Alabama at the Louisiana Book Festival

On a recent Thursday Dianne and I headed to Baton Rouge to meet up with our son Amos and attend the fifteenth annual Louisiana Book Festival. Amos arrived around lunch time on Friday, and we all took in the festival on Saturday. Amos appeared on a panel that afternoon with two other authors of recent short story collections. 

More details are below. 

On Friday the weather was chilly and raining in Baton Rouge as you can tell from this view of the I-10 bridge. 

We stayed at the Hampton Inn only a short walk from the park and buildings where the festival was held in downtown Baton Rouge. The hotel uses some interesting room number plates. 

Barnes and Noble sponsored the large book and signing tents at the site. Here is Amos' book and to the left the new books by his fellow panelists. More details are below. 

The rain finally ended mid-afternoon on Friday, so we walked to the festival site. Here's a view of the book tent with the Louisiana capitol building in the background.

Many festival events were held in the state library building.

Here's the wall of books by festival authors in the foyer of the state library. Amos' collection of short stories can be seen in the very upper left corner. 

Here's a close up of that upper left corner.

The site of the Louisiana state capitol building and park contains the former Pentagon Barracks military post which was later used as housing for LSU cadets. A portion can be seen here in the foreground, with the capitol in the background and framed by one of the areas neat old trees. 

The substantial program for the festival featured artwork by William Joyce, author and illustrator of various children's books. His work has also appeared on covers of New Yorker magazine and in galleries and museums.  

We went to a couple of panels in the morning before having lunch and heading to the capitol building for Amos' appearance. The first panel was "Writing and Environment: A Multi-Genre Perspective" with environmental historian Jack E. Davis, poets Martha Serpas and Neil Shepard, novelist Kent Wascom and moderator Jack B. Bedell. 

The second panel, "Family-Influenced Fiction" featured two novelists, Nicole Seitz and Spencer Wise; the moderator was Olivia Clare, a poet and fiction writer. 

At this writing information about these authors and their works can be found at the Festival web site.  Both panels were stimulating and gave me several possibilities for future reading. 

The 34-story Art Deco Louisiana state capitol opened in 1932. Legendary politician Huey P. Long was assassinated in the building in 1935 and is buried in the park. Dianne said the building looks like something out of Ghostbusters.

Here Amos and David Langlinais are waiting for the panel to begin. Not pictured is Genaro Ky Ly Smith.

One end of the festival's signing tent opened toward the cooking tent, which was behind me as I took this photo. The festival also included music, various food vendors, an exhibitors tent and many authors and publishers at tables lining the walkway up to the capitol. 

Here are the panel members David Langlinais, Amos Wright, and Genaro Ky Ly Smith in the signing tent. 

After the festival we retired to the Bengal Tap Room and enjoyed a local beer, a Tin Roof Voodoo. 

Amos' book is available here. You can learn more about the book and his other writing at his website. 

David's book is available here. 

Genaro's book is available here.

A Show of Fans

After my paternal grandmother died in 1997, we cleaned out her house in Gadsden and found many things of interest, some family-related and some not. The latter group included several hand fans that I've photographed and put together for this post.

Hand fans both folding and rigid have been around for many centuries in Asian and Western cultures. Although having practical uses, many examples also feature elaborate decorations. They originated in ancient Egypt, India and China more than 5000 years ago, and were brought to Europe in the 12th century as a result of the Crusades.

The ones below are strictly utilitarian, and I presume predate wide-spread air conditioning in the southern U.S. Those featuring an address include no Zip Code, which was introduced in 1964 and did not become widespread until later in the 1960's. One of the fans includes 800 phone numbers, so it must be a more recent date.

There are two hand fan museums, one in California and the other in the United Kingdom. 

More comments are below the photographs. Businesses represented include Crestwood Funeral Home and J.P. King Auction Company both in Gadsden and an insurance company in Decatur. 

Crestwood Funeral Home, which opened in 1940, continues to operate today.

This auction company in Gadsden opened in 1915 and is still operating.

UPDATE: Since I posted this item, one of my informants--my cousin Charlotte Shores Ryder--suggested about this fan " the one from King Auction may have actually been used to notify auctioneer of a bid since it has a bidders number on it.." Makes sense to me!

This business in Decatur no longer seems to be operating, at least under that name. A listing turns up on Google, but the Romanian-American Mission seems to be at that address now. I wonder if they give out hand fans.

This funeral home opened in 1910 and is still in business. The fan seems to be the oldest in the group based on the cars in the photo and the phone number. I'm not sure why my grandparents had this one; I don't know of any relatives in Kentucky whose funeral they might have attended. 

