Dr. Mastin of Mobile Tours the World in 1901

Reading old newspapers often turns up fascinating material. I was recently wandering around in the Library of Congress digital collection Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers for another project unrelated to Alabama history and found the long article below. The piece appeared in the St. Paul Globe in Minnesota on July 21, 1901. Given the nature of the article, it probably appeared in other papers around the country. 

Wondering who these surgeons were, I skimmed the first paragraph and found "Dr. Mastin of Mobile, Ala." as one of the four. The travelers intended to visit and conduct clinics in Berlin, Moscow, Siberia, Korea and Japan. Some hunting and fishing would be included en route to Siberia. Interestingly, Mastin is mentioned in the article only that one time.

At first I thought this Dr. Mastin might be Claudius Henry Mastin, Sr. [1826-1898], with whom I am somewhat familiar. However, a check of my file on him quickly alerted me that although he had practiced in Mobile, he had also died three years earlier.

The Dr. Mastin mentioned in this article must be his son, Claudius Henry Mastin, Jr., who died in August 1925. Like his father he practiced in Mobile as well. Both men are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville. The elder Mastin received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1849; his son from the same institution in 1884.

I wonder if young Dr. Mastin received his invitation to this trip based on his father's renown. After Confederate service in the Civil War, the older man spent decades participating in various medical organizations, publishing numerous articles and even invented several surgical instruments in addition to his clinical practice. I really need to do a blog post about him one day.

Movies with Alabama Connections (4): Lifeboat

I saw this Hitchcock film again recently, and thought I would include it in this series of blog posts. The presence of two Alabama natives who became well-known actresses for several decades seemed connection enough. I enjoyed the film as much this time as I have previous viewings.

Despite her fame as both an actress and a personality over many decades, Huntsville native Tallulah Bankhead made few movies. She had a spectacular career on stage both in New York City and London. She expanded her reach on radio and late in her career on television. Although she made films as early as 1918 and as late as 1966, her best known one is the 1944 Lifeboat.   

That film has several notable features. The entire setting is the titular lifeboat in the North Atlantic during World War II. The boat's passengers are mostly survivors of a merchant marine ship with civilians aboard that sank in a naval battle. They are soon joined by a seaman from the German U-boat that also sank. The film is a fascinating juxtaposition of efforts at survival and passionate moral debate.

Tallulah plays a well known journalist and manages to look spectacular throughout most of her time at sea. In addition to Bankhead, the cast includes John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, William Bendix and Hume Cronyn--four actors who had significant careers in Hollywood and beyond. Novelist John Steinbeck wrote the film's story. Hitchcock makes his usual cameo in a very funny way that I won't spoil for those who haven't seen the movie. 

Birmingham native Mary Anderson plays the other female in the boat. She grew up in the city and attended Howard College before embarking on her acting career. Born in 1918, she died in April 2014 age 96. In addition to Lifeboat, she appeared in Gone with the Wind and numerous other films and television roles. Her brother James was also an actor; he appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird. 

I plan to do a more extensive post on Mary Anderson in the series on Alabama film actresses before 1960.   

Tallulah Bankhead [1902-1968] in 1941

Source: Wikipedia

Anderson with actor Charles Russell in Behind Green Lights (1946)

Source: Wikipedia

Adventures at the Smokey Hollow Restaurant in Jemison

One of the places Dianne and I visit from time to time is Petals from the Past in Jemison. She's the gardener, but the business does feature "heirloom" and "antique" plants, so there's some natural history there. Recently they have begun specializing in plants native to and once common in Alabama and the South. To get there, take the Jemison exit at Chilton County 42, go west, and turn left at County 29. Drive a couple of miles and Petals will be on your left.

However, the best part of such a trip is a stop for breakfast, lunch or supper at the Smokey Hollow Restaurant. You can't miss it; the place is on the right where you turn left to go to Petals. Nothing fancy there, just good food and lots of it. We've eaten there many times in recent years and never been disappointed. The interior has a neat decor; the photo below only gives a taste of the interesting signs and posters all over the walls.

I do have one funny story to tell about the place. One Sunday afternoon back in September, on our way to a talk on native plants at Petals from the Past, we stopped in for lunch. We had been seated for a few minutes when an older gentleman in overalls, ball cap and several days growth of beard came in alone and sat in the booth behind Dianne. Soon the young lady who had been waiting on us went up to him and asked what he wanted.

He wanted a steak, and he wanted the waitress to bring the meat out for him to examine before it was cooked. "Sir," the waitress protested, "I can't bring raw meat out here." He didn't miss a beat. "You go back there and tell so-and-so [he gave the cook's first name] and tell him so-and-so [he gave his own name] is out here and wants to look at his meat." 

The poor waitress, who must have been new enough not to have dealt with this customer before, dutifully went to the back and soon brought out a steak wrapped in butcher paper to show him. He approved. She asked how he wanted it cooked. "Almost that raw," he replied. 

I wonder if Highland's Bar & Grill has customers like that.

