Thursday, January 7, 2021

Alabama Photo of the Day: Homewood Theatre in 1941

The first photo below shows the Homewood Theatre after its renovation in 1941. Below that is an article from the Birmingham News in January of that year describing the changes coming to the venue. The second photo shows the theater around 1928, and the final one of the building was taken in March 2019. 

The 1945 Birmingham Yellow Pages theater listings gives the address as 2834 South 18th Street. The architect for the redesign was Wilmot Douglas; you can see a list of some of his other buildings in the Birmingham area here. He also designed the College Theatre which opened in East Lake in 1949. 

The Cinema Treasures site says the theater closed around 1963. If you have other information or memories about the Homewood Theatre, feel free to leave them in the comments section. 



Taken in 1941 by a photographer named Rushing for the Birmingham News





Birmingham News article January 1941 




C. 1928 Birmingham News photo of the Homewood Theatre from the Birmingham Public Library's Birmingham News Photograph Collection (Item BN545)

Films advertised include "Arizona Wildcat" (1927), "Fireman, Save My Child" (1927), "While the City Sleeps" (1928), "Tarzan the Mighty" (1928), "The Scrappin' Ranger" (1928), and "Beauty and Bullets" (1928). The door on the left is marked "Colored Entrance".

Source: BhamWiki




This photo via Google Maps shows the building in March 2019. 












Friday, January 1, 2021

What's Coming to the Blog in 2021?

For several years now I've been doing these "What's Coming" posts. You can read the 2020 post here. I include a wish list of topics I hope to cover, and look at past lists to see which ones I managed to write and which I didn't. So, here we are for 2021. 

I've chosen five subjects I'd really like to get done this year. Back in the summer of 2016 I did five posts on "Beulah Vee's Cedar Chest." My dad's older sister died in 1939 just a few months after high school graduation; naturally I never met her. My grandmother Rosa Mae Wright kept a large cedar chest filled with her daughter's memorabilia. Most of those contents were recently donated to the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery; they form a sort of time capsule of one person's life in Gadsden, Alabama, in the 1920's and 1930's. I plan a post to describe that donation process and bring the story to a close.

Another topic I'd like to cover is Truman Capote and Marilyn Monroe. I've done a pretty bogus post connecting MM and Alabama, but this one is a bit stronger. I also hope to take a look at Anthony M. Rud's short story "Ooze" which was published in the very first issue of the legendary Weird Tales pulp magazine in 1923. The story is set in "the piney woods jungle of southern Alabama". Oh, that reminds me, I also need to do a piece on Birmingham native Mary Elizabeth Counselman, who published several stories in Weird Tales. 

I also want to start this year what will probably be a long series of blog posts. A number of natives or people with state connections have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and I could follow that piece with ones on people from the state who have won Oscars, Emmys and Tony awards. 

I actually did complete four topics from the 2020 list: the USS Birmingham and Early FlightTallulah Does Birmingham and visits to Scottsboro and Arab [but not Clanton and Calera!]. Posts listed but not written [and these have appeared in previous years] include very busy actors R.G. Armstrong [a Pleasant Grove native] and Harry Townes [Huntsville]. I also didn't do something on the strange writing career of Clement Wood or on Florence Maybrick--did the Mobile native really kill her English husband? 

This coming year I'm sure I'll do new entries in ongoing series, such as films with Alabama connections, the usual crop of posts on "let's connect [fill in the blank] to Alabama!" and the usual stuff I haven't even thought of yet.

These "what's coming" posts are really wishin' and hopin' lists. I have a long master catalog of topics I'd like to write about and naturally, no matter how many I write, it just keeps growing. You know, I could just do blog posts with lists of topics I'd like to do blog posts on. I guess I better get to work...

Now for the numbers each year:


2020-108
2019-110
2018-74
2017-80
2016-99
2015-91
2014-95

A total of 657 posts so far....sheesh....makes me tired just thinking about that...






























Friday, December 25, 2020

Alabama History & Culture News: December 25 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!


Lowndes County, Alabama, Memorializes Victim of Racial Terror Lynching at Courthouse
The coalition had planned a historical marker dedication ceremony for April 26 that had to be canceled due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Watch the ...

... and Academy of the Visitation, commonly known as Visitation Monastery, is a historic complex of Roman Catholic buildings and a small cemetery.

New book focuses on 'America's Amazon,' Mobile River basin 
Acclaimed biologist and Alabama native E.O. Wilson wrote a foreword for the book.

Farrell: 'Alabama Story' is the show we need right now
It's a true story about Indiana's own Emily Wheelock Reed, who, as the Alabama state librarian in 1959, defended a book called “The Rabbits' ...

