Tonight, Sarah and I joined a bunch of friends for the USA premiere of Downton Abbey. I used to make fun of Sarah for watching her “soap opera,” until I started paying attention to the plots more and got into the series along with her. We also happen to live in the city that has the largest premiere showing in the nation apparently: Richmond, VA.
What I would guess was a couple of thousand people packed out the Altria Theater (designed by the same architect who did our house back in 1919, Charles M. Robinson, I’m happy to say) for the showing. We were delighted by a surprise celebrity visit by Phyllis Logan, the Downton actress who portrays the beloved Mrs. Hughes. She was joined by her husband, Kevin McNally, who appeared in some earlier episodes of Downton. The event was put on by WCVE, our local PBS affiliate.
Everyone had a lot of fun dressing up in their vintage style clothing. We did our best to match the feel of the roaring twenties. Sarah cut up one of my balancing peacock feathers and gracefully pinned it to her hair. I grabbed my Dube derby from my juggling supplies and that seemed to work well in my attempt to look like Mr. Bates. We’re looking forward to a fun final season.
