Andrew Jackson on Astronomy

From the Sept. 22, 1869, Daily Press and Times

It is the opinion of a good many clever people that what “Old Hickory” didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing, and we suspect that Old Hickory inclined to that opinion himself. He was a brave fighter, a first rate judge of horses, and on astronomy—well, he would have made a sensation as a lecturer on that branch of science, if a writer in Appleton’s Journal is to be credited. He dined one day at the White House when Jackson was President.

In the course of the dinner Major Donaldson, I think, was talking very interestingly upon some recent discoveries in astronomy. After listening a while, the General raised his somewhat thin voice rather highly: “I tell you, Major, that we don’t really know anything about the weight and size of those heavenly bodies. It’s all a guess and pretense. It’s nonsense, sir, to talk about a little spark, twinkling away up in the sky, as if we knew just how far off it was, and just how big it was.”

“But, General,” returned the Major, “if we did not know the place and the disc of some of the distant planets and stars, how could their positions be calculated, and how could eclipses be predicted years ahead, with perfect certainty and exactness?”

“That’s all very easy, sir; very easy,” replied the General. “It’s done by tradition, sir. The stars move in regular orbits. Their places are observed at certain times and noted; and when they come again to the same places, it’s observed and handed down and so, sir, we know when they will be in those places again, it may be a hundred years hence. It’s all very simple. I don’t believe a word of what these astronomers say about the immense distance and size of fixed stars. I shouldn’t wonder if the moon was as big as any of them.”

It was hardly deemed judicious to press the conversation on astronomy any further.

Jackson would have recalled any foreign minister and turned out any member of his Cabinet if he had ventured to butt his head against Jackson’s ideas on astronomy. Talk of Grant’s proscriptiveness, indeed!

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

From the Oct. 31, 1952, Nashville Banner

Hobgoblins and ghosts in these parts are cordially invited to take over the town tonight, in a mild sort of way.

Police and fire department officials expressed a joint wish that Halloween funsters enjoy themselves to the fullest, but at the same time issued a warning that destruction of property or vandalism would not be tolerated.

Fire Chief H. D. Demonbreun made a special plea to celebrators to refrain from tampering with fire alarm boxes. Demonbreun pointed out that in addition to costing taxpayers considerable sums of money, false alarms endanger the lives of firemen and citizens alike. There is a minimum $50 fine for tampering with fire boxes.

Police Chief Ed Burgess said persons over 15 years old are prohibited by city ordinance from wearing masks or disguises which would conceal their identity.

“We expect and of course will not attempt to interfere with pranks of a harmless nature,” Burgess said, “but we’re not going to have broken windows and torn down mail boxes and the like.”

Police will be on the alert tonight for any sign of vandalism or “rough stuff.”

Unusually dry weather and brisk winds make the danger of fires extra hazardous this year. Halloween partiers have also been cautioned against the use of inflammable decorations.

All in all, it looks like the best rule of thumb for the evening is go ahead and ring the doorbells, collect the trick or treat, but keep a governor on the broomstick. …

Coins instead of cookies will be the motto of many of the “spooks” visiting Nashville homes tonight.

They will be the children who are collecting money for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. The donations go to children in war-devastated countries, with the nations matching the amounts given by the U. N. Solicitations will continue throughout the weekend at local business firms and high school football games. …

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: For more about the history of Halloween, and how the holiday was tamed to stop kids from playing destructive pranks, listen to the Halloween Special of the Sill Love Ya, Bro podcast (Season 2, Episode 7). In the episode, Retrospect editor Allen Forkum also relates strange tales from old newspapers. For more Nashville Halloween memories, listen to Episode 07 of the Nashville Retrospect Podcast, which includes local TV horror hosts Sir Cecil Creape and Dr. Lucifur, and tales from City Cemetery.

From the Nov. 15, 1915, Cumberland Telephone Directory

Important Instructions and Suggestions to Telephone Users

LOCAL SERVICE.

DO NOT USE THIS TELEPHONE DURING A THUNDER STORM.

ALWAYS CALL BY NUMBER, NOT BY NAME.

LOOK IN The DIRECTORY FOR THE NUMBER of the person to whom you wish to talk, and signal the operator in the usual way. Keep only the latest issue of the directory.

WHEN THE OPERATOR REPLIES by saying “Number please?” give your order slowly and distinctly, pronouncing the number by digits. For example: “Main One-two-three-four J.” This will avert misunderstandings.

WHEN THE OPERATOR REPEATS, be sure she has received the order correctly. If the desired line is in use, the operator will report, “The Line is Busy.”

IF THE PERSON YOU ARE CALLING FAILS TO ANSWER within a reasonable time, or if you wish to attract the operator’s attention at any time during a connection, move the hook up and down slowly three or four times, or turn the crank.

DO NOT MOVE THE HOOK RAPIDLY, as a rapid movement does not give any signal.

