Movies with Alabama Connections (3): The Fighting Kentuckian

This post might have been called "That Time John Wayne Saved Alabama" or at least the followers of Napolean who settled in the state early in the 19th century. The film can be described as one of Wayne's comedy westerns; after all, in 1818 the Alabama Territory was part of the young nation's wild west, now known as the Old Southwest. 

Before we get to this story of Wayne and the Bonapartists who came to the Alabama Territory, let's review a little real history. The myth of the "Vine and Olive Colony" was born in Albert Pickett's 1851 book, History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period. According to that telling, military noblemen were forced to leave France after the fall of Napolean and were offered land grants by Congress in the Alabama Territory near what is now Demopolis if they would grow grapes and olives. Soon broken by the effort in the wilderness, they and their families returned to France.

In his article on the topic in the Encyclopedia of Alabama, Rafe Blaufarb of Florida State University demonstrates most of that story to be somewhat less than accurate. None of the French settlers were noble and few were military; most were whites who had fled Haiti after the 1791 rebellion and settled in New Orleans and Philadelphia. Congress did grant some 92,000 acres and in August 1817 about 40 of the Philadelphia group left for Mobile. There were some 347 original grantees; only 150 or so ended up in Alabama. By the early 1830's most of those had left the state. Blaufarb's article [and the book he's written on the topic] gives great detail about the fascinating true story.

The site of these true and mythical tales, Marengo County, does have a Napoleonic legacy. The county name is taken from the site where Napolean's army defeated the Austrians in Italy in 1800. The name for the county seat, Linden, originated with Hohenlinden in Bavaria, where Napolean also defeated the Austrians.

The romanticized version of this story continued to be told and expanded by historians, novelists and Hollywood well into the 20th century. The Fighting Kentuckian, released in 1949, was thus a part of the traditional mythology and what Blaufarb terms "the lowest point of historical accuracy".

The film opens with a narration that outlines the romantic history of the French in the Alabama Territory in 1818. A year later, our hero, John Breen [John Wayne], is seen in downtown Mobile, where his unit of Kentucky militia are departing as they make their way home after the War of 1812. Since the Treaty of Ghent ending the war had been signed in December 1814, the Kentuckians were obviously taking their time marching back.

Also in Mobile on that day is the beautiful Fleurette DeMarchand [Vera Ralston], daughter of General Paul DeMarchand, one of the leaders of the French settlers. She has come from Demopolis to Mobile for a day of shopping in the big city. Judging from her outfit, certain merchants will no doubt be glad to see her.

Well, our hero John Breen wastes no time making time with the beautiful Fleurette. Members of Breen's unit are trying to find him to make sure he joins them, but he quickly commandeers the beautiful Fleurette's wagon and leads his comrades on a merry chase around Mobile. 

Our hero John Breen pursues the reluctant but beautiful Fleurette and in the process is caught up in the efforts of evil Americans to steal the land granted to the French settlers. After various adventures and struggles, Breen saves the day and marries the beautiful Fleurette. A full synopsis of this fascinating tale can be found on the Turner Classic Movies web site. 

I do want to comment on a few specifics. The film runs about 100 minutes and according to the Internet Movie Database was released on September 15, 1949. George Waggner wrote and directed the movie, which was filmed at Republic Pictures in Hollywood. Much of the film is set in Demopolis. 


Waggner directed a number of films in the 1930's and 1940's, including another Wayne film, Operation Pacific (1951). In the 1950's and 1960's he directed many episodes of numerous television series, including The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Batman. Why Waggner was interested in a pretty obscure aspect of early Alabama history is unknown.

Wayne's co-star Vera Ralston made this film in the middle of her acting career. A native of Prague, Czechoslovakia, she first came to prominence as a figure skater in the 1930's. Her meeting with Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Winter Olympics makes for an interesting story. She made 26 films between 1944 and 1958.

The set for downtown Mobile looks realistic enough for the period, but was probably used in Republic westerns as well. In scenes outside the city the landscape looks more like southern California than southern Alabama. 

Several well-known actors besides Wayne and Ralston appear in the film. Oliver Hardy makes a rare appearance without Stan Laurel and provides comic relief as the character Willie Payne.. A scene where Wayne and Hardy discuss surveying and attempt to do it in a field on the French land grant is pretty amusing. Another funny scene has Wayne and Oliver as part of a dance band pretending to play fiddles. Late in the film Wayne, Hardy and others are riding in the countryside and pass a sign that says "Catawba", the town that became the first state capital. And the film is worth watching just for the scene where Hardy explains to a French lady how to make corn pone. 

