Birmingham Photos of the Day (74): "The Unconquered"

Helen Keller is one of the most famous and iconic people ever born in Alabama. She is known around the world; Japan, Spain, Nicaragua, India, Liberia and the United States have honored her with postage stamps. In 2009 her statue became one of two figures from Alabama at the U.S. Capitol. She appears on the Alabama state quarter issued by the U.S. Mint in 2003. A statue of Keller, along with one of Rosa Parks, will be coming to the Alabama state capitol grounds. 

Keller died in 1968. On June 15, 1954, when she was 72, a documentary film about her life, The Unconquered, was released. The film premiered at the Temple Theater in Birmingham, and Keller was in attendance. The film depicts how Anne Sullivan helped a young blind and deaf girl become a world-renowned author and advocate and the first such person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The film, which is 55 minutes long and is also known as Helen Keller in Her Story, includes footage of Keller's visits or memories of Dwight Eisenhower, Martha Graham and other notables.

The film was directed by Nancy Hamilton and written by her & James L. Shute. Hamilton was an actress, playwright, producer and director who died in 1985. Her film won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature; she was the first female to win that award. Legendary stage actress (and writer, producer and theater owner) Katharine Cornell narrated the film. Cornell died in 1974. 

An earlier silent documentary about Keller, Deliverance, was released in 1919. The ninety minute film had actors playing real people at younger ages. Helen Keller, her mother Kate Adams Keller, brother Phillips Brooks Keller, Anne Sullivan, and Helen's secretary Polly Thompson also appeared as themselves. Silent film blogger Fritzi Kramer has posted an extensive review of this film here.  

Keller's life has also been depicted in The Miracle Worker, a 1959 stage play that William Gibson adapted from his own 1957 script for a television production. These were adapted from Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life. The film version starring Patty Duke as Keller was released in 1962.

The photos below are related to the Birmingham event. You can see photographs of the Temple Theater in 1925 and 1965 here.

Premier of "The Unconquered" at the Temple Theater in 1954

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

 Helen Keller and her secretary/companion arrive at the Temple Theater for the premier.

Alabama Dept. of Archives & History Digital Collections

Helen Keller, third from the left, at a party at the home of Mrs. Morris Bush in Birmingham after the movie premier. Nell Rankin is seated at the far left. Polly Thompson is at Keller's left. The other woman is unidentified.

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives & History Digital Collections

Another photo from the party at the Bush home after the film premier. Keller and Thompson are seated; Nell Rankin is standing on the far left. The ballerina and others are unidentified. 

Alabama Dept. of Archives & History Digital Collections

Keller blows out the candles on a cake at the film premier. Thompson is standing beside her; the young man is unidentified. The cake is decorated with words in icing: Spirit, Courage, Patience, Success and Rainbow. 

Alabama Dept. of Archives & History Digital Collections

Source: IMDb

Source: IMDB

Got the US 231 South of Montgomery Blues (2)

Dianne and I recently made one of our trips to visit daughter Becca and her family who live just south of Jacksonville, Florida. As we also do on our trips to St. George Island near Apalachicola, we take US 231 out of Montgomery and head for Dothan. This route takes us through Troy, Brundidge and Ozark and the rural landscapes in between. I have family connections in Brundidge, and I've written here about a trip to that town. This blog post and the one that preceded it take a different approach.  

Until the Interstates were built, US 231 was a major artery into Florida from points north. After all it runs from US 41 in St. John, Indiana, to US 98 in Panama City. In those rural areas between Montgomery and Dothan are frequent examples old and more recent of homes and especially businesses now empty. Of course, there are some very nice farms, cattle ranches, homes and landscapes along this stretch also.

The photos below were taken between Dothan and Montgomery from the car as we headed northbound. The first post has photos from the southbound portion of the trip.. I've put comments below some of the photos. 

As Dianne and I make our various road trips hither and yon through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Georgia, one thing always stands out everywhere. Whether in cities or rural areas, all sorts of empty ruins beckon from the past as they slowly crumble or disappear into the vegetation. A drive up and down U.S. 231 between Montgomery and Dothan has many examples. 

Of course, these scenes can be found all across America, as my son Amos and I saw a few years ago as we traveled by U-Haul through eastern Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma then south to Birmingham. 

Glenn Wills' Forgotten Alabama books explore the topic in depth for our state. Abandoned Southeast and Abandoned America go further abroad.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Just don't meet your maker prematurely trying to read this billboard as you speed down the road. 

