Verne Collier Candy in Birmingham

Recently when we were in Huntsville Dianne and I made another pilgrimage to Mary's Antiques, Gifts and Beads on Pratt Avenue, which I wrote about in 2019. Dianne purchased a bunch of beads, of course, and I came away with the tin cannister seen below. Since I had never heard of the company, of course I had to investigate.

A Google search led me to a 2020 blog post by the "British Candy Connoisseur" who bought such a tin at an antique mall in Kansas in 2019. The piece includes magazine ads for the candy from the 1960's and 1970's offering the product as a means of fundraising by Boy Scouts, or similar groups. The "Connoisseur" could find little else on Verne Collier and requested any information readers might have.

I found little else myself; even the BhamWiki doesn't have an entry on the company. The Alabama business entity database maintained via the Secretary of State's office has a Verne Collier, Inc, listed in Cullman County, formed 1949, dissolved in 1981, and dealing in cosmetics.

I did locate ads such as the British Candy researcher found. Issues of Scouting and a Church of God monthly called Lighted Pathway carried ads for the company's products. As shown below, the company offered Gran-Ma's Vanilla or Lemon flavoring and Gran-Ma's Black Pepper in addition to the "Chocolettes". The black pepper ad even carried a photo of "Mrs. M. Wald, Birmingham, Alabama"--who was she? A satisfied customer? 

These ads are known to have appeared in these two magazines between 1964 and 1974. Ads appear in seven 1969 issues of Lighted Pathway published by the Pathway Press of the Church of God. The first ad promises earnings of "$60 to $600 CASH" but the other ads appearing that year reduced the potential back to "$50 to $500" as it was in the 1964 ad. Four ads appear in 1970 issues of Scouting.

What can these ads and the cannister itself tell us? The tin is 5 inches high, 4 in diameter and held 14 ounces of candy. The cannister top includes a zip code, 35203. Zip codes were introduced by the Post Office on July 1, 1963. Address in the ads is 900 No. 19th St, Birmingham. That location appears to be a parking lot today. The top of the can gives a full ingredients list for the "Chocolettes" and also a public health permit code. 

The British Candy Connoisseur speculated that the main business of Verne Collier, Inc., was to sell products to various organizations that could resell them at a profit. That may be the case, since the company left few footprints...

As seen below, Verne Collier appeared in the Birmingham Yellow Pages in 1961 and 1963. Further research may determine total years the company operated. If you have information about this Verne Collier company, please leave it in the comment section!

Source: Scouting, April 1964

Source: Lighted Pathway February1969, page 21

Source: Lighted Pathway, June 1969, page 19

A very similar ad appeared in Scouting Nov-Dec 1974, page 36

Source: Lighted Pathway July 1969, page 17

Source: Birmingham Yellow Pages May 1963

Source: Birmingham Yellow Pages June 1961

The city seems to have been well supplied with retail, wholesale and manufacturing candy businesses in 1945, but no Verne Collier

Source: Birmingham Yellow Pages 1945

Birmingham Photo of the Day [83]: Southern & Athletic Clubs in 1908

An interesting book related to early Birmingham is the 1908 publication Views of Birmingham. Its full title gives a hint of its purpose: Views of Birmingham, Alabama with a Glimpse at some of the Natural Resources of the Birmingham District and the Industries Based thereon. The 64 page book has pages of photos devoted to various buildings such as Union Station, Masonic Temple and St. Vincent Hospital;  street scenes like "Third Avenue at Night", the city water works and various impressive mansions. The publisher was Isidore Newman and Son, bankers in New York and New Orleans. Newman was the owner of street railways in Birmingham and other cities, so this was a natural promotional effort.

I've done blog posts with some details on several of these photos, such as the Morris Hotel, Powell School, the U.S. Weather Bureau building, the Birmingham Water Works Shades Mountain filtration plant and two of the mansions in Glen Iris Park. This one continues that series.