Film noir icon Marie Windsor appears as Ann Logan, mistress of one of the evil Americans. She gets to sing a song in one scene, or at least lip sync it. I've been unable to determine if that was really Marie singing. Later in the film Wayne declares, "You sing nice." Windsor tells Oliver Hardy at one point that "You're talking to a girl who learned to drink Alabama rum out of a jug." Before you die be sure and see a film Windsor made in 1952, The Narrow Margin. 

Character actor Paul Fix also has a significant role in this film. He appeared in over 100 movies and numerous television programs. He may be best remembered as the marshal in Chuck Connors' show The Rifleman. 

One character in The Fighting Kentuckian declares that "In another few months Alabama will become a state." Since that happened in December 1819, this film's events are ostensibly taking place in the summer and/or fall of 1819. They are really taking place in some fantasy land constructed by Albert Pickett, with help from the Great American Dream Factory. 

You can watch a trailer for the movie at Turner Classic Movies.

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Source: Wikipedia

Source: Showmen's Trade Review April-June 1949

Wayne and Ralston in Dakota in 1945

Source: Wikipedia

Thanksgivings Past in Alabama

In the United States Thanksgiving has been celebrated as a federal holiday since 1863 when Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise" to God. The holiday's roots are often traced to the Pilgrim's first harvest celebration and a presidential proclamation by George Washington.

Today Thanksgiving in America is largely a combination of family celebrations, football, and shopping, shopping, shopping. Below are some scenes and other materials from past Thanksgivings in Alabama. 

Muhammad Ali signs autographs at the Alabama State College homecoming in Montgomery on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1966. That same day the Turkey Day Classic football game between Alabama State and Tuskegee Institute was played. Ali was on a tour of colleges in the South.

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections
Many other photos from his visit are available there. 

Thanksgiving procession at the Central Alabama Agricultural School in Blountsville on November 24, 1904

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

Thanksgiving altar at the Church of the Ascension on Clanton Avenue in Montgomery in November 1961

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Bill Bates of Bates Farms presents Clyde the Turkey to Governor Don Siegelman for the traditional pardon, perhaps in 1999. Bates began his annual presentation in 1948.  

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

Martha Young [1862-1941] was an Alabama fiction author, poet and folklorist; she often wrote in African-American dialect. This typescript is dated around 1920 and probably meant for submission for publication. 

Although considered for decades as a negative characterization, "Uncle Tom" was originally a character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. He was intended to overturn the negative stereotypes of African-Americans in the minstrel shows of the period.  

Source: University of Alabama Digital Collections

Not all the news related to Thanksgiving in Alabama is positive or light-hearted. These units were probably still active after the Spanish-American War. Hostilities had ended in August but the peace treaty was not signed until December 10, 1898. 

Owingsville [KY] Outlook 1 December 1898

Source: Library of Congress Chronicling America Digital Collection

Birmimgham Photos of the Day (39): Ensley Furnaces in 1906

The two photos below show Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company's furnaces in Ensley around 1906. The company's complex at Ensley included furnaces, steel works and steel casting divisions, as well as a coke oven plant, cement works, and a pumping station at Village Creek. These massive operations, as well as employee housing, were known as the Ensley Works. The furnaces operated from 1888 until 1976. 

TCI, as the company came to be known, had been founded in 1852 as the Sewanee Mining Company. In 1907 they became U.S. Steel's primary southern subsidiary. The company's operations in the Birmingham area and elsewhere in the state made it one of Alabama's largest employers for decades.

Below the photos is a selection of pages from a book the company published in 1900. Included are a description of the Ensley Furnace Division and the book's title page and first page of the table of contents. The photo of the blowing engines at the furnaces is also from the book.

Source: Detroit Publishing Company via the U.S. Library of Congress Digital Collections [both photos]

Alabama Book Covers (6): Michael McDowell

During his brief lifetime, Michael McDowell was a prolific author. He was born June 1, 1950 in Enterprise, Alabama, and died on December 27, 1999. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard and a Ph.D. in English from Brandeis University. I'll be devoting a future post to the dissertation he wrote at Brandeis. Until his death he lived in both Massachusetts and Hollywood.

