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paralleljulieverse · 5 years

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“Ding Dong the Bells are Gonna Chime...!”

This Day in Julie-history: Julie Andrews weds first husband, Tony Walton sixty years ago on 10 May 1959.

When Julie Andrews and longtime beau, Tony Walton finally decided to marry in the English spring of 1959, they had hoped to keep the wedding relatively low-key. Rather than plump for a big city venue, the couple chose to hold the ceremony at the small parish church of St. Mary’s Oatlands in Weybridge, close to their collective family home of Walton-on-Thames in Surrey. In her memoirs, Julie recalls that, even though she and Tony had both grown up in the very next village, she “had to prove residency in the parish of Oatlands” in order to get married at the picturesque mid-Victorian church (Andrews: 258). So for six weeks prior to the wedding, the star moved into the nearby Oatlands Park Hotel, making the daily commute into London for ongoing performances of My Fair Lady.

However, as profiled in our last post, the couple’s courtship had been a focus of such intense media attention that there was little serious hope they’d be able to keep the wedding out of the public eye. And, lo, come the big day, a sunny and unusually warm spring Sunday, a phalanx of over sixty reporters, press photographers and newsreel cameramen was on hand to cover the event. What’s more, a huge crowd of fans and public well-wishers –– ranging in estimates from two to three thousand––congregated around the church and surrounding lanes to get a glimpse of the star bride. It was a carnival-like atmosphere complete with “ice cream men and even a winkle stall” (Rolls: 2). “The pretty tree-shaded churchyard looked like Hampstead Heath on a Bank Holiday Monday,” noted one press report, “as fathers, mothers and children struggled on the lawns littered with ice lolly-sticks and sweet papers” (Marlborough and Court: 5).

More than two miles of cars clogged the roads leading up to the church, so not surprisingly the bridal party was a little late in arriving, pulling up to the front of the church ten minutes behind schedule. As Julie emerged from the bridal car, led by father Ted Wells, the crowds surged forward and news crews rushed to get shots. Some women reportedly fainted in the crush and “[t]eams of police had their hands full making way for Julie” (Rolls: 2). “This crowd makes me more nervous than playing Eliza on the first night,” exclaimed the star (ibid.). Ever the consummate professional, Julie took it in stride with reporters marvelling that “throughout the Hollywood-style hysteria, Miss Andrews remained calm, cool and apparently unperturbed” (Marlborough and Court: 5).

She also looked every inch the resplendent star bride in a stunning seventy-yard rose-budded white organza gown that had been designed specially for her by husband-to-be Tony Walton. Made from the designs by Julie’s longtime friend, theatrical costumier Madame de Rachelle, who had provided several earlier bespoke dresses for the star, the bridal gown had an estimated cost of £350, a substantial amount for the time. Rachelle also helped dress Julie the morning of the wedding, painstakingly fastening all 72 buttons at the rear of the gown with a small buttonhook (Hickey: 5).

Once inside the church, the wedding party was able to relax a little during the 35 minute service. As the officiating vicar quipped, “Forget your friends inside the church and the crowds outside. There’s nothing high-falutin’ about a marriage service” (Hickey: 1).* The 300-strong guest list was weighted heavily with local friends and family but there were a few famous faces dotted among the pews, mostly theatre folk who had been important to Julie during her career. Stanley Holloway, Robert Coote, and Noel Harrison, son of Rex, were on hand to represent the My Fair Lady crew. Rex was unable to attend as he was abroad visiting his ailing wife Kay Kendall in Paris. Sandy Wilson and Vida Hope flew The Boy Friend flag and others were there from Julie’s early radio and pantomime years such as Hattie Jacques and Vic Oliver. Further celebrity friends included Maggie Smith, Svetlana Beriosova, Anne Rogers and the official wedding photographer was none other than Tony Armstrong-Jones (Cottrell: 118).

Following the ceremony, the bridal party and guests made their way to the reception at the Mitre Hotel in Kingston-on-Thames directly opposite historic Hampton Court. Thousands more lined the roads to cheer them on and some even hired rowboats in an effort to get a closer peek at proceedings from the riverfront (Rolls: 2). Inside, the three hundred invited guests were treated to a lavish champagne supper with dance music provided by Johnnie Howard and his Orchestra who played inevitable selections from My Fair Lady but also from Sandy Wilson’s Valmouth with which Tony had been successfully associated (“Denmark Street”: 7). Maintaining the dual theatrical theme, the three tiered wedding cake was topped with two miniature figures, one in Eliza Dolittle flower girl costume and the other in an artist’s smock (Cottrell: 121).

After it was all over, the newlyweds were driven straight to London airport to catch a late night flight to Los Angeles. It was billed as a two-week “honeymoon”, though it was in fact more of a working holiday with Julie taping a TV special with Jack Benny and Tony working on designs for a new musical (Cottrell: 122). Julie recalls that she and Tony slept most of the long flight to California, both exhausted from their big day. As the flight prepared to land, Julie writes that as she slowly roused, she saw Tony smiling at her in the next seat:

“’Help!’ I said to him in a very small voice. He nodded, knowing what I meant. The festivities were over; we were married and heading into the unknown” (Andrews: 262)

Notes:

* In her memoirs, Julie gives the name of the officiating vicar at the wedding as Rev. Keeping, “a charming man, kind and gentle in our meetings with him” (Andrews: 259). Press reports from the time, however, list him as Rev. John McKitterick (Hickey: 1; “Marriages”: 12; Rolls: 2). Far be it from us to suggest that she-who-is-practically-perfect-in-every-way got it wrong, which is why, in one of the photos accompanying our previous post, we followed Dame Julie’s lead and identified the kindly vicar as Rev. Keeping.

Sources:

“2000 at Julie Andrews’s Wedding.” Belfast Telegraph. 11 May 1959: 8.

Andrews, Julie. Home: A Memoir of My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008.

