Alabama History and Culture News: February 22 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!

Books-A-Million's Virtual Event with Author John Archibald Invites a Deep Dive into “Shaking the ... Business Wire Moderated by Alabama icon Wayne Flynt and Reckon Interview team members John Hammontree and Ryan Nave and hosted by Books-A-Million and ...

Book Review: 'The Wife Upstairs' sets 'Jane Eyre' in modern-day Alabama Atlanta Journal Constitution Taking plot and character inspiration from Charlotte Bronte's “Jane Eyre,” author Alabama author Rachel Hawkins cleverly reimagines the gothic ...

The Burleson Family: A history older than the state Yahoo News ... Heaven," a historical book written by David Burleson, Morgan County archivist John Allison spoke to the importance of the family to north Alabama.

Former UA professor Allen Wier to receive Truman Capote Prize at virtual Monroeville Literary ... Tuscaloosa Magazine ... of Alabama from 1980 to 1994, was recently announced as sixth recipient of the Truman Capote Prize for Distinguished Work in Literary Non-Fiction ...

Alabama man recalls his march on Bloody Sunday WTVY, Dothan It's a day students in America learn about in their history class. It happened back in 1965. It's also a day Reverend Charles A. Dale will never forget ...

Montgomery museum documents history of racial injustice in America Iowa City Press Citizen Montgomery, Alabama, is a beautiful city. Behind the elegant buildings, flowering trees and wide avenues, however, lies a history not so beautiful: The ...

Elba Masonic Lodge gifts historical marker to City of Elba Elba Clipper The Elba Masonic Lodge #170 gifted an Alabama Historical Marker to the City of Elba during a ceremony held Saturday, Feb. 13, in Elba.

Construction of Alabama's new Africatown museum begins Alabama NewsCenter Second, we are committed to an exhibition that is not only historically accurate but also is executed to the highest standards of public history and ...

Black Heritage Council helps Alabama's African Americans discover their past Alabama NewsCenter The BHC is an arm of the Alabama Historical Commission and serves as an advocate for the preservation and restoration of African American historic ...

Tour highlights University of Alabama's history with slavery alreporter.com Tour highlights University of Alabama's history with slavery. UA associate professor Hilary Green's tours shed light on the university's slave history and ...

Africatown museum construction begins. Will tell story of Clotilda slave ship and community al.com Researchers with the University of South Alabama are currently examining land across from the Old Plateau Cemetery to assess whether any graves ...

Historical Museum seeks funds to restore its home Randolph Leader We have secured a $15,000 grant from the Alabama Historical Commission to allow us to begin the studies on what it will take to restore the building.

The historical Latham Post Office will get a new home in Stockton FOX10 News STOCKTON, Ala. --According to the Baldwin County Commission, for 82 years, the Latham Post Office has played an important part in Baldwin ...

'Three Days at Foster' director, sports author Keith Dunnavant discusses Alabama's forgotten civil ... WIAT - CBS42.com 'Three Days at Foster' director, sports author Keith Dunnavant discusses Alabama's forgotten civil rights pioneers. Black History Month. by: CBS 42 ...

DON NOBLE: Biography shows how John Lewis embodied the social gospel Tuscaloosa News Meacham's first book was about the civil rights movement. ... Reading what life was like for black families in Troy, Alabama in the 1940s, you can see ...

2021 Harper Lee Award winner Angela Johnson writes about the African-American family experience Tuscaloosa Magazine Alabama roots wend throughout her novels, poetry and short stories, but Johnson has also written a connected series of novels about growing up in ...

'It's a sad, sad day': Joe Cain Day traditions continue in Mobile during pandemic al.com But some normalcy was kept alive inside the historic cemetery. Visitors milled around the Graveyard to pay respects to Cain and Julian “Judy” Rayford, ...

Birmingham Photo of the Day (78): Motorcycle Police

I came across this photograph as I wandered through the Alabama Mosaic site and thought I would explore it a bit. The item is from the digital collections at the Birmingham Public Library, as linked below. That entry tells us nothing beyond noting it shows Birmingham police officers on motorcycles and was taken by O.V. Hunt [1881-1962]. Oscar Virgil Hunt was a commercial photographer in the city for many years and his work documents decades of Birmingham history. The Library maintains a Hunt collection; more about it and him can be found here. 