Under his own name and various pseudonyms McDowell wrote supernatural thrillers, mysteries and screenplays for films and television. He co-wrote the script for the film Beetlejuice and taught screenwriting for several years before his death.

Several of his novels, including The Amulet, The Elementals, and the six-volume Blackwater series are set in his native state. As you'll note below McDowell's work is currently enjoying something of a renaissance. His large collection of materials related to death was donated to Northwestern University.

You'll find some more covers at McDowell's Amazon page.

Michael McDowell [1950-1999]

Source: Wikipedia

The book covers above are from the McDowell page at Valancourt Books, which has brought several of his novels back into print in recent years. Valancourt is a small press devoted to rare, neglected and out-of-print fiction.

 

 

Source: Amazon



Birmingham's Magazine in 1916

Like most cities Birmingham has publicized itself in various ways over the decades. One of those methods has been via a magazine that explores the positive aspects of life in the city. Birmingham Magazine was published briefly before World War I. Another similar publication, Birmingham, began in 1918 but ceased during the Great Depression. In 1961 Chamber of Commerce revived that magazine; it is currently published by Birmingham News Multimedia. The BhamWiki.com articles linked in this paragraph sort out the details of the two publications.

Below are the cover and table of contents for the January 1916 issue of the original magazine. That issue had an impressive 72 pages. As we learn from the cover, the issue cost 10 cents and an annual subscription was $1.00. The cover announces "The Dawn of Prosperity" which is reinforced in the statement of purpose below. The editors also announce their intention to "give the people of Birmingham and elsewhere correct facts about Birmingham and Alabama, of which the people know so little." I suppose that declaration could easily be made today as well.   

Some of the articles listed in the table of contents deserve a close read, and I may cover them in future posts. Articles on the Panama Canal and the Birmingham area, concrete's contribution to civilization, good roads and highways and library news are to be expected in such a publication. But the issue also carried articles on women's suffrage and the convict lease system in Alabama. Those topics were controversial and not exactly typical chamber of commerce material.

The entire issue is available via the Birmingham Public Library at the link below.

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

A Visit to Brundidge, Alabama

This past July my brother Richard and I made one of our annual trips seeking Alabama and family history. This time we were in east central Alabama mainly around Brundidge and Camp Hill. We visited several other places I've already written about such as Smuteye, Union Springs and Aberfoil. I'll be doing future posts on Camp Hill and Tallassee. A decade or more ago mom and two of her sisters, Heth and Marjorie, made a similar trip to Brundidge and Camp Hill; some things have changed, others not so much.

Brundidge is a very nice little town in southeastern Pike County that bills itself as "Alabama's Own Antique City." The downtown area is filled with shops and galleries of all types; we enjoyed a respite from the late July heat in a pleasant coffee shop. Almost all the storefronts we saw were occupied by active businesses or other entities. The population in 2013 was estimated at just over 2000 people.  

My maternal grandmother Tempe Hilliard Flowers Shores was born in Brundidge and lived there until she left to attend Huntingdon College. Her parents Joseph and Mollie Flowers lived in Brundidge for many more years. After Tempe married future Methodist minister John Miller Shores, they and their children, including mom, often visited. My maternal great-grandfather ran a general store in town. 

Richard and I wanted to visit the house and store sites as well as the Brundidge City Cemetery where ancestors are buried. On the way out of town to seek another cemetery nearby, my brother and I passed the reason Brundidge seems to be doing so well: a massive Wal-Mart distribution center. 

Photos and more commentary are below. 

UPDATE 22 December 2021

 The Alabama Historical Commission recently designated historic districts in Brundidge, including the area where the Flowers' general store was located. See below for a more recent photo of the building today. 

The Brundidge City Cemetery is well kept these days and also was when mom and her sisters visited. 

Interestingly, there were two lines of Flowers living in Brundidge who were not related. Arthur Talmage Flowers was a member of the line we are not related to. The symbol above his name indicates he was a Mason. He married Vela, one of Tempe's younger sisters. Thus a Flowers married a Flowers. 

Here's the house where my grandmother Tempe Hilliard Flowers Shores was born and where mom and family visited many times.

Mom said she remembers playing around the big tree. The small house on the left is a more recent addition to the street.


