Ridgeland Roadhouse

From the Don Jackson Collection

"A small buidling is home to a restaurant in Ridgeland." -- Library caption.

Get your Schlitz here.  And your home cooked meals.  Need a room for the night?  No problem. Photo is undoubtedly a copy of a snapshot taken by one of Mr. Jackson's customers.  Most likely taken in the mid to late 1950s. 

Editor's Note: Sippiana is going on hiatus for a few days, or more.  Please feel free to scroll through past postings.   

The Smell of Money -- Updated

"Several people are in a bank lobby. The bank is Brookhaven Bank. No date is known." -- Library caption.

Turns out the library caption is incorrect.  I am told by a Furlow descendent that the man second from left in the first photo is Albert Brown Furlow, and he is standing in the interior of the First Commercial Bank, which was located where the State Bank now sits.  The bank was founded in 1887.  It is unclear when the building was constructed (see below for a postcard depiction).  The bank was refaced with limestone at some point in its history.  The original facade on the side street remains. 

Note the brass spittoon in the second photo. 

I remember that both local banks, Brookhaven and State, in the 1950s and '60s had their own signature smell, much like a kindergarten, bowling alley or Tillotson's Service Station. Mother always warned me to NOT play with the shiny brass spittoons, which, coupled with the smoke of cigarettes and cigars, imparted a certain pungent aroma that intermingled with the smell of paper money and made visiting the banks an olfactory sensation for all -- little children in particular.

Both photos are from the Don Jackson collection at the LLF Library.

On a Country Road

From the Don Jackson Collection, LLF Library

"Oddee Smith Several trucks and drivers are lined up. The drivers work for Oddee Smith. No date is noted." -- Library caption.

Lincoln County's network of rutted and washboarded country roads that had never seen anything but gravel were paved by Oddee Smith and his crews back in the late 1950s, early 1960s.  If I am not mistaken that is Oddee second from the left.  

Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits

From the Don Jackson Collection/LLF Library

"Three barbers are busy cutting hair at Trimble's Barber Shop. No date is noted." -- Library caption.

Interesting to see a woman in a barber's chair.  

I recognize Robert Jones, Esq., and supermarket owner Roy Malta (L-R) receiving haircuts.  The man in the dark t-shirt, to the left of Roy Malta, has been identified as Red Robinson or Robertson, the shop's shoe-shine man whose praises are being sung on my Facebook page.  Adjectives such as "great," "the very best" and "nicest" are being used.  One friend reports that that Red sent his children to college on his pay as a shoe-shine man.  The number of college students is in question, anywhere from five to eight or nine.  

Help is needed with the other four names as well. Trimble's originally was across the street from Woolworth's and the May Sisters operated a beauty salon in the back of the building.  It is believed that the woman in the chair is one of the May sisters.  Later, the shop was located near Lofton's department store and later became J.K. Smith's Barber Shop, according to my Facebook friends.  

If anyone would like to contribute a memory or two about Trimble's barber shop, please post that information here or on my Facebook page.  

Educated guesses as to the date of this photo would be welcomed -- some have suggested the late 1950s.  I tried blowing it up to read the calendar on the wall, but was unable to get a bead on it.

The Good Doctor with his Faithful Companion and a Cup of Joe

Both Photos from the John Holly Williams Collection/LLF Library

"Dr Markett is sitting on his porch with a cup of coffee? in his hands. The date of this photo is November 12, 1956." -- Library caption.

The photos are undoubtedly copies of snapshots taken of Dr. J. R. Markette, white bucks and all, during the full bloom of a Mississippi summer in the mid 1950s.

Yesterday's posting of Dr. Markette and his family brought a lot of fond recollections of the good doctor, and much debate as to the correct spelling of his name, which has been variously recorded as Markett, Markette and Marquette.  The consensus landed on Markette, in part because that is what is reported on FindaGrave, which shows him to have been born Oct. 18, 1899, and to have died Oct. 1, 1978.  He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Brookhaven.

One such fond recollection came from Brookhaven-born author Jimmie Meese Moomaw: 

"When I broke my arm, Mama said, "It's okay, darlin'. Everything's gonna be all right. And it worked. She held me close and it really didn't hurt any more.

Instead of telling Nell to take me to the hospital, she told her to take me over to Dr. Marquette's house. 

Dr. Marquette had delivered me, and every pill and shot I'd ever had had been administered by Doc Marquette and he lived on the same street we did, but on past the elementary school where the houses were big and nice.

Nell tore into his driveway honking her horn and jumped out and ran up to his door almost before the car stopped. Mama just kept hugging me. Dr. Marquette came out, looked at my arm and told Nell to follow him to the hospital.

 In the emergency room, he took my arm and my hand and pulled them in opposite directions and the bones snapped back down where they belonged and he put a cast on my arm and Nell drove us home." -- From the story, "Danger Zones: DDT, Stick Shifts, and Fire" in Southern Fried Child.

The Wahabi Shriners and a Colossal Hippodrome

All photos from Don Jackson Collection/Lincoln, Lawrence, Franklin Library

"The Brookhaven Shrine Club sponsored an International Hippodrome Circus. Dr. J R Markett and his family are shown in some of the photos. No date is noted." -- Library caption.

My best guess:  This is 1959, since September 26 fell on a Saturday that year.  The other clue: the little girl's fez says Ben Hur, and that epic film remake was due to be released in November of 1959.  Surely the movie hype was going strong at the time.  In addition, it appears that the pick-up truck in the photo is a 1959 Ford.

Dr. John Ralph Markette is the shorter man in the glasses in the first photo.  The woman in the clown outfit is most likely his second wife Dollie and the little girl, Cindy Markette. Help with identities of the other two men is appreciated.

On a personal note: When I was a small child, the Shriners satin outfits, sabers, curly-toed shoes and fez hats used to terrify me during the annual Christmas parade.  I would cling to my father and I would search for Meredith Wood, father of my friend Marybeth.  Only when I spotted him would my inner calm return for I knew he would protect me from the others should one or more lose their heads and go slashing into the crowd with those scary sabers.  

I never realized the Shriners' connection to Freemasonry until I got much, much older and started researching these wild and crazy guys who do good work with the Shriners Children's Hospital.  I guess now I can forgive them for scaring me. 

Water Carnival Trophies and Tiaras

From Don Jackson Collection/LLF Library

The library's caption reads: "This group of girls are contestants in the Lion's Club Water Carnival. No date is noted."

I recognize Debbie Dunaway in the tiara and holding the trophies, and while I KNOW I should immediately be able to call the names of the others, my aging old brain is locking up and freezing.  Help is needed on the other identities.  The date?  My guess is that it's 1969 or thereabouts.

Update: L-R Wanda Williams Douglas Crane, Debbie Dunaway, Linda Smith, Angela Smith.  Thanks to my Facebook friends for the help on the identities.  

Donald O'Connor's Curtain Call at Cactus Creek

In technicolor no less.  The date is November 1951.  Photo courtesy of the Lincoln/Lawrence/Franklin Library.

Here's a link to the 1950 movie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7QHapX0Vo in case you're interested in seeing Walter Brennan sing off key and play a bad guy.  Vincent Price and Eve Arden also share top billing with Donald O'Connor.