The town of Jemison had about 2500 people in 2010. You can read about its history, much of it involving the state's early railroads, here. Jemison was incorporated in 1907. 

This photo of Smokey Hollow Restaurant and the one below are courtesy of TripAdvisor

Some of the decor is superb. 

What's Coming to the Blog in 2016??

On January 1, 2015, I posted a document with a similar title. Here I am again one year later doing more or less the same thing.

First, let's take a look at last year's list, which you can also find below. I've actually posted blogs on a couple of the topics I intended to do. In February I covered the film The Lawless Breed and its connections to Alabama. Two more postings in that series followed during the year and more are in the pipeline.

I also started the series on film actresses from Alabama before 1960 and have posted on Lois Wilson and Gail Patrick. Dorothy Sebastian is next and others will follow. 

And that's it. All the other topics I listed a year ago have yet to appear on this blog. What can I say? I'm easily distracted. Don't worry; they are all still in that mythical pipeline and some may even pop up in 2016. I also have many other topics "coming soon":


-What was America's first female detective doing in Montgomery before the Civil War?  

-Some old Alabama postcards and the messages they send to us

-Some Alabama medical ads in 1911

-Augustus Thomas' 1891 play "Alabama"


Of course, the various series such as "Alabama Book Covers", "Old Alabama Stuff", "Birmingham Photos of the Day" and so on will continue. And other topics will surely pop up that I don't even see coming at me yet. Isn't this fun?

And as granddad still used to say, "See you in the funny papers." You do know what funny papers are, don't you? 

What's Coming to the Blog in 2015??

People will be born, people will die. People will fall in love, get married, fall out of love, get divorced--wait, wrong list!

What's in store for THIS BLOG in 2015? Maybe I can get more specific with that one.

I began this blog in March 2014 and by the end of the year I'd put up 95 postings. Crazy. Topics ranged from old books to silent movies to old photos to abandoned drive-ins to a giant frog in Mobile. Oh, and Alabama Pizza Pasta in London. All of it related in some way to Alabama history. Mostly.

This year the onslaught of random quirkiness will continue:

-What's the Alabama connection in Rock Hudson's 1953 film The Lawless Breed?

-Who were some well-known movie actresses from Alabama--besides Tallulah Bankhead--long before Kate Jackson, Louise Fletcher, Courtney Cox and Kim Dickens?

-What three famous film directors have Birmingham connections?

-Who were all those photographers criss-crossing Alabama for the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s?

-Who were three female writers from Alabama whose first names began with Z?

-Who was Ambrose Bierce and why did he come to Alabama in the 1860's?

-What kind of career has train robber Railroad Bill had in blues and folk music?

-Will the madness ever end?

As my grandfather used to say, "See you in the funny papers."

Birmingham Photo of the Day (41): Two Hats

You never know what you'll find when you start roaming around in the archives, whether physical or digital.

I found the photo below in the Alabama Department of Archives Digital Collections. The description proclaims "Two unidentified women in Birmingham, Alabama" and gives the date range as 1900-1909, probably based on their dress. Those magnificent hats!

The Archives' listing identifies the photography studio as Up-To-Date Photo Company in Birmingham; that information is probably on the back. So far I've found no information on the firm.

Who are these women? Perhaps mother and daughter?



Alabama Book Covers (7): Stephen Gresham

Back in the dim past of the 1970's I worked for several years at Draughon Library on the Auburn University campus. How we met is lost in the mists of time, but at some point I did meet a young English professor named Stephen Gresham. We spent significant time in the break room at the library discussing the possible supernatural or extraterrestrial overtones of such things as cattle mutilations. He was from Kansas and had a bit of personal experience with such matters, as I remember.

By the time I left Auburn in 1980, Dr. Gresham had begun writing fiction and has continued to do so ever since. Today he has retired from the English Department and has become well-known for his suspense, horror and young adult novels and stories written under his own name and two pseudonyms. 

He continues to live in Auburn. Below are covers from a few of his novels.   



Birmingham Photos of the Day (40): The Post Office in 1906

The magnificent building in the first photograph below stood on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 18th Street. Constructed in 1893, the structure served as both federal courthouse and post office. The second photograph shows the building under construction in September 1892. New Orleans architect William Freret also designed some of the Woods Quad buildings at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The BhamWiki site has more detail about the materials and design. That site also notes the building's fate:

"The courthouse was torn down in the 1920s to accommodate the expansion of a nearby retail store. That project was never realized and the lot was used in 1970 for a parking deck for Loveman's department store. The deck continues to serve the McWane Science Center."

One thing to notice about these two photographs taken 14 years apart are the different signs in the lower right corner and across the street. According to comments about the much larger version of the first photograph on the wonderful Shorpy site, Schindler's Saloon is advertising "Old Musty Ale." Herman D. Cable founded the Cable Piano Company in Chicago in 1880.

Source: U.S. Library of Congress Digitial Collections

Source: BhamWiki.com