Movies with Alabama Connections: Bright Road

Mary Elizabeth Vroman came to be an "Alabama" author in a rather unusual way. She was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1924 [?], but grew up in Antigua in the British West Indies. I have been unable to locate a specific birthdate or anything about her parents. Why the move is also a mystery. 

By the late 1940s she was enrolled at Alabama State Teachers College [now Alabama State University] in Montgomery and graduated in August 1949. One source notes that Vroman attended Alabama State "like three generations of women educators in her family before her." She then began teaching at a rural elementary school in the state. 

That experience led to her first publication, a short story called "See How They Run" published in the June 1951 issue of the Ladies Home Journal. In the following year she won the Christopher Award for the story. That accolade is given to writers and others associated with films, literature or television productions that promote "the highest values of the human spirit." The award is presented by the Christophers, a Christian organization founded in 1945.

Vroman's story about a teacher who tries to inspire as well as instruct her students from poor families was adapted the following year for the film Bright Road. Like the story, the film is set in Alabama, although filmed at MGM studios in Culver City, California. Released on April 17, 1953, and 74 minutes long, Bright Road stars Dorothy Dandridge as the teacher Jane Richards and Harry Belafonte [in his first film role] as the principal Mr. Williams. Philip Hepburn plays C.T. Young, the student Miss Richards gives special attention. He's doing poorly academically but she sees his potential. All three give excellent performances, especially Hepburn. 

Bright Road is an unusual film that quietly confronts issues of poverty and racism but does not dwell on either. Jane Richards could be any teacher in any school trying to help a student reach his or her potential. All the cast members are black with the exception of Robert Horton, who plays a doctor called to attend one of Richards' sick students. Unfortunately, the film was not a commercial success.

Several biographical sources note that Vroman was an advisor on the film and helped on the screenplay. As a result, she became the first black female member of the Screen Writers Guild. I'm not sure where her participation is documented; the film itself credits only Emmett Lavery for the screenplay. The movie was directed by Gerald Mayer. 

Vroman continued her teaching career for a total of twenty years in Chicago and New York City, and married a dentist in Brooklyn, Dr. Oliver M. Harper. She died after surgery at Brooklyn's Unity Hospital on April 29, 1967. Vroman was 42.

"See How They Run" was not her only published work. Another story, "And Have Not Charity" was also published in the Ladies Home Journal. She also published three books. Harlem Summer [1967] is a young adult novel. Shaped to Its Purpose [1965] is a history of the first fifty years of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Her adult novel is Esther [1953], which follows the title character through menial jobs, rape and pregnancy to finally reach her goal of becoming a nurse. She works in a segregated hospital in the South. 

Some specific Alabama connections also appear in the film itself. Belefonte sings "Suzanne (Every Night When the Sun Goes Down)" which includes the line "Goin' back to Mobile town". Belefonte's character the principal asks Dandridge's after the holiday if she had a good Christmas.  The teacher responds, "Oh, yes, I had a visit with my family down in Mobile". Then, "Where are you planning to spend your vacation?" the principal asks later in the film. "Mobile", she says. Dandridge has a brief musical interlude in the film during a school pageant. She and Belafonte would be reunited in the 1954 film musical Carmen Jones. 

A profile of Vroman appeared after her death in the May 18, 1967 issue of Jet magazine. The piece includes photos of Vroman receiving her Christopher Award and in her Alabama classroom. You can see the original theatrical trailer for the film here. 

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia

Gadsden Postcard: Hotel Reich

Gadsden's Hotel Reich, built by Adolphe "Popo" Reich, opened on February 12, 1930. The ten-story structure had 150 rooms and interiors designed by Marshall Field's of Chicago. David O. Whilldin, a Birmingham architect active from 1902 until 1961, designed the hotel.  

The Reich was meant to be first-class. Chefs were hired from New Orleans. After World War II big bands such as those of Guy Lombardo and Tommy Dorsey played the ballroom. 

Popo's son Robert took over operations eventually, and the hotel was modernized in the 1960's. Sold in 1970, the new owner renamed it the Downtown Motor Hotel. In 1978 the facility was converted to the Daughette Towers subsidized housing for senior citizens.