The Views photograph below shows the buildings of two organizations, the Southern and Birmingham Athletic Clubs. The Southern was a private gentleman's club founded as the Komus Club in 1886. This building opened in 1901; the BhamWiki entry has a photo of the club's interior. The organization folded in 1931 during the Great Depression. The Birmingham Red Cross occupied the building from 1943 until 1967, when it was demolished. The AmSouth-Sonat building was constructed on the site. 

Founded in 1886, the Birmingham Athletic Club opened the three story building shown in 1903. The interior, which included a basement, featured everything from a rifle range and bowling alley to a gymnasium and library. In 1892 the BAC put together a football team, and played the new University of Alabama team on November 12 at Lakeview Park. Alabama managed one 4-point touchdown, but BAC founder Joseph Ross kicked a 65-yard, 5-point field goal for the win. Scoring for U.S. football was a bit different at that time. 

In 1925 the BAC constructed a ten story headquarters elsewhere and sold this building to a local Ku Klux Klan organization. The Klan never occupied it and sold it to the YMCA. Later tenants included the YWCA and the Dixie-Carlton Hotel. The structure was demolished in 1955 for a parking lot. 

You can download a PDF of this book at the Internet Archive. A Flickr site has all the pages. 

Below I've included another photo from 1906 and a color postcard of these two buildings. 

Source: BhamWiki

Detroit Publishing Company, ca. 1906

Source: Library of Congress

Color postcard, ca. 1930

SOURCE: Troy University Libraries via Alabama Mosaic

Silent Filmmaking in the Birmingham Area, Part 6: Homegrown Silents (2)

Over the years [after all, this blog goes back to 2014] I've written a number of pieces here about the Alabama connections to various silent films. One group, which includes this post, covers silents made in the Birmingham area. I've also written a number of items about actors and actresses from Alabama--such as Johnny Mack Brown, Lois Wilson and Dorothy Sebastian--who starred in silent films. Finally, I've done a few posts about silent films such as One Clear Call and Right of the Strongest based on a work by a state novelist or having some other connection. 

In this post I'm returning to the theme of "homegrown silents" that I covered in the fifth part. Films included in parts one through four originated with companies outside the state who came to the Birmingham area to film. However, in part five and now part six I've written about the Birmingham Amateur Movie Association  and its filmmaking efforts. In part five I also discussed two other local productions, Things You Ought to Know About Birmingham and The Love Beat. Since that post I've learned nothing more about them.   

Below I've included again two newspaper articles about the group I also used in part five. The BAMA originated in a meeting of over fifty people who met in the auditorium of the Birmingham Public Library on Friday night, August 3, 1928. At that meeting committees were established and membership determined, and the group watched The Nolfolk Case, made by a similar organization in New Haven,  Connecticut. The local organization had already joined the Amateur Cinema League of America based in New York City. The League, founded on July 28, 1926, existed until 1954. Publication of their journal, Movie Makers, began in December 1926. 

Officers elected at the first meeting:

Jack London, President
Louise O. Charlton, Director
E.C. Krug, Vice-President
J. Mont Thomas, Secretary
John E. Roberts, Treasurer

Committees/members

Scenario

Harry Garrett, Chair
Mrs. W.H. Yenni
Howard Parish

Membership

Mrs. Erwin Caldwell, Chair
Robert Bromberg
Mrs. J. Martin-Smith, Jr.

Constitution/By-Laws

David R. Solomon, Chair
Mrs. Priestly Toulman, Jr. 
Mrs. Howard Parish

Technical

C.L. Engle, Chair
John Roberts
Erwin Caldwell

Several films were either completed or mentioned in the items below.

What Price Pearls [1929, 16mm]
Trustworthy [1929, 35mm]
The World, the Flesh and Mercedes [1929?]
Man Shy [1929?]