My grandparents Amos J. & Rosa Mae Wright lived for many years in this house at 1313 Chandler Street in Gadsden. My grandmother died in January 1997, and soon after that we began cleaning out the house. Among much other memorabilia, we found the fans shown in this post.  

Movies with Alabama Connections: Balboa

As I continue my wanderings through the twists and turns of state history on this blog, I'm always alert for mentions of Alabama in the movies or television shows. I came across another one recently in an obscure 1983 film called Balboa. I've never seen it, or even remember seeing it listed for viewing anywhere while channel surfing. But lo and behold there's a character named "Alabama Dern" in this thing, and he's played by none other than Chuck Connors of The Rifleman fame. 

Also staring are Tony Curtis and Carol Lynley. The film's other cast includes Cassandra Peterson, better known to her fans as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark; Sonny Bono and veteran character actor Henry Jones. The film was written and directed by James Polakof.

This movie presents a few conundrums. The IMDB entry is under "Balboa" but one of the DVD covers shown here says "Rich and Powerful." I can find no such film under that name. The plot summary there is simply "Millionaire gets involved in a real estate scam." This version runs 91 minutes, but the entry claims it was originally a mini-series, and nude scenes were added to the video release. It's listed as an independent film released in the U.S on July 19, 1983 The website of the Tony Curtis Estate includes the film as "Balboa" but gives the year as 1986.

I suspect the film is one of many made in recent decades without major studio backing that may have gotten some sort of tape and/or DVD release but even so have essentially disappeared. Not everything is on Netflix, or Amazon Prime, or Hulu, or....

A bit more information follows below. And there's also another interesting connection Chuck Connors has with Alabama...

IMDB image

Image from the Amazon listing, which has this description:

"Welcome to Newport Beach where the exotic sun-drenched waterfront is the setting for intrigue, loyalty, betrayal and million dollar business deals. Wealth and power foster either the best of friends or the worst of enemies -- and some will do anything to get what they want."

I'm going to have to seek out this movie just to find out how a character named "Alabama" fits into it.

Not sure what this image is, perhaps a poster?

Source

Connors played first base for the Mobile Bears in 1947, hitting .255 with 15 home runs. At that time the team played at Hartwell Field. 

"The 1947 Southern Association Baseball League champions the Mobile Bears. Chuck Connors, of Rifleman fame, played on the team. Top row from left: Cliff Dapper, Frank Luga, Chuck Connors, Paul Minner, "Doe" Kelly, Jack Maupin, George "Shotgun" Shuba, and Pershing Mandarf. Left to right in the middle row are Joe Powers, Stan Wasiak, Homer Matney, "Red" Rollins, manager Al Todd, Hal Younghans, and Pat McGlathen. On the bottom row from the left are Johnny Sosh, John Hall, Cal Abrams, batboy Donnie Wagner, Ray Boles, Roy Whitaker, and Bill Hart."

Source: Alabama Mosaic 

A Visit to Niki's West

On a recent Saturday Dianne and I visited Cullman to check out the Alabama Gourd Show. This event is one of two sponsored by the Alabama Gourd Society; the other is held in Clanton in March. Dianne has been wanting to combine her beading/jewelry work with gourds for some time, so she was able to pick up some beginner's tools and hints from various exhibitors. The craftsmanship and imagination on display at this show are pretty impressive. You can get a few hints below.

On the way back to Pelham we decided to have an early dinner at Niki's West, the legendary "steak and seafood" place on Finely Avenue in Birmingham. You can read more about them at their website and this article from 2013. You can read what owner Pete Hontzas had to say about Niki's influence in Birmingham in this 2017 article. 

If you've never eaten at Niki's, get there ASAP! You can go through the buffet line, which is all we've ever done, or order from the menu. Either way it's bound to be good. 

Dave Hoekstra's meditation on Niki's West and Greek soul food in Birmingham can be found here.

Bob Carlton has written "Niki's West: The story behind a classic Alabama restaurant" available here. 

I ordered the divine liver and onions and enjoyed it very much. Our son Amos declares this one to be "literally my favorite meal in the world".

Update April 22, 2019:  

Dianne, son Amos and I made it to Niki's this past weekend and took a few more photos; the first three are by Amos. 

Harmony Graveyard in Helena

Dianne and I recently drove through Helena and stopped at the Harmony Graveyard. We seem to do that in our family--stop at old cemeteries and take a look around, even if we have no ancestors there. We're interested in history--all sorts of history. Next to the Graveyard is Harmony Cemetery for African-Americans, which we did not visit. 

