"Flag that Train (to Alabam')"

I've done a couple of posts on this blog devoted to songs about Alabama from the 19th and early 20th centuries. You can read them here and here. I've also written one on songs about Birmingham. I'll be continuing this theme in some posts about individual songs and here's the first one.

This "shimmy fox trot" was recorded on either April 30 or May 1, 1925, in Camden, New Jersey. The Victor Talking Machine Company had it's recording and manufacturing operations there; the firm was purchased by RCA in 1925. What's a "shimmy fox trot", you ask? I presume it was a combination of a 1920's dance craze and the foxtrot. 

Fred Hamm was a cornet player and singer who in 1925 took over the Benson Orchestra founded by Edgar Benson. With his three bandmates Dave Bennett, Chauncey Gray, and Bert Lown he wrote the popular "Bye Bye Blues." A list of some of the group's recordings can be found here. Recordings on YouTube are here. 

A recording of "Flag that Train" is here. Lyrics are below. I've been unable so far to learn anything about the songwriters "Richmond; McPhall; Rothschild".

This song belongs to a couple of standard categories. The authors may never have been to Alabama or other southern states. The "Sunny South" was a fantasy trope used by many Tin Pan Alley-type writers to stand for a far-away paradise. The notion of catching the train back to see your loved one was also popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in America. 

I guess part of the title was added in Spanish for such markets in the Western Hemisphere. 

Source: Internet Archive, where you can also hear this recording

Come on and flag that train
I'm on my way again
Back to that home of mine below the line in Dixie
My folks are waiting there
I'll fill that vacant chair
And with sweet Madeline, that gal of mine, I'll be

Come on and flag that train
I'm bound for home again
For when I'm roaming, I'm as selfless as a lamb
Oh lordy, listen here
Don't miss that engineer
So flag that train to Alabam'

Source: LyricWiki

Film Actresses from Alabama Before 1960 (8): Frances Bergen

The model and actress known as Frances Bergen was born in Birmingham on September 14, 1922, daughter of Lille Mabel and William A, Westermann. In the 1920 U.S. Census her parents are listed as living with her paternal grandparents, Frank W. and Mary C. Westermann, born in Germany and Georgia respectively. 

Bergen's father was 29, born in Alabama in 1891. Her mother was 20. William worked as an office manager at a decorating company, and the four lived at "the Ablemarle of the Humboldt Avenue," which I assume was an apartment building. By the 1930 census William, Lille, Mary and 7 year old daughter Lea F. were living at 14 Waco Avenue; the second "n" had been dropped from the family's last name. 

William died on July 15, 1932; he is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. For some reason Lille and Francis moved to Los Angeles, where the daughter graduated from high school. The year after graduation she was attending a live radio broadcast featuring actor and comedian Edgar Bergen, famous for his act as a ventriloquist with his sidekick Charlie McCarthy. Bergen noticed Francis and asked to meet her. After years of courtship they married in 1945 and remained a couple until his death in 1978. They had two children, actress Candice and film/television editor Kris. 

Despite her attention to her family, Frances had significant modeling and acting careers of her own. She worked as a model for the John Robert Powers agency in New York, appearing as the "Chesterfield Girl" and the "Ipana Girl" in magazine advertisements and on billboards.

She made her film debut in the 1953 Titanic playing Madeleine Astor. Between that appearance and part 1 of the finale of her daughter's series Murphy Brown in 1998, she played a number of film and television roles. Other films included Her Twelve Men (1954), Interlude (1957), The Sting II and The Star Chamber (both 1983) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984). A major role in Henry Jaglom's independent film Eating in 1990 attracted attention late in her career.

Bergen appeared in made for tv films and episodes of various television series over the years as well. In 1958 she played a physician in "The Doctor Was a Lady" on the Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theater. Other series included Four Star Playhouse, The Millionaire, Dick Powell Show, Barnaby Jones, and MacGyver. A listing of her acting credits can be found here. 

One of her most memorable roles came in several episodes of the series Yancy Derringer, which ran on CBS-TV during the 1958-59 season. She played Madame Francine, the owner of a private gambling house in 1868 New Orleans.
 

Bergen died on October 2, 2006, and is buried in California.

Further comments are below some of the photographs. 

These two photographs show Bergen with Jock Mahoney, who played Yancy, and X Brands, who played silent sidekick Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah, a Pawnee Indian. 

Daughter Candice, also a model, has had an even more successful film and television career than her mother. Her films include Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Ghandi (1982). She starred as the title character in the television series Murphy Brown (CBS-TV, 1988-1998) and won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes for her work.

Charley, Edgar and some blonde clown around in 1952.

My Cub Scout Log Book from 1962

Back in the day I participated in both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. In the Cubs I was a member of Pack 301, Den 7 in Huntsville. Mom was the Den Mother. 

I guess at some point one of our projects was to create a "Log Book" about our lives, and mom has preserved it in all its glory. I discuss much of it below.

Here's the gang at what looks like some function. I'm in the back row left; younger brother Richard is front row right. 

I must have taken this photo; that's mom and younger brother Richard in the front. Those are the front steps from the driveway up to the porch of our house on Lakeview Drive in Huntsville. 

Same location, with me in the photo on the front left. Since mom was the den mother, I guess I had to always show up in uniform.

Another group photo, this time on the wall along the driveway. Richard is in the front relaxing, I'm second from the rear. 

This entry documents a family visit to the Museum of Natural History in Anniston. I have since learned the difference between "to" and "two". 

We took annual vacations to Florida in the summer, and this one is probably at Seagrove Beach. We went there for several years before changing to Naples. 

I was a big Hardy Boys fan at this time and read all the available books. I think most of the ones I read were the original versions published between 1927 and 1959, before revisions began. The Hardy Boys series ended in 2005 after 190 volumes, although there has been a subsequent "reboot". 

Strange Things Found in Alabama Stores (3)

Here's my introduction to part 1 of this ongoing series. Part 2 is here. 


Going through some photographs recently I came across a couple of examples of the random things I encounter here and there in stores and other public places. When I do I take photos. I've decided to share some of them in a series of posts on this blog.

These images may strike many as just silly, and some are, but I prefer to call them strange, weird, unexpected, something different springing out of the halls of American commerce. Or whatever. Let's begin. 

Feel free to tell us about your own strange finds in the comment section!

Just like the Easter Island heads in part 2, I found this classic in Old Time Pottery in Pelham this past spring. Now wouldn't this look good on YOUR front porch?  

A bit of philosophy spotted in Old Time Pottery & I heartily agree with it.

Well, maybe this one is not so strange if you're a fan of the 1983 classic A Christmas Story. Wish I had these ornaments AND a real leg lamp! These were seen at 2nd & Charles in Hoover.

Even drug stores get into the strangeness sometimes!

Another classic! This poster is above one of the booths at the Smokey Hollow Restaurant in Jemison. The whole place is decorated in Route 66 chic. I've written about various adventures there in another blog post.

And I'll conclude this episode with these two cuties, spotted at a Home Accents store in Pelham. In a back corner, of course. 

Until next time!!

Pelham, Alabama: A List

Since we live in Pelham, I've explored a few aspects of the city's history on this blog. Here's a list of those posts so far.

This post continues a series of lists bringing together related blog posts. So far I've also done posting lists for

"Holidays Past in Alabama" 

"Film Actresses from Alabama Before 1960"

"Medical History in Birmingham" 

"Alabama Library History"

"Finding Alabama in Distant Places"

Pondering an Alabama Map (3): Pelham in 1928

What Happened to Old Tuskaloosa Road? 

Pondering an Alabama Map (2): Pelham in 1926

Pondering an Alabama Map (1): Pelham in 1917

Keystone Then and Now

Pelham Schools Have a Long History

Pelham Railroad Depot Then and Now

Pelham's Oak Mountain State Park 

A Story in Stone: John Payne, M.D. [1860-1901]

Pelham in the 1880s

Pelham Reaches Fifty

Elegy for a Small Pelham Bookstore

A Brief History of Pelham High School Football

Riverchase Middle School Then & Now

Once Shelbyville, A.T. & Now Pelham

Ghostly Signs of Pelham's Video Past 

Birmingham Photo of the Day (59): Alabama Brewing Company

At the source for this photograph, the building is described as "Birmingham's Last Brewery" on 22nd Street and Avenue D, South. Let's investigate.

According to the firm's BhamWiki entry, the Alabama Brewing Company operated from 1897 until Jefferson County enacted prohibition in 1908. The firm had taken over the idle facilities of the Birmingham Brewing Company and produced 5,000 barrels in its first full year. 

Once the local prohibition passed, the company had until May 28, 1908, to sell or destroy its inventory. On that date 300 barrels were poured into the street. The company manufactured ice until 1917. 

Of course, in recent years beer brewing has returned in a big way to both Birmingham and the rest of Alabama. A book on the subject is Carla Jean Whitley's Birmingham Beer published in 2015. A list of breweries in the Birmingham area old and new is here.

Source: Samford University Library

John Phillip Sousa Comes to Birmingham

Born in Washington, D.C., John Philip Sousa [1854-1932] was a composer and conductor very popular in his day and remembered now for his patriotic marches, such as "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Semper Fidelis". He was also a great trap shooter and inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame. Those two interests were on display during a visit he made to Birmingham in 1924. 

You can read more below the photographs that follow. Sousa looks similar in age in both photos, although the date is known for only one of them. 

 

John Philip Sousa in 1900

Source: Wikipedia

The Birmingham Gun Club had a large facility at the Fairgrounds Park. Sousa is seated fifth from the right with Mrs. O.L. Garl next to him in the middle row. "She was a fine trap shot," notes the photo description here. You can see some 1916 shooting results for Mr. and Mrs. Garl here. 

Also included in the photo are H.C. Ryding, later president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, and Carlton Molesworth, manager of the Birmingham Barons from 1908 until 1922. Robert Henry Baugh was also in the middle row, second on the right. 

The date given for this photo at the source is "1913-1916 (?)", but I wonder about that.

Source: Samford University Library 

Robert Henry Baugh

An article on the Country Club of Birmingham in the Encyclopedia of Alabama identifies Robert Henry Baugh as President of the gun club when he became president of the country club in 1901. He was also former president of the Birmingham Baseball Club. 

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

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