Polio in Alabama in 1941

As I often do, I was perusing some old issues of the Gadsden Times recently and in July and August 1941 issues I found several articles about polio cases in the state. Effective polio vaccines did not appear in the United States until Jonas Salk's in 1955 and Albert Sabin's in 1961, so what was the state and nation's status on the eve of America's entry into World War II? 

Polio [poliomyelitis] is a viral infection found only in humans. Although depicted in ancient art, the disease was not identified as distinct until 1789 by Michael Underwood, an English physician. The actual virus was identified by Austrian Karl Landsteiner in 1909. The highly infectious disease is spread through fecal-oral or oral-oral transmission. 

Most cases have mild symptoms, but permanent paralysis and death can occur. Major outbreaks began in Europe and the U.S. in the late 19th century. By the mid-20th century many cases of paralytic polio were affecting children age 5 to 9 years. In 1945 John Ed Robinson of Centre contracted the disease at age 6; he made many trips to Birmingham's Crippled Children's Hospital. On his first visit he stayed six months. The 1952 outbreak was the worst in U.S. history. The 58,000 cases included 3145 deaths, and 21,269 patients were left with mild to disabling paralysis. 

The articles below give an indication of the concern about polio at the time since it affected so many children and there was no cure or vaccine. As the first article notes, the highest number of monthly cases to that date was 176 in July 1936. 

FURTHER READING

Gillespie, Loretta. Polio took its toll on Lawrence County. Moulton Advertiser 2021 July 29

Polio: Forgotten but not gone. University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences, 2018

Rogers N. Race and the politics of polio: Warm Springs, Tuskegee, and the March of Dimes. Am J Public Health. 2007 May;97(5):784-95. Article freely available online here.

Turner T. Development of the polio vaccine: a historical perspective of Tuskegee University's role in mass production and distribution of HeLa cells. J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2012 Nov;23(4 Suppl):5-10. Article freely available online here. 

Gadsden Times 30 July 1941

Gadsden Times 30 July 1941

Reports from Georgia also appeared in the Gadsden paper, at least on this date.

Gadsden Times 30 July 1941 

Gadsden Times 1 August 1941

Gadsden Times 26 August 1941

Gadsden Times 27 August 1941

Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
29 August 1936, 107(9): 719

Source: Our World in Data

Noccalula Falls Back in the Day [1000th post]

Well, here we are at my 1000th posting on this blog since March 2014. Scary. 

I thought I would devote this one to a bit of family history. 

In July 2016 I wrote a series of five blog posts about a cedar chest full of personal items belonging to my Dad's older sister Beulah Vee Wright. Part One gives a lengthy introduction. She died in December 1939 at the age of eighteen, so the items date from the 1920's and 1930's. Beulah Vee and my Dad and their parents lived in Gadsden, Alabama. In 2021 I wrote a follow-up post describing our donation of much of the material in the cedar chest to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. You can see a short video about the Beulah Vee portrait among those donated items at the Archives page on YouTube. The actual cedar chest and a small group of other items remain in the family.

We also have numerous photographs taken by her parents, Rosa Mae and Amos J. Wright, Sr. Some of these include a trip to Noccalula Falls in October 1938 and feature Beulah Vee and her boyfriend Porter,  and Rosa Mae. I've also included some photos I took on a visit in 1968. 

The city of Gadsden bought land including the falls in 1946 and has been developing the park ever since. The now expanded area includes campgrounds, a wedding chapel, butterfly and botanical gardens, a covered bridge, pioneer village, minigolf and other amenities. 

My brother Richard and I have some memories of several visits to the falls in the 1960s. Every year in August the Griffith families and other relatives on Rosa Mae's side met for a large reunion, and we often came from Huntsville for the event. Lots of good food was eaten and while the adults talked the kids could play on the rocks, walk the trails to see the old cabins and ride the little train. I seem to remember Dad taking us down the steep trail and under the falls at least once. Of course, the statue of Princess Noccalula reminded us of her legendary leap. 

More comments are below some of the photos. 

Beulah V., October 16, 1938

Beulah V., October 16, 1938. Those shadows must be Amos, Rosa Mae and Porter. 

Porter Hill [her last boyfriend] and Beulah V., October 16, 1938

I've obtained a copy of Beulah Vee's death certificate, which shows her passing at 9:30 a.m. on December 10, 1939. She was attended by Dr. J.W. Ford, who was the family physician. Cause of death is listed as bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis, which I guess explains why her funeral was held the next day. 

