Awhile back, I posted two early postcards of the world's first Holiday Inn, the complex that Kemmons Wilson opened on Summer. Since then, I received the following correspondence from Doug Stewart, who helped me understand the curious "Stewart" named I had noticed on the front of the building. I thought it represented a doughnut shop, and I was mistaken. Here's what Doug had to say:
Dear Vance: This is my first time to correspond with the leader of the Lauderdale family, but I follow your writings each month in the magazine. This is no small feat, as I live in Malibu and have been here on the left coast since 1977.
My writing to you today is about your article on the original Holiday Inn. As you will see from the front of the building there is a “Stewart” smack in the middle. While you may have thought that was a doughnut next to the name, that was actually the logo for Stewart’s Skippy Boy Pralines. The boy in the picture was my older brother Dennis when he was two-and-a-half years old. Here is a promotional ink blotter from the opening of the Holiday Inn that perhaps neatly ties this together:
The story has a bit more to it. My Dad (B.E. Stewart — the “B” was for Bonnie, but he was B.E. to everybody) was an entrepreneur in Memphis arriving in the late 1930s. He first opened orange juice “stands” downtown on Madison and then in the Curb Market, at Cleveland and Poplar. They sold not only juice, but sandwiches and roasted nuts (competing with Mr. Peanut). He also owned Taft Moody Ice Cream and produced numerous candies, but pralines were the big hit. (He and the Dinstuhl family were not competitors, but friends.)
Kemmons Wilson was a friend as well. Besides his tract housing projects with Wallace Johnson, Kemmons built custom homes. He built our home on Goodlett in the early 1950s. The story goes that Kemmons sat down in the new home living room and pitched the idea of what became this Holiday Inn to my Mom and Dad (she was heavily involved in the business). The pitch was that Dad and Mom would put the gift shops in the Holiday Inns in Memphis and at this first one, he would set up a candy-making operation that people could see the candies (actually only pralines) being made. It was a hit and there were several gift shops opened / operated by Dad until the Holiday Inn expansion was faster and further outside Memphis than he wanted to pursue.
As a 4-year-old kid at the time I vividly remember the grand opening of the motel (I even have the photos of the gift shop opening with me visible in the crowd). The fine restaurant was called The Admiral Benbow Inn (from Treasure Island story) on the left side, then the gift shop next to the tower with neon lights that seldom worked, a hotel manager's residence (hidden), and then the Holiday Inn office.
The restaurant was operated by Allen Gary and George Early, a company called Early Gary Enterprises who were also friends with Kemmons and my Dad. EGE operated the Stable Restaurant in midtown on Bellevue just north of Union. EGE operated several of the eateries in the early Holiday Inns as well as other dining places. In the late 1950s, EGE decided to compete with Holiday Inns and opened up their own chain of motels, calling them Admiral Benbow Inns.
Always fun to read your articles. Thanks for letting my share my story.
