A Bandleader from Marion

Alabama has a long history of producing individuals who have contributed to one or more styles of jazz: W.C. Handy, James Reese Europe, Erskine Hawkins, Cleve Eaton, Sun Ra, Dinah Washington, Urbie Green, Nat King Cole and Eric Essex are only a few. Inductees of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame provide a much longer--although incomplete--listing. Wikipedia also has a list of jazz musicians from Alabama.

Marion native Hal Kemp is another of the state's connections to jazz. Born on March 27, 1904, he led his first band in high school and played alto saxophone and clarinet. In college at the University of North Carolina he led the Carolina Club Orchestra. That group performed in England and received unexpected publicity when the Prince of Wales performed with them. Kemp's recording career also began with this outfit on Okeh Records. The band toured Europe during summer breaks.

By 1927 Kemp had formed his own orchestra that included such singers and sidemen as Skinnay Ennis, Bunny Berigan, and John Scott Trotter, and the band soon became a popular one. During the Great Depression the Orchestra under Kemp's guidance developed a "sweet" sound that increased its popularity even more. The group performed regularly at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago from 1932 until 1934. Popular records included "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and "In the Middle of a Kiss." Live touring and club performances were supplemented by frequent radio appearances. Kemp's orchestra had its limitations, but managed to overcome most of them as personnel and arrangements changed.

On December 19, 1940, Kemp was driving to an engagement in San Francisco when his car hit an oncoming truck in foggy conditions near Madera, California.  He survived but died of pneumonia two days later. The band attempted to continue without him, but soon broke up. 

James Hal Kemp was married twice. His first wife was Bessie [or Betsy] Slaughter [1932-37] and his second Martha Stevenson, with whom he had one daughter, Helen. Kemp is buried in North Carolina. 

Kemp and the Orchestra appeared in a few film shorts; some can be seen on YouTube. An extensive list of their recordings can be found here. 

This 78 rpm collection was released in 1948. 

University of North Carolina Yearbook 

Source: Ancestry.com 

Alabama History & Culture News: June 23 edition

Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these articles are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Enjoy!

Headstones provide connection to American Revolution Troy Messenger Storms had scared the cemetery's landscape, weeds were having their way and ... John Griffin's grave had gone unmarked for many years until research ... He came to Alabama from Virginia or North Carolina before it was admitted ...

What should you read this summer? Carolyn Kellogg shares her picks al.com The book takes place partially in the Bay Area in California and partially and in the Huntsville area in Alabama. And it deals with a lot of issues that ...

Local author's new book seeks to offer solutions on income disparity Nevada Appeal Gardner grew up in Alabama among the Bible Belt's poverty. When he moved to Oakland, Calif., to attend junior college and eventually major in music ...

Alabama loses high school football coaching legends Robert Gartman, Mac Champion

al.com

In 28 years as a head coach, his overall record was 242-91-1, according to the Alabama High School Football Historical Society. AISA executive director ...

BOOK REVIEW: 'Tightrope' focuses on hope for the poor Times Daily Kristof and WuDunn's book is about poor people in the heartland of America, including Alabama and other Southern states. The book covers the ...

Minerva Native assumes command of US Navy submarine

The-review

... the longest in Atlantic Fleet history. Burton, from Huntsville, Alabama, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in Huntsville with ...

Online panel on 'Alabama Noir'

Tuscaloosa News

Scheduled to participate in the discussion are “Alabama Noir” editor Don Noble and some of the writers who contributed to the book: Thom Gossom Jr.

The black and white of America's lynching history on display The Big Smoke Australia Since its opening in 2018, news of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, has spread rapidly. More and more people I ...

Exploring Cherokee County's cemeteries Gadsden Times ... gave more information about the early history of that portion of Alabama. ... According to the Cherokee County Historical Society, two people, ...

Wilbur Jackson & John Mitchell- Alabama's first Black football players Roll Tide Wire It wasn't until the historic matchup between Alabama and USC at Legion ... the Tide” shows how the game changed Alabama football history forever.