... is a historic complex of Roman Catholic buildings and a small cemetery. ... a blessing for visitors, community from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

Randolph County Historical Museum temporarily closed
The grant from the Alabama Historical Commission in the amount of $14,948 will also be used to conduct important tests for asbestos and lead-based ...

Birmingham Historical Society: Alabama's 100-Year-Old Holiday Cake
Birmingham Historical Society: Alabama's 100-Year-Old Holiday Cake. In the South, recipes are filled with history, and often shared with memories, ...

Added to the National Register of Historic Places
According to the Alabama Historical Commission, the AT&T City Center is historically significant, “as a symbol of Birmingham's rebirth as an urban ...

Birmingham, Alabama got its name from the English city, but we have even more than our name in ... Mary Anderson is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

It's Christmastime at Cherokee County Historical Museum
Originally the Jeff D. Jordan “Big Store,” it now is on the Alabama Register of Historic Places. The museum's board of directors had wanted to celebrate ...

How a simple story about a road trip became a kids' classic
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, his first book, was originally a ... their home in Flint, Michigan, to Grandma's house in Birmingham, Alabama, ...
Book Recounts Story of Auburn Nursing During COVID-19
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Tags: Alabama, ...
Judson College needs $1.5 million or will be forced to close in January
The school has been affiliated with the Alabama Baptist Convention throughout its history and currently receives $1 million annually from the ...
Alabama art exhibit connects American history to Civil Rights, present-day struggles
Jacob Lawrence studied American history at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, gathering years of research before putting brush ...

Alabama mom's business featured in 'Drew Barrymore Show' gift guide
Drew Barrymore's “Little Book of Small Businesses Gift Guide” is an offshoot of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” a talk show syndicated by CBS.

Alabama was home to world's first electric trolley system
Alabama was home to world's first electric trolley system ... The cars could move 6 mph, author Mary Ann Neeley said in her book “Montgomery: ...

Alabama town is ready for its HGTV 'Home Town Takeover' spotlight
... Ben and Erin Napier shine a spotlight on Wetumpka, chronicling a makeover focused on its downtown and historic district in “Home Town Takeover ...

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

The Many Faces of Cathy O'Donnell

I've done a blog post on Siluria native Cathy O'Donnell [born Ann M. Steely] in my series on film actresses from Alabama whose careers began before 1960. You can read that post for details on her life and work in both film and television. She had roles in a number of major films including The Best Years of Our Lives, Detective Story, The Man from Laramie and Ben Hur. Many film noir fans [and we are legion] have long admired her performance alongside Farley Granger in the classic They Live by Night. 

Among her television roles was one appearance on Perry Mason, in "The Case of the Fickle Fortune." I happened to watch it recently and took some screen shots as the episode progressed. O'Donnell plays county employee Norma Brooks in love with a con man who has used her once, and returns to do it again.

As usual, this Perry Mason case is deliciously complicated. I'll let a commentator on the IMDB page for the episode set the stage: 

"County tax man Ralph Duncan inventories a house after the owner died intestate. While there a woman stops by to question him about some items saying she had been the owner's maid. He finds a cache of old greenbacks, "shin plasters," worth $153,000. When he arrives home to show his wife Helen and cousin, Charlie Nickles, the surprising find, the money is gone. Unknown to Duncan, Nickles has the money and fences it to Lloyd Farrell, an import/export merchant. Farrell turns to another county employee, Norma Brooks, to find elderly, infirm Josiah Ames, who is near death. Farrell plants $148,000 of the money in Ames' effects, which are bequeathed to his accountant, Albert Keller. Upon seeing the story in the newspaper, Duncan consults Perry Mason, who speaks with Keller. After a woman calls Duncan he visits Farrell who he finds dead. Duncan is leaving the house as the police arrive so Duncan is arrested."

Got that? 

Farrell cons poor Norma into planting the big bucks at Ames' house and convincing the old man to write the will naming his accountant as beneficiary. 

More comments are below. If you are so inclined, you can read a lot of minutiae about this episode here




This particular episode was original to the series and not based on one of the many Perry Mason novels by Earle Stanley Gardner




When Farrell contacts Norma again after so long, she is cool at first. 





However, her defenses soon crumble, and once again she is putty in Farrell's hands, thus setting her up to help with his money laundering scheme.
 




Mason [Raymond Burr] shows up at Norma's office as he begins to investigate the situation for Duncan.  






Mason's questioning gets around to Farrell, and Norma confesses her past relationship to him. 






