Friday, November 28, 2014

Sound Recordings - "Elvis was going to destroy morality!"

The conversation about sound recordings was arguably the one that got the most derailed, albeit for good reason. Around 1959 or the early 60's - they didn't quite agree on the year - they purchased a combined record player and television set, a somewhat upscale technological purchase for the time. They got it mostly to watch television, but it sounds like they also got good use out of the Curtis Mathes record player. It came with free records that they still have today, with artists such as Perry Como, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. They were all 33 1/3 records, a fact that I had to think hard back to class lecture to remember the meaning of. They kept it in the living room.
Like so:


Although they seemed to enjoy the free records, they have always leaned towards the country side of things, especially Vernon, and they soon accumulated such names as Buck Owens, Porter Wagoner, and Ed Ames (I haven't heard of a single one of these, I Googled the names but still type them hesitantly).








This was all several years into their marriage, of course. Before then, they listened to jukeboxes, especially in high school. They didn't carry money, so they simply listened to whatever people put on (at the service station, obviously). "Was Elvis big at that time?" I asked. "Oh yeah. He was okay. Not my favorite," said Joanne. "He was going to destroy morality!" said Vernon, cracking up. I asked if this was something their parents thought, but they remember it being more of something only a few really thought, but those few were very vocal.
(Admittedly, some of his moves were probably pretty shocking at the time:)


Although for Joanne, there is some truth to this, since her mother was a pastor and growing up she really only ever heard religious music. She remembers one time playing a "not nice" secular song on the piano that her mother disapproved of. "I can't remember what it was, but it was the song I played best!" she said, laughing.
That just about concludes their early experiences with sound recordings. Today, they sometimes use the internet to listen to use music, via Pandora radio. For the most part, sound recordings have been present in their lives, maybe more than they realized, but like the other forms of mass communication I talked to them about, it has never been as important to them as faith, family, and each other. It has certainly helped them enjoy the 61 years they have been married however, and I was glad for a reason to sit down with this wonderful couple.


Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Print - "strictly country people"

I have to admit, I'd never heard of the Kirksville Daily Express before this interview, although I guessed that Kirksville had a paper. Growing up, both Joanne and Vernon received the Express at their family's homes through the mail, the day after it was printed. Additionally, Vernon's family received the Greentop paper once per week. As children (and adults, it seems), neither had much interest in reading the paper. "Even the funnies?" I asked. Chuckling, they admitted they never even checked to see if the paper had a funnies section. As far as magazines, Joanne was pretty sure they received one called "Moody Monthly," a publication of Moody Bible Institute - Joanne's mother was a preacher. I asked if there were magazines in public waiting areas, like the doctor's office, but they both instantly shook their heads. Apparently, back then, no one expected to be entertained while they waited.
While they may not have inspected newspapers for comics, they both definitely read comic books - although they can't really remember which ones. However, later on in the interview, Vernon's eyes lit up and with no warning he exclaimed, "Alley Oop!" I was understandably confused. He was remembering, as it turns out, one of the comics he liked to read.
 

They bought their comic books, of course, from the service station, where apparently everything you could ever need in Kirksville, Missouri was located. Additionally, Vernon had a comic version of the Bible, sometimes also called an Action Bible. I almost didn't ask if there were any comics, magazines, or books that were controversial or that they weren't allowed to read, because I was relatively sure I already knew the answer. "No," Joanne said, "we were strictly country people."
Books was a topic they had a little more to say about. I was interested to know the situation of Bibles in their homes, because I was under the impression that most families back then owned one, usually large, Bible. Joanne and Vernon and their siblings, however, each had their own. All their Bibles were King James Version, a rarity today (they now read New International Version). In Joanne's home, the Bible was read every day at the dinner table; a practice that would also be quite rare today, even in rural Missouri. Because they did not have electricity until 1943, reading at night was done by light of an "Aladdin" brand kerosene lamp, which Joanne and her siblings would gather around.
          (Like this)                                                    (Not like this)
                                                                        
         
Her favorite books, which she owned, included Black Beauty, Little Women, and Anne of Green Gables. His favorite books, on the other hand, were Westerns, with titles such as Silver Chief, that he bought for 25 cents each at (where else?) the service station. He also recalled a book called Shepherd of the Hills, a collection of mountain folklore.


At the time, there was no public library, books were usually bought. They often received books as gifts for their birthday or Christmas, some of them purchased at the trading center in Greentop. Their high school had a small library that held novels as well as educational materials, and Vernon thinks that in his time there he probably read every single book. (I was surprised at this, I would have figured Joanne for the bookworm).
How much have newspapers and magazines changed over the years? A lot. Joanne brought out an enormous edition of Life magazine from 1952 that was nearly twice the size of a modern magazine. In the corner is marked "20 cents." Flipping through it, I noticed a few things: first, and Joanne commented on this also, that the ads were significantly more innocent than what you'd see today. A picture of a woman in modest undergarments was about as scandalous as it got. However, from looking at the ads in the magazine, I think the notion that extreme thinness in models is at all a recent thing is false.Even without Photoshop, many of the women in those ads were just as thin as models today. Second, to put it frankly, there were no black people. Or Asian, Hispanic, so on, in the entire large volume. Apparently in the thick of civil rights, the controversy was not discussed in popular reading, but ignored.
Today, Joanne and Vernon still enjoy the occasional book. They do not use other means of reading beside good old fashioned ink and paper - after all, they are strictly country people.

Some snapshots from the Life magazine:

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Movies - "Well, we went with each other, you know."

As you may remember, Joanne and Vernon grew up in the Kirksville area. They began dating in high school, which means that they spent a lot of time at the local movie theaters. At the time, there were several, as opposed to the mere one in town now. There was the Princess Theater, the Kennedy, and a rundown family theater of unknown name. According to the couple, the Kennedy was objectively the best of the three - unfortunately, it's since been torn down. Vernon distinctly remembers one of the first films he saw at the family theater giving him nightmares for days after. Some movies were in color, many were not.
Most of the time if they were watching movies, it was with each other. They went about every week on Saturday nights, and if it was nice out, they often went to the outdoor theater in Greentop. I asked if they had any favorite films, when they were young or high school age, although it is difficult to have a favorite movie when one does not have a VHS or DVD player and the theater is the only way to watch films. Joanne remembers the movie Lassie well, but she does not consider it a favorite, similarly, she remembers a movie about a little girl falling in a well, but only because immediately after the movie her favorite horse died. Vernon recalls a movie called Iowa State Fair that he thinks he found enjoyable, and Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (it took a considerable amount of Googling to figure out how to spell that one) was a definite favorite and it's pretty easy to see why; it's about two brothers growing up on a farm, much like he himself did. Additionally, one of the characters had a wise old grandfather that reminded Vernon of his own dear Grandpa. In general, Vernon feels movies used to be more relatable and practical than they are now.
A Clip from Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (also the first movie in which Marilyn Monroe had a speaking role):

It's strange to me to think that back then, films weren't rated nor did they seem to need to be. It never occurred to either of their parents to worry about what they were watching - it was a given that films were "family friendly." How far we've come.
Joanne and Vernon progressed to watching movies at home relatively early on in their marriage, although after he had been discharged from the army. Their first experience with film in the home was a Browning 8mm camera that they used to make home movies, some of which they still own. Years later, when they became popular, the couple owned a VHS player, and later a DVD player, which they still own today and use for the occasional movie night.


Kennedy Theater, 1920s
The Kennedy Theater, located at Elson and McPhearson in Kirksville, was constructed in 1926 and closed in 1985.





The former Princess Theater in Kirksville, MO