Movies with Alabama Connections: Ocean's 11

Here we have another one of those blog posts examining a minor film appearance of something related to Alabama. This sort of thing is fun to do, and today's lesson pertains to the Frank Sinatra Ocean's 11 and not George Clooney's. I've seen the remake, but it's been a while and I don't think this Alabama connection made the cut. Someone correct me in the comments if needed.

Recently I just happened to catch ten minutes or so of the film [which I've seen several times] on TCM and low and behold that Alabama connection popped right up. I'd forgotten about it, so let's investigate. 

The original Ocean's 11 starred Frank Sinatra and four of his fellow "Rat Pack" members: Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis, Jr. Most of the film was shot in Las Vegas to give those guys something to do during the day before they took the stage for their casino shows each night. The story involves Danny Ocean [Sinatra] recruiting a group to rob five casinos simultaneously on New Year's Eve. Thrills and hilarity ensue before the final twist at the end. Angie Dickinson plays the ex-wife; Cesar Romero, Richard Conte and others fill out the supporting cast.

The state's big moment comes pretty early in the film. Danny runs into Beatrice, his ex, in the hotel, corners her in an elevator and  tells her, "I've got great news!" Beatrice, almost breaking into laughter, says "Auburn beat Alabama by twelve points." Danny, of course, has a bigger bet in mind. 

This appearance of the Iron Bowl in a major Hollywood production in 1960 must be one of the earliest such appearances by either school. In recent years Auburn University and its football team have numerous minor appearances in films and TV shows. There is of course the film A Love Song for Bobby Long in which two of the main characters are a former Auburn professor and a graduate student. Big Fish demonstrates some Auburn love. Auburn football games have appeared in the background of several TV shows and films. And because a production employee was an Auburn graduate, a school banner appeared for nine years on the wall of a bar often seen in the daytime serial General Hospital. 

I'll let an Alabama fan explore appearances of the Crimson Tide in such media. 

Jeremy Henderson of the War Eagle Reader blog, which tracks these things, explains the Ocean's 11 appearance by noting that when the film was made "Auburn was on top of the football world." That may be true as far as bookies were concerned, but would general members of the film's audience recognize the reference? After all, Auburn vs. Alabama was hardly a top college football rivalry at that time, and the first national telecast of an Iron Bowl did not take place until 1964. As far as I could determine, none of the story and screenplay writers on the film had any Alabama or Southern connections. 

No matter. We'll just take the reference and enjoy the film!

But wait, there's more!! Early in the film Sammy Davis, Jr., is talking about his career path after World War II and how he got into sanitation. The only baseball clubs available to him were "down South" and "can you imagine a one-eyed third baseman in Mobile?"

Wow, TWO #Alabama references in a Rat Pack movie!

Alabama Once Played 3 Football Games in a Day

Well, sort of. Let's investigate.

In 1931 the Alabama football team played its first season under new coach Frank Thomas and did well. The final record was 9-1; the only loss came on October 17 at Tennessee when the Tide was shut out 25-0. Thomas followed another Tide coaching legend, Wallace Wade. In 1930 Wade's final team went 10-0, winning the 1931 Rose Bowl and a share of the national championship. Almost all the starting players from Wade's last year were gone when Thomas took over.

Thomas coached at Alabama until 1946 and had great success. According to Wikipedia, "During his tenure at Alabama, Thomas amassed a record of 115–24–7 and won four Southeastern Conference titles while his teams allowed an average of just 6.3 points per game.^[2] Thomas's 1934 Alabama team completed a 10–0 season with a victory over Stanford in the Rose Bowl and was named national champion by a number of selectors."

After the last game of the 1931 regular season, Alabama played a charity game against Chattanooga at that team's Chamberlain Field. The purpose was to raise money for unemployment relief efforts during the Great Depression. Alabama won that game 39-0.

A week later on December 12 Alabama played another charity "game", but this one was a bit different. Here's what the Wikipedia entry says: 

"After the first charity game against Chattanooga, an all-star team of former Alabama players was assembled to compete in the second charity game [in the District of Columbia] to benefit the unemployed.^[30] The game was played at Griffith Stadium and featured three separate contests against George Washington, Catholic University and Georgetown.^[30][31]Each of the three games consisted of two, ten-minute halves, and because the Alabama team was playing three separate squads, the Crimson Tide was allowed to make unlimited substitutions.^[30]

"The players on the Alabama team were primarily from the current and 1930 team that captured the national championship, and were led by coach Thomas and assistant coach Hank Crisp.^[30] The players selected included: Dave Boykin, Herschel Caldwell, John Campbell, Joe Causey, C. B. "Foots" Clement, Edgar Dobbs, Jess Eberdt, Albert Elmore, Ellis Hagler, Frank Howard, Allison Hubert, Max Jackson, Leon Long, Ralph McRight, John Miller, Claude Perry, Clyde "Shorty" Propst, Joe Sharpe, Fred Sington, Ben Smith, Earl Smith, John Henry Suther, John Tucker and Jennings B. Whitworth.^[30]

"With all three played on December 12, Alabama faced George Washington in the first contest. Although the game ended in a 0–0 tie, Alabama had several long plays that included a pair of successive runs by John Campbell for 75 yards and a 55-yard passing play from Allison Hubert to Campbell.^[31] The Crimson Tide then defeated Catholic University in the second game 7–0. The only score of the game was set up after Leon Long intercepted a Catholic pass at their own 42-yard line. After five runs for 31 yards by Hubert and one by Herschel Caldwell for three yards, Long scored the game-winning touchdown on a three-yard run.^[31] In the final game, Alabama tied Georgetown 0–0 after Long intercepted a Hoyas pass in the end zone on a fourth-and-three play late in the second period.^[31]"

So, depending on how you look at it, the Crimson Tide played three games that day, or one game against three different opponents. Some of the coverage in a Washington, D.C. newspaper the day before the game can be seen below. Follow the link to read more. 

The headline writer seemed impressed by the "size of Alabama gridders."

Washington, D.C., Evening Star 11 December 1931

Griffith Stadium in the District of Columbia in 1960. The stadium was demolished in 1965, and Howard University Hospital now occupies the land.

Source: Wikipedia

"Theatre Guild on the Air" in Birmingham in 1947

In a couple of recent posts on this blog I've covered two world movie premiers that took place in Birmingham in 1947 and 1952. I've also done a blog post on Birmingham native and film star Mary Anderson. As noted in the article below, Anderson had returned to Birmingham in November 1947 for the world premier of her film Whispering City and a public appearance at Pizitz. The film premier benefited the Crippled Children's Clinic and was held at the Empire Theater on Third Avenue North.

I noticed some other interesting activities in this piece as well. Anderson had accepted a role in an episode of the "Theatre Guild on the Air" radio program to be broadcast from the city's Municipal Auditorium on November 23. She and other celebrities, including her co-star in that episode, Robert Mitchum, also accepted an invitation to watch the Crippled Children's Clinic football game played at Legion Field on Thanksgiving Day. Others who watched included sports broadcaster Harry Wismer and opera star Helen Jepson. Anderson then convinced her studio bosses to also have her new film's world premier in Birmingham.

Let's take a look at the football game and the radio production.

The web site of the Alabama High School Football Historical Society has a history of the "Crippled Children's Classic" game played annually at Legion Field for many years. The game started in 1935 as a contest between local college freshman teams, but by 1943 local high school teams played in the game. In 1947 Ramsey defeated Woodlawn 25-0. All proceeds went to support the clinic.

Founded in New York City in 1918, the Theatre Guild was an organization dedicated to the production of non-commercial plays. The Guild mounted over 200 productions and was a major player on Broadway into the 1970's. The group first tried radio in 1943-4, and on September 9, 1945 launched "Theatre Guild on the Air". The series continued on radio until June, 1953, when it moved to television. The radio version featured many famous plays and actors during its run. 

The hour-long episode broadcast in Birmingham that November evening was no. 94, "The Straw" written in 1922 by Eugene O'Neill. The story follows two characters during their stay at a tuberculosis sanitarium. 

Robert Mitchum returned to Alabama in August 1987 for a few days of filming aboard the USS Alabama for the TV miniseries War and Remembrance. 

According to a log of episodes, this one was Mitchum's only appearance in Theatre Guild on the Air. Anderson appeared in at least two other productions. Huntsville native Tallulah Bankhead also appeared in an episode broadcast in 1952.

Birmingham News 9 November 1947

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Robert Mitchum in July 1949

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Listal

Newlyweds at a 1950 Auburn Football Game

I recently came across the aerial shot below in one of the Auburn University Libraries digital collections. The photo of the Cliff Hare football stadium in 1950 with the homecoming game in progress grabbed my attention because my parents were living in Auburn at the time. Mom tells me they were probably at this homecoming game since they attended home football games regularly that fall.

Mom and dad had been married in September 1950 and returned to campus so dad could finish the final semester of his degree. The football team had a discouraging season that year under coach Earl Brown. In fact, Auburn did not score at all in seven games and lost that homecoming game 41-0 to #11 Clemson. The team finished 0-10. Brown was fired and Shug Jordan hired. Mom tells me about the only thing Auburn fans had to cheer about during the games that year were first downs. 

Of course, Auburn University was actually the Alabama Polytechnic Institute or API at this time, but mom said no one called it that. The school was known then and had been for a long time as "Auburn". Founded in 1856 as the East Alabama Male College, the school was renamed Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama in 1872 when it became the state's first land-grant university. 

In 1892 Auburn became the first four-year coeducational school in Alabama. Renamed API in 1899, that name held officially until 1960 when the change to Auburn University was finally made. AU is now one of the few American universities that has land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant research designations.

Today, the football stadium is a bit bigger.