As noted in the historic marker's text, the cemetery is on the site of the first church built in what is now Helena. The cemetery dates to 1836 and contains the graves of many notables, including physicians, ministers, and public officials such as the town's first mayor. 

Four victims of at least 20 killed in a train wreck on December 27 1897, are buried in the cemetery--including a mother and two daughters. A rail had apparently been removed by robbers from the track on the Cahaba River bridge, and the train plunged 110 feet into the river. 

The graves of some casualties from the 1926 Mossboro mine explosion that killed 27 and the May 5, 1933 tornado can also be found here. That storm killed 20 people in Bibb and Shelby counties and pretty much destroyed Helena. You can read more about it here.   

Additional comments are below some of the photographs. 

On November 4, 2020, the Helena Reporter published an article about clean-up efforts at the graveyard. 

In the background here you can see the lake in Joe Tucker Park, which also includes a walking trail. 

In the photo above and the one below Woodmen of the World grave markers can be seen. WoodmenLife is a fraternal non-profit that offers insurance to its members. An early benefit to members was a gravestone in the shape of a tree stump. The company had to abandon the program by the late 1920's because it became too expensive. However, these markers can be found in cemeteries across the U.S. They will also have the Woodmen logo. 

The one above is unusual, at least in my experience, in that it is more of a log section than a stump. I've most often seen the type on the left and right below, a tall or taller standing stump.

Helena Cumberland Presbyterian Church is next to the cemetery and has had that name since 1978. Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches were all destroyed in the 1933 tornado. 

Movies with Alabama Connections: Some Came Running

Some Came Running was the third film actor and singer Dean Martin made after the breakup of his highly successful act with Jerry Lewis. Released in 1958, the film was based on the massive novel by James Jones published that same year. The book's hardcover first edition ran to 1266 pages.

Jones had won the National Book Award in 1952 for his first published novel, the classic World War II tale From Here to Eternity, which was also adapted into a major film in 1953. Some Came Running was Jones second novel to appear in print.

The film was directed by Vincent Minnelli, who made many Hollywood classics including The Bad and the Beautiful and Tea and Sympathy. In addition to Martin, the film starred Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine and Martha Hyer. Sinatra approved a change in casting from Tony Randall to Martin, and this one became their first film together. 

Sinatra plays Dave Hirsh, an Army veteran returning to his Parkman, Indiana hometown after 16 years away. In addition to his military stint, Hirsh wrote and published two unsuccessful novels. He arrives in Parkman from Chicago with Ginny Moorehead [MacLaine], who was also on the bus fleeing an abusive boyfriend. Back at home, Hirsh renews his conflicts with his older brother and sister-in-law and meets a single schoolteacher, Gwen [Hyer] who along with her father admires Dave's books. Touring the Parkman bars, he also meets a gambler, Bama Dillert [Martin].

Dave and Bama move in together and the story twists and turns through the movie's well over two hour running time. The ending of the novel was changed significantly for the film, but I won't spoil either one. The movie is well worth seeing; I've watched it several times and always enjoy it. I haven't read the novel or the abridged edition of only 1048 pages which is currently in print.

In the movie "Bama" is identified as a southerner, but I don't remember if any further details of his background are given. Perhaps the novel gives the origins of what I presume is a nickname. Maybe one day I'll read it.

Jones based his novel on his experiences returning to his home town of Robinson, Illinois, after World War II. Much of Some Came Running was filmed on location in Madison, Indiana. The movie, released in Metrocolor and CinemaScope, was nominated for five Academy Awards and earned double its budget at the box office.  

Birmingham Photo of the Day (66): Lakeview Trolley

Today the Lakeview district is a concentration of restaurants and entertainment venues on Birmingham's Southside near UAB. But in the late nineteenth century Lakeview was one of the Magic City's "streetcar suburbs" and developed around Lakeview Park. The 43 acres were home to a large pavilion, a baseball stadium, hotel, a theater, a lake and other amenities. The first football game between Alabama and Auburn was played there in February 1893. 

The image below is a "black and white photograph of the Highland Avenue streetcar near the pavilion at Lakeview Park" according to the cited source below. In his book Yesteray's Birmngham [1975, page 44] Malcolm C. McMillan dates this picture of the electric trolley as 1895. He notes that seven years earlier, before the trolley, Richard Hawes had murdered his wife and two young daughters and dumped the bodies of the wife and one daughter in this lake and the other daughter in East Lake.

In 1903 the Birmingham Country Club was built on the Lakeview Park site. Today the course is known as the Highland Park Golf Course.

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

The Lake at Lakeview Park ca. late 1880's

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections