Desires, Passion and Sin!

You know, you can find some interesting stuff in the advertisements in old newspapers. Even juicy stuff. Case in point: these three ads from 1940 and 1941 issues of the Gadsden Times. My grandmother Rosa Mae Wright saved numerous front pages from that paper during World War II and others for significant events in the 1950s and 1960s. Luckily she did not detach the front page, but kept the sheet attached to it--four pages of the daily paper. Sometimes she kept more. So there are lots of advertisements.

Naturally my attention was riveted by these three ads for movie showings at the Capitol Theatre. In the June 13, 2010, issue of the Times, local historian Mike Goodson published an article about city theaters, "Gadsden Goes to the Movies". He notes that the Capitol opened June 16, 1928, and gives other details about the features and conveniences of this latest addition to the Crescent Amusement Company chain based in Nashville. The first film shown was "The Gray Vulture" with Ken Maynard, one of Hollywood's biggest western stars of the day. 

However, we will not be discussing silent western movies in this post. No, these films fall into the exploitation category. The genre has appeared under different guises throughout film history. Such movies in the 1930s through the 1950s were sensationalist but presented themselves as educational. Thus normally taboo topics could be portrayed: unwed mothers, rape, abortion and venereal diseases were common topics.

Thus we come to the specific titles here. "No Greater Sin" was making "Positively the Only City Showing" according to the February 27, 1940 ad. In this one a city health official tries to stem the spread of syphilis in his town. Dr. Edward Cavanaugh is played by Leon Ames, one of several familiar acting faces in this film. Ames' career in films and television lasted from 1931 until 1986. He appeared in well-known movies such as 1946 original version of The Postman Always Rings Twice and served a term as president of the Screen Actors Guild. Other busy character actors here include Luana Walters [numerous film roles, many uncredited], Pamela Blake [lots of western films and serials], Guy Usher [more than 190 films 1932-1943] and Tristram Coffin [films & TV roles 1930s-1970s]. These actors and hundreds of others provided supporting and background roles in Hollywood productions ranging from big budget to exploitation. 

Also on that February 27 bill was Nude Ranch, "Direct from World's Fair" and featuring "Nudies, Beauties and Cuties." In smaller print is "Visit Sally Rand's Nude Ranch". The New York City World's Fair had opened in 1939 and ran in 1940 as well. In fact, my dad and his parents went to the Fair in August 1940. Sally Rand was a famous burlesque dancer, stripper and actress who also appeared at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. 

And you could see both of these films for only a quarter!

What Price Passion ran at the Capitol in June 1940. According to its listing in the TCM database it was released in January 1937 as Race Suicide. The cast is also made up of obscure working actors in a tale about the breaking up of an abortion racket, the "Unwarranted Maiming of Unwed Mothers." The best known name is probably Lloyd Ingraham, who in addition to his acting directed numerous silent films. This one also cost a quarter to see, and no one under 16 admitted.

The third ad promotes two films shown in August 1941. "Girls Get Up a Party" in Forbidden Desire showing with Half Way to Hell. Viewers only had to come up with twenty cents to see this pair. I've been unable to track down information on either of these titles. They might be included in Eric Schaefer's "Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!": A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959  ]Duke University Press, 1999]. 

Would you have expected films like these to appear in Gadsden, Alabama, in the early 1940s? 

Gadsden Times 27 February 1940

Source: Wikipedia

Gadsden Times 19 June 1940

Gadsden Times 22 August 1941

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.   

Gadsden Postcard: Forrest Cemetery Chapel

This postcard brings back some memories. My paternal grandparents, Amos J. and Rosa Mae Wright are buried in Forrest Cemetery, as well as Beulah Vee Wright, my dad's older sister I never met. In the late 1950s and early 1960s during the summers I would get to visit my grandparents in Gadsden for a couple of weeks. Amos was still working as yard foreman for L&N Railroad, so Rosa Mae would often take me to do things during the day before we picked him up at the railyard after work. One of those trips would be a visit to Forrest Cemetery to see Beulah Vee's grave. Since those days my grandparents have died and been buried beside their daughter. You can see gravestone photos below.

The first burial in Forrest Cemetery was Sallie Law Woodliff, a 1.5 year old child. She was the daughter of A.L. Woodliff who had selected the site and began clearing it with the help of his three sons. She died 13 Jul 1872. The chapel was built 1935-36 by the Works Progress Administration from sandstone quarried on Lookout Mountain. That chapel was named the Ruth R. Cross Memorial Chapel in 1960 after a woman who had devoted much time to the cemetery's care. Forrest Cemetery includes 40 acres and is located on South 15th Street in Gadsden.