Alabama student filmmakers featured in Smithsonian documentary showcase Alabama NewsCenter “I am ecstatic that our students were chosen to be part of this showcase,” said Jerald Crook, Alabama History Day coordinator. “Being recognized by ...

Face Behind Aunt Jemima Logo Considered Morristown's First Black History Teacher Rutherford Daily Voice Born in Alabama in 1903, Ethel Ernestine Harper had an incredibly sharp and inquisitive mind, graduating from college at just 17 years of age, her ...

Destination Alabama: Princess Theatre

WIAT - CBS42.com

The city now owns the historic building. But most people only get to see the lobby and theater from the perspective of an audience member.
[Decatur]

Alabama artists amplify truths and emotions surrounding George Floyd protests

al.com

Alabama artists amplify truths and emotions surrounding George Floyd ... art being created throughout Alabama that is recording Alabama's history:.

The Civil Rights Trail in Alabama The New York Times Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. occupying places in history along with the firebombings and protests. From the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to the ...

Alabama Gang's Red Farmer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. named to 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame Alabama NewsCenter Alabama's own Red Farmer, along with six-time Talladega winner Dale ... entertainment attraction honoring the history and heritage of NASCAR.

Why Wallace said no to the US Senate The Alexander City Outlook This will never be matched again in Alabama history. Indeed, it would be difficult to find any U.S. senator in history with that resume. In short, Shelby's 33 ... Opinion | Why George Wallace said “no” to the US Senate - alreporter.com

This Alabama cemetery has a memorial to 5 doctors who died in epidemic KellyKazek.com As we continue to live in the strange conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to tell the story of the heroes of Alabama's yellow fever epidemic ...

To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn books BANNED from Minnesota school syllabuses Express.co.uk To Kill a Mockingbird deals with racial injustice in segregated 1930s Alabama. READ MORE: Harry Potter books BANNED from school for 'risk of ...

Alabama History & Culture News: June 17 edition

Here's the latest batch of links to just-published Alabama history and culture articles. Most of these articles are from newspapers, with others from magazines and TV and radio station websites. Enjoy!

"Boys of Alabama" By: Genevieve Hudson Alabama Public Radio “Boys of Alabama” is Genevieve Hudson's first novel but third published book. In each the reader can see the development of a bright, sensitive and ...

Steve Flowers: Why George Wallace said 'no' to US Senate Sand Mountain Reporter This will never be matched again in Alabama history. Indeed, it would be difficult to find any U.S. Senator in history with that resume. In short, Shelby's ...

In historic election, SBC Executive Committee elects first African American chair Alabama Baptist Outgoing chair Mike Stone called for a ballot vote, he said, to mark the historic moment. (BP photo). The Southern Baptist Convention Executive ...

Hoover Historical Society asks Hoover residents to share their pandemic stories

Alabama's News Leader

HOOVER, Ala. (WBMA) — As we know, we're living in unprecedented times. What we're going through will be important for future generations to be ...

Historical home destroyed by fire in Phenix City WRBL (WRBL) – A historic Mansion in Phenix City, Alabama experienced a major fire Tuesday night. The house sits along 20th St. and 9th Ave. Fire crews ...

Here are Alabama's next 10 natural wonders and how you can help protect them Bham Now Can we repeat history? We think so. In this, our third and final installment about Alabama's Natural Wonders, we asked Ken Wills, the AEC staffer who ...

What is Flag Day and what Alabama city is known as the City of Six Flags? Alabama NewsCenter In Alabama's history, many flags have flown over the state. Six of these flags have flown over Mobile, giving the city its nickname, the City of Six Flags.

J. Marion Sims statue: A questionable monument in a questionable place

Montgomery Advertiser

Sims was not from Alabama, and he's buried in New York City, where in 2018 his Central Park monument ... And Harris still had his book to publish.

The Slave Who Went To Congress

WUWF

Gaillard says he first learned about Turner while researching a book on the civil rights movement in Alabama. That research took him to Selma, where ...

Brundidge Historical Society talks fall schedule Troy Messenger The main topic of discussion was the future of the BHS' annual fall events, the Peanut Butter Festival in October and the production of Alabama's ...