From September 7-27, 1939, Beulah Vee kept a diary in a small notebook while she was a patient at Holy Name of Jesus Hospital in Gadsden. A page is included above dated September 14. She notes that "No flowers came" but "Porter came." The notebook records such events as well as how she felt on particular days. In the back the names of her attending nurses are recorded. 

Some years later my mother's obstetrician in Gadsden, Dr. Ford's son, told her his father decided after her death that Beulah Vee may have died of leukemia. People can live for years with tuberculosis, but Beulah Vee's sickness began in March 1939 and she deteriorated rapidly until her death. There was also no treatment for leukemia at that time. 

Rosa Mae Wright [1900-1997]
You can see more photos of her and my grandfather Amos J. Wright, Jr., here and here. 

This photo and the ones below were all processed in June 1968; presumably the family trip to the Falls was in or around that month. I took the photos with a camera I bought on Friday, July 29, 1966, according to notes I made at the time. 

I'm not sure what this mound of stones was or if it's still at the park. Perhaps someone can tell us in the comments. 

I have been unable to determine who is buried beside this cabin. 

Here are a couple of postcards from my collection. 

Source and other photos of the Falls are here. A good account of the legend and its literature can be found on the BhamWiki site. 

Johnny Mack Brown Appears in Gadsden in 1945

I've written several pieces on this blog about football star, actor and Dothan native Johnny Mack Brown. Two of them discussed his 1928 silent films Our Dancing Daughters and A Lady of Chance. The first paired him with Joan Crawford [one of two he made with her] and another Alabama native, Dorothy Sebastian. He starred with Norma Shearer in the second film, much of which is set in Alabama. These attempts to make Brown a romantic lead did not take, and westerns became his forte. I've written about his role in 1930's Billy the Kid, the first sound film about the outlaw; and covered his 1945 Flame of the West in which he plays--of all things--a doctor. 

Brown came to the attention of Hollywood after he helped Alabama beat the favored Washington team in the 1925 Rose Bowl. He scored two of Alabama's three touchdowns as the Crimson Tide became the first southern team to win that bowl game. He soon appeared on a Wheaties cereal box and signed a contract with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio to make movies. The attempt to make him a leading man in A-list pictures didn't pan out, and Brown soon moved into B-Westerns. Between 1927 and 1966 he made over 160 films, most of them westerns. So by 1945 when he made this personal appearance he was deep into that genre. 

"Alabama's Own Movie Star" made five appearances onstage that Sunday, May 5. Brown made seven films in 1945, so these afternoon and evening stage shows could have also promoted one or more of those. I found no ads for any of those films in the two issues of the Gadsden Times where I found this ad.

Rounding out the show were other performers, Trixie McCormick, "Famous Girl Rope Artist" and Carl Zeller and the Three Drifters. A quick search on Google did not turn up any information on Carl Zeller and the Three Drifters. Perhaps they were a western swing band, a popular subgenre of country music in the 1930s and 1940s. Trixie McCormick was indeed a rope artist, apparently from Montana who died in April 2001 at age 91. According to one source her real name was Ethyl Stokes.

Brown died in November 1974. Before his death he was inducted into both the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame's charter class of 1969 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957. 

Gadsden Times 2 May 1945; the same ad appeared in the May 1 issue; these days were the Tuesday and Wednesday before the show. 

Brown had appeared in Gadsden before; I found this ad in the Gadsden Times 3 March 1942 for a March 8 appearance.

Nine issues of Johnny Mack Brown Comics were published from September 1950 until September 1952. 

Flame of the West was one of the seven movies Brown made in 1945 and the one in which he played Dr. John Poole. 

Alabama Postcards: Motels (1)

I have a sizeable and growing Alabama postcard collection, and this post highlights six that feature  motels. I have many others on that topic, as well as hospitals, libraries, etc, to use for future postings. Postcards can be fascinating links to specific times, places and the minutia of life, even more so when they were actually mailed and include a message. 

I've already written a number of pieces about specific postcards and used cards as illustrations in many other posts. Some specific ones include:  

Ross Chemical Building, Auburn 

Wetumpka Penitentiary 

Redmont Hotel, Birmingham  

Jefferson Hospital, Birmingham 

Mentone Springs Hotel 

State of Alabama

Hotel Reich, Gadsden

Electrik Maid Bake Shop & Restaurant, Birmingham

Auburn Serum Plant

Forrest Cemetery Chapel, Gadsden

Whew, more than I thought! 

