Sunshine Memories

Sarasota's Famous Faces

It seems like the whole world shows up sooner or later.

December 28, 2016 Published in the January 2017 issue of Sarasota Magazine

George Balanchine came to town in 1941 to choreograph a ballet for 40 circus elephants, with original music by Igor Stravinsky.

John Ringling

Esther Williams at the Lido Casino in 1948. She was here to film On an Island With You on location in Anna Maria.

Mystery writer John D. MacDonald put Sarasota on the nation's literary map. Here he is in the early 1960s, when he created the iconic Travis McGee.

Eleanor Roosevelt often came to visit in the 1960s. Her favorite--and very elderly--uncle lived on Siesta Key.

Photography by Public Domain

George W. Bush was at Emma E. Booker Elementary School on Sept. 11, 2001, the most famous day of his presidency.

Babe Ruth came for both baseball and golf. Here he is at Bobby Jones Golf Course circa 1937.

Local boy Paul Reubens' arrest in 1991 set off a media circus.

It seems like the whole world shows up sooner or later.

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