Cottrell, John. Julie Andrews: The Story of a Star. London: Arthur Barker, 1968.

“Denmark Street Doodles.” The Stage. 21 May 1959: 7.

Hickey, William. “Phew! What a Scramble for the Bride and the Motorist: My Fair Lady Marries Boy Next Door.” Daily Express. 11 May 1959: 1, 5.

Marlborough, Douglas and Court, Monty. “PictureMail Goes to the Stage Wedding of the Year: Shouting Women Delay Julie.” Daily Mail. 11 May 1959: 5.

“Marriages: Mr. T. Walton and Miss J. Andrews.” The Times. 11 May 1959: 12.

Nathan, David. “C-r-a-w-l-i-n-g Home But What a Loverly Day it was for a Wedding.” Daily Herald. 11 May 1959: 1, 3.

Rolls, John. “Cor! Wot a turn ant for Eliza...” Daily Mirror. 11 May 1959: 2.

Photographs by Tony Armstrong-Jones, Ron Burton, Kenneth Denyer, and Terry Fincher.

#julie andrews #tony walton #wedding #1959 #st mary's church #oatlands #weybridge #My Fair Lady #united kingdom #england #celebrity #stars

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brian-carroll-blog1 · 6 years

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Black History Month – Tribute and Facts

Black History Month honors the contributions of African Americans to U.S. history. Did you know that Madam C.J. Walker was America’s first woman to become a self-made millionaire, or that George Washington Carver was able to derive nearly 300 products from the peanut?

Black History Month: The celebration of Black History Month began as “Negro History Week,” which was created in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a noted African American historian, scholar, educator, and publisher. It became a month-long celebration in 1976. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

First Lawyer: John Mercer Langston was the first black man to become a lawyer when he passed the bar in Ohio in 1854. When he was elected to the post of Town Clerk for Brownhelm, Ohio, in 1855 Langston became one of the first African Americans ever elected to public office in America.

Heavyweight Champ: Jack Johnson became the first African-American man to hold the World Heavyweight Champion boxing title in 1908. He held onto the belt until 1915.

Oscar Winner: In 1940, Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American performer to win an Academy Award—the film industry’s highest honor—for her portrayal of a loyal slave governess in Gone With the Wind.

Population Growth: The black population of the United States in 1870 was 4.8 million; in 2007, the number of black residents of the United States, including those of more than one race, was 40.7 million.

White House: In 2009, Barack Obama became the first African-American president in U.S. history. He occupied the White House for two consecutive terms, serving from 2009 to 2017.

How the Black History Month Is Celebrated

There’s no shortage of ways to celebrate black history. Teachers give lessons to students about important African American historical figures such as Harriet Tubman and the Tuskegee Airmen. Bookstores highlight the works of black poets and writers. Meanwhile, galleries display the work of black artists. Museums feature exhibitions with African-American themes, and theaters present plays with African American subject matter.

African American churches celebrate the month with a slew of events that raise awareness about the achievements of blacks in the U.S. Some blacks view the month as a time to reflect on slavery, the civil rights movement, the black power movement and the best ways to lift up the African American community today.

Citation: History.com

-Brian Carroll - Author

#Brian D. Carroll #brian carroll #Brian Carroll CWU

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myblckcty · 2 years

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Brenda Taylor | CyberSecurity

Join My Black City in Celebrating and Supporting Brenda Taylor | CyberSecurity. We Shine Brighter Together. #MyBlackCity https://myblackcity.org/brenda-taylor-cybersecurity/?feed_id=14435 >> Since 2004, Ms. Taylor has provided executive leadership for federal growth and expansion for Information Management Resources, Inc. (IMRI), a technology and engineering firm that provides comprehensive technical, engineering and cybersecurity services and solutions to federal government >> Since 2004, Ms. Taylor has provided executive leadership for federal growth and expansion for Information Management Resources, Inc. (IMRI), a technology and engineering firm that provides comprehensive technical, engineering and cybersecurity services and solutions to federal government agencies and commercial clients worldwide. She currently serves as Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, Business Development. Under her leadership, IMRI’s federal division grew from $18 million to over $115 million in revenues. Ms. Taylor has advised clients including: Office of the Secretary of Defense; U.S. Cyber Command; Executive Office of the President; Washington Headquarter Services; Department of Commerce; Departments of the Navy, Army, and Air Force; Missile Defense Agency; Defense Information Systems Agency; and various U. S. Department of Defense Combatant Commands. Ms. Taylor developed Cytellix, which includes IMRI’s Cybersecurity Solutions and its Cybersecurity Operations Center. Cytellix provides federal agencies and commercial businesses with proven cybersecurity solutions that mitigate and remediate cybersecurity risks. Ms. Taylor performs hundreds of hours of volunteer activities annually. She serves on the Board of Directors for Restoration Christian Fellowship (RCF) and CEO for Operation Nehemiah, a Community Development Corporation of RCF, where she provides leadership in implementing programs to help empower the community in socio-economic areas impacting over 300 families monthly. Through Operation Nehemiah, she provides fiscal agent support for other community programs including Celebrating Women’s Health and Fighting Together to Save Lives. Ms. Taylor was recently appointed to the Board of Directors for Hattie B. Black Women In Progress, an Arizona based non-profit that focuses on addressing mental and emotional health issues facing girls and young women. Ms. Taylor often serves as a mentor to youth and young adults in the Denver metro community. She founded the Cyber Innovation and Workforce Development (CIWD) initiative to provide women and minorities with more opportunities to fill the growing number of cybersecurity jobs by cross-training individuals with nontechnical backgrounds through its Cyber Experiential Development for Growth and Excellence (C-EDGE) program. The 3-year program combines training and development, industry certifications, mentoring and job assignments to equip participants to become future leaders and technical experts in cybersecurity.

#Directory #InformationTechnology #IT

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bm2ab · 4 years

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Arrivals & Departures 10 June 1893 – 26 October 1952 Celebrate Hattie McDaniel Day!

