Chapter 10
Staging Magnet Events
January 19, 1989 was the 180th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, and Norman George, a Boston actor who portrays Poe in a show called “Poe Alone,” was determined to make it a memorable occasion. Because Poe’s birthplace, Boston, had treated the author shabbily during his lifetime, George decided that a good media hook would be “‘The Raven’ Comes Home to Roost,” with Boston making amends to its famous son. George enlisted Poe scholars, aficionados, and prominent Boston businessmen into a Poe Memorial Committee charged with getting Carver Street, where Poe was born, renamed for Poe. The committee soon succeeded in securing a proclamation from Mayor Ray Flynn, a bronze memorial plaque, and a new street ...

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