
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Community \| Obits \| Editorial & Columnists \| Society \| Sports \| Education \| Classified Ads \| Calendar of Events \| Features \| Newsbriefs \| Legals \| Archives \| Subscriptions \| Photo Gallery

Society

City Personals
Mary Clay Brooks

Patriot Performers take train ride to New York, attend workshops and sightsee

The Patriot Performers from Marshall Academy left to go to New York last Monday. They boarded a train in Birmingham and rode 18 hours to get to New York City. The first day they were there, they went to dinner and to see the musical Wicked. The next day the group and Chris Mirante went to an acting workshop with some of the cast members from Wicked. That night, they went to see Legally Blonde-The Musical. The next day was a free day. During the day they split into groups and went shopping, to the Statue of Liberty, or on a city bus tour. That night they all went to see a New York Mets game. The next day they had a dance workshop with some of the cast members from Legally Blonde. That night they went to see The Little Mermaid. After the show, they had a question and answer session with the cast. Saturday morning, they finished any last minute shopping they wanted to do and got packed up. They then boarded the train and headed back home.

Jane and Charlie Farris spent the weekend in Mongomery, Alabama, for the wedding of their nephew, John Curran Sullivan, and April McLoud. Frannie Farris joined them from Charleston, SC, where she is living and working this summer. Buddy Farris drove over from Oxford to meet up with the group. Jane and Charlie continued their trip after the wedding festivities, on to Orange Beach, Ala.

Barbara and Amy Reed from Southaven, enjoyed a visit Thursday with Kay and Laura Wheeler.

(To put your news in City Personals, please e-mail maryclayb@yahoo.com; mail to City Personals, The South Reporter, P.O. Box 278, Holly Springs, MS 38635 or call 662-252-4261.

You may also e-mail your City Personal news to south@dixie-net.com).

Museuming
Lois Swanee
Museum Curator

Floor model radio was wonderful

Truly, we live in the age of miracles. That beautiful air we breathe is so utterly fantastic and actually, is full of air waves that bring us all sorts of wireless media. The electric telegraph was invented in 1860 and revolutionized long distance communications.

From this came the invention of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone in the 1870s. He invented this to find a way for his wife to hear as she was deaf. This was to change the world and affect man’s way of thinking. I remember the movie “Alexander Graham Bell” with Don Ameche. In the movie, he was showing his new invention to his friends. One of the friends said, “Man, you are crazy. You would have to string a wire to every house in American to make that work!”

In 1896, the new fangled invention, radio, was first demonstrated at the World’s Fair in St. Louis but it probably was too far out for the ordinary people to fathom. The first president to use the radio was incredible and wonderfully macho Teddy Roosevelt.

He was the hero who had captured San Juan Hill in the War of 1898 and the brave bear hunter who came to Mississippi hunting. They later copied the teddy bear from this hunt. Teddy was a fantastic orator who could sway audiences of thousands of people with his charisma. He could read an audience and tell them exactly what they wanted to hear. However, on radio, instead of talking to hundreds, he was speaking to millions and he couldn’t read the audience, nor they him. His high voice came over the airwaves in a frail little falsetto voice which was a shock to all who heard it.

Actually radio broadcasting caused orators who could sway audiences with their eloquence to go out of style. The speaker on the platform not only had the advantage of showing himself and his personality, he also benefitted by being able to see his audience, but the medal disk with all its powers can’t record charm and charisma.

The first president to die in office and have it broadcast to millions instantly was Warren G. Harding in 1923. He was taking a whistle stop tour on a train across America and was in California at the time of his demise. He was only 58 years old, healthy and robust. His wife was with him on the tour. Presidents are really first just men, then presidents. Harding was a womanizer and had many flings, some inside the White House.

Harding collapsed and died after eating supper with his wife on the train. The circumstances were suspicious as to cause of death. Anyway, his death was announced to the nation via radio and instantly everybody knew the president was dead.

When I was young, we had a floor model radio in the living room and it was wonderful. Every Sunday morning I would go out and get the funny papers and spread them out on the floor in front of the radio and Mayor LaGuardia of New York City would read me, and the other children of America, the funny papers. It had a profound effect on my reading ability. My folks never had to read me the funny paper as the Mayor of New York had done it.

When we advanced to two radios in the house, the second was a table model in the kitchen. One morning my daddy went into that room and the radio blared out a loud blast of Mozart, nearly scaring him to pieces, causing him to drop the load he was carrying.

Then, in 1948, more airwaves had been developed and television was born to the public, almost crowding out the radio waves, but not quite. Radio had been ingeniously reworked to go into the automobiles. Before that, the motion of the car had caused the radio reception to be inaudible.

Radio wasn’t vanishing. It tried to offer more service-oriented programs such as traffic conditions and weather reports. In the 1950s also came the appearance of the disc jockey with a program of his own, which was very popular to the public.

Then, in 1957, another fantastic era of history was born. The computer had become the hub of a vast network of remote stations feeding information into billions of places every second of every day, changing the way of thinking, of education and altered our way of living.

The difference between AM and FM radio is that AM are call letters for “Amplitude Modulation.” Its frequency is low and full of static and consequently the sound waves do not travel as far as FM. FM stands for “Frequency Modulation” and its sound waves are higher than AM and the static has been eliminated. It travels long distances, even around the world. FM signals have a great advantage over AM signals. Both signals are susceptible to slight changes in amplitude.

Come and see us at the Square Museum, 111 Van Dorn Ave. Holly Springs, 662 252-3669, www.mchmuseum.org or email us at marshallcomuseum@bellsouth.net.

Swanee’s Good News Happy Hour

On Swanee’s Good News Happy Hour this week, guests will be Highway Commissioner Bill Minor to tell us about the state of our roads. Then international lawyer, David Person will talk about “mediation.” Dr. Mike Thompson will bring his guitar to sing for us. Be sure and tune in on WKRA AM on Thursday at 3 p.m. until 4 p.m. The show will be repeated on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.

At the museum we have written a series of books on the history of all sections of Marshall County including Holly Springs, Byhalia, and Potts Camp. They are full of old photographs and each has a section of 300 indigenous recipes for you cookbook recipe collectors. We call it the “Windows Series.”

Windows One is about the beautiful architecture of Holly Springs. The second is on the history of Holly Springs. The third is on the history of southeast Marshall County and Potts Camp. Number four is the history of Byhalia and southwest Marshall County. Number five is the history of north Marshall County from Chewalla to Byhalia and back.

All are beautiful, incredible, interesting and waiting to go in your library.

Report News: (662) 252-4261 or south@dixie-net.com
Questions, comments, corrections: south@dixie-net.com
©2004, The South Reporter, All Rights Reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced in any way without permission.
The South Reporter is a member of the Mississippi Press Association.

Web Site managed and maintained by
South Reporter webmasters Linda Jones, Kristian Jones
Web Site Design - The South Reporter

Back | Top of Page