Trustworthy, the story of a boy and his "gang", starred Donald Clayton, Edward Wilken, and Mrs. W.I. Woodcock. Movie Maker magazine, as noted below from its March 1929 issue, described The World, the Flesh and Mercedes as the group's completed "current production" and all that remained was work on the title cards. The November 1928 issue had stated the group's first production would be Man Shy, with a script by Mrs. W.H. Yenni based on a short story "Personally Abducted" by David R. Solomon. I have yet to reconcile these conflicting bits of information. 

Solomon's story had been published in The Designer and the Woman's Magazine in February 1925. In fact, he published a number of stories in various magazines between 1917 and 1934. His story "Fear" appeared in the very first issue of the legendary Weird Tales magazine. That March 1923 publication can be read here. The cover of that issue features "Ooze" by Anthony M. Rud, "the extraordinary novelette" and "the tale of a thousand thrills" which is set in Alabama. I'll be posting about that state connection in the future. 

I have found a bit of information about two individuals named above. Perhaps one day I can research the others. "Jack London", the President, was actually John London III, the son of John and Edith Ward London. Birmingham Public Library has a collection of her papers, and the online description notes that Edith was also active in the BAMA, "for which she wrote movie scripts." Hmmm...

David Rosenbaum Solomon was a Mississippi native, born in Meridian on July 9, 1893. His mother Fanny was also a native of the state, and father Samuel was born in Poland. Solomon finished both his bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Mississippi, the latter in 1918. He practiced for about a year and a half in Meridian, then served as a second lieutenant in a field artillery unit in World War I. Afterward he joined the firm of Leader and Ewing in Birmingham. He married Madeline Hirshfield on November 1, 1920, and died on November 15, 1951, at the age of 58. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

These details about Solomon were gathered from several different databases at Ancestry.com I imagine searching there would yield information about many of the people named above. Some serious research at Birmingham Public Library should also turn up more about BAMA and its activities. Perhaps one day...

Beyond these articles, I have yet to discover any information about the films named, either BAMA's or the other two local productions. Perhaps one day...

Birmingham News 4 Aug 1928 via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Birmingham News 14 July 1929 via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Movie Makers March 1929 p. 192

Movie Makers November 1928, p. 717

UAB Football in 1991 & 1992

On the way to its recent success the UAB football program has had some ups and downs. The Wikipedia entry will give you the basic facts. This blog post looks back at the team's two years at the NCAA Division III level in 1991 and 1992. Why am I doing that? Well, in some recent cleaning out I came across the two flyers and a ticket stub included below.

The program began with two years of club football in 1989 and 1990. In 1991 the university upgraded the program to Division III and Jim Hilyer was hired as head coach beginning that fall. He led the team for two years in Division III and two in I-AA; Watson Brown became head coach in 1995. 

Hilyer had played four years as offensive guard and linebacker at Stetson University. He was an assistant coach at the pro and college level for Mississippi State and Auburn [twice!] and the Washington Redskins and Birmingham Stallions. At UAB, his only head coaching post, he had a record of 27-12-2. Hilyer passed away in January of this year. 

My son Amos and I saw a couple of UAB's games in those Division III days. As you can see from the ticket stub below, we attended the October 12, 1991, contest with Lindenwood University played at Legion Field. Lindenwood, located in St. Charles, Missouri, had just begun football the previous year and played as an independent until 1996 when they joined the NAIA. The team began playing in the NCAA in 2012. The game ended in a 17-17 tie. UAB finished that first season with a 4-3-2 record; you can see the scores here. 

I've yet to find any ticket stub in my vast collection, but we also attended a game during the 1992 season. The opponent was Gallaudet University and the September 12 game was played at Lawson Field. We were among the crowd of more than 5300 people who watched UAB win 44-6. The Blazers finished that season with a 7-3 record. 

The game had an extra dimension not often seen--or heard--at football games. Gallaudet is a private school in Washington, D.C., that serves deaf and hard of hearing students. At the game we attended, a big drum on the sidelines sent signals to the team on the field. 

Gallaudet has been playing football since 1883. Interestingly, the huddle originated at the school. In the 1890's quarterback Paul D. Hubbard came up with the idea as a way to hide hand signals from opposing teams. 

