Memories From The Late 1940s Shoals Of Alabama

With All That Is Happening In America And In Our World Today, America needs a good dose of Patriotism.  Thinking on that, my thoughts traveled back to my childhood.  I was born between World War 1 and World War 2.  In my birth year, 1937, the world was still recovering from WW1 as Hitler's Nazism, Mussolini's Fascism, and Japan's Imperialism were already busy birthing what became World War 2.

Hitler’s Nazism, Mussolini’s Fascism, and Japan’s Imperialism, i.e., the Three Axis Powers, three dominant, interrelated ideologies that sought to overturn the sensitive peace won in WW1.  Those three nations possessed unique national characteristics, sharing common traits of extreme militaristic nationalism, anti-communism, totalitarian ambitions, and a drive for territorial expansion to secure resources for their national growth.

While our world today has pretty much moved away from Nazism, Fascism, and Imperialism, we have seen the emergence of totalitarianism in North Korea, China, neo-totalitarianism in Russia, and the theocratic totalitarian regime in Iran. In other words, our world is really no safer than in my childhood days, but leaders like President Trump and our MAGA Team will bring America, and to a great extent our world, back into a position of strength and national security.

IN THE LATE 1940s, when I was growing up in the Shoals of Alabama, my hometown was, in reality, Sheffield and Tuscumbia.  At that time Muscle Shoals was not a town in itself, but was more just an extension of Sheffield.  So while I lived in Sheffield and Muscle Shoals, I spent a lot of time in Tuscumbia, which was where most of my maternal family members lived. 

That is why I usually say that I grew up in the Shoals of Alabama.  Florence was the larger of the Tri-Cities and, at that time, considered Sheffield's main rival in sports.  But I have to give credit where credit is due, Florence had a lot of pretty girls.  Hmmm?  Wonder if that is why the boys of Florence were so protective of their side of the Tennessee River?

All of this is leading up to my time in the late 1940s when as a young boy, and during World War 2, I often went to the movies.  In Sheffield we had the Ritz Theater and the Shoals Theater.  The Ritz was the older and its decor, to me, had more an early 20th century look - while the Colbert Theater was more modern, 1950s modern. 

Since the Ritz was older and sat on a side street, it attracted more of a "we watch our budget" audience and drew them by showing double feature movies - mostly older movies and westerns.  The Colbert showed the latest movies, musicals (very popular in the 1940s/50s), and newer released movies.

Why the long introduction?  It is to tell you about an amazing "as close as Hollywood can be true" musical about The Four Cohans, a late 19th-century American vaudeville family act that brought 20th-century Broadway legend George M. Cohan to show business.  They were Jeremiah (father), Helen (mother), Josephine (older sister), and George Michael Cohan, only 8 years old when he began to tour and perform with them.

George eventually left the family act to become a famous composer, producer, playwright, and performer on Broadway.  America had been drawn into World War 1 in spite of Democrat President Woodrow Wilson's campaign promise to keep America out of the war.

George M. Cohan gave us American theater patriotism in the early 20th century, with musical hits like "Over There" - "You're a Grand Old Flag" - and "The Yankee Doodle Boy," bringing patriotic musicals to Broadway.  America did not want to be in WW1 and Cohan's songs and musicals were instrumental in keeping the patriotic spirit of America alive until our boys would come home for good.  This led to Cohan becoming the first, and I believe the only, theatrical artist to receive a Congressional Medal of Honor.

In the 1942 musical shown in theaters all across America, James Cagney, known more for his tough gangster roles in movies - took on the role of George M. Cohan in the musical "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and surprised the American audience with his dancing abilities.  Actually James Cagney had been a song and dance performer before he was a tough movie gangster.

James Cagney became the only actor, song and dance man, to win an Oscar based primarily on the unforgettable dance numbers in the movie "Yankee Doodle Dandy."  I saw the movie when I was a 6 or 7 year old youngster in Alabama - and the scene where George M. Cohan, i.e., James Cagney - danced down the stairs of the White House after a private audience with the president, and being given the Medal of Honor by President Woodrow Wilson.