This postcard, from my own collection, originated with E.C. Kopp, a printing and publishing company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that operated from 1898 until 1956. Another Reich postcard can be seen here. Mike Goodson's article about the hotel's opening day is here. More information is available here. 

Ads in the Auburn Plainsman on February 7, 1945

I was recently sifting through a box of old newspapers that came from my paternal grandparents' house in Gadsden. I've written about them, Amos J. and Rosa Mae Wright, in a previous post and hope to do others in the future. This particular box of treasures contained mostly the front page section of many issues of the Gadsden Times published during World War II. I assume my grandmother saved them; she seemed to be the archivist of that couple. Naturally there is a lot of interesting war news, but the issues also have fascinating material from the Gadsden area and around the state and elsewhere. I imagine there are numerous possible blog posts buried there.....

But I digress. I also came across this random issue of the Auburn Plainsman, the university's student newspaper. My Dad, Amos J. Jr., was enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute at this time, before a couple of years in the Navy just after the war ended. I didn't find too much of interest except some fascinating advertisements, so here we are. 

The Plainsman had begun publication in 1922; you can find past issues here. The issue I found was six pages; the sheet with pages three and four is missing. I'm not sure why this random issue was saved, but perhaps Dad brought it home as a sample to show his mother while he was enrolled at Auburn.

I've made a number of comments below the ads, with help from these sources:

Ralph Draughon, Jr, et al. Lost Auburn: A Village Remembered in Period Photographs [2012]

Sam Hendrix, Auburn: A History in Street Names [2021]

The first Tiger Theatre opened in 1925 and closed in the summer 1928 so the next bigger one could be built. The new building had over 700 seats and closed on April 26, 1984. I seem to remember seeing Who'll Stop the Rain? there, the 1978 film with Nick Nolte and Tuesday Weld. The film was based on Robert Stone's 1974 novel Dog Soldiers, which is well worth reading. 

Hat Check Honey was released on March 10, 1944; many films took longer to make their way around in the country in those days. The Very Thought of You came out on October 20, 1944. The Pearl of Death, released on August 1, 1944, was a Sherlock Holmes film so I probably would have gone to see that one. 

The Windmill operated from the 1930s until 1951, when its beer license was revoked for selling to minors and other offenses. In the 1930s and early 1940s it was the only place in the Auburn area to obtain legal alcohol. The place was frequented by veterans in school at Auburn; no co-eds were allowed. The entrance was a faux windmill. The business was really a gas station with a few booths and tables inside. 

I did not find any information on the Varsity. 

Auburn Grille advertised as "an institution within itself." The Greek immigrants John and Lucas Gazes operated the Grille and Roy's Place. The Grille was the first restaurant with air conditioning in Lee County and  was named for the Auburn automobile, manufactured in Auburn, Indiana, from 1900 until 1937. Their father Emmanuel Gazes operated the Auburn Cafe from 1907 until 1921. The family was also involved in various other eating places, including what became the War Eagle Supper Club.

Some of these places such as Roy's and the Windmill operated outside city limits since according to state law at the time alcohol could not be served inside the limits.

War Eagle Theater was part of the Martin chain & the first chain theater in Auburn. This one must have been known as Martin Theater and later renamed.

By 1982 there were 300 Martin Theaters in the southeastern U.S. In that year the chain's owner, Fuqua Industries sold the chain to Carmike Cinemas. In 2016 Carmike was purchased by AMC Theatres. 

This particular Martin opened on August 19, 1948 and closed in 1985. In October 1970 it hosted the first Alabama showing of I Walk the Line, based on the novel An Exile by Madison Jones [1925-2012], long-time faculty member at AU. 

One of the films showing that I especially note and have enjoyed was To Have and Have Not, released in October 1944 and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The movie was based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel. 

"Chief" Shine provided the first rental car service in Auburn.

I did not find anything about this establishment, even in a general Google search.

Dr. Halle Tanner Dillon Passed the Test

I've written before on this blog about Dr. Halle Tanner Dillon, "the first certified, practicing female physician in Alabama". Dr. Dillon was a fascinating individual, the daughter of Benjamin Tanner, a prominent African-American minister in Pennsylvania and the sister of painter Henry O. Tanner. She graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1891, the only black in her class. 