Naturally, Norma can't understand how Farrell could be involved in anything illegal. 




Norma, Mason and private detective Paul Drake [William Hopper] make a visit to Farrell's residence. Surprise, surprise, they find his dead body!




As the trial begins, Norma waits in the audience for her turn in the witness chair.






First, she has to face questioning by District Attorney Hamilton Burger [played by William Talman]









Now it's Perry Mason's turn. Norma does not wither under questioning by either Mason or Burger. 












Later, during another witness's testimony, Norma loses her cool. She leaps up from her seat at one point and confesses before God and everyone in the courtroom that she didn't kill Farrell. That turns out to be true, but I wonder what price she had to pay for her role in Farrell's scheme. 







The role featured another good performance by the Alabama native O'Donnell. A blog post on some of her film work can be found here.



Several veteran actors also appeared in this episode. Vaughn Taylor, who played Mason's client Ralph Duncan, had a long career from the 1930's into the 1970's. He was a familiar face on television in the 1950's and 1960's. Also familiar was the actress who played Helen Duncan, Virginia Christine. She appeared in roles from the 1940s until 1979, often on television. She is probably best remembered as Mrs. Olson in a long running series of commercials for Folger's Coffee. 




The Boston Globe profiled O'Donnell early in her career in a December 17, 1946 issue

Source: Newspapers.com 



The Birmingham News profiled O'Donnell in a Sunday feature for the February 27, 1955, issue 

Source: Newspapers.com 




Friday, December 18, 2020

Alabama's Female College Football Players

Recently Sarah Fuller made college football history by kicking an extra point in the December 12 game between her Vanderbilt Commodores and the Tennessee Volunteers. She had also kicked off in the November 28 game against the Missouri Tigers. She thus became the first woman to play and score points in a Power Five game. However, she was not the first female college athlete to play and score in football games in the U.S. In fact, two women playing for Alabama teams also have significant records in that sport.

The article linked above notes these female milestones in college football:

"Fuller joins Katie Hnida and April Goss as the only women to play in an FBS game. Hnida kicked two extra points for New Mexico against Texas State in 2003. She transferred to New Mexico from Colorado, where she did dress out but did not play in a game for the Buffaloes. Goss, who played at Kent State, kicked an extra point against Delaware State in 2015.

Four other women -- Willamette's Liz Heaston, Jacksonville State's Ashley Martin, West Alabama's Tonya Butler and Lebanon Valley's Brittany Ryan -- have also kicked in college football games at various levels ranging from NAIA to FCS. Heaton became the first woman to score in a college football game in 1997."

Let's look at the specifics for those two Alabama players.

On August 30, 2001, Ashley Martin kicked three extra points for Jacksonville State as they defeated Cumberland University 72-10. In doing so she became the first woman to score points in an NCAA football game. At the time Jacksonville played in Division 1-AA [now the Football Championship Subdivision.] The only previous woman to score in an American football game was Liz Heaston who played for Willamette University in 1997. Willamette played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 

Martin played soccer at Jacksonville and joined the Gamecocks football team as a backup place kicker. She had previously played for her high school football team in Sharpsburg,, Georgia. Martin was also homecoming queen at the school, and accepted her crown wearing her football uniform.

Tonya Butler had an outstanding career as a placekicker for her high school team in Fayetteville, Georgia, where she joined the team as a tenth grader. Butler played football at Middle Georgia College, where she received the first football scholarship for a female at a state school. After getting an associate degree there, she played soccer at Georgia Southern and graduated in 2003. 

Butler had two years of football eligibility remaining, and Randy Pippin, her coach at Middle Georgia, offered her a scholarship to play for his new team, the University of West Alabama. Butler enrolled in graduate school and made the 2003 squad. In the first game of the season against Stillman Butler kicked a 27-yard field goal and became the first female to achieve that feat in an NCAA football game. 

Butler played the entire 2003 and 2004 seasons for the Tigers and was voted special teams captain both years. She finished her master's degree at the school in 2005. 

Wikipedia has a running list of females who have played American football at various levels and on various types of teams. I noted at least one middle school and one high school player from Alabama on these lists. 




Ashley Martin kicking for Jacksonville State






Tonya Butler at the University of West Alabama 






Thursday, December 17, 2020

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
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
One of the most successful country music groups in historyAlabama 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
“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
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
Maddox served longer on the Alabama Supreme Court than any associate justice in Alabama history. Maddox wrote numerous opinions while on the ...

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
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
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
Acclaimed biologist and Alabama native E.O. Wilson wrote a foreword for the book. Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ...

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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 ...