Alabama History & Culture News: December 17 edition

 

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

Historical society on a mission to save two 19th century cabins Wetumpka Herald In May, the Alabama Historical Commission, through the efforts of the Elmore County Historical Society, added both structures to the Alabama Register of ...

Alabama music legend Randy Owen named honorary co-chair of World Games 2022 Birmingham Alabama NewsCenter One of the most successful country music groups in history, Alabama released 21 gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, had 43 No. 1 singles, sold ...

Alabama-born stars of baseball's segregated era receive Major League status al.com “We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong -- as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.” Manfred's ...

Four Alabama sites added to the National Register of Historic Places al.com Four Alabama buildings have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, a list of culturally and historically significant sites worthy of ...

Retired Alabama Supreme Court Justice Hugh Maddox has died alreporter.com Maddox served longer on the Alabama Supreme Court than any associate justice in Alabama history. Maddox wrote numerous opinions while on the ...

Late Medal of Honor recipient, Alabama native to receive hero's send-off WTVM His burial service will be held on Wednesday. The Lee County Sheriff's Office will be supervising the escort, working with other Alabama and Georgia ...

Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller makes history again as first woman to score points in Power Five game CBSSports.com Four other women -- Willamette's Liz Heaston, Jacksonville State's Ashley Martin, West Alabama's Tonya Butler and Lebanon Valley's Brittany Ryan -- ...

HBO filmmakers talk wild new 'Alabama Snake' documentary al.com Bryan Storkel: A friend gave me a book. There's a couple of books on this story but I started by reading “Salvation on Sand Mountain,” which was a New ...

New Book Focuses on 'America's Amazon,' Mobile River Basin U.S. News & World Report Acclaimed biologist and Alabama native E.O. Wilson wrote a foreword for the book. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ...

Bradley descendants prosper in Conecuh and surrounding Counties Andalusia Star-News Nancy Jane was buried in the Methodist Church Cemetery in Belleville as Samuel would be later at his death in 1889. After Nancy Jane's death, Samuel was married in 1878 to Mary Alabama “Bama” Robbins, daughter of James ...

Is It Too Late to Save 'America's Amazon' in Alabama? EcoWatch By Tara Lohan. When longtime environmental journalist Ben Raines started writing a book about the biodiversity in Alabama, the state had 354 fish ...

New Book chronicles Pioneering 'Lower Alabama' family

Union Springs Herald

When ex-slave Henry Nance left Tennessee, he pursued his destiny in a thicketed corner of Coffee County, Alabama. The life he created for himself ...

HBO film 'Alabama Snake' tells story of Scottsboro snake-handling pastor's attempt to kill wife

WAAY

“Alabama Snake” is about Glenn Summerford, who remains imprisoned after ... crime was reported in the otherwise sleepy town of Scottsboro, Alabama. ... who knew Summerford best, speaking to his history of violence and spiritual ...

Hobson City has historic distinction as Alabama's first official Black town Alabama NewsCenter Hobson City in Calhoun County isn't much different from many Alabama small towns. But its founding and history make it unique. The state's first ...

Independent book shop owners list their favorite books with Alabama ties al.com The complete history of Alabama prior to statehood up to the present. Includes politics, race and football! Alabama Books. (Amazon.com).

What We Are Reading Today: Waste by Catherine Coleman Flowers Arab News This is an eye-opening book on how the intersection of poverty and racism result in terrible living conditions in Alabama, US. “This book is fascinating ...

DON NOBLE: Book contains timely assessment of Confederate monuments' history Tuscaloosa News Connor O'Neill, a recent graduate of the University of Alabama's master of fine arts program, may be known to Alabamians for his work on the podcast ...

On A Tour Of 'America's Amazon,' Flora, Fauna And Glimpses Of Alabama's Past NPR In his new book, Saving America's Amazon: The Threat to Our Nation's Most Biodiverse River System, Raines explores the remarkable array of flora ...

Alabama Author: Gwen Bristow

Several states can claim Gwen Bristow including South Carolina, Louisiana, Connecticut, Mississippi, California and Alabama. Let's investigate.