She was recruited by Booker T. Washington to become the physician at Tuskegee Institute, and she agreed. However, first she had to pass Alabama's certification exam, a grueling test that took place over several days and involved prominent white male physicians as examiners. At the time just a few black male doctors had passed the test and were practicing in Alabama. Washington arranged for her to be tutored by one of them, an old friend, Montgomery physician Cornelius Dorsette.  She passed the test. 

You can read more details about her life and career in the blog post I linked to in the first sentence. I've recently come across the two newspaper articles below that I have not seen before and which offer information about Dillon's examination. 

The earliest and second one below is from the Washington Bee on October 3, 1891. That District of Columbia newspaper was primarily read by African-Americans. The article is actually a reprint, with no author give, from the Alabama Exchange. I have been unable to locate any information about that publication; perhaps it was a short-lived African-American paper in the state. 

Booker T. Washington expected Dillon to start work at Tuskegee on September 1, so this article notes she "applied" to the state medical board on August 17. She took the exam in the state health office in Montgomery, "in which she was required to write the answers, without referring to any book of reference". Her answers were scored on ten different topics by ten examiners, all white male physicians. The testing ended August 25. See my previous blog post for more details.

Dillon made a total of 78.81 and a 75 minimum was required, the article states. She will teach anatomy and hygiene at Tuskegee in addition to her clinical duties. "She had a good literary education, having spent six years in college, writes a masculine hand, and it is stated that her examination was very creditable." 

The second article by date [first one shown below], was published in the Capital City Courier in Lincoln, Nebraska. This piece has an attributed author, Lida Rose McCabe, a white journalist best known as the first female reporter to visit the gold fields in Alaska. Her article was filed from Philadelphia on November 5, and appeared in the Courier two days later.

"Alabama has now its first woman physician," McCabe wrote. Some of Dillon's background is included. Before her first marriage she worked as a bookkeeper for the Christian Recorder. Founded in 1852 by the African Episcopal Methodist Church, it is the oldest continuously published African-American newspaper in America. Her father was a minister in that church. "She spent her leisure hours reading medicine", McCabe wrote. She entered medical school after the death of her first husband. "Dr. Dillon was subjected to one of the severest ordeals" in state history--presumably state medical examination history, which had begun in 1877. McCabe notes the reluctance of the state's conservative medical professionals to admit black doctors unless "fully qualified". However, "Mrs. Dillon was courteously received."

McCabe states with no exceptions that Dillon was Alabama's first female physician. The earlier Bee article claims that Dillon was the first female certified by the state medical board, and that another female physician had been certified by the Jefferson County medical board at an earlier date. Under the 1877 law governing medical practice in Alabama, a candidate could take the exam either in Montgomery at the state board or before any county board. This arrangement allowed county medical societies to retain some power.

The white physician named as certified in Jefferson County was Anna M. Longshore [1829-1912]. Like Dillon, she came from a prominent family. Her father Joseph, a physician, helped establish the Woman's Medical College that Dillon would graduate from four decades later. Anna and her cousin Hannah were among the eight women in the first class of 1852. 

Longshore did indeed take the exam in Jefferson County, but the Transactions of the Medical Association for 1892 [p.142] list her as "certificate refused." Thus Longshore may have been the first woman to take a certification exam in Alabama, but she did not pass. See my earlier post on Dillon for more about Longshore's long career as a physician and lecturer on medical topics. Why she came to Alabama to take the exam remains a mystery.

Another question is why Dillon took the exam in Montgomery and not in Macon County where Tuskegee Institute is located. Perhaps Washington and Dorsette wanted her to attempt the test in the state capital, before prominent white physicians, where a successful effort would receive more attention. 

As I noted in my original blog post on Dr. Dillon, she "was not the first female physician in Alabama, but the first to be certified by the state examination process under the law passed in 1877. In the 1850s Louisa Shepard graduated from her father's medical school in Dadeville, the Graefenberg Medical Institute. The school closed in 1861 after graduating some 50 students, including two of Louisa's brothers. She never practiced medicine; she married William Presley and they moved to Texas. Louisa died in 1901."

Source: Capital City Courier [Lincoln, Nebraska] 7 November 1891
via Chronicling America

Source: Washington [D.C.] Bee 3  October 1891

via Chronicling America

Dillon's exam August 17-25, 1891, is available online via the Alabama Department of Archives and History.