The Candlelight Motel in Ozark is a classic of the motor lodges from days of yore. There are several still operating along this stretch of U.S. 231. Another one can be seen further below.

Alabama Aviation College, Ozark Campus

That top sign to the left says "Cash Advance/Title Pawn", which may no longer be applicable.

The sign behind the buses says "Ozark City Schools/Educational Support Center", home of the yellow buses.

The Hi-Way Rest Motel in Ozark

Unfortunately, these peanut trailers were empty!

Above the door on this building is "Hughes Family Market"; I assume it's the same business in Ariton on the Facebook page here.

This concrete bridge was constructed in 1921 as a memorial to men from Dale County who died in World War I. Barely visible on the left is an historical marker; you can read the text here.

For many years a fifteen-foot tall rooster made of chrome automobile bumpers--mostly from VWs according to one source--stood on the lawn in front of this Art Wurks studio in Brundidge. I remember passing it numerous times. The studio and home next to it were occupied by artist Larry Goodwin. He opened Art Wurks in 1960 and built the rooster in 1962. In 2016 he had to move to a nursing home and close his studio. His brother and fellow artist Ronald moved the rooster to his own studio on Main Street in Brundidge where it can still be seen. Kelly Kazek has written articles about the brothers available here and here.

Photo by Don Williamson taken ca. 1999

Source: RoadsideAmerica.com

Got the US 231 South of Montgomery Blues (1)

Dianne and I recently made one of our trips to visit daughter Becca and her family who live just south of Jacksonville, Florida. As we also do on our trips to St. George Island near Apalachicola, we take US 231 out of Montgomery and head for Dothan. This route takes us through Troy, Brundidge, and Ozark and the rural landscapes in between. I have family connections in Brundidge, and I've written here about a trip to that town. This blog post and one that follows take a different approach.  

Until the Interstates were built, US 231 was a major artery into Florida from points north. After all it runs from US 41 in St. John, Indiana, to US 98 in Panama City. In those rural areas between Montgomery and Dothan are frequent examples old and more recent of homes and especially businesses now empty. Of course, there are some very nice farms, cattle ranches, homes and landscapes along this stretch also.

The photos below were taken mostly between Montgomery and Troy from the car as we headed southbound. Another post will have photos from the return trip northbound. I've put comments below some of the photos. 

Based on our soundtrack, many of these pictures were taken between Bob Dylan's "A Satisfied Mind" and his "Shelter From the Storm" on one of the Sirius XM channels. I leave readers to work out the significance of that. 

I wonder how many Coca Cola signs adorn abandoned businesses across America. 

This Athey Road is located in Mathews in Montgomery County. The community is unincorporated and named after George Mathews, a Revolutionary War hero and Georgia governor. The post office closed in 2011. 

One of a series of signs advertising a store coming up on the route. You still see this sort of thing along routes like U.S. 231 that were heavily traveled in the past; the Interstates are devoid of such colorful campaigns. Perhaps the most famous of the type were the legendary little poems for Burma-Shave.

This place seems to be attracting customers. 

These are the sad remnants of Pioneer Village near Troy, not the Pioneer Museum of Alabama which is a bit further south and still thriving. I assume it's the business listed by Bizapedia: "Pioneer Village, LLC is an Alabama Domestic Limited-Liability Company filed on August 19, 2005. The company's filing status is listed as Exists and its File Number is 467-846. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Johnson, James Ralph and is located at 26001 Us Hwy 231, Troy, AL 36081."

I don't think the business operated long but have no further details. Perhaps it did not survive the 2009 economic downturn. 

Is it just me, or does it seem hypocritical to brag about the beauty of your campus on a gigantic roadside billboard that spoils the view of the sky??

Kentucky Fried Chicken on the hill!

One of many small churches you see along the highway.

We passed Continental Cinemas heading into Troy.

History to the right, the present up ahead....

Pioneer Museum of Alabama

Yes, you pass some kudzu on this route. 

Troy, oh boy!

A lot of history in Ozark, Ariton and Enterprise. For instance, Ariton is the birthplace of blues singer Big Mama Thornton, who in 1952 became the first to record Leiber & Stoller's legendary song "Hound Dog". 

Ah, the open road...where are Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady when you need them?

The entrance to Troy University's Dothan campus 

I'll end this post where I began, with a shot of some pretty landscape.