She was born in Marion, South Carolina, on September 16, 1903. Her writing efforts seem to have begun with her reporting of junior high school events to a local newspaper. Since her father Louis Jordan Bristow was a Baptist minister, she began college at Anderson Bible College in that South Carolina town. After a year she transferred to Judson College, a very strict Baptist women's college in Marion, Alabama. Despite her dislike of the rules,, Bristow continued her artistic development. She directed and played men's roles in two plays, and in 1923 was voted "Most Original" by her junior class peers. 

Upon graduating the following year, Bristow began working odd jobs so she could study journalism at Columbia University in New York City. She only spent a year in the Big Apple, however. Bristow worked a summer job at the New Orleans Times-Picayune and when the paper offered her a permanent post; she took it. At first she lived with her parents on the grounds of Southern Baptist Hospital, where her father had become Superintendent. 

Bristow spent much of the 1920's covering a range of events for the newspaper, including crimes and the great flood of 1927. She also wrote obituaries of prominent people and interviewed actors visiting the city. She also wrote poetry during this period and in 1926 published a small collection, The Alien and Other Poems. 

While covering a murder trial Bristow met fellow journalist Bruce Manning, and they eloped on January 14, 1929, to avoid objections from her Baptist family to Manning's Catholicism. They moved into an apartment on 627 Ursuline Street in the French Quarter. 

The couple soon collaborated on a novel, The Invisible Host, published by the Mystery League in 1930. From 1930 until 1933 the League published 30 hardcover mysteries that were inexpensive but featured striking Art Deco covers. The early titles--The Invisible Host was sixth in the series--sold for a quarter. I presume that because of the Great Depression the publisher folded after issuing only one title in 1933. 

The plot of the book will be familiar to anyone who's read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None or seen any of the film versions. Eight people known to each other receive anonymous invitations to attend dinner at a New Orleans penthouse. As the unseen host informs them over radio, the place is booby-trapped, and they will all die before morning. Complications ensue. 

The Invisible Host was soon adapted into a Broadway play called The Ninth Guest by prolific playwright Owen Davis. A 1934 film adaptation used the same title as the play. Christie is presumed not to have read or seen these materials before writing her famous novel, which was published in November 1939.

For the next two years Bristow and Manning continued writing together and produced three more books: The Gutenberg Murders (1931), The Mardi Gras Murders (1932) and Two and Two Make Twenty-Two (1932). After these four collaborations their writing careers diverged when they moved to Hollywood in 1934.

Manning published one novel, Party Wire, in 1935, and then began working as a screenwriter, director and producer until 1957. He died in 1965. Bristow also wrote some novels on her own, couldn't find a publisher and destroyed the manuscripts. Then she began writing the first of what became three popular Louisiana plantation novels: Deep Summer (1937), The Handsome Road (1938), and This Side of Glory (1940). These works follow two families over several generations. 

Bristow published several more novels before her death in 1980. She also published two memoirs, Gwen Bristow, A Self-Portrait (1941) and From Pigtails to Wedding Bells (1977). I wonder if she covers any of her time at Judson in either of those books. 

Source: Wikipedia

Book jacket for the 1930 first edition as reproduced at Facsimile Dust Jackets LLC

Author Gwen Bristow, author of "Celia Garth." Shown here with Melvin Shortess at her book signing. This photo was probably taken at the Shortess Book Store in New Orleans in 1955. Melvin H. (1909-1975) & Helen T. (1910-1979) Shortess were proprietors of the Shortess Book Store.

Source: Louisiana Digital Library

This novel was first published in 1959. That probably means the caption above has "1955" in error. 

This novel, which appeared in 1937, was the first volume of Bristow's Plantation Trilogy. This paperback edition was published in 1947. 

This 1950 novel was a bestseller, and a film version, with screenplay by Bruce Manning, was released in 1954.

Source: Fantastic Fiction

Some Further Reading, etc. 

Bristow, Gwen. Papers. South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia.

