Marta Becket Amargosa Opera House, Death Valley California

This blogpost takes pause from the stated purpose of Sociedad Hispana Doylestown shown at blog heading for two reasons.  The first concerns the international language mixer ( blogpost 12 February), and the growing SHD blog activity coming from abroad.  Hence, I decided to make this post in English, about American culture, for  Skype (language mixer) friends in Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile and Nicaragua.  These folks are wanting to improve their English, and in return are kind enough to help me improve my Spanish speaking skill.    I hope they also have an interest in western US culture.




The second reason relates to the blog post itself.  I have twice visited Death Valley National Park California on landscape photography trips.  It is the largest US national park outside of Alaska, but it is a personal story of an elderly woman who still lives in an old borax mining ghost town called Death Valley Junction that is unique.   Marta Becket, a Pennsylvanian by upbringing, an actress, singer, and painter by trade,   was traveling through the area in the 1960's with her husband, and made an impromptu decision to buy the ghost town theater of the defunct  Pacific Coast Borax Company.  Shortly thereafter she opened the theater as the Amargosa Opera House.   For many performances not a seat was occupied.  Her response?  She painted an audience on the rear theater wall.  This was noticed by a passing National Geographic crew, who profiled her, leading to stories in well known nationally syndicated magazines.   Further notoriety came with Public Broadcasting System (PBS) special documentaries, leading to fame in Europe, in turn bringing French and Swedish tourists for visits to the ghost town theater.   Marta had difficulty recruiting help to live in a ghost town, so she trained a stage hand to entertain.  He became her second husband.   On my last trip to Death Valley  I had the chance to meet the 85 year old Marta and  spend an hour with her as she told me  her life story.  In spite of being in a wheel chair,  she indicated to me that the show must go on, and that she would perform from her wheel chair within two months.  I really hoped she would succeed.  After reading various news reports,  I see she never made it back to the stage.  I am honored to have  met Marta Becket.

The story is here:

http://www.amargosa-opera-house.com/index.htm