Ada, Lovell, Una & Professor Smith

Let's take a journey through some newspaper palmistry ads, shall we? 

The advertisements below are all the relevant ones I've spotted going through old Gadsden Times saved by my grandmother Rosa Mae Wright. She did not keep  entire papers, usually just the four-page spread that included the front page. What she kept dates mostly from the late 1930s until 1945; World War II, in other words.  More ads may have appeared on pages I haven't seen. 

I found a total of 14 different palmist advertisements. Madam Una outpaced the rest with seven. Madam Ada had three, Madame Lovell two with Professor Smith and Madam Smith one each. With one exception each ad uses the same image of a female figure in front of an open hand; some also feature the moon and a star. 

My grandmother also saved some newspapers from the 1950s and 1960s that featured significant events such as John Glenn's earth orbits and the JFK assassination. I found one outlier palmist ad in a 1954 paper; see the final entry below.

As the Wikipedia article linked above notes, palm reading is a practice found in variations all over the world and going back to ancient times. It was certainly available in the Gadsden area in these years. I looked at the 1939 Alabama state laws volume available at the Internet Archive and could find nothing on palm reading, palmistry, fortune telling, etc. Perhaps these activities were unregulated or subject to city or county laws.

Further comments are below the ads. 

Gadsden Times 27 Feb 1940

Madam Una sets the pace with various claims to be echoed by the others. She will tell the past, present and future; to whom and when you will marry. "She has helped thousands in all walks of life." Like most of these palmists, she kept long hours, 9 in the morning until 8 in the evening seven days a week. Ada includes her address, which Google Maps shows us does not exist today; the area is a vacant lot. 

According to state records, as of 1968 a Ratliff Sheet Metal Works had been in business for 57 years. Two of the incorporators were listed as James F. Ratliff, presumably father and son. The latter, a Gadsden resident, listed his occupation in the 1950 U.S. Census as "sheet metal mechanic." But I digress.... 

Madam Ada also declares, "Waiting Room for Colored." 

Gadsden Times 17 April 1940

Now we come to the pair of ads for Madame Lovell, identical and run in the same month in 1940. She is the only one who claims to be both a palmist AND clairvoyant. She charged 50 cents a sitting, double the cost of a movie ticket at the time. "I advise you on love, courtship, marriage, divorce and transactions of all kinds." She could settle lovers' quarrels and family troubles. She was also open seven days a week, from 9am until 8:30 pm. 

Her practice was "permanently located" at 1330 Forrest Avenue in Gadsden, and she offered waiting rooms "for white and colored." That address according to an April 2024 photo on Google Maps, is an empty lot but shows remains of what may have been part of the sidewalk to the house.

She is the only one using an "e" on Madam. 

The ads above and below from the Gadsden Times 21 April 1940

Madam Ada ads appeared in April, May and June 1940. "I Am Different From All Others", she declares. She "Gives Facts--Gets Results". "Reads entire life...she can help you" "If you are having bad luck or trouble." Ada was apparently a morning slacker; she doesn't get started until 10 am, but she does go until 9 pm seven days a week. "Everyone welcome." 

Her readings also cost 50 cents, and she was located at 214 South 5th Street in Gadsden. A Google Maps photo from August 2024 for that address shows a row of three small buildings with 214 in the middle. 

Gadsden Times 26 May 1940

This ad notes she is "Licensed by City, State, County". 

Gadsden Times 2 June 1940

Here Madam Ada's text differs significantly from the other two ads. 

Gadsden Times 14 Dec 1941

The text here differs from the February 1940 one. "Don't be mislead [SIC]! This is the same Madam Una you all know." Does this imply she has competition in the area? She has extended her hours, changed location to a "tent and trailer" and says nothing about waiting rooms. 

Gadsden Times 16 June 1942

This ad is the only one I found for a male palmist. He gives location, but no hours or cost. 

Gadsden Times 11 February 1943

Here Madam Una tells us which bus route to take. 

Both of these ads appeared in the Gadsden Times 6 February 1945

Two years later Madam Una is still going. 