The card with its "Tichnor Quality View" was published by the Franklin News Agency. Between July 1, 1919 and January 1, 1952, the postage rate for a U.S. postcard was a penny. Tichnor Brothers, Inc., of Boston operated from 1908 until 1987 and was a major publisher of postcards. I was unable to find anything on Franklin and am unsure what their role was. 

A brief history of the modern postcard at the Library of Congress site can be found here.

The rear of the chapel is visible in the distance in this photo.

We have other relatives buried in this cemetery. For instance, two of Rosa Mae's sisters, Stella Vinyard and Maude Wright, are interred there. 

Amos J. and Rosa Mae Wright, probably around the time of their wedding on 31 October 1915. 

Beulah V. Wright

Alfred Spielberg operated a photography studio in Gadsden. According to records at Ancestry.com, he died in 1967. 

Source: Find-A-Grave 

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. 

Some Family Photos Winter 1954

I've done a few posts on this blog exploring old family photographs. One included some photos taken at the Chandler Street house years after my toddler pictures below. I've also written one about a family vacation at the beach in 1956 and a group of family photos from the 1960s. 

Now we come to some examples from the winter of 1954. I turned two that March 3. Most of these photos were taken at my paternal grandparents' house at 1313 Chandler Street in Gadsden. We lived in Huntsville but visited Rosa Mae and Amos Wright numerous times over the years. 

My family is blessed--or cursed--with hundreds of photographs old and new. I'm sure I'll be exploring more subjects in the future. 

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

I was always looking at rocks or sticks. 

I don't seem quite as happy here as in the first photograph.

Here I am with dad, Amos J. Wright, Jr. He probably took most of these photos, but presumably my grandfather took this one.

I presume that photographer's shadow is dad's. Someone else standing to the right? 

Look, dad, a shadow!

Prepare to get wet, dad!

My grandmother Rosa Mae Wright died in January 1997, shortly before her 97th birthday. My grandfather Amos J. Wright, Sr., had died in 1975. These color photos were taken the day in 1997 when my brother Richard and I came to get the final items out of the house. 

Here's the back yard where we all spent so much time over the years.

Richard is standing in the driveway close to where I was standing--or sitting--in some of those photos above 43 years earlier. 

Here I am as a young sprout between my paternal grandparents, Amos Jasper Wright, Sr., and Rosa Mae Wright. I'm not sure where this photo was taken but I'm looking pretty young here; I was born in March 1952. You can see my grandparents in 1918 in this post about my grandfather's World War I training in Auburn. 

Last Streetcar Run in Gadsden in 1934

Once upon a time many cities of any size ran a form of transportation called street cars, also known as trolleys or as trams in Europe. You may have heard of them. Once ubiquitous, street cars have largely disappeared from North America. Toronto still operates its extensive line, and a few other cities operate smaller ones or lines meant largely for tourists. The only one I've ever ridden is the St. Charles Streetcar Line in New Orleans, which opened in 1835 and is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. 

I was roaming through Samford University's digital collections recently and came across the photograph below documenting the last streetcar run in Gadsden. A little more research turned up two newspaper articles giving some details here and here and written by local historians Danny Crownover and Mike Goodson. 

Crownover's piece notes that electric streetcars had begun in the Gadsden area in the 1890s; in an earlier article he traced the history of horse-drawn and steam locomotive lines. The photograph below was taken on the final run along the Cansler Avenue line from the Republic Steel plant, stopping at Fourth and Broad Streets. The date was January 23, 1934; the article includes the names of the last crew and passengers.

That same car had made the final streetcar runs earlier on lines in Tuscumbia, Florence and Sheffield. The next morning, Crescent Motors, Inc., began operating five buses in the Gadsden and Atalla area. 

Source: Samford University Library, Special Collection

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest: A List

 In July 2016 I wrote a series of five blog posts about a cedar chest full of personal items belonging to my paternal aunt Beulah Vee Wright. She died in 1939 at the age of eighteen, so the items date from the 1920's and 1930's. She 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. The actual cedar chest and a small group of items remain in the family.

Below I've gathered links to all the blog posts and two images from each one. Part One gives a lengthy introduction.

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest, part 1

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest, part 2

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest, part 3

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest, part 4

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest, part 5 

The archives did not keep the dolls or the cradle [made by Beulah Vee's father, Amos Jasper Wright, Sr.]. They already have an extensive collection of dolls. 

Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest, Coda