Archive for the ‘Joel Chandler Harris’ Category
Joel Chandler Harris, Soap Collector
Yesterday in one of our bookcases I stumbled across a limited-edition retrospective on Joel Chandler Harris. The book was put together by some of Harris’s friends shortly after his death and includes a sunny biography, a few anecdotes, and the eulogy given at his funeral.
I liked this story, recounted by Forrest Adair:
Mr. Harris was alone in his house working on an editorial, when a ring at the door disturbed him. He answered the bell, and a rather genteel-looking, middle-aged man saluted him, offering toilet soap for sale at “ten cents a cake, or three cakes for a quarter.” Annoyed by the interruption, Harris said rather brusquely that he did not need any soap.
“But I am on the verge of starvation,” said the man.
“The idea!” laughed Mr. Harris. “Why, man, you are wearing a better coat than I have!”
“You would not talk so,” he replied in a tremulous voice, “if you had seen how hard my poor wife rubbed and brushed my coat this morning so that I would present a respectable appearance.”
Harris then saw that the coat was old, almost threadbare, but exceedingly clean and neat. He glanced again at the man’s face.
“Excuse me,” he said. “I was very busy when you came, and spoke thoughtlessly. Now that I think of it, I do need some soap. Fact is, I am completely out.”
“Thank you,” interrupted the man. “Here are three cakes for a quarter.”
“Nonsense!” said Harris. “Here is a five-dollar bill. I will take it all in soap. Got to have it—couldn’t do without it—always buy it in five-dollar lots.”
Categories: Joel Chandler Harris | Tags: Forrest Adair, Joel Chandler Harris,
“I am about the extent of a tenth of a gnat’s eyebrow better.”
– Joel Chandler Harris’s last words on this day in 1908, answering the question “How are you this morning, father?”
Categories: Joel Chandler Harris | Tags: Famous Last Words, Joel Chandler Harris,
West End Historic Walk by Steven Weitzman
We’re honored to be included a new public art project from the City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs: the West End Historic Walk.
Artist Steven Weitzman has conjured up a sidewalk installation that will abut our neighborhood’s glorious majestic existent Mall West End. 14 colored cement panels surrounded by specialty pavers will depict the history of our neighborhood.
The Wren’s Nest is featured in one of the panels, above. In front of the house, children are playing jump rope with Brer Rabbit.
Esther LaRose Harris, wife of Joel, is featured in the one about St. Anthony’s.
Esther was instrumental in founding St. Anthony’s in 1903, and Joel Chandler Harris actually bought the land for the church. Read up on the history of St. Anthony’s here.
The colored cement, called FOTERA, is several inches deep, so no matter how hard you try to chip it, the image won’t be altered. Nice try, suckas.
Take a look at Weitzman’s previous work with FOTERA.
Categories: Atlanta, Joel Chandler Harris, West End | Tags: Esther LaRose Harris, FOTERA, St. Anthony's of Padua, Steven Weitzman,
Jack Sparrow Before Johnny Depp and Pirates of the Caribbean
Before Johnny Depp’s role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, there was Jack Sparrow, original gangsta, from the Uncle Remus story “The Fate of Mr. Jack Sparrow.”
Curtis tells a wonderful version of the story. As Uncle Remus explains, Jack Sparrow is a tattler who meets his demise whilst tattling atop Brer Fox’s snout.
I guess the little boy hadn’t seen The Wire yet.
Disney put out both Pirates of the Caribbean and that movie based on the Brer Rabbit tales — oh, what is it called again? — but I think the similarities may stop there. Then again, I haven’t seen the Pirates films so what do I know. Can anyone who has seen ‘em connect the dots?
Joel Chandler Harris offers this note on the text at the end of the story:
Previously:
• 1937 Uncle Remus Illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg
• “I bin mixin’ up wid fokes now gwine on eighty year”
Categories: Birds other than wrens, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus | Tags: Jack Sparrow, Joel Chandler Harris, Johnny Depp, The Wire, Uncle Remus,
1906 Brer Rabbit Illustrations by Harry Rountree
Lately I’ve been having a hard time deciding which Brer Rabbit illustrations are my favorite. These illustrations from Harry Rountree are certainly giving Fritz Eichenberg a run for his money, mostly because of Brer Rabbit’s impressive commitment to smoking.