Postcards have an interesting history which you can read about on Wikipedia and the Library of Congress web site. Dating postcards is discussed on this Smithsonian page. An entry about the history and evolution of motels can be found on Wikipedia. 

Below are two different cards for the Witt Motel in Oneonta, and one each for Bob's Court in Ariton, Town Motel in Birmingham, the Pine Lake Motel south of Montgomery and the Colonial Tourist Court in Troy. More details are between the images. 

On the back of this first card we learn that the owner at the time was Joseph Schoolfield Wittmeier, Sr. [1874-1961] a physician who's Find-A-Grave entry tells us was also very active in civic activities in Oneonta and Blount County. He and his wife Mamie are both buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Oneonta.

The "triple A" symbol indicates the motel was approved by the American Automobile Association. The facility is built of native sandstone and each room has a private tiled bath, air conditioning, carpet, etc. A restaurant operates next door. The location is the junction of U.S. 231 and Alabama state highways 25 and 32 in Oneonta. 

This card was mailed from Oneonta on February 19, 1954, from a woman to her sister in Illinois. On their way to Florida, "all 4 of us" spent the night here 500 miles from home. Sister Francis was apparently suffering from a cold. The stamp featuring President John Adams was issued in 1938. The MWM Company [Mid West Map Company] of Aurora, Missouri, issued many cards. 

You can see a matchbook cover advertising the motel on Pinterest. I found little else about the facility, except a mention on Facebook that it opened in the 1940s and closed "decades later". The site has since been redeveloped.

The handwritten correction on the back of this second Witt Motel card includes a Zip Code, which was  not introduced by the U.S. Post Office until 1963. Presumably the couples indicated as owners here took over after Dr. Wittmeier's death. The phone number indicates a more modern system. Note that "television" has been added to the list of room amenities, and the restaurant is still next door, along with the AAA seal of approval. 

The owners originally listed on this card are John T. Dransfield [1903-1972) and his wife Beulah [1910-1976], both also buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Oneonta. The "H.J. Malwitz" may be Henry J. Malwitz 1897-1981], buried in Birmingham along with his wife Vesta.

Bob's Court was a small 10-unit motel on US 231 in Ariton. The facility had a guest lounge and a restaurant "in connection" which I guess meant next door. Is the motel in a pecan grove? Note that old, old school phone number: 153R. 

Owners Robert Henry Dean [1897-2001] and his wife Lou [1900-1995] are both buried in the Ariton Cemetery. Ariton is in Dale County and the birthplace of blues singer Big Mama Thornton. 

This card was produced by one of the prominent postcard companies, E.C. Kropp of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which operated from 1907 to 1956. This particular card is stamped "cabinet sample" presumably at the card company. The other note would seem to indicate a thousand copies printed/available on February 10, 1953. I'm not sure what the other word is following that date. 

 

The Town Motel was on U.S. Highway 11, one mile west of downtown Birmingham. The motel provided soundproof rooms, carpet and other amenities. This card indicates another old school phone number, 53-9293. Owners  Charles D. [1910-1980] and Jewel [1920-2000] Mitchell are listed in the 1953 Birmingham City Directory as operating the Town Motel. 

This card is also the E.C. Kropp Company. This motel and its newer sign can be seen near the end of this video on Facebook. Other photos of that sign are on Wikimedia Commons and Flickr. The motel made the news in 2021. 

Here's another facility with AAA approval. The Pine Lake was 12 miles south of Montgomery at the junction of U.S. Highways 82 and 231. "Free TV in every room" and "Saxon's Delicious Candy and Restaurant" next door. "Eat and Sleep with Us." Phone AM 2-6088. 

This postcard was addressed to a couple in Lakeland, Florida, but apparently never mailed unless an envelope was used. The author of the note includes a date, May 16, 1966, as the date left for Winfield, Missouri. 

The sign can be seen in a night photo on Facebook from 2021. This card was also issued by the Midwest Map Company. 

Colonial Tourist Court was located on U.S 231 South in Troy. The facility boasted air conditioning and "panel ray heat." I found nothing else about this facility. Interestingly the description is on the front of the card and not the back. The card looks pretty old, doesn't it?

The Artvue Postcard Company operated in New York City from 1948 until 1963. I did not find anything else online except postcards. 

Resuming Grid Relations in 1945

Here we have another item from the old Gadsden Times issues I've been paging through in recent months. This brief article relates to one of the most important topics in the state's history--Alabama and Auburn football.

