Texarkana Celebrates Another Historical Superlative Downtown!

The new Dr Pepper mural in downtown Texarkana features a portrait of Corinne Griffith, a silent film actress and star of the 1920’s who was born in Texarkana. What you may not know is that, after film sound ended her acting career, Corinne then wrote the biographical story of her father, Papa’s Delicate Condition, about Texarkana, TX Mayor Anthony Ghio. The best-selling story was then made into a a successful full-length feature movie, starring Jackie Gleason, which premiered downtown at Texarkana’s Paramount Theatre (now known to residents as the Perot Theatre).  

The beautiful hand-painted brick mural celebrating Corinne Griffith is located on the side of TLC Burgers and Fries at Olive and East Broad Streets. The mural resembles a vintage advertisement and is custom designed for Texarkana with the Texas/Arkansas crossroads sign, and the Twin Cities’ motto “Twice As Nice”. The mural was unveiled on Oct 4th and Arkansas-side Mayor Allen Brown and Texas-side Mayor Bob Bruggeman read a joint proclamation declaring October 4th to be Corinne Griffith, the Orchid Lady of the screen Day.