ANSWER YOUR TELEPHONE PROMPTLY, otherwise the calling party may tire of waiting and hang up. When holding a line never replace the receiver on the hook, as this will give the operator the disconnect signal.

WHEN YOUR TELEPHONE BELL RINGS do not remove the receiver from the hook until the bell stops ringing. This is particularly important if you are on a duplex or party line.

IN ANSWERING A CALL, do not say “Hello!” State your name as “John Smith & Co.” or “Mr. Smith’s residence.”

CALL “INFORMATION” when you wish to know a new telephone number not listed in the directory. Operators can only give you the number requested. They are required to be courteous and considerate under all circumstances. We bespeak for them the same consideration on your part.

CASES OF TROUBLE OR UNSATISFACTORY SERVICE should be promptly reported to “COMPLAINT.” These reports will receive prompt and efficient attention. We are striving to render a perfect service, and suggestions or criticisms are welcomed. …

(Tom Vickstrom)

From the Nov. 6, 1964, Nashville Banner

Many of the life-like figures in the Centennial Park Nativity Scene this year will have a “new look,” Fred Harvey Jr., president of Harveys, said today.

They have been fiberglassed to add to their life, he explained.

“We are hoping this improvement will make it possible for many more hundreds of thousands to enjoy the scene in the years to come,” Harvey declared.

Harvey estimated that in the past it has cost approximately $6,000 annually to repair the many figures and replace lights.

Last year, a traffic check near the display showed that nearly 90,000 automobiles inched their way past the scene. “We figure there were from two to six persons in each vehicle,” Harvey declared. “Of course this does not include the many pedestrians who came by public transportation or on foot.”

The awe-inspiring display, born from an inspiration experienced 14 years ago by his late father in the Bavarian Alps, will go on official display Nov. 25.

It will remain assembled on the southside of the Parthenon until the first week in January, Harvey declared.

Since its first showing 12 years ago, persons from all over the free world have viewed the gigantic display which recreates the birth of Christ in dazzling brilliance.

The figures are made from fiberglass, celastic and rubber, and are lighted by thousands of tiny Italian bulbs that blink like crystals and blue, red and white flood lights.

It was Harvey’s father who presented the scene to the City of Nashville as a gift.

“Wind and the elements take a terrific toll in the two months the scene is in the open,” he said. “We hope the fiberglass covering will eliminate much of this.”

It was in 1950 that Fred Harvey Sr., founder of Harveys, heard of a small, permanent Nativity scene located in a village near Innsbruck in the Alps. Touring Europe at the time, Mr. Harvey drove miles off his scheduled route to view the display. There, the idea for the Nashville scene was born.

Two years of planning and work went into the project—including the commissioning of a famed Italian sculptor to fashion the figures.

When Mr. Harvey finally unveiled the massive scene, it attracted nation-wide attention. Widely known photographers and painters visit the city annually in an effort to capture the display’s beauty on film and canvas.

One lensman hovered over the scene in a helicopter for hours, searching for an unusual angle from which to picture the delicately carved figures.

With Mr. Harvey’s death in 1960, his son pledged to continue the traditional Christmas season showing and has added to the scene. It now represents an investment in excess of $150,000.

Harvey expressed his appreciation to the Board of Parks and Recreation for making the Centennial space available again this year.

“This undoubtedly is the most beautiful spot for it, and the most convenient for all citizens and visitors,” he said.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: The fiberglassed nativity scene would survive for only four seasons. A 1980 Banner article (see our December 2016 issue) reported: “It was during the fall of 1968 that the giant figures … were discovered to have fallen into such disrepair that the presentation could no longer be continued. … Owners of a Cincinnati shopping center, who thought they could continue using the scene in a sheltered environment, bought the display. The word out of Cincinnati is the scene collapsed after the second Christmas and had to be junked.”

The above article appeared in the November 2012 issue of The Nashville Retrospect.

From the Dec. 8, 1976, Nashville Banner

Johnny Cash has labeled his Monday night network special as the “worst in the history of television” and vowed he is ending his TV career. The singer, upset over the outcome of the CBS Christmas program, also said the show projected a false image of himself.

“I’m through with television. I’ve had it,” Cash said in his Hendersonville office. “Did you see the show? I didn’t want to watch it at all. And I’m sure nobody else did, either,” he said. “I knew 10 minutes after it started it was all wrong,” he said.

Cash said the Johnny Cash Christmas Special was “not Johnny Cash.”

Since the showed aired locally at 8 p.m. Monday night on WTVF-TV, 5, it has received much criticism. Most complaints center around the fact a minimum of Christmas songs were included on the program.

“The last half hour was better than the first,” said Cash. “But by that time I don’t think anyone was watching it. Do you know how I can tell? When people begin changing the channel you’re watching, your picture begins getting brighter and brighter. Twenty minutes after that show started, my set got so bright I almost had to leave the room.”