Fannie Flagg Proves Age Is Just a Number Looking Gorgeous at 75 — A Glimpse into Her Life AmoMama The Alabama native carved a niche for herself in front of the camera and as a very ... The book was a New York's Bestseller for thirteen weeks.

Alabama Author: Lelias E. Kirby, M.D.

Wandering--so to speak--through my book collection recently, I came across this collection of short anecdotes by Lelias E. Kirby, M.D. Corncobs, issued by the Birmingham firm A.H. Cather Publishing in 1973, was Kirby's first book. Two more came out in 1975, Cotton Pickin' Coon Huntin' Country Boys [also A.H. Cather] and How Me and Amos Won World War I [Commercial Printing Company, also in Birmingham]. More information about that latter book can be found at the end of this post. Since Cather was a printing operation, I presume these books were self-published by Kirby. 

So who was Lelias Kirby? He was born on October 28, 1895, in Etowah County. He graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.S. and then Emory School of Medicine in 1926. Before college he farmed and coached in high school. On August 19, 1927, he married Jean Harms, and they would have three children, two daughters and a son. The Sayers biographical compilation cited below noted that he was a retired physician-surgeon, a Democrat, a Methodist and had three hobbies: writing a column syndicated to weekly newspapers, speaker at clubs and conventions and making unusual walking canes.

From what I could gather, Kirby had hospital privileges at East End Memorial Hospital, which eventually became Medical Center East. According to the 1940 American Medical Association Directory, Kirby had an office in Birmingham at 5357 1st Avenue North, where his hours were 3-5 pm. That directory, the 1940 U.S. Census and the 1969 compilation all give his home address as 1 North 80th Street. You can see a Google Street View of the house from October 2018 here. 

Kirby cited writing a syndicated newspaper column as one of his hobbies. A blurb on the back of this book written by the editorial page editor of the Birmingham News identifies Kirby as a frequent contributor to the letters-to-the-editor section of that paper. No specific sources of the book's contents are given.

Corncobs contains numerous short anecdotes and tales covering the topics indicated in the contents below. These writings express a fondness for the simplicity of his youth and in a few cases hostility to elements of the contemporary society. You can tell a lot from the titles: "Life Has Its Ups and Downs", "The Stove Wood Box", "The Blacksmith Shop", "The First Christmas" and "Everybody Talks about the Weather".

 In "Mothers-in-Law" Kirby makes a defense of the species, including his own. "Should the Old Terminal Come Down?" is a poem about Birmingham's Terminal Railroad Station, which was demolished in 1969. In 

"The Doctors say 'Phooey on ERA'" Kirby tells us exactly what he thinks about the Equal Rights Amendment: "No, we men like women as they are--we prefer that they use cosmetics and perfume rather than plumber and mechanic's grease to attract the opposite sex." In one of the rare essays related to his medical practice, "Snake Doctor", he recounts an amusing incident when he tried to administer some antivenom to a patient bitten by a rattler. 

Early in the collection is "My Most Unforgettable Character", which refers to the Reader's Digest long-running article series, "The Most Unforgettable Character I Have Ever Met." In Kirby's case he wrote about Dr. George H. Denny, President of the University of Alabama from 1912 until 1936. Kirby gives several examples of Denny's kindness to him as an undergraduate in the early 1920's. 

Kirby died on October 5, 1977, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery. His wife Jean died in 1985 and is also buried there. 

Sources for this post include Ancestry.com and the book Who's Who in Alabama, Volume 2 [John W. Sayers, comp., 1969, p. 244]. A picture of Dr. Kirby, described as a "1977 press photo" is currently for sale on eBay. 

Published in 1975, this book describes the experiences of Kirby and his brother in World War I. Read more about it in this essay by Mary Anne Ellis. 

Source: Find-A-Grave

When the Circus Came to Town

In an October 2018 issue of our local Pelham Reporter newspaper I found an ad for a one-day appearance November 3 in Columbiana by the Loomis Brothers Circus. You can see it near the end of this post. As fate would have it, I had watched a two-part "American Experience" documentary about the circus in the U.S. on Alabama Public Television not long before that. Somebody was trying to tell me something, so here we are.