Source: Auburn University Digital Library 

Action during the 1950 homecoming game

Source: Auburn University Digital Library

Source: Wright family scrapbook

Mom and dad pose at their wedding cake at the First Methodist Church in Haleyville on September 10, 1950. The town's other claim to fame is the nation's first 911 emergency service that began in February 1968. 

Old Alabama Stuff (8): The "Alabama Antelope" in "Football Thrills"

One of the football greats at the University of Alabama before World War II was Don Hutson. Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 1913, Hutson graduated from Alabama in 1934. Six different organizations named him first-team All-American after his senior year playing receiver, safety and kicker on the football team.

Hutson signed with the Green Bay Packers in 1935 and played eleven seasons of pro football. By the time he retired he held eighteen National Football League records and had created many of the routes used by receivers today. He is considered one of the greatest receivers in NFL history and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. 

Hutson is featured on four pages of the second issue of Football Thrills, a comic book that appeared in 1952. You can read those pages below. The entire comic can be found at the Comic Book Plus site if you also want a larger size and to read the stories about Bronco Nagurski or Casual Kazmaier.  

This comic book was supposedly edited by "Red" Grange, another football great known as the "Galloping Ghost." Grange played running back at the University of Illinois and for the Chicago Bears. He was a charter member of both the College and Pro football halls of fame. Be sure and read Grange's opening comments on Hutson.

Whatever happened to such great nicknames for football players? 

Football Thrills Issue #2, fall 1952

Don Hutson

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama/UA Bryant Museum

This issue also featured an ad for the exciting "Jim Prentice Electric Football" game!



A Brief History of Pelham High School Football

SEE updates at the end of this post.

            Supporters of football at Pelham High School were no doubt disappointed by the team’s 3-7 finish in the 2014 season. Yet that record has an historical connection; the school’s very first team also finished 3-7.

           Pelham High School opened in September 1974 and fielded its first football team two years later. The first game was played at Shelby County on Saturday, August 28. The schedule that year included several teams each from divisions 3A, 2A and 1A. Pelham’s three wins all came against 1A opponents: Maplesville, Thorsby and Verbena. The losses included a 35-6 one to a 1A team, Isabella. Pelham’s other lopsided losses that season were all to 3A teams: Shelby County, Childersburg and B.B. Comer.

            David Bailey was the head coach of that first team, and he coached three more seasons. His 1979 team finished 5-5, thus becoming Pelham High’s first team with a non-losing season. In his one year in 1980, head coach Steve Rivers’ team also went 5-5. Pelham did not have a winning season until a 6-4 campaign in 1986 in Billy Tohill’s fourth season as head coach.

            The school’s most successful coach has been Rick Rhoades from the 1996 through the 2000 seasons. He posted a 41-19 record and playoff appearances each year.

                Details of all Pelham High School football teams and many others around the state can be found on the Alabama High School Football Historical Society web site . A history of Pelham football through the 2022 season by David Parker is available on Amazon. 

UPDATE December 12, 2017: Pelham High School football team finished the 2017 regular season 5-5 and lost 49-14 to Spanish Fort in the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoff. Nevertheless, the team improved greatly in coach Tim Causey's third year. In 2015 the team went 1-9 and 2-8 in 2016. Pelham football's all-time record through 2017 is 203-239-0.

UPDATE December 4, 2018: Improvement continued this season as the team finished the regular season 7-3. The Panthers did lose to Hartselle 35-7 in the first round of the playoffs. The season was the first winning one since 2013 and their first seven win season since 2013. 

UPDATE August 30, 2019: At a game against Bibb County Pelham honored 1988 graduate and head football coach at Clemson Dabo Swinney. 

UPDATE November 1, 2019: Pelham finished the season at 3-7, but managed to win three of its last four games. 

UPDATE November 12, 2020: Pelham finished the season with a final record of 8-3. The season ended with the team at 8-2 with losses to Oak Mountain by seven points and Homewood by two points. The team was 6-0 in region play and won the region title for the first time since 2006 and only the third in school history. In the first round of the state playoffs Pelham lost 23-21 to Lee-Montgomery. In the final regular season standings Pelham was ranked #11, just six points behind Eufaula. 

UPDATE November 8, 2021:  Pelham finished the regular season with a 7-3 record, which included a final game win over Homewood 10-7. Pelham won it's last four games,  and that last win on October 28 was the first one over Homewood in eight years. Pelham lost in the first round of the state playoffs, 20-6 to McGill-Toolen.

UPDATE February 20, 2022: On February 11 Head Coach Tom Causey, who had coached the Panthers for seven seasons and was a head coach in Alabama since 2000, announced his retirement. Details are here. 

UPDATE February 20, 2023: Pelham made the 6A playoffs in the 2022 season and won its first round game over Northridge 44-14. That was Pelham's first playoff win since 2006. The team lost in the second round to St. Pauls, 38-7. Pelham had finished the regular season with a 5-5 record under first year coach Mike Vickery.