The two schools first played each other in that sport on February 22, 1893. The game took place at Lakeview Park in Birmingham. Auburn--formally known at the time as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, or API--won that contest. 32-22. The park no longer exists; Highlands Park Golf Course occupies the land today. 

The teams continued playing each other through 1907. After that contract negotiations stalled and another game wasn't played until several decades later. Various rumors arose about why the contest ended and how it started again in 1948. The Encyclopedia of Alabama entry by Clyde Bolton on the "Iron Bowl" sorts out the mess: 

"Auburn and Alabama stopped playing each other after 1907. Over the years, a myth grew that a huge fight among players and fans had led to the severing of relations between Auburn and Alabama. The truth, however, was decidedly less dramatic. The schools' officials simply could not agree on contractual details, such as per diem pay rates for the players, and thus there was no game in 1908. Another myth has persisted that the state legislature mandated resumption of the series, but a resolution approved by the legislature on August 15, 1947, merely officially requested that the schools resume the annual contest. In 1948, Auburn president Ralph Draughon and Alabama president John Galalee simply agreed that the schools should play, and the rivalry was renewed in the modern era."

As the article below indicates, a bill to force resumption of the series--with a serious penalty attached for non-compliance--was actually introduced in the state legislature on May 2, 1945. The bill called for the governor to set the time and place of the first game. However, Governor Chauncey Sparks declared his opposition to this method of restarting the game. 

Apparently some momentum had developed. The quote above from the EOA mentions a resolution about the game passed by the legislature on August 15, 1947. That resolution notes there had been a "lapse of many years in athletic relations" between Alabama and API and that a majority of the legislature feels resumption of a "full athletic program" between the schools is in the best interest of the universities and the people of Alabama. Thus the legislature "respectfully requests" the Boards of Trustees of the schools to implement that program by May 1949. 

The first game of the resumed series was played on December 4, 1948; Alabama won 55-0. Thus, "grid relations" did not resume in 1945, but did soon enough to fulfill the legislature's request. Note there is no mention of any "Iron Bowl" in all of this wrangling. Shug Jordan christened the game the "Iron Bowl" in the 1950s, but the term didn't gain traction until the following decade. 

Also notable is the fact that original negotiations between the schools in 1907  broke down over the issue of player payment.  

Source: Gadsden Times 2 May 1945

The resolution appears on pages 215-215 of the 1947 General Laws. 

Source: Internet Archive

Alabama Photo: A Barn in 1935 by Walker Evans

 Walker Evans is one of the most famous American documentary photographers of the 20th century. He made at least two trips to Alabama during the Great Depression as he traveled through America taking photographs. This barn photo was taken in December 1935. His best known visit to the state came in the summer of 1936 when he and writer James Agee travelled from New York to Hale County to document the lives of sharecropping families. That effort eventually resulted in one of the best-known books ever written about Alabama, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. During that summer the two men visited other parts of the state as well. 

I've written several blog posts about Evans' Alabama photos of a cemetery, two stores, and an advertisement for J.C. Lincoln's Sunny South Minstrels. I've also discussed his shots of the abandoned town of Advance and some of his 1936 photos in Birmingham. 

The photo below features cigarette and tobacco ads on the side of the barn. Such advertising on barns was common in the Midwest and Southern United States in the first half of the 20th century. The exact location of the barn in the state is unknown. See below for discussion of these specific ads. 

Source: Farm Security Administration Photo Collection

Library of Congress

"Prince Albert" is a cigarette and pipe tobacco marketed by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company since 1907. R.J. Reynolds himself named the product after the future King of the United Kingdom, Edward VII. The tins in which the tobacco was sold are now highly prized vintage items and can be seen on the right in this ad. The containers are also the subject of a long-running joke, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" The Wikipedia entry linked at the beginning of this paragraph explains. 

A Phillip Morris ad appears twice on this barn. The company has produced many brands over the years including Marlboro and the one here named after the firm. Both ads feature "Johnny the Bellboy", a campaign that lasted more than 40 years. The individual was an actual person, Johnny Roventini, a midget and actor who had actually worked as a bellboy. Phillip Morris sponsored the I Love Lucy TV show for several years, and Roventini figured prominently in the advertising there. 

I'm not sure if the woman in the Camel ad was a real person, although to me she looks a bit like actress Dorothy Lamour. In the 1930s Camel was the first cigarette brand to show women smoking in its advertisements.