Dean, Lauren. “Gwen Bristow: Best Selling Author 1903-1980,” New Orleans Historical, accessed July 31, 2020, https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/558

Lowry, Julia B. “Carolina’s Gwen Bristow Finds She’s Obliged to Write!” Columbia State Magazine, November 5, 1950, pp. 6–7.

MacNebb, Betty L. “Gwen Bristow: Carolina’s Best Seller.” South Carolina Magazine 12 (July 1949): 8, 10.

Theriot, Billie J. “Gwen Bristow: A Biography with Criticism of Her Plantation Trilogy.” Ph.D. diss., Louisiana State University, 1994.

Alabama History & Culture News: December 6 edition

 

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

Alabama Paranormal Author Publishes Second Book About Haunted Items PR Web In this new book, the author shares the stories of some of the items in his collection that possess a much darker history. The items talked about in the ...

Heat on Mobile: How '60 Minutes' episode on Africatown pushes city to lure visitors al.com The Alabama Historical Commission, which is leading preservation efforts for the ... The signs, he said, were added in the past couple of weeks.

Dadeville lawyer finds rare book by famed local humorist while cleaning out bookcase The Alexander City Outlook William C. Oates (1835-1910) was Alabama's 29th governor. If the inscription on the inside cover reading “Wm C. Oates; Aug. 1st 1882” is to ...

Alabama author helps young readers learn spiritual truths Alabama Baptist Home | Alabama News | Book Reviews | Media Reviews | Alabama author helps young readers learn spiritual truths. December 4, 2020. Sally Blass ...

65 Years Later: 10 Fascinating Facts About the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Mental Floss

... as one of the earliest mass civil rights protests in American history. ... chair of the history department at Alabama State University, tells Mental Floss.

Time for the Clotilda to be respected and appreciated al.com It has always been a puzzle to me that Mobile, Alabama, would have a neighborhood like Africatown, rich in history, that it has never done much to ...

New Heaven's Gate docuseries on HBO Max has link to Alabama al.com Applewhite's time in Alabama was a short chapter in his history -- just two years, 1961-1962, according to a Huntsville lawyer who knew him then -- but ...

50 historic photos from American military history

McDowell News

Tuskegee Airmen, with fighter aircraft, at Tuskegee Army Flying School during World War II, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1944. The success of these airmen ...

Antebellum homes hold and preserve Auburn's past The Auburn Plainsman History runs deep in the veins of Auburn's antebellum houses. ... membership secretary for the Alabama Historical Association, said Pebble Hill was ...

The movement to teach a truer history of Black Americans in the South

Oakridger

In Montgomery, Alabama, one tour guide crafted an entire tour out of sharing forgotten and often untold chapters of the city's history. Often these stories ...

When the textbooks lied, Black Alabamians turned to each other for history

Montgomery Advertiser

An Alabama history textbook published in 1961 compared it to Social Security. Lynching got no mention. Segregation was barely discussed. Black ...

Selma native publishes second book Selma Times-Journal Ufomadu, who works as an Accommodations Specialist in the University of Alabama Office of Disability Services, said she enjoys writing books.

Southern schools' history textbooks: A long history of deception, and what the future holds Montgomery Advertiser “It should be noted that slavery was the earliest form of social security in the United States,” a 1961 Alabama history textbook said, falsely. The same ...

Alabama History: Re-examined Part 4 WSFA It wasn't easy. WSFA 12 News is wrapping up its series of stories re-examining Black history in Alabama in conjunction with the Alabama Department of ...

CVHS learns about Marquis de Lafayette Valley Times-News The Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society made some history itself at ... Oral history has it that many Alabama women danced with Lafayette at ...

Dick Cooper's photo exhibit at Alabama Music Hall of Fame dives into Shoals music history whnt.com — Through the end of the year, patrons visiting the Alabama Music Hall of Fame will have the opportunity to dive into even more music history. The ...

Who Was Davis Roberts?