One last interesting fact about that dance scene - Cagney had the idea to dance down the White House stairs only minutes before the cameras rolled.  It was not in the script and Cagney decided to do it without telling his director, because he knew the director was say it was to dangerous and veto it.  James Cagney did that scene in only one take.  That in itself is amazing.

The stiff-legged dancing style used by Cagney in this movie is not his own.  Wanting to make his performance of the life of George M. Cohan more accurate and true to the man, he trained under Johnny Boyle, George M. Cohan’s real-life choreographer.

Rather than give you just one short clip attempting to recreate my childhood memories, I am offering you three short clips which more accurately represents the heart of this patriotic 1942 biopic, showing that not all heroes in time of war are on the front, some such as George M. Cohan, as suggested in this movie script by President Woodrow Wilson in the movie, and I paraphrase, "Your songs were just as powerful a weapon as any cannon or battleship." 

And with that introduction I offer you these two movie clips of an amazing time in my life (WW2) and in our American history, World War 1 on Broadway.

1. Thank You Mr. President! Cagney Receiving The Medal Of Honor - James Cagney as George M. Cohan Dances The White House Stairs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nztp8QRJ6tg

2. The Dance That Won An Oscar
James Cagney In "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpVq9-oID-g

God bless you and your family,
And God bless America, Bill

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What Would Jesus Do - Tract

"What Would Jesus Do - Tract" - Initially Posted August 2016:

Since I have long loved to read, and since I am not as rich as many folks I worked with in the computer industry (Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Paul Terrell, etc.) - it has been my habit to search for written treasures in more economical locations such as "Friends Of The Library" and other used book stores.  In early 1998 I found a real treasure, "In His Steps" written by Charles M. Sheldon in 1896 and long out of print.

After reading the book, I was inspired to write a Christian tract challenging folks to consider the question posed in that book:  "What would Jesus do if He were faced with the decisions you have today?"    I wrote the tract in 1998 for our local church bulletin and I sent it out to all the folks in my Friends Ministry eNewsletter mail list - at that time between 800 to 900 people around the world.

Fast forward about a year and I started seeing that book appearing in the Christian Discount Book monthly catalog.   And, then I began to hear about a WWJD Movement across America.   Looking into it, I found these on the internet:

A youth group leader in Holland, Michigan, named Janie Tinklenberg, began a grassroots movement to help the teenagers in her group remember the phrase; it spread nationwide in the 1990s among Christian youth, who wore bracelets bearing the initials W.W. J. D.

When Christians began wearing bracelets with the acronym for "What would Jesus do?" in the 1990s, the phrase was a reminder for them to attempt to act in a way that personifies Jesus' teachings from the Gospels. 

So how did this get us to the 1990s (and beyond) W.W.J.D. bracelets and other product?  Janie Tinklenberg read Sheldon’s book in 1989 and had taken the message of “What would Jesus do?” to heart.  She decided to use it in her job as a youth leader at a church in Holland, Michigan, where she encouraged her students to keep it in mind as they went about their daily lives.

As a way to make sure the kids didn’t forget, Janie decided to emblazon the slogan on something wearable, settling on wristbands, since “At the time, 1989, beaded friendship bracelets were popular.  I figured a bracelet was perfect:  They could wear it all the time and it was even kind of cool.” 

However, since the phrase “What would Jesus do?” was kind of awkward to fit on a bracelet, she opted for the abbreviation W.W.J.D.   Along with looking neater, this was also doubly ingenious since it prompted others to ask what W.W.J.D. meant - thereby spreading the message a little further and giving an opportunity for her students to evangelize. 

www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/06/origin-jesus-slogan/

This is the Christian tract which I published in 1998:

 

What would Jesus do?  Have you ever considered what an effect it would have on your life if, daily, before you make any decision which will affect your personal life or your business life, you asked yourself that question - and then made your decision based upon your honest judgement of "What would Jesus do if, today, He was faced with this decision?"

I read a very inspiring book, "In His Steps" by Charles M. Sheldon.  This is a fictional novel which is based upon that premise, that question: "What would Jesus do?"  The book was written in 1896; yet the question is even more relevant in America and in our world community today.