Look at that cigar! And those pants! Did M.C Hammer grow up on Brer Rabbit or what?
Lauren, designer of our website and fashionable friend, calls the pin/single suspender combo “a genius sartorial decision!” I agree!
This picture combines two things I love – little rabbits performing manual labor for nefarious purposes and matching red jumpsuits.
Brer Rabbit and the dark night of the soul. I really like this one’s composition.
I can’t help but laugh at this little rab crying over spilt milk, with Mrs. Rabbit rushing to the rescue.
Brer Rabbit has never looked so noble and proud as after enlisting his children to steal milk from Sis Cow, who is stuck in a tree. Hooray raping and pillaging family outings!
Brer Bear is dressed perfectly for a picnic. A+.
This last illustration is on the cover of our 1913 French copy of L’oncle Remus.
Ugh, I just don’t know — do you like these illustrations best? Or A.B. Frost’s? Or Eichenberg’s? Or Don Daily’s? Or Barry Moser’s?
Categories: Brer Rabbit, Joel Chandler Harris | Tags: Brer Bear, brer fox, Brer Rabbit, Harry Rountree, Lil Rabs,
Arthur Miller’s 1941 Radio Play — “Joel Chandler Harris”
In 1941 Arthur Miller wrote a radio play for Cavalcade of America called “Joel Chandler Harris.” Karl Swenson, he of Little House on the Prairie fame, plays the lead role.
The play runs about 26 minutes and is sort of an “aw shucks!” biography. Still, the writing is well done. The accents, however, are questionable.
“Joel Chandler Harris” by Arthur Miller
The play is based in fact but it isn’t entirely factual. For example, there’s a scene where Harris meets Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain at the White House. In reality the incident in question did occur, but with only Mark Twain and in New Orleans.
Compared with many of the historical inaccuracies we usually deal with, however, this feels like a case of tomato/tomato.
Related: More episodes of Cavalcade of America (presented by DuPont!), Disney’s 1956 “aw shucks!” biography of young Joel Chandler Harris
Categories: Joel Chandler Harris, Marketing Tricks, Shameless Promotion, Storytelling | Tags: Arthur Miller, Cavalcade of America, Joel Chandler Harris, Karl Swenson,
Georgia Traveler Features the Wren’s Nest, Amelia, and Curtis
Georgia Traveler, everyone’s favorite travel show not starring Michael Palin Anthony Bourdain Rick Steves, stopped by the Wren’s Nest a few months back for a segment on their “Book Tour” episode.
Amelia did most of the talking:
Curtis did most of the storytelling:
And Georgia Traveler did a bang-up job. Thank you, Georgia Traveler! Watch the entire episode online, here (just click on the “Watch” icon next to the page title).
Our segment starts about 4 minutes in, but the whole episode is worth your time. They stop by the Uncle Remus Museum, Flannery O’Connor’s Andalusia, the Margaret Mitchell House, and the Grit.
P.S. Do you know how hard it is to find a screen grab where people don’t look like they’re drooling? It’s medium-hard!
Categories: Fame and Fortune, Joel Chandler Harris, Marketing Tricks, Road Trips, Trails: Historic and Imagined, Uncle Remus | Tags: amelia lerner, David Zelski, Georgia Traveler, The Wren's Nest,
Uncle Remus by Henry F. Gilbert — the Opera that Wasn’t
Henry F. Gilbert, an important early 20th Century American composer, collected scores of African-American folk songs and aspired to write an opera called Uncle Remus.
I swear I’m not messing with y’all.