Amos and I attended this Blazer win over Gallaudet played at Lawson Field. 

These buildings, now demolished, served as UAB football administrative offices for many years. 

Birmingham Photos of the Day [82]: Judy Garland in 1961

Judy Garland [1922-1969] is one of the most famous American entertainers of the 20th century and remains well known today. Her performance as Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz is alone enough to ensure her immortality in popular culture. Yet from her days as a child appearing with two older sisters in a vaudeville act until her death at 47 in 1969, her life was filled with many other achievements. She acted and sang in musical films and acted in dramatic ones; she was nominated for Academy Awards in each genre. She released both studio and live recording albums and was the first woman to win a Grammy for Album of the Year. Later in life she had a weekly television show and toured concert stages extensively. That brings us to the subject of this blog post.

From 1960 until 1965 Garland appeared in Europe, Canada and the United States in numerous concerts. These venues ranged from the Palladium in London to Carnegie Hall in New York. On April 11, 1961, she performed at Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama. 

The concert was sponsored by the Birmingham Music Club, which is "the oldest cultural arts group" in the city according to their web site. Founded in 1905, the group formed the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in 1933. On April 8 she had appeared in Washington, D.C., and then on April 13 in Atlanta. 

The two photographs included here show Garland arriving in the city by train and getting into a waiting car. Both were taken by Anthony Falletta for the Birmingham News. I wonder if others exist. I imagine the concert was reviewed in the local newspapers; perhaps I'll research that one day.

Twelve days after the concert in Birmingham, Garland made her legendary Carnegie Hall performance, which has been called by some "the greatest night in show business history." A double album of the concert won five Grammy Awards, including the aforementioned Album of the Year as well as Female Vocal of the Year. Judy at Carnegie Hall spent 95 weeks on the Billboard chart, 13 at number one. 

Unfortunately, Judy Garland's storied life came to a sad and early end. Plagued all her life with health, financial, substance and relationship problems, she died of a barbiturate overdose in London on June 22, 1969. I wonder if anyone who attended her Birmingham concert is still alive to remember it. 

Garland has another connection to Birmingham. As the Wikipedia article about her notes: 

On September 16, 1963, Garland – along with daughter Liza, Carolyn Jones, June Allyson, and Allyson's daughter Pam Powell – held a press conference to highlight and protest the recent bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that resulted in the death of four young African American girls. They expressed their shock at the events and requested funds for the families of the victims. Pam Powell and Liza Minnelli both announced their intention to attend the funeral of the victims during the press conference.^[130][131]

In these photos, Garland arrives in Birmingham on April 11, 1961

Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History

Source:  Alabama Department of Archives and History

Birmingham Photos of the Day (81): Alabama Boys Industrial School

As the Encyclopedia of Alabama notes, "The Alabama Boys Industrial School was founded in Birmingham in 1899 by social reformer Elizabeth Johnston. It was one of several private group homes established to house juvenile offenders in the state. It remained in operation until 1974, when it was taken over by the Alabama Department of Youth Services." The Department continues to operate the facility as its Vacca campus. You can see an early photograph of the campus buildings at the end of this post. The BhamWiki site has a different photograph from 1910. 

The school opened on the former George Roebuck plantation at Roebuck Spring. Johnston led a committee of the Alabama Federation of Women's Clubs that successfully lobbied the state legislature to fund a facility to remove young boys from the convict lease system and provide remedial education. About a decade after opening a new building replaced the school's original log cabin. 

Johnston lived on campus as head of the school until her death in 1934. The state provided a stipend for each boy; by early 1918 residents numbered almost 400. The students grew their own produce and operated a diary, and issued a regular publication on the school's printing press. The local Rotary Club provided instruments and uniforms for the brass band which became well known [see below]. 

Elizabeth Johnston 

She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981; she and actress Tallulah Bankhead were the only inductees that year. For more information, see her entry linked below. 