Madam Smith notes "Not to be classed with Gypsies. World's Star American Palmist and Life Reader. After noting her skills, she adds "She is the seventh daughter born with a double veil." Smith also charges 50s, reads seven days a week and operated from Thompson's Trailer Camp. "Look for sign." She had long daily hours and "All welcome. White and colored."

Being a seventh daughter, presumably of a second daughter, is a folklore belief granting that woman--or man--with psychic powers such as seeing the future.

 

Gadsden Times 24 April 1945

The Una ad above and the two below are all alike and similar to ones used earlier. 

Gadsden Times 1 May 1945

Gadsden Times 8 May 1945

Gadsden Times 5 May 1954

Madam Davis' ad was tucked between ones for a bait shop and a drive-in theatre. All of the other ads above were located pretty much by themselves on the page. The ad directs "See sign on Trailer at Glencoe", which is a small town near Gadsden. The illustration for her ad is also different from all the others in the 1940s, and the only one in which the phrase "palm reading" appears.   

Hello, Darling: WWII Letters of Charlie & Magdalene Plott

In 2022 I posted a memorial item by Bill Plott about our mutual friend Joe Moudry. Bill has published several sports history books, but he has recently edited a collection of letters written mostly by his father Charles Jackson Plott, Jr. [10 November 1916-20 August 1991] to his mother Hattie Magdalene Osborn Plott [9 August 1917-29 November 2010] while his father was on combat duty in Italy during World War II. For many years the couple owned Plott's Grocery, which dated to the 1920's, and Charles' brother Herman owned Plott's Seafood, opened in the 1930s. Both became well-known businesses in Opelika.

I leave it for Bill to tell the rest of the story.

Bill Plott of Montevallo, author of several sports books, has published his parents' World War II correspondence, written while his father was in combat during the lengthy Italian campaign. The books is Hello Darling, the World War II Letters of Charlie and Magdalene Plott, 1943-1945

He says:

I grew up in Opelika, Alabama. I was only a few months old when Daddy entered basic training at Fort McClellan in Anniston. I have no recollection of him at all until the fall of 1945 when he returned home after discharge. Although I later lived in Anniston for several years, working as a reporter for the Anniston Star, I had no idea of his service at McClellan until I started working on the book.

We were fortunate to have about 90 hand-written letters, most of them sent from Italy as Charlie marched from post-landing at Anzio to Rome after the surrender of German forces in 1945. Only a few letters written by my mother are in the collection because he had no way of retaining them in combat conditions. In fact, in one letter he said he did not even take a toothbrush when he was going into combat because he wanted to travel as light as possible.

Included with his letters were numerous black and white snapshots. Many show him and his fellow soldiers in the Red Bull 35th Infantry Division. About 30 of the photos, with many soldiers identified by name, are included in the book. Also included are a number of contemporary documents such as his Motor Pool pass, discharge papers, etc.

It is not particularly exciting reading, but there were a couple of interesting moments. In April of 1945 his platoon was suddenly overrun and taken prisoner by retreating Germans. He was one of only two men who were not captured. Daddy said he avoided capture when an Italian woman hid him on the roof of her house. The POW status of the company ended quickly as the Germans were on the run. One of his best friends, Corporal Charles Anthony of Butler, Pennsylvania, was apparently killed in the incident. 

On July 4, 1945, Daddy, who was a jeep driver, was awakened at 5:30 a.m. His jeep joined a convoy of five cars that made a surreptitious crossing of the Italian border into neutral Switzerland. There they picked up members of the Italian royal family and returned them home from exile. The jeep that he drove contained the crown jewels of Italy. The story was picked up by the U.S. military's Stars and Stripes newspaper and widely published over time.

Although most of the letters lack such drama, they offer a good slice-of-life picture of the daily lives of a young married couple with a small child, separated for almost two years by war. The were indeed part of the Greatest Generation. I believed their story needed to be preserved for family members and future generations.

The Plott family was well known in Opelika for decades for two businesses, Plott's Grocery and Plott's Seafood. Consequently, the book is of possible interest to Opelika and Lee County historians as well as World War II buffs and descendants of soldiers who served in the 35th Infantry Division.