The special was taped the first week in November in Hendersonville, at Opryland and at the Cash farm in Bon Aqua. Guests included Tony Orlando, the Rev. Billy Graham, Roy Clark, Barbara Mandrell, Merle Travis and the Cash family.

Reba Cash Hancock, Cash’s sister, does not agree with brother John.

“I didn’t think it (the show) was that bad. But I’ll say this. I was very disappointed in the final editing. “They cut out the best parts,” she said. “I know Johnny’s very upset about the whole thing. He’s especially concerned they cut some of the closing hymn — Silent Night and the part where most of the family was introduced.”

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: The Johnny Cash Christmas Special (1976) is available to watch on YouTube. This article appeared in the December 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect.

Times Change But the Boys Don’t Change With Them.

From the Feb. 14, 1869,  Republican Banner

It may not have occurred to the children of maturer years and the larger growth, but is to the street juveniles, nevertheless, that this is the season called “top-time.” Tops have come. We saw one yesterday—a veritable top—we heard the music of its hum—we watched it as it went to sleep—and waited until its last gyration died away, and it flew off, out of the magic circle, in the same old-fashioned and irregular tangent. “Well, what if tops have come,” the reader may say, “is there any thing particular in a top?” Good friend—although somewhat critical—there is much in a top. It has a story to tell—it comes in with “Lent”—it sings of white clouds and blue skies—it is the forerunner of April showers—the first blossom of spring. Those urchins in roundabouts and tucked pantaloons, whose pockets are now swelled out with magical cones and whip-cord, are the best chroniclers of the changing seasons. They watch for the ides of March with eyes that will not be deceived, and they know when the sunshine is longer and stronger, as well as astronomers and meteorologists. Tops, marbles and kites are as regular in their round as the planets in their orbits and you may swear by them, as men sometimes swear by Jupiter and Mars.

And so yesterday, when we heard the creaking slip of the cord, and that soft musical whistle which once filled our ears with joy, we knew that the winter was over, and that “the time of the singing birds” had come. We knew that the snows were beginning to dissolve on the mountains—that the ice was melting in the brooks—that water cresses were sprouting in the meadows, and that the circling sap was warming up the hearts of ancient oaks and elms, and giving new life to their stout trunks and arms. There may still be flurries of snow. Boreas may pipe in the North, and the windows may blow and beat against our doors and shake us in our beds—but the winter is over and the scepter of icicles and shadows is broken. Already the jocund day steps out of the east like a king in purple, and his sunset pavilions are bathed in showers of gold. Here and there, too, are blossoms in the grass, and the sleeping blood of the forest is shooting out into dripping buds and green leaves.

The school-boy carries a weight of wisdom in his cap. You may put faith in his fore-knowledge. He notes the parallaxes of the stars and keeps the record of the sun. He is better than an almanac. And when tops come and you hear them humming like bees in the streets and alleys—you may be sure that the vernal equinox is near, and you may look for clearer horizons and warmer skies.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

From the Jan. 13, 1976, Nashville Banner

By Frances Meeker

The killer of nine-year-old Marcia Trimble has kept his heavy secret for nearly a year now, but he will not continue to keep his identity hidden, the mother of the slain girl said Monday.

“We will know who the killer is,” said Mrs. Virginia Trimble. “What he did is on this young man’s conscience and one day he will have to tell it to get relief.”

Mrs. Trimble had a stack of newspapers beside her in the den of her home at 1409 Copeland Drive. There were editions of both Nashville newspapers—The Nashville Banner and The Tennessean—carrying the stories of Marcia’s disappearance, the intensive search for the blue-eyed, blonde child and the discovery on Easter Sunday of her body in a neighborhood garage.

She had kept the newspapers stacked in a closet and is reading the stories for the first time.

Mrs. Trimble said the disappearance of her daughter last Feb. 25 “seems like only yesterday.”

“I could live the rest of my life without knowing who killed Marcia,” she said, “but someday we will know and all our questions will be answered.”

She said she thinks the guilty person may reveal his identity soon.

Strangely enough, on her daughter’s 10th birthday last March 28, which also was Good Friday, Mrs. Trimble had a premonition that her daughter would return on Easter Sunday or that news of her would end the 33-day search, the largest in Davidson County history.

And while Easter worship services were in progress in churches throughout the city, the child’s body was discovered in a garage about 200 yards from her home.

Mrs. Trimble, her husband, Charles, and their son, Chuck, were attending services at the Lord’s Chapel on Granny White Pike.

The mother said she is praying for “the young man who killed Marcia and for his family” and that she “asks God to give me love and compassion for him.

“At first I did feel bitterness,” she admitted, “but not for long. My prayer is that this young man will know Jesus as his Lord and Savior and that he will ask for forgiveness, because only then will he tell us what actually happened.”

The attractive woman with blue eyes and dark blond hair has changed very little in appearance since the family’s ordeal last winter. She said she has started teaching kindergarten two days a week at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Marcia’s cheerful, yellow bedroom remains much the same as it was when she was there. Her mother has two framed pictures the child had drawn in her classroom work at Julia Green School, where she was in the fourth grade, and hung them on each side of Marcia’s dresser.

“All of it is still constantly on my mind,” said Mrs. Trimble. “Sometimes I miss her so much and would give anything just to hold her. I am looking forward to the time when I can remember her without the pain of missing her. This is something I have asked God for and I know it will come.”

On a desk in the family den is a basket with about a dozen letters in it. These are part of the avalanche of mail the family has received during the past year. Mrs. Trimble has begun to answer them at the rate of about a dozen a week.

The family’s two dogs, Princess and Popcorn, still enthusiastically greet visitors as they come into the driveway.

And the neighborhood is once again the quiet place it was before tragedy struck.  But perhaps it is waiting—waiting for the denouement of the Marcia Trimble mystery.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: Jerome Sydney Barrett was convicted of the murder of Marcia Trimble in 2009 based on DNA evidence. At the time, he was serving a life sentence for killing 19-year-old Vanderbilt University student Sarah Des Prez on Feb. 2, 1975. Forty-four years were added to his life sentence. At his final hearing, Barrett was defiant, turning his back to the judge and calling the proceedings a charade, according to a Tennessean article. He did not confess to the Trimble murder.

In a 2015 Tennessean interview by Brad Schmitt, Virginia Trimble Ritter expressed a change of heart after seeing crime-scene photos of her daughter’s body for the first time: “If I had a gun, I’d blow his [Barrett’s] brains out and enjoy every spurtin’ minute of it. … I had forgiven him, but I didn’t pray for him anymore. He does not have my prayer building him up. That man is on his own before God and his city.”

For more about the Marcia Trimble case, listen to our interview with crime reporter Larry Brinton in the Nashville Retrospect Podcast, Episode 01.

From the April 1, 1958, Nashville Banner

By Jack Setters

The towering Life & Casualty Tower at Fifth and Broadway claimed its first victim today when an unidentified man fell or leaped from the 40-floor structure.

He was identified as Loof Lirpa, an ageless itinerant who makes his home in Nashville and visits here annually.

Thousands of passersby who watched, horrified, in a torrent of rain—their eyes blistered by the glare of a scorching sun—as Lirpa’s twisting body tumbled downward, said they did not witness the leap.

“It was the most terrifying thing I ever saw,” they chorused.

Investigating officers said Lirpa disappeared as soon as he struck the snow covered intersection.

“It took us every bit of four seconds to clear the traffic,” said one harried patrolman from the detective department’s bunko squad which was disbanded five years ago.

Pat Nicholas Boone, popular young Gallatin violinist, sang “April Love,” backed up by the Benny Goodman trio, a 100-member all girl orchestra, as Lirpa, floated gracefully past a bevy of window-washers.

Life & Casualty officials said they had anticipated Lirpa’s fatal leap which he survived.

“This was the day it had to happen,” one official drawled in a clipped tone. “What other day except on August 21 could it have occurred?”

Lirpa tipped off newsmen to be on hand, but they arrived too late for an interview.

“There’s a guy down there,” Lirpa said in his press conference, “that I want to give a hot foot.”

That was when he and the man with him made like Junior Explorers, winging out into space. (See photograph.)

Half-way down, Lirpa paused, surveying the crowds below and screaming: “Where’s he at?”

He hovered over the shirt-sleeved lookers-on, draped in heavy winter coats, for more than four hours before completing the plunge.

“It’s a funny thing,” said one investigator, “but every time I look at this guy’s name I seem to find it sounds very familiar.”

Oh well—Yppah Loof Lirpa!

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: This article appeared in the April 2013 Nashville Retrospect along with other stories from the city’s past, including: "Volunteers Treated In Shameful Manner" (1813); “Metro Government Inaugurated” (1963); and “Fanny Battle Arrested” (1863).

From the Dec. 12, 1908, Nashville Banner

Dear Santa Claus—I’m a little girl four years old. I’m trying to be good. I’ve been saving my money in my trunk for you to get me a little piano and stool. Won’t you bring me a little doll buggy and the trunk that you forgot last year? Don’t forget to bring Mrs. Jett’s little girls something nice. If you haven’t got enough you can leave them some of mine.

ELIZABETH WHEELER.

325 Arrington Street.

___

My Dear Santa—While my sisters are writing to you, I will tell you a few of the things that I want. I have had the Diphtheria and was so nice that I think I deserve lots of nice things. I want a doll and doll trunk, doll bed and lots of fruits and candy and any thing else that you want me to have. I live in Mt. Pleasant, across the street from Mr. Park Owen’s store.

JOSEPHINE HAMM.

___

Dear Santa Claus—I am a little girl 11 years old. I want you bring me a pair of gloves and shoes, a new clock, and a bracelet, a Xmas tree, don’t forget to bring candy oranges nuts and everything nice, don’t forget my Parents sisters and brothers bring them some nice things to. My Uncle and Aunt and my Grandma wants some nice things. 