Source: Alabama Women's Hall of Fame

Dormitory at the school sometime before 1929

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

In August 2017 I posted an item about a 1924 visit John Philip Sousa made to Birmingham and included the following paragraphs related to the Industrial School: 

On February 18, 1924, this photograph was taken in front of the Cathedral Church of the Advent at the corner of 6th Avenue North and 20th Street North in Birmingham. Front and center is John Philip Sousa; to his left is Eugene C. Jordan, leader of the band standing around them. Could the woman be Sousa's wife Jane? She lived until 1944.  

The young boys surrounding them are members of the band of the Alabama Boys Industrial School, a reformatory chartered in February 1899 and located in the Roebuck area of Birmingham. The facility still exists; in 1975 it became the Vacca Campus of the Alabama Department of Youth Services. Who is the young girl dressed in a similar uniform?

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History

Two photos from the infirmary sometime before 1929

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

The campus and buildings of the school

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

Odetta and "The Hanging of Aaron Gibbs"

I've written on this blog about singer and Birmingham native Odetta Holmes [1930-2008], who became known by her first name only. You can read about her life and long career in that post. As Odetta she toured the world singing blues, jazz, spirituals and folk songs and was a prominent figure in the American civil rights movement of the 1960's. She was also the first performer to record an entire album of Bob Dylan covers.

In addition to the music career, Odetta acted in a few films and tv shows. Her films included the 1961 Sanctuary based on the William Faulkner novel and the 1974 television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman based on the Ernest J. Gaines novel. Recently I happened to watch her appearance on an episode of the western tv series, Have Gun Will Travel first broadcast on the CBS network on November 4, 1961.  

That show was one of a number of successful "adult westerns" that filled U.S. TV screens in the 1950's and 1960's. Starring Richard Boone as Paladin, a gun for hire based in San Francisco, the program ran for 225 episodes from November  1957 until April 1963. I came across a couple of commentators on this episode who declared it to be one of the series' best, and I agree.

As "The Hanging of Aaron Gibbs" opens, Paladin is headed home across the lonely prairie when he encounters Sarah Gibbs [Odetta] singing to her dying horse. She tells him she is headed to a mine, where her husband Aaron is about to be hanged for his supposed involvement in the death of another worker. Sarah is afraid she won't be able to talk with her husband, and Paladin--being a renowned knight of the west as he is--goes to the mine with her. She just wants to see Aaron one last time and collect his body for their son to bury. 

They encounter a crowd as hostile to them as it is to Sarah's husband. I won't tell you how the episode ends; I urge you to seek it out for yourself. I will say that Paladin works his usual negotiating magic in a very quiet, understated story that features a wonderful performance from Odetta. 

So how did the singer end up in this role? A commentator at the IMDB  "roycevenuter" covered that [although he cited no source]: 

"Peggy Rea, who played many roles over the years in this series, was also one of many acting students of Richard Boone in his Brentwood Market School for Actors. It was she who knew someone who knew Odetta, reached her in Boston, whereupon, Odetta contacted the production company and requested the part. The crew was filming in Bend, Oregon; and, prior to the hiring of Odetta, there had been considerable tension in the community until Odetta arrived; then, everyone calmed down and became quite focused."

Peggy Rea is also in this episode. Another minor cast member is Hal Needham, who began his long Hollywood career as Boone's stunt double on this series. Needham worked as an actor, stunt man and director well into the 1990's. Among his best known films as director are several with Burt Reynolds, including Smokey and the Bandit. Sarah's husband Aaron is played by Rupert Crosse, who in 1969 became the first African-American nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for The Reivers. 

The episode's script was written by Robert E. Thompson. He wrote 19 episodes for the show, but that was only a fraction of his output in Hollywood. He wrote numerous other scripts for shows such as Wagon Train, Bonanza, and Mission: Impossible as well as made-for-TV films. He also wrote the script for a theatrical film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? that won him an Academy Award nomination. Great film, by the way. 

Odetta performing at the Birmingham Municipal Auditorium
October 1965