Hattie McDaniel (10 June 1893 – 26 October 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. She is best known for her role as "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind (1939), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African American to win an Oscar.

In addition to acting in many films, McDaniel recorded 16 blues sides between 1926–1929 (10 were issued), was a radio performer and television star; she was the first black woman to sing on radio in the United States. She appeared in over 300 films, although she received screen credits for only 83.

McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood: one at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to radio and one at 1719 Vine Street for acting in motion pictures. In 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and in 2006 became the first black Oscar winner honored with a US postage stamp. In 2010, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

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netpanty88-blog · 5 years

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The 1897 Richard S. Barnes Mansion - 316 West 75th Street

Despite being one of ten children, Richard Storrs Barnes enjoyed a privileged upbringing. Born in 1854 in Brooklyn, his father, Alfred Smith Barnes, was the principal in the leading textbook publishing house in the nation, A. S. Barnes & Co. Richard was educated at the Gunnery School in Washington, Connecticut; the Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Massachusetts; and finally at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He initially entered his father's business, moving to Chicago to manage that branch of the firm. In 1880 he married Hattie Day Barbour of Harford. Around the time of his father's death in 1888 he returned to New York; Richard's brother, Alfred C. Barnes took over the family business. While Richard remained a director in the company (which grew into the conglomerate American Book Company); he branched out into myriad professional interests. He became treasurer of Braunworth & Co., printers, and secretary and treasurer of the Barnes Real Estate Association. He invested heavily in mining and was treasurer of the Automatic Fire Alarm Company. Richard and Hattie had three children, Goodrich (who tragically died at the age of 12), Hattie Louise and Roderic Barbour Barnes. Their Washington, Connecticut country home, Westlawn, was a sprawling Queen Anne-style riot of gables and porches and chimneys.

Westlawn's many angles assured that the slightest breezes were captured. photo via the Gunn Historical Museum

In 1895 ground was broken for the Barnes's new city home at No 316 West 75th Street, just steps from Riverside Drive. Richard had hired one of Manhattan's premier mansion architects, C. P. H. Gilbert, to design a 38-foot wide residence--nearly double the width of a standard home. Construction took two years and resulted in an impressive five-story residence faced in cream-colored Roman brick and trimmed in limestone. Gilbert splashed his Renaissance Revival design with Beaux Arts touches--like torches, swags and lions' heads above the fourth floor openings, and the eye-catching oculus over the service entrance. While other architects strove to downplay doorways where deliverymen and servants came and went, Gilbert fronted this one with grand iron gates and carved Renaissance style gateposts and lavished its round window with cornucopia.

Sadly abused as a repository for trash today, the service entrance was given grand treatment by C. P. H. Gilbert. Note the individualized carvings of the gate posts.

The second floor featured tall French windows with balconettes. The center opening of the rounded bay wore an elaborate stone hood, the tympanum of which overflowed with foliate carvings and a crest. (Close inspection reveals a dog standing proudly above that crest.) The bay provided a stone-balustraded balcony to the fourth floor. A stone cornice supported by foliate brackets completed the design.

The Barnes family proudly displayed an American flag from the balcony of their new home. Architectural Record 1899

The Barnes family's upscale lifestyle was reflected in Richard's entering steeds in the fashionable New York Horse Show, in his memberships in the New England Society of New York, the Metropolitan Club and the Down Town Association. The names of Manhattan's wealthy routinely appeared in print as they boarded steamships headed to Europe. But that was not the case when Richard and Hattie climbed aboard the Hamburg-American vessel Moltke on January 10, 1903. They were embarking on a pleasure cruise--a forerunner of today's popular ocean cruises. The New-York Tribune reported the ship would visit the principal islands in the West Indies and Nassau. The ports of call would be familiar to vacationers taking a cruise today--St. Thomas, San Juan, Kingston, Jamaica and Nassau among others.

Richard Storrs Barnes - photo via the Gunn Historical Museum

On September 17, 1904 Richard and Hattie announced the engagement of Hattie Louise to Alfred Severin Bourne. The New-York Tribune noted as well, "Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, whose country home is Westlawn, Washington, Conn., spent the early part of the summer in Europe." While Bourne's family was immensely wealthy (the newspaper called their Oakdale home "one of the finest country places in Long Island"), there were indications that the young man was a bit of a playboy. The 21-year old groom-to-be had inherited $1 million from his godfather, Corman Clark, that year and another half million on the interest that had accumulated on the fund prior to his coming of age. The New-York Tribune put a positive spin on his dropping out of school by saying "He entered Yale about a year ago, but preferred a business career." Hattie Louise had debuted into society the previous winter. In the summer of 1904 Alfred's parents celebrated his "coming of age" at Oakdale with events that rivaled the most lavish of debutante entertainments. The Sun commented "There were luncheons, dinners and dances ashore and afloat." The wedding took place in the West End Collegiate Church on West End Avenue just two blocks north of the Barnes residence the following spring. The social importance of the event was evidenced by the guest list. The New-York Tribune reported on April 17, 1905, "Some of those invited to the wedding were President and Mrs. Roosevelt, Admiral and Mrs. George Dewey, Rear Admiral and Mrs. W. S. Schley, Bishop and Mrs. Potter, General and Mrs. Stewart L. Woodford, Mr. and Mrs. W. Bayard Cutting, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Bliss and Mrs. W. S. P. Prentice." The reception took place in the 75th Street mansion. Roderic married Rose Marie Naething six years later, in September 1911, in the fashionable Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue. Roderic would go on to a promising career as an architect.