The three photographs below from family collections show the house and barn in earlier decades.  

The barn no longer exists, but the house and its small addition to the left--done originally for a master bedroom with bath--look pretty much the same. My aunt Heth was born in the house. 

Tempe's parents, my great-grandparents Joseph and Mollie Flowers, are buried in the Brundidge City Cemetery. Their daughter Vela is buried close to them. 

The storefronts on this part of Brundidge's main street have remained much the same for many years. The far white building was my great-grandfather's general store. 

The general store is now the Brundidge Police Department headquarters. Richard and I went inside and explained our interest to the two young people working there on a Saturday morning. 

Here's a closer view of the storefront. Next door is a law office. Mom said when she and her sisters visited a liquor store occupied the site. She said her grandfather Joseph Flowers, a Methodist teetotaler, would have been horrified.

Mom remembers being taken to the store by "Papa" as a young girl, allowed to play there and take naps atop a stack of overalls. The pile was so high "Papa" had to put her up there and take her down. 

Photo below is a more recent one via Google Maps; the police station has moved and the space has become another general store of sorts. [22 December 2021 update]

The Masonic lodge is currently located on the main street. A.T. Flowers was probably a member of this lodge.

This Baptist church is located a few miles west of Brundidge near a place once known as Hilliards Crossroads. 

Many of our Flowers and Hilliard ancestors are buried in this cemetery behind the church.

This side of my family seems to have had several Masons; my grandfather John Miller Shores was also a member. Quay was our great-uncle, and Tempe Flowers Shores' younger brother. 

A Texas Ranger Born in Alabama: Dallas Stoudenmire

On the trip around east central Alabama that my brother and I made this past July, we detoured through the tiny community of Aberfoil in Bullock County. The first settlement and its post office date from the 1830's. The town may be named after Aberfoyle, Scotland, which is mentioned in Sir Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy. 

One of Aberfoil's claims to fame is that Dallas Stoudenmire was born there on December 11, 1845; he was one of nine children in the family of Lewis and Elizabeth Stoudenmire. I can hear you asking now--who was Dallas Stoudenmire? 

Oh, just a Confederate veteran, Texas Ranger, and town marshal of Socorro, New Mexico. After that, he became marshal in lawless El Paso, Texas, and cleaned the place up. He carried two pistols, had a deadly reputation and participated in more gunfights than better known contemporaries such as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. By the time of his death on September 18, 1882--in a gunfight, of course--he was Deputy U.S. Marshall for West Texas and the New Mexico Territory.

Stoudenmire can be found in the U.S. Census for 1860, listed as 14 years old with an incorrect birth year of 1846. The only other family members listed are his mother, age 46, and a brother and sister, both 9. They are living in western Pike County with the nearest post office as Helicon. What happened to the rest of the family is unknown. 

When the Civil War began Stoudenmire was just 15 but six feet tall, so he signed up. His true age was soon discovered, and he was discharged. Two more attempts to sign up and discharges followed, but he was finally allowed to serve in Company F of the 45th Alabama Infantry Regiment. By the end of the war he was 6'4" tall and had been wounded several times. He carried two of the bullets to his grave.

Like so many southerners after the war, Stoudenmire headed west. He ended up in the Texas Rangers for three years, may have spent several years in Mexico and then surfaced as that town marshal in New Mexico. By April 1881 he was in El Paso which led to his greatest fame and his downfall. Stoudenmire was apparently feared but not well-liked, and he made enemies. A feud with the Manning family resulted in a gunfight and Stoudenmire's death. The details can be found in the Wikipedia entry linked above and the two items listed in "Further Reading" at the end of this post. In 1882 Stoudenmire had married Isabella Sherrington; she died in 1921.

Dallas Stoudenmire

[December 11, 1845-September 18, 1882]

Source: Wikipedia

The historical marker below is near the junction of Highway 29 and County Road 31.

Sacramento Daily Record-Union  September 20, 1882

via Chronicling America

FURTHER READING

Cunningham, Eugene. Triggernometry: A Gallery of Gunfighters. 1934, various later printings and editions. Has a chapter on Stoudenmire

Metz, Leon. Dallas Stoudenmire: El Paso Marshal. University of Oklahoma Press, 1993

Stoudenmire is buried in Alleyton Cemetery, Colorado County, Texas 

Source: Find-A-Grave