As we live in a time when younger generations are not as interested in having a lot of non-digital possessions, I was concerned with the ultimate future of these treasures. Arrangements are being made for all of the letters and photographs to be archived at the East Alabama Historical Museum in Opelika. The book is available as a hardback, paperback and eBook on Amazon. 

For those who may be interested, my other books include Black Baseball's Last Team Standing: The Birmingham Black Barons, 1920-1962 and The Negro Southern League: A Baseball History, 1920-1951. Both were published by McFarland and are also available online. 

"These are some Fascists that we rounded up around the French border. The man with the white hat is a Duke. The American soldier is Sgt. Moore. Myself, Colburn and Gaffey on a road block. The day after the German armies in Italy surrendered."

Pvt. Charlie Plott 

Alabama Tourism Promotion in 1940

Earlier this year I wrote an item about Alabama's only welcome center not located on an Interstate highway. In this post I'm continuing that tourism theme with these two brief items found in the old Gadsden Times newspaper issues I'm reading. 

The articles describe an effort by the state Chamber of Commerce to persuade tourists bound north from Florida to enjoy some of Alabama's beauty and recreational opportunities. Members of the Chamber, armed with "thousands" of  maps and promotional booklets, were driven south by state patrolmen. Also noted is a similar foray into the Midwest in the fall of 1939. The state had contracted with the Chamber to conduct these advertising efforts and others. 

At the time the state had no tourism bureau. In October 1951 the legislature created the Bureau of Publicity and Information. That became the Bureau of Tourism and Travel in May 1984 and finally the Alabama Tourism Department in 2010.

 

Gadsden Times 26 February 1940

Gadsden Times 27 February 1940

Gadsden Times 12 April 1940

Here the state chamber of commerce reports on tourism increases; perhaps those trips helped!

A Family Visit to Vulcan Park & Museum

This past March our daughter Becca, her son Ezra and stepson Zach visited us in Pelham. She came to help us pack for the upcoming move and to give the boys a last visit to the house and to see a couple of Birmingham sights. One of those trips involved an afternoon at Vulcan Park and Museum.

Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world, and was designed for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair by sculptor Giuseppe Moretti. The 56-feet tall statue arrived at the fair site in pieces--the chest alone weighted 8000 pounds and the head 15,000. Only partly erected by the time the fair opened on May 1, its completion by June 7 made Birmingham's entry a sensation. 

The iron man's history after the fair has mirrored the city's, full of ups and downs. Returned in pieces to Birmingham, they were left beside the railroad tracks for two years. Finally, Vulcan was rebuilt at the Alabama State Fairgrounds and remained there for three decades. Since then he has been taken apart and moved to a park atop Red Mountain, and in 1999 disassembled again for restoration. Since 2003 Vulcan has once again become the star attraction of the park and the city's best known symbol. This summary has only touched the many insults and issues suffered by the statue over the decades; read more here and here. 

The literature about Vulcan is large and much can be found via the two websites linked in the previous sentence. I would also like to note an article by Karelisa Hartigan, "A Roman God in Alabama: Birmingham's Vulcan" in Alabama Heritage winter 2004, pp. 4-7. She includes much information about Vulcan's role in Greek and Roman mythology. 

A few of the photos I took that day are below. 

Becca, Zach and Ezra pose in front of the great view of Birmingham available at Vulcan Park. 

The visitor center houses an excellent museum devoted to the history of Vulcan and Birmingham and Jefferson County. Fun stuff for kids, too!

Efforts to create a museum devoted to the history of city and county began in 2004. The museum was eventually named the Birmingham History Center, and son Amos and I visited one of its many locations as it searched for a permanent home. Those rich collections were finally transferred to the Vulcan Park Foundation in 2017 and now form displays at this museum. 

I was glad to find this exhibit highlighting the extensive histories of theaters and theatrics in Birmingham. 

Ah, Tallulah...one of Alabama's best-known and most notorious exports. 

Over the years many postcards featuring Vulcan have been published. 

This postcard features "Vulcan--Forging by Moonlight" a photograph by Thomas Kingsley. You can see more of his Vulcan photos and other work here.

The day before the Vulcan visit we took the boys to Oak Mountain State Park for a little hiking--or running-- on one of the trails and a walk through the Alabama Wildlife Center.