Rose Barnes on her wedding day. New-York Tribune September 17, 1911 (copyright expired)

On Christmas Day, 1913, Richard Storrs Barnes died in the 75th Street house at the age of 59. The Bookseller estimated his estate to be "at least $500,000." That amount would approach $13 million today. Hattie remained in the residence and following her period of mourning resumed her social activities. Her name appeared in society columns as she visited fashionable watering holes like the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. Perhaps the most unusual gathering which she hosted in the residence occurred in the spring of 1917. The highly-popular evangelist Billy Sunday was in town and on May 17 he enthralled a crowd of 18,000 with his unorthodox retelling of the story of how Jesus reformed the tax collector Zaccheus. According to The Sun's report, he said in part: There were a lot of the old guys discussin' Jesus--and they were mostly leaving the dis off--and Zaccheus, who was a rich gazabo of a Jew, wanted to get a good look at Him, so he shinnied up a tree. Well, when Jesus passed right under the three old Zac slid down and Jesus said to him: 'This day I'll abide at thy house.' He didn't even wait for Zaccheus to invite Him. He just said He'd come on over for dinner with him." The reverend paused to consider the wife of Zaccheus. "Gee, I'll bet she was a fine kind of woman not to mind havin' all that bunch drop in on her just at dinner time and nothing to eat but some canned goods." But before that gargantuan event, the preacher had been at the Barnes house. "In the morning Billy delivered a short talk before 300 women and a few men in the home of Mrs. Richard S. Barnes, 316 West Seventy-fifth street. Following the evangelist Mrs. Sunday said a few words." Hattie became involved with the Women's American Oriental Club of New York City. It was founded in April 1915 "to promote friendliness and mutual understanding between women of the Orient and women of America." By 1920 she was its president.

Although heavily abused, the carved newels still stand guard.

In the meantime, Hattie Louise's husband's playboy ways had caught up with him and landed the family name in scandalous newspaper reports. The New-York Tribune's article on December 29, 1918 started out complimentary enough. "Mr. Bourne is a member of the New York Yacht Club, St. Anthony Club and the National Golf Links. His father, Frederick G. Bourne, formerly commodore of the New York Yacht Club, is one of the best known yachtsmen in the United States." But then the article got to the juicier parts. Bourne had been carrying on a relationship with Grace B. Clark, who freely visited the best shops of Manhattan, charging her purchases to Bourne. The illicit affair became public when Grace's bill with the dressing making house of Hickson, Inc., became inordinate--approaching half a million in today's dollars. Pressed for payment, Bourne made a deal to pay $500 a month. But then he stopped payments with a balance of $11,199 still due. Hickson, Inc. sued, Bourne did not attempt to defend himself, and the newspapers eagerly printed the shocking story. Hattie Barnes was 64-years old when she sold No. 316 to the H. M. C. Realty Company, Inc. in 1924. The handsome mansion she and her husband had built more than a quarter of a century earlier was converted to "non-housekeeping apartments," meaning they had no kitchens. The building had few notable tenants. In the 1940's bandleader Jimmy Victor lived here. His advertisement in Billboard magazine in October 1948 announced "Now arranging 1949 indoor and outdoor dates, Jimmy Victor's Show Band." In the 1950's an apartment here was used as the headquarters for the New York Regional Advisory Board of the Society of St. Dismas. The group described its goal as "to aid imprisoned and released prisoners." To that end it furnished reading material to penal institutions and aided released prisoners to find employment and homes. Gay activist Brenda Howard lived in the building in 1972 when she was arrested on June 7. Firefighter Michael Maye was accused of beating a member of the Gay Activist Alliance on April 15 that year. Before his court hearing, she and two other activists created that The New York Times called "a disturbance" in the courtroom. Apparently Brenda was less combative than her companions. While her charges were later dismissed, the other two were held to stand trial on charges of "assault, resisting arrest, harassment and obstructing government administration."

The former elegance of the Barnes mansion manages to triumph over window air conditioners, a commercial-style doorway, and decades of dirt.

photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-1897-richard-s-barnes-mansion-316.html

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

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gossipdepartement · 5 years

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Hattie Webb - The Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury 12.02.2020 Live Review

Hattie Webb – The Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury 12.02.2020 Live Review

Harpist Hattie Webb not only brought a couple of harps but also Alfabeto Runico bassist Andrea Resce, her brother and a collection of cold remedies to the cathedral city of Canterbury. In between self-medicating with (None drowsy) Lemsip and hot chocolate (Her “hug in a mug”), she captivated the transfixed audience of The Gulbenkian Theatre at The University Of Kent.

As one half of The Webb…

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#canterbury #gulbenkian #hattie #review #theatre

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jenniferfaye34 · 5 years

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#Excerpt ~ Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean... #Books #HistoricalRomance #amreading

New York Times Bestselling Author Sarah MacLean returns with the next book in the Bareknuckle Bastards series about three brothers bound by a secret that they cannot escape—and the women who bring them to their knees.

The Lady’s Plan

When Lady Henrietta Sedley declares her twenty-ninth year her own, she has plans to inherit her father’s business, to make her own fortune, and to live her own life. But first, she intends to experience a taste of the pleasure she’ll forgo as a confirmed spinster. Everything is going perfectly…until she discovers the most beautiful man she’s ever seen tied up in her carriage and threatening to ruin the Year of Hattie before it’s even begun.

The Bastard’s Proposal

When he wakes in a carriage at Hattie’s feet, Whit, a king of Covent Garden known to all the world as Beast, can’t help but wonder about the strange woman who frees him—especially when he discovers she’s headed for a night of pleasure . . . on his turf. He is more than happy to offer Hattie all she desires…for a price.

An Unexpected Passion

Soon, Hattie and Whit find themselves rivals in business and pleasure. She won’t give up her plans; he won’t give up his power . . . and neither of them sees that if they’re not careful, they’ll have no choice but to give up everything . . . including their hearts.

