Alec Baldwin Is So Happy To Receive Key To City, He Gives Out An Impromptu Performance

Alec Baldwin is one versatile personality. The man, who recently got arrested, was bestowed with one of the most prestigious awards that a city can offer.

Alec Baldwin received the key to Rhode Island’s smallest city. The actor accepted a key to the city of Central Falls for his support of its local library. Apparently he was so overjoyed with the gesture, in a quirky and intimate appearance, took to a Providence stage to read aloud a short story, reported The Providence Journal. Coincidentally, the actor has a supportive fund called ‘Baldwin for Books‘

Baldwin is surely a generous man and is interested in conservation of institutions that are striving to protect the increasingly lost art of reading books. In late 2011, Alec Baldwin donated $10,000 to the Adams Memorial Library in Central Falls. He said he was moved by a New York Times story about how the library was forced to close because of financial problems. Clearly he must have felt great because the next year in 2012 he gave another $5,000, reported Fox News.

The most astonishing aspect of his generosity is that Alec had never visited or even seen the library. Despite that, Alec’s generosity has helped the 1-square-mile city emerge from bankruptcy that year. Hence it was certainly a very special occasion for Alec Baldwin as well as the city. The city’s mayor James Diossa presented Baldwin with a gold key to his city to thank him for helping to keep the library open. He profusely thanked Mr. Baldwin to have rescued the library on two separate occasions.

Though the turn-out for the occasion was relatively thin, Alec put forth a compelling argument in favor of such institutions. “Despite the rise of technology, Libraries are still very important in the life of a community,” said the ’30 Rock’ star. Fondly remembering that his father was a long-time public school teacher, Baldwin said to the gathered crowd “libraries are an import of the lives of young people. We have to do what we can for the young people of our communities.”

Alec even put forth a weirdly convincing justification of keeping the libraries functioning. Baldwin recounted how after super-storm Sandy, libraries became vital places for people to gather in hard-hit communities on Long Island, N.Y., where he lives. Thereafter the actor took to a Providence stage and read from James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat”.

Alec Baldwin must have surely helped the mayor score some brownie points as this is his first ceremonial key handout since he took over as mayor after the city’s financial collapse.

[Image Credit | Bob Breidenbach/The Providence Journal]