I'm sure someone familiar with the history of Birmingham police uniforms and/or the motorcycle type could date this photo more precisely than I can. However, there is another feature that tells us something. That statue in the background is one of William Elias B. Davis, a prominent city physician who died in February 1903 at the age of forty. 

The statue was dedicated in Capitol Park [now Linn Park] on December 14, 1904. In 1957 it was moved to the front of the New Hillman Building and has stood there, more or less, ever since. I've written a blog post on Davis and his physician brother John and their accomplishments. You can also read about them here.  

Thus this photo was taken sometime between 1904 and 1957, no doubt closer to the former than the latter. If you have any more ideas, please leave them in the comments!

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Alabama History & Culture News: February 15 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!

Birmingham Jail Logs With MLK Signatures up for Sale U.S. News & World Report King and his Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference joined with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, led by the Rev.

Stream free concert “Dedication” from Eric Essix Group, Tracy Hamlin on Feb. 25 UAB News Celebrate Black History Month with “Dedication,” a free, live-streamed ... “Dedication” is made possible by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, ...

Eric Essix Group, Tracy Hamlin, To Perform At Live-Streamed Feb. 25 Black History Month Concert Patch.com "Dedication" is made possible by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Hugh Kaul Foundation, Ebsco Industries and Jefferson County Community ...

Black History Month: These powerful photos show social movements throughout the years WSLS 10 African-American protesters, arrested during segregation demonstrations, are held in a fenced yard in Birmingham, Alabama, May 9, 1963.

Irondale lynching marker unveiled al.com Of more than 360 documented lynchings that took place in Alabama, at least ... Three lynching victims are memorialized in a historical marker at Sloss ...

These Black authors fill Alabama with poetry and community The University of Alabama Crimson White The poet Amanda Gorman was thrown into the spotlight this past month after reading her work at President Joe Biden's inauguration. Gorman's powerful ...

WAAY 31 Black History Month Spotlight: Jesse Owens, Alabama's Olympic hero WAAY The “Buckeye Bullet” James Cleveland Owens, otherwise known as Jesse Owens was born in Oakville Alabama in 1913. Posted: Feb 8, 2021 2:29 ...

Tuskegee Airmen Quarters for Alabama Released in Rolls and Bags CoinNews.net 2020: National Park of American Samoa; Weir Farm National Historic Site of Connecticut; Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological ...

Sun Ra, Odetta, Alabama artists honored at National Museum of African American Music al.com Additional Alabama musicians include Odetta, SunRa, Lionel Richie, ... The “Crossroads” gallery chronicles the history and influence of blues from the ...

Funeral for Scottsboro Boys Museum founder Sheila Washington Washington Times Clarence Norris, the last known surviving defendant, was pardoned in 1976 by Alabama's then-Gov. George C. Wallace. Washington led efforts to ...

DON NOBLE: Dark novel explores the ethics of damage control PR Tuscaloosa News In the 1980s, Lynn Kostoff was an instructor at the University of Alabama, then held the post of ... Kostoff has published four novels, all highly praised.

African American legend honored during Black History Month whnt.com The neighborhood, near Alabama A&M University, was one of the few places African Americans were allowed to buy property in the city during ...

7 Fascinating Historic Hikes In Alabama TravelAwaits Alabama has many such trails, too many to mention here, that will take you back in time to the good -- and bad -- times in American history. Here are ...

Blakeley to Host Annual Alabama Author's Day Program and Cruise Gulf Coast News Today This year's lineup includes noted environmental journalist Ben Raines to discuss his acclaimed new book on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta; Alabama ...

Three generations have worked this 100-year-old farm

Anniston Star

The Birmingham farm turned 100 years old recently, which the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries recognized by conferring “century farm” ...

Remembering Sheila Washington, Who Brought Honor To The Scottsboro Boys WBHM Credit: Alabama Department of Archives & History ... also received help from the Black Heritage Council of the Alabama Historical Commission.

