is a special place that opened on April 7, 2017. It's located on the second floor of the Johnny Cash Museum building in Nashville, Tennessee. This museum is filled with amazing items that belonged to the famous country singer, Patsy Cline. You can see real things she owned and lots of memorabilia from her life. Patsy Cline was a very popular singer who sadly passed away in a plane crash in 1963 when she was only 30 years old.
Contents
A Look at Her Life
Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley. Even though she recorded only three albums and had two number-one songs before her death, her music continued to be popular for many years. Her fan base grew even after she was gone! She made history by becoming the first woman to be welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame. This happened 10 years after she passed away.
Shannon and Bill Miller, who also started the Johnny Cash Museum, wanted to create a similar museum for Patsy Cline. They got their chance after Charlie Dick, Patsy Cline's husband, passed away in 2015. He had kept many of Patsy's personal belongings hidden away, and now they could be shared with the world.
Where to Find It
The Patsy Cline Museum is quite large, about 4,000 square feet! It's in a part of Nashville called SoBro, which means "South of Broadway." You can find it on Third Avenue South. The museum is open every day, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kids under 6 years old can enter for free, and children aged 6 to 15 get a special lower price. There's some parking available on the streets nearby.
What You'll See Inside
The museum shows how Patsy Cline and her family lived a fairly normal life, even as she became more and more famous. Her husband, Charlie Dick, saved many of her personal items. These include the sewing machine her mother, Hilda Hensley, used to make Patsy's unique cowgirl outfits when she was starting her career. You can also see a custom cigarette lighter and her collection of salt and pepper shakers. He even kept a telegram from Colonel Tom Parker, who was Elvis Presley's manager, sending his sympathy after Patsy's death.
The museum has different areas that show various parts of Patsy's life. For example, one display has the sign, a wooden booth, and a milkshake maker from Gaunt's Drug Store. This is where she worked as a teenager in Winchester, Virginia. You can also see the porch seat from her childhood home in that same town. There's a recreated dining room from the home she shared with Charlie Dick in Nashville. It includes her Filter Queen vacuum cleaner and the check she used to buy it. Another room looks like their rec room, with a record player, vinyl LPs, and a reel-to-reel tape player. A black and white TV plays clips of Patsy's performances. The red padded bar in the room even has "Patsy & Charlie" printed on it.
You can also use interactive stations to listen to Patsy's music. You can watch videos of her performances and read copies of her handwritten letters. Many of her famous stage costumes are on display, like the sparkly dress she wore in Las Vegas in 1962. Some of these costumes were designed by Patsy herself and sewn by her mother.
Special Items and Stories
The museum has many special items that belonged to Patsy Cline. Some of these items tell emotional stories. You can see the Elgin watch, a gift from her husband, that she was wearing when she passed away. Her silver engraved wedding ring is also there. There's an ID bracelet with photos inside that she gave to Charlie Dick. You can also see the handkerchief her mom used at Patsy's funeral. An AMI jukebox celebrates two of Patsy's songs that are among the Top 20 Jukebox Hits of All Time: "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces".
More Cool Exhibits
Other interesting things you can see include:
- A wall showing both sides of her 45s records.
- The Key to New York City that Mayor Robert F. Wagner gave to her in 1961.
- A canceled check she used to pay for furniture in her home.
- An oriental black jewelry box with her costume jewelry.
- A boot-shaped cigarette lighter.
- A clock shaped like a pocket watch.
- Handwritten letters she sent to her family and fans.
- Her wedding photo album and a scrapbook.
- Album covers and awards she won.
- Sketches of costume designs that Patsy drew herself.
- A Jimmy Dean fan club card.
- Gold lamé pants and shoes.
- Costumes and items from Sweet Dreams, the movie about Patsy's life.
- Information about the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, which featured an actress nominated for an award for playing Patsy.
The exhibits are set up in order, showing her life from beginning to end. The last exhibit features costumes that Patsy designed herself. She asked Nudie Cohn, a famous designer known for his "Nudie suits," to make them for her. She sent her request with her measurements on February 28, 1963. Sadly, his reply agreeing to make them arrived after she passed away just a week later on March 5, 1963. Many years later, Nudie Cohn's granddaughter finished making these costumes for the museum exhibit.
See also
- List of music museums