In the First Church of Raymond, Dr. Henry Maxwell, pastor for eleven years in this affluent church, was just finishing his Sunday sermon when an unkempt, unshaven, but not offensive man rose from a rear pew and walked to the front of the sanctuary.  The man was an unemployed printer whose wife had died of starvation, malnutrition, and exposure in a New York City tenement.  He had to leave his young daughter with a friend while he searched for employment.  The man turned to address the congregation.

"I'm not an ordinary tramp, though I don't know of any teaching of Jesus that makes one kind of tramp less worth saving than another.  Do you?"  He put the question as naturally as if the whole congregation was a small Bible study class.  "I lost my job ten months ago.  I am a printer by trade.  The new linotype machines are beautiful specimens of invention, but I know six men who have killed themselves inside of a year because of those machines.  Of course I don't blame the newspapers for getting the machines, but, what can a man do?  This is the only trade I know.  I'm not complaining, just stating facts."

"As I sat in the back of the church, I was wondering if what you call following Jesus is the same thing as what He taught.  What did He mean when He said, 'Follow me!'?  Your pastor said, 'It is necessary for the disciple of Jesus to follow His steps, and he said those steps are - 'obedience, faith, love, and imitation.'  But I did not hear him tell you just what he meant this to mean, especially the last one.  What do you Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus?"

"I've tramped through your city for three days looking for a job; and in all that time I've not had a word of kindness or comfort except from your minister, who told me he was sorry for me and hoped I would find a job somewhere.  I'm not blaming anyone, just stating facts.  I understand that you cannot go out of your way to hunt up jobs for people like me; I'm not asking that.  But, I am puzzled; what is meant by following Jesus?  What do you mean when you sing, 'I'll go with Him, with Him, all the way?' "

"Do you mean that you are suffering and denying yourselves and trying to save lost, suffering humanity just as I understand Jesus did?  Somehow I get puzzled when I see so many Christians living in luxury and singing,

'Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee,'

- and remember how my wife died in a New York tenement.  Of course, I don't expect you people can prevent every one from dying of starvation and lack of nourishment, but what does following Jesus mean?" 

"I understand that Christian people own a lot of the tenements.  A member of a church was the owner of the one where my wife died, and I wonder if following Jesus all the way was true in his case.  I heard some people at a prayer meeting singing,

'All for Jesus, all for Jesus, all my being's ransomed powers, all my thoughts, and all my doings, all my days, and all my hours,'

- and I kept wondering what they meant by it.  It seems to me there's an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn't exist if all the people who sing such songs went and lived them out.  But what would Jesus do?  Is that what you mean by following His steps?"

As he finished speaking the man clutched his chest and collapsed; three days later he died from exposure.  But Dr. Henry Maxwell's life was changed forever.  The next Sunday he made a proposal to his congregation.  He asked for volunteers from his church who would pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly, for an entire year - not to do anything without first asking the question, "What would Jesus do?"  And then to follow Jesus as exactly as he or she knows how, no matter what the consequences.

The effects caused during the following year by a small group in that church making that pledge, and then living up to it, changed the whole town of Raymond and eventually spread across the state and then the country.

Yes, this is a fictional story; but what would happen in your church, in your town, in your life - if you honestly made this pledge and lived up to it for one year?

1 Peter 2:21, "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps." 

Matthew 16:24, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'" 

If Jesus Came To Your House
by Lois Blanchard Eades

If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two -
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you'd do.
Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room to such an honored Guest,
And all the food you'd serve to Him would be the very best,
And you would keep assuring Him you're glad to have Him there -
That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare.

But when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door
With arms outstretched in welcome to your heavenly Visitor?
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in?
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they'd been?
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn't heard?
And wish you hadn't uttered that last, loud, hasty word?

Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about?
And I wonder - if the Savior spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing the things you always do?
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would your family conversation keep up it's usual pace?
And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?
Would you sing the songs you always sing, and read the books you read,
And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed?
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you'd planned to go?
Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends?
Or would you hope they'd stay away until His visit ends?
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do
If Jesus Christ, in person, came to spend some time with you.

Food for thought:  Have you ever considered that question: "What would you do if Jesus came to your house today?" 

I think the best response would be, "He lives in my home every day!"

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,  Bill

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