Lois Wilson's "Deluge"

I've written a couple of blog posts about Lois Wilson, an actress born in Pittsburgh who grew up in Alabama. She won the first contest of what became the Miss Alabama pageant before heading to Hollywood. Wilson had a long career in both silent and sound films between 1915 and 1949. She also had roles on several television soap operas in the 1950's. Wilson never married and died in 1988. 

In the first post I covered her life and career in some detail. In the second one I wrote about Birmingham sculptor George Bridges and the work he created inspired by her 1934 film No Greater Glory. 

In one of her 1926 roles she played Daisy Buchanan in the first film version of The Great Gatsby. That film is currently lost; in this post I'm discussing one of her sound films believed lost for many years, the 1933 work Deluge. A copy was discovered in a film archive in Italy in 1981. This Italian-dubbed copy was issued with English subtitles. In 2016 a 35mm negative with an English soundtrack was located and restored by Lobster Films. 

Deluge is perhaps the first in a genre familiar to us today--the natural disaster film that focuses on small groups of survivors. We get the buildup as scientists follow the signs of coming events, the disaster itself, and two romances in the ruins. Special effects footage from this film were used in at least three other movies in the 1930's and 1940's. 

The film's source is a 1928 novel of the same name by English author S. Fowler Wright. He wrote a number of science fiction novels, as well as historical fiction  and mysteries. Deluge: A Romance became a best-seller in both the United States and the United Kingdom. A sequel, Dawn, was published the following year but was not as successful.  

Deluge the film was made in what is known as "pre-code Hollywood". This period lasted from the beginning of widespread use of sound in 1929 until mid-1934, when the "Hays Code" of censorship accepted by the studios went into effect. Many films addressed topics later to be banned: infidelity, abortion, illegal drug use, sexual relationships between blacks and whites, promiscuity, prostitution and more. Oh, and what passed at the time for an abundant exposure of female flesh. Most of these films seem tame compared with today's movies and television, but were bold and groundbreaking for sound films in the early 1930's. Deluge manages to include some infidelity and a few glimpses of ladies in their underwear and such. 

A lot of the same subjects had been explored in silent films, however. An over the top example is The Mystery of the Leaping Fish, a Sherlock Holmes parody in which Douglas Fairbanks plays Coke Ennyday, who injects you-know-what. The short comedy film is a riotous depiction of cocaine use that seems shocking even now. 

All topic drifting aside, I enjoyed watching Deluge. The film holds up remarkably well; the flooding of New York City is especially impressive. Contemporary audiences, not jaded by CGI effects in so many films, could watch in awe as a model Big Apple was swept away. The scene in which the city if totally flooded and most inhabitants drown would be recreated in the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow. Deluge, which cost $171,000 to make and filmed entirely in Los Angeles, is only 70 minutes long and moves quickly. You can watch Deluge on YouTube. 

Wilson made a number of other films after Deluge; her final one was The Girl from Jones Beach in 1949. In the early 1950's she appeared in three different television soap operas. She never married and died at age 93 in 1988.

Actress Peggy Shannon, who plays Claire, died in 1941 at the age of 34. In May of that year her husband Albert Roberts returned to their apartment to find Peggy dead in a chair at the kitchen table. She had died of a heart attacked resulting from alcoholism. Three weeks later Albert committed suicide sitting in the same chair. 

The cover of Wright's 1928 novel 

Source: Wikipedia

Cover of a 1998 VHS release

Source: Amazon

Early in the film we meet Claire [Peggy Shannon] getting a rubdown and displaying some skin. 

Scientists all over the world are watching the signs of impending apocalypse. 

Just before the apocalyptic events reach them, there is a touching family scene with Helen [Lois Wilson], Martin and their two children. They soon have to evacuate their home for higher ground.

Some four minutes of the film are devoted to the destruction of New York City. 

After the deluge, Martin awakens in a devastated landscape. Helen and the children are nowhere to be found.

Helen is rescued by two lowlifes who do no have the best intentions toward her. We get another bit of Pre-Code female flesh in this scene. At this point we have no idea what's happened to the children. 