About the Book

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

SeriesBareknuckle Bastards Series

GenreAdult Historical Romance

PublisherAvon Books

Publication Date July 30, 2019

Purchase Your Copy Today! Amazon | Avon Romance | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | iBooks

EXCERPT: In twenty-eight years and three hundred sixty-four days, Lady Henrietta Sedley liked to think that she’d learned a few things. She’d learned, for example, that if a lady could not get away with wearing trousers (an unfortunate reality for the daughter of an earl, even one who had begun life without title or fortune), then she should absolutely ensure that her skirts included pockets. A woman never knew when she might require a bit of rope, or a knife to cut it, after all. She’d also learned that any decent escape from her Mayfair home required the cover of darkness and a carriage driven by an ally. Coachmen tended to talk a fine game when it came to keeping secrets, but were ultimately beholden to those who paid their salaries. An important addendum to that particular lesson was this: The best of allies was often the best of friends. And perhaps first on the list of things she had learned in her lifetime was how to tie a Bosun knot. She’d been able to do that for as long as she could remember. With such an obscure and uncommon collection of knowledge, one might imagine that Henrietta Sedley would have known precisely what to do in the likelihood she discovered a human male bound and unconscious in her carriage. One would be incorrect. In point of fact, Henrietta Sedley would never have described such a scenario as a likelihood. After all, she might have been more comfortable on London’s docks than in its ballrooms, but Hattie’s impressive collection of life experience lacked anything close to a criminal element. And yet, here she was, pockets full, dearest friend at her side, standing in the pitch dark on the night before her twenty-ninth birthday, about to steal away from Mayfair for a night of best-laid plans, and… Lady Eleanora Madewell whistled, low and unladylike at Hattie’s ear. Daughter of a duke and the Irish actress he loved so much he’d made her a duchess, Nora had the kind of brashness that was allowed in those with impervious titles and scads of money. “There’s a bloke in the gig, Hattie.” Hattie did not look away from the bloke in question. “Yes, I see that.” “There wasn’t a bloke in the gig when we hitched the horses.” “No, there wasn’t.” They’d left the hitched—and most definitely empty—carriage in the dark rear drive of Sedley House not three-quarters of an hour earlier, before hiking upstairs to exchange carriage-hitching dresses for attire more appropriate for their evening plans. At some point between corset and kohl, someone had left her an extraordinarily unwelcome package. “Seems we would’ve noticed a bloke in the gig,” “I should think we would have,” came Hattie’s distracted reply. “This is really just awful timing.” Nora cut her a look. “Is there a good time for a man to be bound in one’s carriage?” Hattie imagined there wasn’t, but, “He could have selected a different evening. What a terrible birthday gift.” She squinted into the dark interior of the carriage. “Do you think he’s dead?” Please, don’t let him be dead. Silence. Then, a thoughtful, “Does one store dead men in carriages?” Nora reached forward, her coachman’s coat pulling tight over her shoulders, and poked the dead man in question. He did not move. “He’s not moving,” she added. “Could be dead.” Hattie sighed, removing a glove and leaning into the carriage to place two fingers to the man’s neck. “I’m sure he’s not dead.”

Tour Wide Giveaway

To celebrate the release of BRAZEN AND THE BEAST by Sarah MacLean, we’re giving away a paperback copy of Wicked and the Wallflower!

GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS: Open to US shipping addresses only. One winner will receive a paperback copy of Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of Avon Romance. Giveaway ends on 8/12/2019 @ 11:59pm EST. Avon Romance will send the winning copy out to the winner directly. CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

About the Author

New York Times, Washington Post & USA Today bestseller SARAH MACLEAN is the author of historical romance novels that have been translated into more than twenty languages, and winner of back-to-back RITA Awards for best historical romance from the Romance Writers of America.

Sarah is a leading advocate for the romance genre, speaking widely on its place at the nexus of gender and cultural studies. She is the author of a monthly column celebrating the best of the genre for the Washington Post. Her advocacy for romance and the women who read it earned her a place on Jezebel.com’s “Sheroes” list of 2014 and led Entertainment Weekly to call her “gracefully furious.”

A graduate of Smith College & Harvard University, Sarah now lives in New York City with her husband and daughter.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

This promotion is brought to you by Pure Textuality PR.

#Brazen and the Beast #Sarah MacLean #historical romance #Pure Textuality PR #Hearts & Scribbles

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ormlacom · 5 years

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Restaurant Local SEO: The Google Characteristics of America’s Top-Ranked Eateries

Something every woman should know - WHY MEN LIE!

Posted by MiriamEllis

“A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook. To marry all three together is sometimes difficult.” - Wolfgang Puck

I like this quote. It makes me hear phones ringing at your local search marketing agency, with aspiring chefs and restaurateurs on the other end of the line, ready to bring experts aboard in the “sometimes difficult” quest for online visibility.

Is your team ready for these clients? How comfortable do you feel talking restaurant Local SEO when such calls come in? When was the last time you took a broad survey of what’s really ranking in this specialized industry?

Allow me to be your prep cook today, and I’ll dice up “best restaurant” local packs for major cities in all 50 US states. We’ll julienne Google Posts usage, rough chop DA, make chiffonade of reviews, owner responses, categories, and a host of other ingredients to determine which characteristics are shared by establishments winning this most superlative of local search phrases.

The finished dish should make us conversant with what it takes these days to be deemed “best” by diners and by Google, empowering your agency to answer those phones with all the breezy confidence of Julia Child.

Methodology

I looked at the 3 businesses in the local pack for “best restaurants (city)” in a major city in each of the 50 states, examining 11 elements for each entry, yielding 4,950 data points. I set aside the food processor for this one and did everything manually. I wanted to avoid the influence of proximity, so I didn’t search for any city in which I was physically located. The results, then, are what a traveler would see when searching for top restaurants in destination cities.

Restaurant results

Now, let’s look at each of the 11 data points together and see what we learn. Take a seat at the table!

Categories prove no barrier to entry

Which restaurant categories make up the dominant percentage of local pack entries for our search?