I recently watched the Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame film In A Lonely Place for the umpteenth time and noticed something that turned out to have an Alabama connection. Early in the 1950 movie Bogart is leaving a Los Angeles  police station just after dawn. He passes a florist shop where a young black man is hosing down the sidewalk before the store opens. Bogart has an exchange with him, and this time I thought the young actor looked familiar. 

So I looked the film up on the Internet Movie Database and there he was, "Flower Shop Employee" played by Davis Roberts in an uncredited role. I looked him up on Wikipedia and found--wait for it--he was born in Mobile, Alabama. His name at birth was Robert Alphonse Davis and the date was March 7, 1917. 

Davis was given the same name as his father; see below for more information on the elder Robert. The family appears in Mobile in the 1920 U.S. Census. Father Robert is 23 years old, a year older than his wife Clara May. Children listed were Robert Jr, age 2, Margret 1, and baby Clarice. By the 1930 census the family had moved to Chattanooga. Father Robert was not listed but more children were included: Robert (13), Marguerite (11), Clarice (10), Charles (7) and Warner (4). That last child was the only Tennessee native listed, so I presume the family moved from Mobile about 1926.

Sometime after 1930 the family moved again, this time to Chicago. The 1940 census only has Robert Jr., Charles, Marguerite and Clarice listed in the household. The mother and Warner are not included. According to one source, Davis graduated from Phillips High School in Chicago, where he edited the newspaper. Then he attended the University of Chicago and began performing with local theater groups. 

After serving in World War II and reaching the rank of first lieutenant, Davis made his way to Hollywood. He studied at the Actors' Lab Workshop there and in 1947 had his first film appearance, credited as Robert A. Davis, in The Long Night. Until the mid-1950's he made various uncredited appearances and some as Robert or Robert A. Davis. His name change must have occurred at that point. 

From 1947 until 1993 Roberts compiled a total of 134 acting credits, 50 of them in films. He also made two appearances in small roles on Broadway. That's why he seemed familiar in the Bogart movie; I've no doubt seen Roberts in some of those many roles.

Some of his films include Knock on Any Door (another Bogart), The Great White Hope, Sweet Bird of Youth, Westworld, and The Chase. He played "Farm Hand with Hoe" in God's Little Acre, "Maitre D" in The Killers, Dr. Elmo Adams in Hotel (a significant role I definitely remember). and Warner in The Demon Seed. 

Roberts had a similar variety of roles on television, beginning with an appearance in The Amos 'n Andy Show in 1951. Some of the shows included Peter Gunn, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Mission Impossible, Kolchak, All in the Family, Dallas, and St. Elsewhere. One well-remembered role was Doc Carter in three episodes of Sanford and Son. Roberts specialized in bringing dignity to whatever part he played. You can see the full film and television list at the Internet Movie Database. 

Another aspect of Roberts' career involved work with various organizations and efforts often related to blacks in film and television. On August 13, 1967, he and a few other members of the NAACP Beverly Hills-Hollywood branch presented the first annual Image Awards to recognize significant work by blacks in film, television, music, literature, etc. A national broadcast of the awards ceremony began in 1994, and the 51st presentation took place on February 22, 2020. 

Roberts also served several terms on the Western Advisory Board of the Actors' Equity Association, which represented theatrical performers. He co-chaired the committee that secured a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for controversial singer and actor Paul Robeson.  

Davis Roberts' career was significant enough that obituaries appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. 

A few more comments are  below. 

Roberts in "The Money Machine" episode of Mission Impossible first broadcast 29 October 1967

Source: Wikipedia

Davis' World War II draft card

Source: Ancestry.com 

This World War I draft registration card for Robert Alphonse Davis,  Davis Roberts' father, gives us some interesting information. The elder Davis registered on June 5, 1917, just a few months after his son Robert Jr. was born. The father's birthday was October 20, 1894. The family lived at 22 Persimmon Street, and he worked for the Mobile County School Board at Barton Academy.  

Source: Ancestry.com 

Here's a screenshot from that brief scene with Roberts and Bogart in the film In a Lonely Place. The scene starts at about the 24 minute mark.