Friday, March 13, 2020

Alabama History & Culture News: March 13 edition




Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these articles are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Enjoy!

Sawmill Days puts focus on rich North Baldwin history, traditions
STOCKTON, Alabama — The Stockton Heritage Association is teaming up with the Baldwin County Department of Archives and History to host this ...

City of Alexander City sorts millions of pages of documents
So far Bryan has sent requests to the Alabama Department of Archives and History to destroy 130 boxes of records. Of the records sorted since mid- ...

Historic hotel hopes to welcome visitors to Selma after refurbishment
For now, remembrances of Selma's Civil Rights past may be the big drawing card for visitors to this city along the Alabama River. Gamble said the ...



Lenz, president of the LaGrange Living History Association, said the University of North Alabama studied the cemetery and found three graves about ...


Robin Boylorn on the Legacy of Henry Harris
Wendell Hudson was the first African American scholarship athlete in The University of Alabama's history. Last month, he made history, again, ...

Alabama Power connects Auburn University students with city of Tallassee
They discussed the history of Tallassee, issues facing the community and ... Tallassee is home to Alabama Power's historic Yates Dam and Thurlow ...

Johnson: Time to teach all our children the full breadth of Alabama's history, sordid as it may be
Taught them what happened. What really happened? What if we taught them the real, sometimes hard truths of history? Our state's history. All of it. Not ...

Elliott to be guest speaker for historical society
Her work has been utilized by the Library of Congress, the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Manassas National Battlefield Park and other ...


Birmingham author to speak to Historical Commission
“I don't think many people know that marble is the state rock of Alabama,” said Cook. Her book provides a comprehensive narrative on the history of ...

Andalusia City Officials Announce Major Purchase of Historical Buildings
Mayor Johnson says those public meetings will be held within the next few weeks. Everyone is invited to attend. Categories: News, South Alabama. Tags ...

Alabama to exhibit artifacts from last US slave ship
The Alabama Historical Commission, in a statement, said an exhibit named for the slave ship Clotilda is set to open this fall in Mobile, where the ...

Greta Lambert reprises role as 1959 librarian with integrity
... on everyone's minds, especially a certain state senator who wants to ban the children's book “The Rabbits' Wedding” from Alabama libraries. Why?

Young King and Young Queen Books by local author/mentor Justin Sims
... Queen Young Queen” that are creating buzz across the state of Alabama. Sims was inspired to write the children's books from his personal ... “Roughly 11% of book authors are African American in this country and less than 7% of ...

Author shares insights into book about Birmingham Black Barons baseball team
He also wrote high school football histories of Shelby County and Clarke County, as well as a history of the Alabama High School Athletic Association ...

Kaufmann to present 'Historic Tower Clocks and Bells of Alabama' lecture on March 25
On Wednesday, March 25, Thomas Kaufmann, author of the book “Historic Alabama Bells,” will share the story of Alabama's historic tower clocks and ...

'Alabama Story' brings stories of censorship and love in 1959 Montgomery
There are several stories within “Alabama Story,” one of which is “The Rabbits' Wedding," an actual children's book where two rabbits - one black and ...


Alabama to Exhibit Artifacts From Last US Slave Ship
The Alabama Historical Commission, in a statement, said an exhibit named for the slave ship Clotilda is set to open this fall in Mobile, where the ...

New book examines racial conflict in 1960s Birmingham
... that plagued the black community in early 1960s Birmingham, Alabama — the site of as many as 50 bombings over the two decades following World ...


Charles Barkley is selling memorabilia to build affordable housing in his Alabama hometown
“If I could sell all that stuff, it would just be a really cool thing for me.” AD. In 2015, Barkley explained his history with the community, telling the ...


Students visit Legacy Museum
... of the historical implications surrounding race, class and gender in Alabama through history,” instructor and Associate Dean Ashley Kitchens said.
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Miss Tallulah Bankhead as "Black Widow" (2)

This post is the second one in which I examine Tallulah Bankhead's appearances in two episodes of the 1960's television show Batman. You can read my opening commentary and the details of the first episode here. 



Batman and Robin manage to escape the giant spiders, but they still must face the Black Widow and her merry men.



Ever the polite hostess, BW offers Batman some champagne. 



Batman quickly informs her he only drinks milk, and she replies that there may be some around somewhere. 



One of her men, Trap Door, produces a half gallon carton.




Black Widow manages to drink some milk, but she's not happy about it 




During their little tete-a-tete over milk, Bankhead gets to unleash her raucous laughter.