You might think that a business trying to rank locally for “best restaurants” would want to choose just “restaurant” as their primary Google category as a close match. Or, you might think that since we’re looking at best restaurants, something like “fine dining restaurants” or the historically popular “French restaurants” might top the charts.

Instead, what we’ve discovered is that restaurants of every category can make it into the top 3. Fifty-one percent of the ranking restaurants hailed from highly diverse categories, including Pacific Northwest Restaurant, Pacific Rim Restaurant, Organic, Southern, Polish, Lebanese, Eclectic and just about every imaginable designation. American Restaurant is winning out in bulk with 26 percent of the take, and an additional 7 percent for New American Restaurant. I find this an interesting commentary on the nation’s present gustatory aesthetic as it may indicate a shift away from what might be deemed fancy fare to familiar, homier plates.

Overall, though, we see the celebrated American “melting pot” perfectly represented when searchers seek the best restaurant in any given city. Your client’s food niche, however specialized, should prove no barrier to entry in the local packs.

High prices don’t automatically equal “best”

Do Google’s picks for “best restaurants” share a pricing structure?

It will cost you more than $1000 per head to dine at Urasawa, the nation’s most expensive eatery, and one study estimates that the average cost of a restaurant meal in the US is $12.75. When we look at the price attribute on Google listings, we find that the designation “best” is most common for establishments with charges that fall somewhere in between the economical and the extravagant.

Fifty-eight percent of the top ranked restaurants for our search have the $$ designation and another 25 percent have the $$$. We don’t know Google’s exact monetary value behind these symbols, but for context, a Taco Bell with its $1–$2 entrees would typically be marked as $, while the fabled French Laundry gets $$$$ with its $400–$500 plates. In our study, the cheapest and the costliest restaurants make up only a small percentage of what gets deemed “best.”

There isn’t much information out there about Google’s pricing designations, but it’s generally believed that they stem at least in part from the attribute questions Google sends to searchers. So, this element of your clients’ listings is likely to be influenced by subjective public sentiment. For instance, Californians’ conceptions of priciness may be quite different from North Dakotans’. Nevertheless, on the national average, mid-priced restaurants are most likely to be deemed “best.”

Of anecdotal interest: The only locale in which all 3 top-ranked restaurants were designated at $$$$ was NYC, while in Trenton, NJ, the #1 spot in the local pack belongs to Rozmaryn, serving Polish cuisine at $ prices. It’s interesting to consider how regional economics may contribute to expectations, and your smartest restaurant clients will carefully study what their local market can bear. Meanwhile, 7 of the 150 restaurants we surveyed had no pricing information at all, indicating that Google’s lack of adequate information about this element doesn’t bar an establishment from ranking.

Less than 5 stars is no reason to despair

Is perfection a prerequisite for “best”?

Negative reviews are the stuff of indigestion for restaurateurs, and I’m sincerely hoping this study will provide some welcome relief. The average star rating of the 150 “best” restaurants we surveyed is 4.5. Read that again: 4.5. And the number of perfect 5-star joints in our study? Exactly zero. Time for your agency to spend a moment doing deep breathing with clients.

The highest rating for any restaurant in our data set is 4.8, and only three establishments rated so highly. The lowest is sitting at 4.1. Every other business falls somewhere in-between. These ratings stem from customer reviews, and the 4.5 average proves that perfection is simply not necessary to be “best.”

Breaking down a single dining spot with 73 reviews, a 4.6 star rating was achieved with fifty-six 5-star reviews, four 4-star reviews, three 3-star reviews, two 2-star reviews, and three 1-star reviews. 23 percent of diners in this small review set had a less-than-ideal experience, but the restaurant is still achieving top rankings. Practically speaking for your clients, the odd night when the pho was gummy and the paella was burnt can be tossed onto the compost heap of forgivable mistakes.

Review counts matter, but differ significantly

How many reviews do the best restaurants have?

It’s folk wisdom that any business looking to win local rankings needs to compete on native Google review counts. I agree with that, but was struck by the great variation in review counts across the nation and within given packs. Consider:

The greatest number of reviews in our study was earned by Hattie B’s Hot Chicken in Nashville, TN, coming in at a whopping 4,537!

Meanwhile, Park Heights Restaurant in Tupelo, MS is managing a 3-pack ranking with just 72 reviews, the lowest in our data set.

35 percent of “best”-ranked restaurants have between 100–499 reviews and another 31 percent have between 500–999 reviews. Taken together that’s 66 percent of contenders having yet to break 1,000 reviews.

A restaurant with less than 100 reviews has only a 1 percent chance of ranking for this type of search.

Anecdotally, I don’t know how much data you would have to analyze to be able to find a truly reliable pattern regarding winning review counts. Consider the city of Dallas, where the #1 spot has 3,365 review, but spots #2 and #3 each have just over 300. Compare that to Tallahassee, where a business with 590 reviews is coming in at #1 above a competitor with twice that many. Everybody ranking in Boise has well over 1,000 reviews, but nobody in Bangor is even breaking into the 200s.

The takeaways from this data point is that the national average review count is 893 for our “best” search, but that there is no average magic threshold you can tell a restaurant client they need to cross to get into the pack. Totals vary so much from city to city that your best plan of action is to study the client’s market and strongly urge full review management without making any promise that hitting 1,000 reviews will ensure them beating out that mysterious competitor who is sweeping up with just 400 pieces of consumer sentiment. Remember, no local ranking factor stands in isolation.

Best restaurants aren’t best at owner responses

How many of America’s top chophouses have replied to reviews in the last 60 days?

With a hat tip to Jason Brown at the Local Search Forum for this example of a memorable owner response to a negative review, I’m sorry to say I have some disappointing news. Only 29 percent of the restaurants ranked best in all 50 states had responded to their reviews in the 60 days leading up to my study. There were tributes of lavish praise, cries for understanding, and seething remarks from diners, but less than one-third of owners appeared to be paying the slightest bit of attention.

