Fourth-grader Tyler Cooper has Caudal Regression Syndrome. Basically, the lower part of Tyler’s spine did not develop as it should have. So, Tyler is limited to being in a wheelchair, walking on his hands and scooting around on the floor. He needs help in the classroom and with his hygiene.

“I am hoping to dress in a replica of a gown worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,’” Ballengee said. “I love the color, the style and the silhouette. And who doesn’t want to be Marilyn for a few hours?” Ballengee won’t be at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Pierce believed her part. “I run in first saying, ‘Grandpa, Grandpa. We saw him! We saw the Fouke Monster!’” Now, 50 years after the movie’s release about a creature who lived in the woods near Fouke, Ark., Pierce still believes in the “monster,” also known as Bigfoot.

“I started seeing the writing on the wall, with things that were happening in the congregation. It all sort of came to a realization for me that it was time to leave my vocation as a pastor and return to my vocation under the Fourth Commandment of...

Kent, who was born and raised in Shreveport and lives in New Orleans, is vice-president and curator of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and Museum. The RHOFM will be built on The Circle G — Elvis Presley’s former horse ranch — in Horn Lake, Miss.

“Sugar. Fried foods. Sweets. Dr. Peppers. Cokes. All the bad stuff,” Smith remembers eating and drinking. “I worked in the oil field. We were taking customers out to eat all the time. You might eat fried chicken … even when I was a kid, go to grandma’s and eat bacon and fried stuff.

Shreveport’s Mus Gillum first got paid to play music at a church when he was 14 years old. “I felt like I was robbin’ somebody, because I was just doin’ what I love to do,” Gillum remembers. Now 33, he is still getting paid to sing and strum a guitar. “I’ve been on stage longer than I haven’t been,” Gillum said.

“The Maker of Dreams” — the name of SLT’s first production in 1922 — is also the name of a 12” x 12” embossed, foiled, hardcover coffee table pictorial. You will find some 400 pictures in it — taken during approximately 900 productions, paying tribute to the actors, actresses and directors who have displayed their talents over the years.