ANNIE LOUISE SEIBERT.

11th Ave. North.

___

Dear Santa Claus—I am a little boy seven years old, have been going to school, but now have whooping cough and have to stay at home. I am trying to be good and want you to please bring me a big red wagon, suit of clothes, cap pistol, tool chest and tools, whip, candies and everything good to eat.

GUY B. LEAKE.

Guthrie, Ky.

___

Dear Santa—I am a little blue-eyed girl 7 years old. I want a pony and buggy and saddle and anything you think I would like. Don’t forget mama she wants a new home and sister wants a doll head. I don’t want much just a pony and saddle. Your little girl.

ANNIE CRABTREE.

1076 2nd Ave. S.

___

Dear Old Santa Claus—I am a little girl just 9 years old and go to school ever day and in the second reader and I want you to bring me a doll and some oranges and some bananas, candy, nuts, raisins. Tell Santa not to forget mamma and papa and my brother and sisters and I got a sister in California and please don’t forget her and brother Robert. Yours truly little

CLARA HORNE.

Hendersonville, Tenn.

___

Dear Santa Claus—Will you be kind enough to bring me a safe and a side board and a bracelet, a jacket and chane, a doll with black hair and brown eyes, and I want it also large, and I want a automoble and a rolling pin and a biscuit cutter and also nuts, candys and fruits and Santa don’t forget my mother and father and my sister and brother, and my Brother wants a wheel, and Santa don’t forget my little friends. From your friend,

RUTH TANNER.

317 Blakemore Avenue.

___

Dear Santa Clause—I am so glad that it is time for you to come to see us again, but I am not going to ask much of you this time. Please bring me a little shotgun, a little train and a pearl-handle knife and lots of candy, oranges, apples and nuts. And don’t forget my little sisters. From

LESLIE TUCKER.

Charlotte, Tenn.

___

Dear Old Santa Claus—I am a little boy 11 years old and I go to the Caldwell School. I am a good little boy when I am asleep and I wish you would bring me a B.B. Gun, and electric engine that runs on a track, a wagon, some candy, nuts and oranges and don’t forget the fire crackers. Please remember my Father and Mother and especially my Grandma. I wont be greedy Santa so don’t forget to stop at my house. Your little boy,

JAMES W. WALLER.

423 First Street.

___

Dear Santa Claus—I am a little boy will soon be 7 years old and want you to bring me lots of good things to eat I want an automobile and a billie goat and harness. Your little boy.

ALEC CLARK.

Greenwood, Tenn.

___

Dear Santa— I am a good girl 11 years old. Please bring me a doll, a candy walking stick, a set of dishes and a poping stick and all kinds of fireworks, candy, nuts, oranges, raisins. Yours truly.

SADIE BRADFORD.

626 Webster

P.S.—Please don’t forget mother and father.

___

Dear Santa Claus—Please bring me a doll that can open and shut her eyes and a story book and a locket and some good fruit and candy and anything that you feel like you can. Your little girl, 

AGNES YATES.

Bethpage, Tenn.

___

Dear Santa Claus—I always try to be a good little girl and I go to school every day. I want you to please bring me a bride doll and a bride man doll, a trunk, and a trousseau for the bride, a bed, a desk to get my lessons on, candies, nuts and oranges and plenty of fireworks. Santa do not forget sister Ursula.

HELEN ROONEY.

___

Dear Santa—Please I want the things I have marked below for my Christmas. A by sickle a horse a horn a wagon autobeal hook &  ladder Your loving  child

SHURMAN SANDERS.

616 N 2 st

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: Read more of these letters in the December 2010 issue of The Nashville Retrospect along with other stories from the city’s past, including: “Accident on the Mail Stage” (1823), “A Fair!” of the Colored First Baptist Church (1850), and “Parton Girls Together” Dolly and Stella (1973).

From the May 15, 1941, Nashville Banner

Police today were still searching for a smooth, gray-suited bandit who held up the Mutual Loan and Thrift Corporation on the second floor of the Jackson Building yesterday afternoon and escaped with $460 in cash. 

Although two loan company employes, whom the bandit ordered to hand over the money, were able to furnish officers a full description of the man, fingerprint experts at Police Headquarters said that they had “practically nothing” to work on.

According to Miss Grace Jordan, cashier, and K. W. McQuiddy, assistant manager, the bandit, neatly dressed in a gray suit and gray hat, appeared at the loan company window about 3 o’clock and without saying a word, handed over a white card on which was written in pencil the following:

“THIS IS A HOLDUP. Just do as this note directs and you will not be hurt. Just act natural and don’t ask any questions. Don’t try to give any alarm.”

Miss Jordan called McQuiddy, who was at a desk a few feet away.

McQuiddy said he came to the window and began handing some of the money in the drawer beneath the grating to the bandit. He said he first tried to give him some $1 bills and that the bandit then told him to get into the “real stuff.”