Black Widow's next nefarious plot is to send a Batman robot and the real Robin to fetch some money from another bank. 




BW and her men are very happy with the idea, but the joy doesn't last long. 






The Chief of Police Miles O'Hara and some of his men show up to capture the gang.





When next we see BW and her men, they are undergoing some brain therapy in jail.







Black Widow emerges very happy with the results, and all is well in Gotham City until next week's villain shows up!






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Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Miss Tallulah Bankhead as "Black Widow" (1)

The live action Batman TV series ran for 120 episodes in the swinging sixties, from January 12, 1966 until March 14, 1968. The campy take on the legendary character was so popular ABC broadcast episodes two nights a week during the first two seasons. The series also spawned the first full-length feature film with Batman, released in 1966. 

 A prominent aspect of the show featured recurring villains played by well-known actors of the day who joined in the fun. Cesar Romero played The Joker, Burgess Meredith The Penguin and Frank Gorshin and John Astin both played The Riddler. Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt starred as Catwoman. Less well-known villains were acted by George Sanders, Vincent Price, Cliff Robertson, Milton Berle, Anne Baxter and Carolyn Jones among others.

 Alabama's own Tallulah Bankhead appeared in two episodes in season two, "Black Widow Strikes Again" on March 15, 1967, and "Caught in the Spider's Den" the following night. I've done several blog posts on Bankhead and will no doubt do others in the future. I wrote about her 1932 film with Robert Montgomery, Faithless and her 1944 film Lifeboat. She made two appearances, sort of, on Lucille Ball comedy shows. I've also written about a 2018 visit to the Jasper home of her father, William Bankhead. You can find my brief biography of her in that Lucille Ball post.

 Well, just how did Miss Tallulah Bankhead get on this show, anyway? Joel Lobenthal in his 2004 biography Tallulah!: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady tells the tale. One of her lifelong friends was actress Estelle Winwood, and she told Tallulah what a good time she'd had during her appearances. Bankhead made a late night call to executive producer William Dozier  and told him she "must" be on the program. Production staff member Robert Mintz wrote two scripts about a new villain created just for her. The Black Widow had taken up a life of crime after the death of her husband, Max Black. In the show her partners call her "Blackie" or "BW". Batman declares she is "sophisticated but evil."

 By the time these episodes were broadcast, Tallulah was less than two years away from her death on December 12, 1968. Her health problems had limited her acting in the 1960's. Her last appearance on Broadway came in a revised version of Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore which ran briefly in January 1964. Williams' had written the play for her and loosely based the character Flora Goforth on her. 

 Bankhead made her last trip to Hollywood from her home in New York City in December 1967 to appear on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. She appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson one final time on May 14, 1968. Joe Garagiola was guest hosting; John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and pie-in-the face comedian Soupy Sales were also guests.

 I recently watched these two Batman episodes, and in this blog post and a second one I'll be discussing them. See further comments below. The show certainly wasn't high art, but these episodes with Bankhead were fun to watch.

 Alabama has had at least two other "spider" women, Carol Foreman & Marie Hilley. Alabama native and actress Forman played the lead in The Black Widow, a 1947 film serial from Republic Studios. Hilley was a real-life Alabama serial killer often called "The Black Widow". 


















As our story opens, Black Widow arrives at a bank in the sidecar of a motorcycle driven by one of her underlings. 



In the bank president's office she turns on the charm. 





Black Widow used hypnosis, drugs, and other methods to control victims. In this first episode she uses a machine to short-circuit brain waves and make the victim obey her commands. 





Soon she is leaving the bank with a big bag of money.





In her lair, the Black Widow and her henchmen admire the money.




Soon she is arriving at another bank. Here, before she can take possession of the money, Batman and Robin show up. Police Commissioner Gordon has asked for thei help in catching her.






Blackie whips out another of her weapons, the Instant Nerve Paralyzer ad zaps Batman with it. She doesn't even bother with little Robin. 




With Batman under control, the Black Widow can toy with Robin.





Black Widow and her driver return to the lair, which is underneath a suburban home. 





On her periscope she watches the arrival of Batman and Robin after the nerve paralyzer has worn off. 





Black Widow soon has the Dynamic Duo in her web, literally, and questions arise when she unleashes her real giant spiders.






Well, as they say, "Tune in tomorrow night...."




These are the actors who played Black Widow's partners in crime. Donald Barry acted in a number of western TV shows as well as other programs and films. Al Ferrara has only a few credits in the IMDB in addition to these episodes. Michael Lane had a number of roles in films and television between 1956 and 1994 including Hondo, Gunsmoke, Kojak, and Mission Impossible. 





