Sometimes I'm researching something and follow it down a rabbit hole that leads to another rabbit hole. And here we are...
I recently watched PBS' "American Experience" episode on Alabama native Joe Louis and his June 1938 championship fight with Max Schmeling. Well worth watching, by the way. During the program I heard a song from the 1930's about Louis on the soundtrack. Hmm, I thought, I wonder who wrote and sang that ditty. A little time on Google led me to a 2001 New York Times article discussing the songs written about Louis. In it the author noted that composer and music researcher Rena C. Kosersky has identified over 40 songs about the boxer from the 1930’s & 1940’s. The first was Joe Pullum’s “Joe Louis Is the Man” recorded 27 July 1935 in San Antonio.
Lo and behold, Pullum was born in Anniston. Let's investigate.
Wikipedia gives his birthdate as December 25, 1905, but Pullum's World War II draft registration card--filled out by Pullum on October 16, 1940, in Houston, Texas-- gives the date as December 20, 1907 [see below]. That earlier date appears in the California Death Index 1940-1997 [accessed via Ancestry.com]; Pullum died in Los Angeles on January 7, 1964.
According to the Alabama Select Marriage Indexes, 1816-1942 [Ancestry.com], his parents William Pullum and Dora Ross were both Alabama natives and married in Calhoun County on April 3, 1898. The family moved not long after Joseph's birth, since the 1910 U.S. Census shows them living on Andrews Street in Houston, Texas. In addition to Joseph and his parents, the census lists two older siblings, William Jr. who was ten years old and Carlton, who was six. By the 1920 census, they had moved to Meyer Street and added sister Evelyn, who was eleven, and Mary A. Ross, presumably Dora's mother, to the family group.
By 1930 only Joseph and his parents were listed in the household at 1211 Arthur Street. The record notes that he could read and write and worked as a presser in a cleaning shop. The 1937 City Directory for Houston has the same trio at the same address, but Joseph is working as a musician. His father was a porter. Brothers William, Jr. and Carlton and their wives are listed at other addresses in the city.
Pullum made a total of 30 recordings on Bluebird Records between April 1934 and February 1936; most were done in San Antonio. A vocalist, Pullum worked with two pianists on those sessions, Rob Cooper and Andy Boy. In the 1940's he moved to Los Angeles and recorded with another pianist, Lloyd Glenn, for Swing Time Records in 1948. Other than a rumored demo made in 1953, that was the end of Pullum's recording career.
Pullum appears in California voter registration records at two different addresses in Los Angeles between 1946 until 1962. Wikipedia notes that although he died in Los Angeles, he was buried back in Houston. I was unable to find him listed in Find-A-Grave. All of his known recordings were reissued in 1995 on Document Records in two volumes available here and here.
His very first recording was "Black Gal What Makes Your Head So Hard?" on April 3, 1934, at the Texas Hotel in San Antonio. That number would become his most successful; he recorded several different versions including one titled "My Woman". The recording sold well and was covered by a number of other artists.
Other songs recorded in the San Antonio sessions included "Mississippi Flood Blues", "Married Woman Blues", "Telephone Blues", "Dixie My Home", and "Cow, See That Train Comin'".
Pullum is one of numerous blues artists whose lives are poorly documented. Questions here include why did the Pullums leave Anniston for Houston? One source quoted by Wikipedia says Pullum performed on a Houston radio station in the late 1930's, but that station was absorbed by another in August 1932. Did Pullum perform in public venues such as clubs and roadhouses? Why did he move to Los Angeles, did he perform live there and what did he do for a living until his 1964 death? Where in Houston is he buried?
Perhaps some day at least some of these questions will be answered....
You can find some of Pullum's recordings on YouTube. "Joe Louis Is the Man" is here.
I am researching this family at present as part of my one name study. I may have an answer to one of your questions (and I have many more!)
ReplyDeleteJoe's father William, was an adopted son of Rev. Ned P Pullum (loads on the the web about him). The family moved from Alabama to Texas when the Reverend took up the post of Minister of Antioch Baptist Church in Beaumont. They then moved to Houston's Fourth Ward, in 1898 building the house at 1319 Andrews Street - that house has been recognised as a place of historic significance.
Your post appeared when I was search to find the date when Meyer Street became Arthur Street (sometime in the 1920s). It caught my attention as it was 1211 Meyer Street that was mentioned.
That's for that information!
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