In January 2017 the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus made its final appearance in Birmingham. That circus had come through the city for many years; we took our young children to see it at the BJCC in 1988 and 1991. Sample tickets are below. On May 21, 2017, the circus ceased operations after some 146 years of touring under various names and owners. Declining attendance and high operating costs brought an end to one of America's--and the world's--classic entertainments. Much smaller circuses continue to tour the U.S., but an era seems to be winding down. I remember taking our kids once or twice to see one of those smaller outfits at the Riverchase Galleria back in the day. 

The modern circus dates from 1768 when Philip Astley began trick horse shows near London. Two years later he hired acrobats, jugglers, a clown and tightrope walkers to fill the time between the shows. On April 3, 1793, a Scotsman named John Bill Ricketts opened the first circus performance in the U.S. in Philadelphia. George Washington attended a performance. 

The glory years of the circus in the U.S. were roughly the 1830's until well into the 1950's. In the 1830's the first American to operate a major circus was Victor Pepin. In 1825 Joshuah Purdy Brown began the use of a large canvas tent for a circus. P.T. Barnum began touring a freak show with William Cameron Coup, who developed the multiple ring circus and circus travel by train.. Dan Rice became the most famous circus clown during this period. 

Thus by the Civil War most elements of the traditional circus were in place. After the war numerous circus organizations large and small toured America and much of the world for decades with their combinations of human and animal entertainment. Since the 1970's many groups with a different circus aesthetic, such as Cirque du Soleil, have developed. China, Russia and other nations have contributed to circus development and variation as well. Human desire for spectacular entertainment being what it is, the circus will no doubt survive in some form.

Written and other resources on circus history are vast. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has put online oral histories from circus workers both inside and outside of the big top; you can find more information here and here. Steph Post's essay on great sideshow cons is here. A web site devoted to circus history is here. Susan Salaz has written about Peru, Indiana, the "Circus Capital of the World."

This blog post is by no means a history of the circus in Alabama; that remains to be researched and written. However, I do want to cover a few random things I've come across recently on that topic. Perhaps I'll return to it in the future.

You can find other photographs related to circuses in Alabama here. George Singleton's 1972 essay about a circus crossing the Alabama River at Claiborne in 1908 is here.

Source: The Daily Ardmoreite [Oklahoma] 26 January 1906, p. 3

The BhamWiki.com site has an entry on this circus/sale, but the story is different. According to that version, the circus ended its run in Sylacauga and wintered in Birmingham. Show receipts were stolen, and the management was forced to schedule an auction. James Bailey of Barnum & Bailey offered $150,000 for everything, and the auction was cancelled.

Montgomery Advertiser and State Gazette 26 Dec 1860

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History 

Circus by Zelda Fitzgerald

This oil on canvas painting, completed in 1938, is in the collections of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. By this time Zelda was deep in the depths of her clinical depression and round-robin stays in various sanitariums. Perhaps the image is based on a memory of Zelda's about seeing the circus as a child in Alabama.

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

A circus parade on the square in Huntsville in 1913. In the left background is the First National Bank building supposedly robbed by Frank and Jesse James in 1876.

Source: Huntsville-Madison County Public Library

Legendary circus clown Emmett Kelly during a visit to Birmingham in 1955

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Ringling Brothers Circus at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery January 1958

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History

Window of the New Idea Barbershop in Birmingham in 1937 as photographed by Arthur Rothstein. I've written a blog post about this photo here.

Gunther Gebel-Williams and his tigers with the Ringling Brothers Circus in Birmingham on February 10, 1979. He worked with the circus as an animal trainer from 1968 until 1990. 

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Red Skelton in Birmingham at the Barnum Circus 10 February 1979

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Elephants in the Dixie Circus performing at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery 29 May 1970

Source: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

Here's that ad I mentioned above for the Loomis Brothers circus. According to their web site, the circus has been touring for more than 20 years. 

Source: Pelham Reporter 31 October 2018, p. 1B

Remember those visits with the kids to the Ringling Brothers circus at the BJCC I mentioned?  I've got the ticket stubs. Dianne was pregnant with Becca during that first one in 1988.