The two men soon fight over Helen, and the big one, Jephson, survives. In order to escape, Helen heads to the water and swims off. 

Pre-Code films got away with this sort of thing. 

Meanwhile, Martin has found a cabin and nearby mineshaft to live in. Guess who washes up on his beach--Claire, of course.

Claire and Tom quickly develop feelings for each other in this almost-bucolic Adam-and-Eve situation. 

Meanwhile, in the ruins of a seaside town, Helen is reunited with her children and living with a man named Tom.

Some of the men with Jephson have entered the cavern to search for Claire and Martin. 

Claire and Martin are ready for them. 

Some townspeople happen to be in the area and rescue the pair. The group returns to town, and Martin and Helen are reunited.

 Needless to say, Claire and Tom are devastated by this development.  

Helen visits Claire and they discuss their mutual love, Martin. Claire is determined not to give him up. 

However, when Claire sees Helen and Martin at a town meeting, she realizes they are a happy couple. She heads to the beach.

In a scene that mirrors Helen's earlier in the film, a distraught Claire swims away, presumably to her death. Martin has followed her and watches her go.

The End 

 

Charles A. McCallum, D.M.D., M.D., RIP

I would like to note the passing on January 16 of Charles A. "Scotty" McCallum, Jr., dentist, physician, UAB's third President from April 1987 until September 1993, two-term Mayor of Vestavia Hills and much more at UAB: professor, vice president for health affairs, dean of the School of Dentistry, and chair of the Department of Oral Surgery. But wait--there's more! See the plaque below. 

For more details on his remarkable life and career, see his entry at the Alabama Academy of Honor and the extensive obituary at AL.com The UAB Archives also has some material about him. 

I had two minor encounters with Dr. McCallum in the late 1980's that were helpful to me and indicated the scholar and gentleman he was. When I first started researching the life and career of Alice McNeal, MD, the first Chair of UAB's Department of Anesthesiology, Dr. McCallum took the time to meet with me and let me pick his brain about her years in the School of Medicine. He didn't know her that well, but gave me some details and names of others to contact. 

In 1988 I served as Vice-President of the Alabama Health Libraries Association and was responsible for organizing the annual meeting to be held in Birmingham. Dr. McCallum graciously agreed to be the luncheon guest speaker and regaled us with a talk on the remarkable history and growth of UAB. I remember vividly that he noted the university then occupied 84 [or close to that!] blocks in the city. I wonder what the number is now?

RIP, Dr. McCallum....

Source for this photo and one below: BhamWiki

Movies with Alabama Connections: One Clear Call [1922]

This 1922 silent film directed by John M. Stahl is based on a 1915 novel of that title by Frances Nimmo Greene. Greene (5 April 1867-9 Dec 1937) was born in Tuscaloosa and spent her life in the state. She wrote novels, non-fiction and works for children. Her 1913 novel The Right of the Strongest, was filmed in 1924; I've written about it here. A 1918 novel, The Devil to Pay, was filmed in 1920. These films are one example of the popularity of her work.

One Clear Call is a trifecta of Alabama connections: it's based on a novel by a state native; one of the stars, Henry B. Walthall, is a state native; and it's set in the state. Whew! But wait, there's more! Another of the leading actors, Milton Sills, appeared as the lead in Men of Steel, a 1926 production filmed in Alabama. I've written a blog post about it here.

Since I haven't seen the film, I'll post this summary by Janniss Garza at the AllMovie site: 

"Veteran silent star Henry Walthall shines in this drama, based on the novel by Frances Nimmo Greene. In spite of the complaints from his sister, Maggie Thornton (Irene Rich), Dr. Alan Hamilton (Milton Sills) insists on befriending Henry Garnett (Walthall), who runs a gambling hall. A young woman (Claire Windsor) is brought into Hamilton's hospital unconscious, and she refuses to reveal her identity. Hamilton falls in love with the girl, who he calls Faith, and she is the only one who encourages his friendship with Garnett. On the night he keeps a rioting mob away from the gambling hall, he reveals to Faith that he is looking for Garnett's long-lost wife because the gambler has only a limited time to live. Faith finally reveals that she is the wife, but Hamilton turns around and urges her to keep her secret. His bad advice eats away at him, and he turns to drink until he is compelled to tend to his nephew, who has been badly injured. He then takes Faith to Garnett, but the dying gambler wishes her only happiness and releases her from her bond to him by drinking poison."