Police concluded that the man left through a rear door which opens into an alley between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, North.

Two other employes of the loan company, L. L. Marchesseau, manager, and H. G. Fowlkes, were in an adjoining office, and knew nothing of the holdup until it was all over.

Fingerprint Expert Jack Monroe, of the Police Department, said that the warning card had been handled so much after it left the bandit’s hand that it would be difficult to obtain any clues from it.

Patrolmen F. W. Muller and L. F. Neely were reported to have reached the scene of the holdup within three or four minutes after the bandit left.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

From the June 9, 1971, Nashville Banner

By Red O’Donnel

Frank Sutton arrived in Nashville late Monday and a lady walked up to him at the airport and said, “I saw you sing on TV. Are you here to record?”

Sutton laughed and shook his crewcut: “Ma’am, when it comes to music I’m a disaster area.”

Sutton, for five years the frustrated, trigger-tempered U.S. Marine Sgt. Vince Carter of the Gomer Pyle teleseries and a regular on the past two seasons on the Jim Nabors variety hour (neither of which is now in production), is here to visit his mother, Thelma Shepard, and step-father, Lucian Shepard, at their home, 220 Dellrose Drive, Donelson.

“I was down South, had a few days off and just dropped in to visit homefolks,” he said during an interview Tuesday. “I’ve been on a mini tour in behalf of the Johnny Horizon program. It’s an anti-pollution project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Interior.”

Johnny Horizon is a character (or symbol) like Smokey the Bear. The government is using Johnny to get people interested in ecology.

Sutton, onetime East High and Peabody College student, has nothing definite upcoming in TV for next season.

“For the first time in eight years I won’t be reporting this summer for work,” he said. “I’ve discussed a series and a movie-for-TV with Universal Studio, but nothing is firm yet. Frankly,” he added, “I’m in no hurry to rush into any film assignments.”

Sutton isn’t going to be completely idle this summer. Next month he’ll star (as Oscar) in “The Odd Couple” on stage at Travers City, Mich., and for three weeks in August, he and Bill Bixby (of “Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) will co-star in the comedy, “Catch Me If you Can” for John Kenley’s straw-hat circuit in and around Warren, Ohio.

Sutton says cancelation of the Jim Nabors show didn’t surprise him.

“I had a feeling we were going to get the axe. I can’t explain why. However, I don’t think Jim (Nabors) expected it,” he said. “But don’t ask me why it was canceled. The show received good ratings and certainly was a quality production. I’m not bitter in the least. These things happen in this business. You go on to something else.”

Frank, his wife Toby and their children, Joey (17), and Amanda (7), recently moved into a new home. A 2-story Spanish style house in Beverly Hills, Calif.

“It’s nothing elaborate or fancy,” Sutton emphasized. “However, it’s our very first house. Heretofore we’ve lived in apartments. In the past when something went wrong with the plumbing or the heating, we’d phone the superintendent, janitor or owner and get it repaired. Now I have to do most of the fixing or make arrangements for the fixing. And sometimes the role of ‘Mr. Fix-It’ is a pain in the neck. It’s then that the real Sgt. Carter gets frustrated.”

He rubbed his closely cropped hair.

“Bet I’m the first short-haired Hollywood type you’ve seen in quite a while,” he remarked to Banner photographer Don Foster.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

From the Aug. 9, 1955, Nashville Banner

By Ed Huddleston

Because this is THE DAY, 1,000 children woke up early this morning … in six orphanages. This afternoon they were in The Land of Dreams Come True. For the Sunshine Special rolled for the 35th time in 35 years sponsored by the Nashville Exchange Club.

It rolled down the Streets of Music, and across the Chocolate River, and on into the shade of the Hot Dog Trees with Popsickle Vines on the Island of Rides and Laughter.

The Sunshine Special took 1,000 children to Fair Park at the State Fair Grounds, where all the joys were free to them: rides, favors, toys and goodies from the big heart of Exchange members, whose honorary general director of the big event, Alfred Levine, originated the idea long ago when he was its first president.

Idea Copied

Exchange units all over the country have since copied the idea. Sometimes the jaunt is to a circus or a similar source of childhood joy. Today the children traveled in 200 or more autos provided by the Exchange Club.

The children from 5 up came from the Baptist Orphanage, Monroe Harding Children’s Home, Municipal Home, Protestant Orphanage and the Tennessee Preparatory School. It began around 1 p.m. with a big parade of children down Church Street from St. Mary’s, Baptist and TPS.

And when the magic gates of Fair Park swung open, the children were tagged and given a bag of favors. Then they were fancy-free to wander off, foot-loose but safeguarded to pick and choose their heart’s desire of that they’d ride and how many times.

Special Entertainment

On a specially set up stage, other entertainment was being provided by WSM and WLAC television stations. David Cobb, WSM announcer, did “magic rope” tricks. The Billy McKennon Country Rhythm Boys were there, with other vocalists and comedians. It would last till 5 o’clock.