On the one hand, this indicates that review responsiveness is not a prerequisite for ranking for our desirable search term, but let’s go a step further. In my view, whatever time restaurant owners may be gaining back via unresponsiveness is utterly offset by what they stand to lose if they make a habit of overlooking complaints. Review neglect has been cited as a possible cause of business closure. As my friends David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal always say:“Your brand is its reviews” and mastering the customer service ecosystem is your surest way to build a restaurant brand that lasts.

For your clients, I would look at any local pack with neglected reviews as representative of a weakness. Algorithmically, your client’s active management of the owner response function could become a strength others lack. But I’ll even go beyond that: Restaurants ignoring how large segments of customer service have moved onto the web are showing a deficit of commitment to the long haul. It’s true that some eateries are famous for thriving despite offhand treatment of patrons, but in the average city, a superior commitment to responsiveness could increase many restaurants’ repeat business, revenue and rankings.

Critic reviews nice but not essential

I’ve always wanted to investigate critic reviews for restaurants, as Google gives them a great deal of screen space in the listings:

How many times were critic reviews cited in the Google listings of America’s best restaurants and how does an establishment earn this type of publicity?

With 57 appearances, Lonely Planet is the leading source of professional reviews for our search term, with Zagat and 10Best making strong showings, too. It’s worth noting that 70/150 businesses I investigated surfaced no critic reviews at all. They’re clearly not a requirement for being considered “best”, but most restaurants will benefit from the press. Unfortunately, there are few options for prompting a professional review. To wit:

Lonely Planet — Founded in 1972, Lonely Planet is a travel guide publisher headquartered in Australia. Critic reviews like this one are written for their website and guidebooks simultaneously. You can submit a business for review consideration via this form, but the company makes no guarantees about inclusion.

Zagat — Founded in 1979, Zagat began as a vehicle for aggregating diner reviews. It was purchased by Google in 2011 and sold off to The Infatuation in 2018. Restaurants can’t request Zagat reviews. Instead, the company conducts its own surveys and selects businesses to be rated and reviewed, like this.

10Best — Owned by USA Today Travel Media Group, 10Best employs local writers/travelers to review restaurants and other destinations. Restaurants cannot request a review.

The Infatuation — Founded in 2009 and headquartered in NY, The Infatuation employs diner-writers to create reviews like this one based on multiple anonymous dining experiences that are then published via their app. The also have a SMS-based restaurant recommendation system. They do not accept request from restaurants hoping to be reviewed.

AFAR — Founded in 2009, AFAR is a travel publication with a website, magazine, and app which publishes reviews like this one. There is no form for requesting a review.

Michelin — Founded as a tire company in 1889 in France, Michelin’s subsidiary ViaMichelin is a digital mapping service that houses the reviews Google is pulling. In my study, Chicago, NYC and San Francisco were the only three cities that yielded Michelin reviews like this one and one article states that only 165 US restaurants have qualified for a coveted star rating. The company offers this guide to dining establishments.

As you can see, the surest way to earn a professional review is to become notable enough on the dining scene to gain the unsolicited notice of a critic.

Google Posts hardly get a seat at best restaurant tables

How many picks for best restaurants are using the Google Posts microblogging feature?

As it turns out, only a meager 16 percent of America’s “best” restaurants in my survey have made any use of Google Posts. In fact, most of the usage I saw wasn’t even current. I had to click the “view previous posts on Google” link to surface past efforts. This statistic is much worse than what Ben Fisher found when he took a broader look at Google Posts utilization and found that 42 percent of local businesses had at least experimented with the feature at some point.

For whatever reason, the eateries in my study are largely neglecting this influential feature, and this knowledge could encompass a competitive advantage for your restaurant clients.

Do you have a restaurateur who is trying to move up the ranks? There is some evidence that devoting a few minutes a week to this form of microblogging could help them get a leg up on lazier competitors.

Google Posts are a natural match for restaurants because they always have something to tout, some appetizing food shot to share, some new menu item to celebrate. As the local SEO on the job, you should be recommending an embrace of this element for its valuable screen real estate in the Google Business Profile, local finder, and maybe even in local packs.

Waiter, there’s some Q&A in my soup

What is the average number of questions top restaurants are receiving on their Google Business Profiles?

Commander’s Palace in New Orleans is absolutely stealing the show in my survey with 56 questions asked via the Q&A feature of the Google Business Profile. Only four restaurants had zero questions. The average number of questions across the board was eight.

As I began looking at the data, I decided not to re-do this earlier study of mine to find out how many questions were actually receiving responses from owners, because I was winding up with the same story. Time and again, answers were being left up to the public, resulting in consumer relations like these:

Takeaway: As I mentioned in a previous post, Greg Gifford found that 40 percent of his clients’ Google Questions were leads. To leave those leads up to the vagaries of the public, including a variety of wags and jokesters, is to leave money on the table. If a potential guest is asking about dietary restrictions, dress codes, gift cards, average prices, parking availability, or ADA compliance, can your restaurant clients really afford to allow a public “maybe” to be the only answer given?

I’d suggest that a dedication to answering questions promptly could increase bookings, cumulatively build the kind of reputation that builds rankings, and possibly even directly impact rankings as a result of being a signal of activity.

A moderate PA & DA gets you into the game

What is the average Page Authority and Domain Authority of restaurants ranking as “best’?

Looking at both the landing page that Google listings are pointing to and the overall authority of each restaurant’s domain, I found that:

The average PA is 36, with a high of 56 and a low of zero being represented by one restaurant with no website link and one restaurant appearing to have no website at all.

The average DA is 41, with a high of 88, one business lacking a website link while actually having a DA of 56 and another one having no apparent website at all. The lowest linked DA I saw was 6.

PA/DA do not = rankings. Within the 50 local packs I surveyed, 32 of them exhibited the #1 restaurant having a lower DA than the establishments sitting at #2 or #3. In one extreme case, a restaurant with a DA of 7 was outranking a website with a DA of 32, and there were the two businesses with the missing website link or missing website. But, for the most part, knowing the range of PA/DA in a pack you are targeting will help you create a baseline for competing.