Got that?

By the time Shelby County native Henry B. Walthall appeared in One Clear Call, he had been acting in films since 1909. Born in 1878, Walthall served in the First Alabama Regiment during the Spanish American War, but caught malaria and was not deployed before the war ended. By 1900 or so he was in New York acting on the stage. Eight years later he made his first film for Biograph Studios in New York. Walthall worked often with director D.W. Griffith and followed along when Griffith left New York for California. Walthall had a major role as Colonel Ben Cameron in Griffith's notorious yet influential The Birth of a Nation . He continued acting in numerous movies until his death in 1936--a year in which he acted in six films!

Frances Nimmo Greene was a busy woman and not just as a writer. After finishing at Tuscaloosa Female College, she taught at a public school in Montgomery and a private girl's school in Birmingham. During this period, under the pen name "Dixie" Greene was "Southern correspondent" for the Philadelphia Times newspaper. 

She worked at the library division of the state archives beginning in 1909 and was secretary for the Birmingham Library Association. Greene returned to newspaper work as society page editor of the Birmingham News in 1911 and 1912. Later in life she worked in support of the Birmingham Little Theater and taught fiction and drama writing classes. In the last 18 months before she died she worked for the New Deal's Federal Theater Project in Birmingham;  I've written about the FTP in Alabama here.

Most of her published writing appeared between 1901 and 1920. Her first book Legends of King Arthur and His Court was a textbook for children; so was the second, Spurs of Gold: Heroes of Chivalry and Their Deeds published in 1905. That King Arthur book was popular and later cited by Harry Truman as one he used for his own self-education. 

Her first book for adults Into the Night: A Story of New Orleans was published in 1909. This novel incorporated real life events, the 1890 assassination of New Orleans police chief David Hennessey and the subsequent lynching of 11 of the 19 Italian men indicted for his murder. In an article about Greene, Marie Bankhead Owen describes their research trip to the Big Easy as Greene prepared to write the book. Owen served as chaperon, and the two rented apartments while they consulted both library shelves and life on the streets. 

Nimmo's subsequent books included additional novels, textbooks and two plays. A good bibliography is included in her BhamWiki entry; most of her books are available via the Internet Archive. 

One Clear Call's director John M. Stahl helmed several movies before this one; his career as both producer and director would continue until the year before his death in 1950. Script author Bess Meredyth was also well known in the industry. She acted in a number of silent films between 1913 and 1915, and wrote scripts for dozens of silent and sound movies from 1910 until 1947. Married to famed director Michael Curtiz, Meredyth was one of 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 

One Clear Call has apparently never been released on video or DVD. However, according to Wikipedia, a copy exists at the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.

On the lobby card for the film, director Stahl is named above the title, but Greene is also acknowledged below the title. 

Source: Wikipedia

Claire Windsor and Milton Sills

Source: Wikipedia Commons

Source: A Claire Windsor fan site

Producer Louis B. Mayer, actor Henry B. Walthall and director John M. Stahl on the set

Source: Exhibitors Herald 1 April 1922 via Wikimedia

Henry B. Walthall

Source: Wikipedia Commons

Scene from One Clear Call

Source: Wikipedia Commons

Ad that appeared in the Duluth Herald 7 July 1922

Source: Wikipedia Commons

Advertisement for One Clear Call" that appeared
in the Tampa Tribune 5 November 1922

Review of One Clear Call from the Gaffney [SC] Tribune 10 July 1923. The film was released in May 1922, so you can tell from the date of this review how long it took to make its way around the country. At 80 minutes long the final cut came in at 8000 feet of film. According to the IMDB, some 200,000 feet were shot. 

The novel can be found at the Internet Archive. 

Francis Nimmo Greene

Source: Wikipedia