Actor George Raft makes a brief, uncredited appearance near the end of this episode. In November 1933 Bankhead had a five-hour radical hysterectomy at a Los Angeles Hospital. The operation, which almost killed her, was done to treat an advanced case of gonorrhea. According to Lobenthal's biography, she later told a confidante that Raft had given the disease to her. The two actors don't have a scene together, but the juxtaposition seems odd. Were such uncredited appearances common on the show, or did Tallulah have something to do with it in this episode? 














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Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Alabama History & Culture News: March 10 edition





Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these articles are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Enjoy!
Remember When: The history of Johnson Park
Johnson came to Alabama where he began his teaching career at the Enterprise High School as coach and teacher. He served as Superintendent of ...


New Adka community to receive historical marker
Coley has served as part of the Alabama Historical Commission since being appointed in 2017 by then-Gov. Robert Bentley. One of the many duties ...


'Big Fish' author Daniel Wallace visits Wallace State March 12
... Read book, “Big Fish: A Novel of Mythical Proportions,” and the 2019 Harper Lee Award recipient, is a nationally-recognized Alabama writer.


Today in History, March 7: Civil rights march in Selma, Alabama violently broken up on 'Bloody ...
... of people in Selma, Alabama, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march of 1965, saying that America's racial history "still ...


Inside The Museum Preserving Selma, Alabama's Complicated History
The history of Selma, Alabama, is often defined as a long and tumultuous ... The book goes on to describe her capture — a rival tribe tried to make ...

The protest in Marion, Alabama was sparked by the arrest of a minister who was leading efforts to register black people to vote. It ended with the fatal ...

History Professor Looks Back On Four Alabama Suffrage Leaders And Their Fight For The Vote
By Carla Davis. Alabama women today hold political office at local, state and national levels. In 2018, Alabamians elected Gov. Kay Ivey as the state's ...

A Pilgrimage to Montgomery, Alabama
I don't know precisely why this history strikes such a chord with me, but it does, even though I was born and reared in Santa Barbara and have lived here ...

History and Preservation Society making its mark on Lawrence County
Anne Newport Royall, born in 1769, to whom the historic marker is dedicated, relates her experience at Melton's Bluff in her “Letters From Alabama ...


McCarter writes 'Pandamonium' to recount return of baseball in North Alabama
“He brings home our message of 'Minor League Baseball in a Major League way.' We are proud of this work.” McCarter has won “Alabama Sportswriter ...

Wetumpka First Baptist Church to raze historic building damaged by tornado
"Alabama's archive was second only to Virginia's in its size and scope; unfortunately, nearly 40% of the buildings documented since 1935 have been ...

Women's History Month: 18th US Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin has roots in Alabama
Women's History Month: 18th U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin has roots in Alabama. By Donna Cope. March 5, 2020. Women's History ...

Historic Selma Pilgrimage Preparations Underway in Selma
From the West Alabama Newsroom–. The city of Selma will showcase another aspect of it's rich history soon. That's because the 45th annual Historic ...

'Pandamonium' chronicles launch of Rocket City Trash Pandas
“Pandamonium: Engineering Pro Baseball's Return to the Rocket City,” a book chronicling the Trash Pandas' arrival in Madison, will be released in ...

The Legacy of George Wallace
Despite this history, Wallace's name still appears on buildings across Alabama – including in Birmingham, at the University of Alabama's Bell-Wallace ...

Remembering author Charlotte Miller, a victim of the 2019 Beauregard tornado
She was a regionally renowned storyteller who wrote the kind of old stories most Alabama writers don't anymore, according to Randall Williams, ...


Huntsville Civil Rights driving tour
A lot has obviously changed in six decades, but the history last forever. ... had never gone to school together, in the history of Alabama,” said Hereford.


Bill would designate Alabama Black Belt a heritage area
(AP) — Alabama's Black Belt region would become a National Heritage Area ... historian's work preserves moments from Alabama's early history.


Library event draws book lovers, features well-known writers
Library event draws book lovers, features well-known writers ... bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson who wrote “Gods in Alabama” and Thomas Mullen, ...



Kenneth Jones' ALABAMA STORY Combines Homecoming, Debut At ASF
Alabama Shakespeare Festival presents Alabama Story by Kenneth Jones on the ... to ban a gentle children's book, in which a black rabbit marries a white rabbit. ... The Montgomery premiere of Alabama Story is a true homecoming!
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