Holiday Cocktails Fundraiser For Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

NORWALK — The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is hosting a Holiday cocktail fundraiser on December 19 from 6:30 until 10:30 pm.

The statues of Pocahontas and Wept of Wish-ton-Wish by Joseph Mozier are now back in their intended spaces in the mansion’s magnificent Entry Hall of the National Historic Landmark, which will be celebrated with holiday music, a sampling of Turkish desserts, lavishly decorated rooms, and live jazz and swing music by The Wayne Hiller Octer and the vocalist Marsha Manzo.

Cost is $50 per person, and proceeds will benefit ongoing restoration efforts.

In addition to a special recognition for those involved in the efforts for returning the Mozier Statues to the Mansion, two musical entertainers will be performing Jazz and Swing music from the forties and fifties, Marsha Lanzo, singer and the Wayne Hiller Octet.

Joseph Mozier (American, 1812-1870) created the statues of Pocahontas and Wept of Wish-ton-Wish seven years apart, yet by the late 1860s they were acquired as a pair by the banker and railroad tycoon LeGrand Lockwood. When Lockwood’s art collection was dispersed in 1872 after his death, the Mozier sculptures were separated.

With Pocahontas, Mozier emerged as a “master of detail,” which, in conjunction with the literary appeal of his subject, contributed to his successful career.  In addition, the Wept of Wish-ton-Wish is the most renowned of Mozier’s statues.

For the holidays, the first floor rooms and Grand Staircase of the mansion have been decked with holiday cheer by local designers and Friends of the mansion including Phyllis and Maury Rose of Greenwich, G. Moffitt Interiors of Fairfield, Linda Fontaine Design of Weston, Klaff’s Lighting and Interiors of Norwalk, and Susan Lewis with the LMMM Volunteers. The holiday decorations will be up through January 6.

For the December 19 reception, Wayne Hiller will be performing jazz and swing music from 1940s and 50s with his band. An award-winning arranger, Mr Hiller will also be performing piano solos.

Marsha Lanzo will also be performing on Wednesday evening. Ms Lanzo’s career started at the age of 9 with the show Annie in London’s West End. At age 16 she was the youngest person ever to win the title of Miss Dance Great Britain in England.

Ms Lanzo Marsha wrote and performed her own cabaret show, From London To Broadway, which won rave reviews on Martha’s Vineyard and Narragansett, R.I. Last year she headlined in an off Broadway workshop of a new musical Saturday Night At The Rose And Crown.

The mansion, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971, is widely regarded as one of the finest surviving Second Empire style country houses ever built in the United States. It was designed by European architect Detlef Lieneu and completed in 1868.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is a not-for-profit educational institution chartered by the State of Connecticut. The mansion, its four outbuildings and estate grounds are owned by the City of Norwalk and maintained as a cultural and recreational resource for all.

The museum is at 295 West Avenue in Norwalk, off I-95 Exit 15. For more information, visit LockwoodMathewsMansion.org or call 203-838-9799.