Join Margo Melton Nutt, daughter of opera star, car collector and former Weston resident, James Melton, and Maryclare Roos, current owner of the Melton home, as they come together for the first time to discuss growing up in Weston, James Melton and the legacy of his home.

Advanced Tickets Recommended, Seating Limited
Tickets:
$15 – members
$20 – Non-members

During the discussion, Margo Melton Nutt will read selections from her book “The Tenor of His Times”, a biography she wrote about her father. After the talk, explore the exhibit, “Weston…What Lies Beneath” which chronicles the discovery of objects found on the former Melton property by the Roos family.

On view for the first time, will be a collection of James Melton scrapbooks created by Marilyn Hatch, a fan and friend of the Melton’s. Refreshments will be served and the Melton biography, “The Tenor of His Times” will be for sale at the event. Sales of the book with benefit the Weston History & Culture Center.

Margo Melton Nutt is the only child of James and Marjorie Melton. She grew up in the Weston house until age eight, when the family moved to Greenwich in 1953. After a career in advertising in NYC, she and her late husband decamped to Vermont in 1987, and both went to work at Dartmouth College. She began researching and writing the book about her father in 1990, but it wasn’t published until 2013, in part owing to her “day job” commitments at the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Still, she says she’s glad she did it —it was a fascinating experience that connected her with many old friends and made new ones as her web of contacts spread. It also helped her see her father (who died when she was fifteen) in a new way.

Maryclare Roos grew up in Weston and felt it only fitting that she and her husband Garvin raise their three children in town. Together, they currently reside at Peter Thorp House, Margo Melton Nutt’s childhood home in Weston, and have enjoyed researching and carefully restoring the home as stewards of its past and future. The discovery of historic artifacts on the property furthered Maryclare’s passion for uncovering the property’s history spanning as far back as the 18th century through the “Melton Era” and today. When she’s not researching history and swinging her metal detector around Weston’s oldest properties, Maryclare divides her time between her corporate job researching advertising for America’s biggest brands and keeping up with the busy schedules of her three kids.

About the book, “A Tenor of His Times” by Margo Melton Nutt: The James Melton story is the story of an era: from the Roaring Twenties, through the Great Depression, World War II, and post-war prosperity. It is also a rags-to-riches-to-rags story of a talented, confident young man who raised himself from obscure beginnings in a tiny southern town to the height of fame on stage, screen and airwaves—but who could not live without the adulation of an adoring public, and who had nothing to fall back on as he aged and musical tastes changed. “The Tenor of His Times” is a daughter’s attempt to rediscover the fascinating man who was her father‑to understand what motivated his successes and to sympathize with the many pressures that brought him down.