Gilbert never secured the rights to the Uncle Remus tales and couldn’t complete his opera, but he did write its prelude. Gilbert derived these two songs, performed here by Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev in 2004, from the prelude –
Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev — “Uncle Remus”
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Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev — “Brer Rabbit”
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Thanks to Fleur de Son Classics for permission to use the music. If you like it, consider ordering the album here.
The Uncle Remus prelude premiered at a Central Park concert in New York in August of 1910. 4,000 people attended.
The Boston Symphony performed the prelude the following year. Some people objected to the jaunty ragtime rhythms, but most responded positively “to the youthful vigor, the racy humor and the romantic nature of this new music.” Philip Hale, in the Boston Herald of April 14, 1911, wrote:
“The overture stirred the blood of the audience. All rejoiced in hearing a new voice with something to say and an original way of saying it. The fugue did not dampen the interest of the hearers, for the old form was used with dramatic spirit. No wonder that the audience, surprised and delighted, was for once in no hurry to leave the hall. [...] The overture is distinctively, but not bumptiously, not apologetically, American.”
Gilbert was one of the first American composers to break free of the Germanic style of classical music. For Gilbert, African-American folk music was a great source of inspiration and “seemed closely related to the spirit of all America.”
Gosh, sounds a lot like Joel Chandler Harris who, regarding A.B. Frost’s illustrations of Brer Rabbit and his critter friends, remarked: “We shall then have real American stuff, illustrated in real American style.” Shame he wasn’t around to hear the soundtrack… embedded in a blog post… on the internet. Really woulda blown his mind.
Related: Henry F. Gilbert: a bio-bibliography by Sherrill V. Martin
Categories: Birds of a feather, Historic Preservation, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus | Tags: Fleur de Son, Henry F. Gilbert, Nadia and Vladimir Zaitsev, Opera, Uncle Remus,
Happy (Official) Joel Chandler Harris Day!
Today would have been Joel Chandler Harris‘ 164th birthday if he had pledged his soul to darkness in favor of eternal life. But he didn’t!
Nope, instead he passed away in 1908 at the realistic age of 63.
While we at the Wren’s Nest celebrate Joel Chandler Harris and his legacy every day (well, maybe not Sundays and Mondays), December 9th is the day all Georgians are required, by law, to bow down to JCH’s awesomeness. That’s my interpretation, anyhow.
You see, in 1958 the Governor of Georgia, Marvin Griffin, formally decreed December 9th “Joel Chandler Harris Day” in Georgia. The official proclamation is below (remember, you can click on the picture for a closer look).
You’ll note that citizens were urged to “participate in this occasion.” While I’m not quite sure what means exactly, I’m sure if you wrote a collection of folktales cherished by generation upon generation the world over, that would count.
I’m participating and celebrating by coming to work and writing this blog post. Lain is celebrating by being in a meeting all day. What are you doing to participate in Joel Chandler Harris Day, the biggest of all the December holidays?
Categories: Birthdays, Fame and Fortune, Joel Chandler Harris, Shameless Promotion |
Beatles 3000 — Not So Different than Joel Chandler Harris 2000
How will the Beatles be remembered in 1,000 years? Apparently with a lot more Scottie Pippen.
The experts in this clip sound a bit like some of the more opinionated (if confused) people that call us on the phone every day –
- “When Walt Disney dreamt up the Uncle Remus Tales, they were unlike anything the world had ever seen.”
- “Brer Rabbit stories have been banned for 50 years. Somehow, they are not banned in the Wren’s Nest’s store. Finally!”
- “It is so wonderful that you are maintaining the Song of the South Museum! Such a great tribute to the author Uncle Remus.”
Now, I doubt Scottie Pippen will begin popping up in the Brer Rabbit stories anytime soon. But Disney isn’t exactly doing African-American folklore any favors by locking Song of the South away in its vault. For better or worse, the film is the most accessible version of (just 3 of) the (195 or so) Uncle Remus tales, and without source material we’re left with speculation and hunches.
All that said, I could probably get behind Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah-Pet-Sounds.
Categories: Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus | Tags: african american folklore, beatles 3000, joel chandler harris 2000, Uncle Remus,