While pack DA/PA differs significantly from city to city, the average numbers we’ve discovered shouldn’t be out-of-reach for established businesses. If your client’s restaurant is brand new, it’s going to take some serious work to get up market averages, of course.

Local Search Ranking Factors 2019 found that DA was the 9th most important local pack ranking signal, with PA sitting at factor #20. Once you’ve established a range of DA/PA for a local SERP you are trying to move a client up into, your best bet for making improvements will include improving content so that it earns links and powering up your outreach for local links and linktations.

Google’s Local Finder “web results” show where to focus management

Which websites does Google trust enough to cite as references for restaurants?

As it turns out, that trust is limited to a handful of sources:

As the above pie chart shows:

The restaurant’s website was listed as a reference for 99 percent of the candidates in our survey. More proof that you still need a website in 2019, for the very good reason that it feeds data to Google.

Yelp is highly trusted at 76 percent and TripAdvisor is going strong at 43 percent. Your client is likely already aware of the need to manage their reviews on these two platforms. Be sure you’re also checking them for basic data accuracy.

OpenTable and Facebook are each getting a small slice of Google trust, too.

Not shown in the above chart are 13 restaurants that had a web reference from a one-off source, like the Des Moines Register or Dallas Eater. A few very famous establishments, like Brennan’s in New Orleans, surfaced their Wikipedia page, although they didn’t do so consistently. I noticed Wikipedia pages appearing one day as a reference and then disappearing the next day. I was left wondering why.

For me, the core takeaway from this factor is that if Google is highlighting your client’s listing on a given platform as a trusted web result, your agency should go over those pages with a fine-toothed comb, checking for accuracy, activity, and completeness. These are citations Google is telling you are of vital importance.

A few other random ingredients

As I was undertaking this study, there were a few things I noted down but didn’t formally analyze, so consider this as mixed tapas:

Menu implementation is all over the place. While many restaurants are linking directly to their own website via Google’s offered menu link, some are using other services like Single Platform, and far too many have no menu link at all.

Reservation platforms like Open Table are making a strong showing, but many restaurants are drawing a blank on this Google listing field, too. Many, but far from all, of the restaurants designated “best” feature Google’s “reserve a table” function which stems from partnerships with platforms like Open Table and RESY.

Order links are pointing to multiple sources including DoorDash, Postmates, GrubHub, Seamless, and in some cases, the restaurant’s own website (smart!). But, in many cases, no use is being made of this function.

Photos were present for every single best-ranked restaurant. Their quality varied, but they are clearly a “given” in this industry.

Independently-owned restaurants are the clear winners for my search term. With the notable exception of an Olive Garden branch in Parkersburg, WV, and a Cracker Barrel in Bismarck, ND, the top competitors were either single-location or small multi-location brands. For the most part, neither Google nor the dining public associate large chains with “best”.

Honorable mentions go to Bida Manda Laotian Bar & Grill for what looks like a gorgeous and unusual restaurant ranking #1 in Raleigh, NC and to Kermit’s Outlaw Kitchen of Tupelo, MS for the most memorable name in my data set. You can get a lot of creative inspiration from just spending time with restaurant data.

A final garnish to our understanding of this data

I want to note two things as we near the end of our study:

Local rankings emerge from the dynamic scenario of Google’s opinionated algorithms + public opinion and behavior. Doing Local SEO for restaurants means managing a ton of different ingredients: website SEO, link building, review management, GBP signals, etc. We can’t offer clients a generic “formula” for winning across the board. This study has helped us understand national averages so that we can walk into the restaurant space feeling conversant with the industry. In practice, we’ll need to discover the true competitors in each market to shape our strategy for each unique client. And that brings us to some good news.

As I mentioned at the outset of this survey, I specifically avoided proximity as an influence by searching as a traveler to other destinations would. I investigated one local pack for each major city I “visited”. The glad tidings are that, for many of your restaurant clients, there is going to be more than one chance to rank for a search like “best restaurants (city)”. Unless the eatery is in a very small town, Google is going to whip up a variety of local packs based on the searcher’s location. So, that’s something hopeful to share.

What have we learned about restaurant local SEO?

A brief TL;DR you can share easily with your clients:

While the US shows a predictable leaning towards American restaurants, any category can be a contender. So, be bold!

Mid-priced restaurants are considered “best” to a greater degree than the cheapest or most expensive options. Price for your market.

While you’ll likely need at least 100 native Google reviews to break into these packs, well over half of competitors have yet to break the 1,000 mark.

An average 71 percent of competitors are revealing a glaring weakness by neglecting to respond to reviews - so get in there and start embracing customer service to distinguish your restaurant!

A little over half of your competitors have earned critic reviews. If you don’t yet have any, there’s little you can do to earn them beyond becoming well enough known for anonymous professional reviewers to visit you. In the meantime, don’t sweat it.

About three-quarters of your competitors are completely ignoring Google Posts; gain the advantage by getting active.

Potential guests are asking nearly every competitor questions, and so many restaurants are leaving leads on the table by allowing random people to answer. Embrace fast responses to Q&A to stand out from the crowd.

With few exceptions, devotion to authentic link earning efforts can build up your PA/DA to competitive levels.

Pay attention to any platform Google is citing as a resource to be sure the information published there is a complete and accurate.

The current management of other Google Business Profile features like Menus, Reservations and Ordering paints a veritable smorgasbord of providers and a picture of prevalent neglect. If you need to improve visibility, explore every profile field that Google is giving you.

A question for you: Do you market restaurants? Would you be willing to share a cool local SEO tactic with our community? We’d love to hear about your special sauce in the comments below.

Wishing you bon appétit for working in the restaurant local SEO space, with delicious wins ahead!

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ericsburden-blog · 5 years