Wed, May 14, 2008

Caliente

Going gangbusters

Downtown festivities commemorate 1934 capture of notorious bank robbers
By Elena Acoba
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.19.2006
Gunshots will ring out. Smoke will pour from Hotel Congress. Cars will speed away.
And organizers of these dastardly deeds want folks to witness them all.
It's part of the fun and fact of Dillinger Days on Saturday, commemorating the Jan. 25, 1934, capture of infamous bank robber John Dillinger and his gang in Tucson.
A half-hour docudrama at Hotel Congress will re-enact a bank robbery and the subsequent capture. Its presentation is surrounded by exhibits, book signings, entertainment and historical events.
"The Hotel Congress Incident, or the Fiery Account of John Dillinger's Visit to the Old Pueblo" blends fact and fiction, said its writer and producer Jonathan Mincks, who also plays Dillinger.
"It's a documentary, but, of course, I filled in some of the blanks that may or may not have been," said Mincks, who used quotes culled from period newspapers for part of the dialogue.
He's even changed the 14-year-old play based on talks with relatives of the main characters.
The first act covers the Dillinger gang's robbery of an East Chicago bank on Jan. 15, 1934, with a shootout and a getaway in a vintage car.
The second act re-creates the Hotel Congress fire with smoke pouring from windows. The gang members staying there are captured, as is Dillinger — he was staying at a nearby residence — following a fist fight.
The play will be presented twice: once in two parts and then in a complete run-through.
Downtown will take on a 1930s feel for the day's events coordinated by the Tucson Downtown Alliance.
Model A's, Model T's and other vintage cars will line East Toole Avenue while an antique market and crafts fair will run at the Historic Depot.
The Arizona Historical Society's Downtown Museum will exhibit the gang's arsenal confiscated by Tucson police, as well as an account of the event.
Authors Katherine Morrissey ("Picturing Arizona: The Photographic Record of the 1930s") and Stan Benjamin ("Without a Shot Fired: The 1934 Capture of the Dillinger Gang in Tucson") and historians from the Tucson Corral of the Westerners group will sign books in the Hotel Congress lobby.
The hotel's Cup Cafe will offer items from its 1930s menu, such as chicken fricassee. Kings of Pleasure will play swing music in the lobby.
The Rialto Theatre will host two lectures and screen a gangster film.
Freelance writer Elena Acoba is a former Star reporter.