“I can’t wait! I wanna go now and stay all day!” That was the ecstatic exclamation of a 7-year-old Pat Durrett at St. Mary’s this morning as he excitedly seized the hand of Sister Bernadette. “Those nice men! Oh, those NICE men.”

“I wanna stay a week!” cried Wayne Coons, 6. …

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: Read about the April 1952 grand opening of Fair Park in the April 2017 issue of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper.

From the July 22, 1965, Nashville Banner

By Benwah K. Sparkes

Eight cool cats are meowing for the road!

The black cats on the outside of a luxury converted Greyhound bus symbolize the eight Katzes, who will be riding inside for five weeks, through 13 states on a 6,000-mile fun tour.

The Ira Katz family will head West come Aug. 1, for another of their fabulous vacations, which has run the gamut of just about all of the fascinating things families can think up for summer time fun-living.

Father Ira, the main chauffer is president of the Hartman Luggage Co. at Lebanon. He commutes to his office (by car) from 6421 Curreywood Drive, where one of the most creative and artistic of Nashville families reside.

There are six children, ranging in age from 2½ year-old Sally to 16-year-old Janie, who is painting the black cats on the bus in graduated sizes with Mama and Papa cat in the center.

In between Janie and Sally are 15-year-old Ellen; Benjy, 13; Peter, 11; and Andy, 5.

All children play musical instruments, and these will be loaded into the commodious bus so the youngsters can take part in the concerts they’ll be attending in the parks. They will visit all of the principal national parks, dozens of the principal cities of the West, and of course Disneyland, where they’ll stop at least three days.

The instruments won’t be “extra” luggage for the Katz—they’ve planned everything. And, besides, the bus has plenty of storage space, sleeping space, eating space, with room to spare for moving about.

Fact is, the bus is completely self-contained. It could pull off the side of the road anywhere any time day, or night, and the family would want for nothing.

On the luxury side there’s television, stereo, Hi Fi radio and intercom, with two speakers inside and one outside.

On the utilitarian side, there’s a large gas refrigerator, electric rotisserie and grill for cooking. (Mrs. Katz had the full-size oven and range top taken out because it “put out” too much heat).

There is air conditioning for the hot days, and a furnace (butane gas) for the cold days or nights which they expect to encounter in the snow-capped mountains. This will be needed, too, when they go skiing this winter at Gatlinburg where they spent the past week end in the bus.

There’s a lighting system powered by an extra generator, which also powers the air conditioner and cooking equipment. In addition there are the usual small bus lights lining the upper walls. The generator is fueled by regular gasoline, as is the bus, which has a 100-gallon fuel tank. The Katzes get truck rates on their gasoline.

In addition, they have been offered the services of all Greyhound bus garages throughout the West, including the night telephone number of a Greyhound mechanic in all major cities through which they will pass.

Ira Katz, who has provided his family summers on house boats, in trailers, tents and on farms, started looking around for a converted bus—the custom-built ones being a little too small for a family of eight.

He located 12 through a Wall Street Journal advertisement, and visited three cities before finding just he wanted in Minneapolis.

His choice is a 32-foot vehicle converted apparently by a dedicated hobbyist with a professional touch in design, cabinet work, and electronics.

Then the imagination of the creative Katz took over, with sculptress, Mrs. Katz, and artist, Janie, heading the crew to make bandana curtains to set off the blue of the vinyl upholstery; to add vining plants on the archway of the kitchen area, and finally the Black Cat family emblem which Janie is just completing.

The cats will have light reflecting eyes, which should be just about as startling to other motorists as the voices, music, and other assorted sounds which the youngsters delight in sending through the outside speaker as they roll along.

The ingenuity of the Katz met the problem of hanging clothes. Removal of one dining table provided the space, for a sizeable closet—there’s still eight eating places, not to mention the “drop down” shelf in case company calls.

Mrs. Katz explains that her husband will be making business calls along the way—Hartman luggage being sold throughout the United States. Therefore some pressed business suits must be available.

Of course they will take along some display luggage as well. And they will entertain at their mobile home in some cities. Plans have already been made for a cocktail party in Los Angeles.

The family will travel about 500 miles a day. Janie, who “just loves to drive the bus,” will help her father with the chauffer duties, and Mrs. Katz will take the wheel only when needed.

The rear of the bus is the sitting room, and at night its upholstered couches make a double bed and two singles. The dining area, with tables “slipped out” and cushion inserted in the space, is the bedroom for the remaining four Katz.

Private busing is a mode of vacation travel spreading rapidly throughout the United States, and while the Katz may not be the first in Nashville, they are the first we’ve heard about using the converted Greyhound.

The buses became available incidentally, when Greyhound switched from gas to diesel engines. The Katz bus is a 1964 model. It was first sold by Greyhound to a South Dakota college, which used it to transport its band.

The Katz family moved to Nashville from Cincinnati five years ago.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

From the July 22, 1976, Nashville Banner

By Bill Hance

Nearly everywhere he goes, Iron Eyes Cody is mobbed. Little children grab his hand and smile. Men and boys go out of their way for his autograph. Women of all ages find him fiercely attractive. 

But it hasn’t always been like this. People used to take one look at the full-blooded Cherokee and run, mainly because of the scalping and murderous roles he played in 241 Westerns.

“I got smart back in the late 1960s,” said the mild-mannered actor. “I simply quit playing those roles. I began turning them down.

“I wanted to start uplifting the image of the American Indian—my people,” he said. “It is something I have undertaken to do and I’ll do it until I die.”

In the movies, Cody, 62, had died a thousand deaths. But today, he’s full of life and signing autographs at the Western Film Collectors Festival now running at the Sheraton-Nashville Hotel.

Cody has had a rebirth in the last few years. He is under contract with Keep America Beautiful and is regularly seen on television as the Indian paddling a canoe or riding a horse, distraught at the amount of pollution and litter in his native land.

In one of the advertisements, he sheds a tear.

“That’s one of the first things I’m asked,” he said. “No, that’s not a real tear. It’s eyewash. But what has happened as a result of that ad has caused me to shed several tears.

“It’s caused a rebirth for me. People used to fear me and laugh at me. Not anymore. The little children surround me everywhere I go. It’s my face.

“My contract with Keep America Beautiful lasts for five more years. In that time I expect to change the wrong impressions about the American Indian as well as clean up my country.”

Cody lives in Los Angeles in a hilltop mansion. Beneath the house is a bomb shelter where he and his wife harbor a collection of Indian tribal costumes that are often rented to movie producers.

“The real Indians could not make it in the movies today,” said Cody. “They would not play the bedroom scenes. Indians are modest people.”

Cody said he finds many of the states are rectifying the pollution problem. But he said as far as politics is concerned, “We’ve got a long way to go.

“This is a great country,” he said. “We can do anything we want if we stick together.”

All his life, Cody said, he has wanted to visit Madrid, Spain.

“It was nothing,” he said. “It looked like Los Angeles.”

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: According to Wikipedia, Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti) was not “full-blooded Cherokee,” as stated in the article, but of Italian descent. He died in 1999. This story appeared in the July 2014 issue of The Nashville Retrospect, along with other stories from the city’s past, including: “Drums Along Duck River As Native Indians Return” (1972); “Cherokee Emigration” (1838); and “The Creeks” (1814). The issue is also included in our Native Americans Sampler Set.

From the Oct. 26, 1978, Nashville Banner

By Peggy Reisser

President Carter arrived in Nashville today flashing his familiar broad smile and acknowledging the greetings of a large contingent of dignitaries—and a small group of Una Elementary School second graders.

Carter stepped off Air Force One at 11:30 a.m., precisely on schedule, to the strains of Hail to the Chief played by the Tennessee State University band.

The arrival of the blue and white jet at the Tennessee Air National Guard Hangar at Berry Field marked the beginning of Carter’s short visit here to show support for the state’s Democratic nominees.

Stepping out the the aircraft, wearing a gray suit, Carter raised his arms to wave at the crowd and quickly moved down to the welcoming officials.

Gov. Ray Blanton and his wife, Betty, were first to greet the president as he deplaned. The line of dignitaries greeting Carter included Mayor Richard Fulton and his wife, Sandra, Rep. Albert Gore Jr. and his wife, Tipper, and House Speaker Ned Ray McWherter.

They were followed by Lt. Gov. John Wilder, Democratic senatorial candidate Jane Eskind and state Adjutant Gen. Carl Wallace.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jake Butcher was one of the last to shake the president’s hand.

The president stepped out onto the field and greeted a group of 22 second graders from Una Elementary School. He leaned down to speak with the visibly excited youngsters and was presented with a bouquet of paper irises.

The flowers were presented by Amy Williams, 7.

“He said he loved me and everything. He said he thought I was real cute and everything. I would vote for President Carter if I could,” she said.

Debbie Fox, also 7, said the president shook hands with her and gave her a hug.

“I was scared,” the second-grader said.

The second grade class was invited to meet Carter after the children wrote the president at the White House.

Carter made no remarks to the crowd of about 100 people but walked toward them and blew a kiss at the cheering onlookers.

Carter turned and walked to the long, black presidential limousine, accompanied by Butcher and Mrs. Eskind, and proceeded to the Legislative Plaza for his speech.

(Tennessee State Library and Archives)

Editor’s note: This article appeared in the October 2012 issue of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper along with other stories from the city’s past, including: “Hillsboro High Blaze Leaves School Shambles” (1952); ‘CMA [Awards]: Denver, Dolly, Waylon, Minnie” (1975); and “Shocking Outrage” double murder in Columbia (1825). The October 2012 issue is also included in the Presidential Visits Sampler Set.