Category: McMurray Family

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Military Monday: Edward A. McMurray, Jr. in the Pacific Theater of WWII

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in South Pacific or Australia, c1944.
Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in the South Pacific or Australia, c1944. (Click to enlarge.)

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., called ‘Mac’ by so many, was an airplane mechanic in the Army-Air Corps (technically in the Reserves though he served on active duty his whole service time). He told his family stories of how the Marines would go in and take one of the small South Pacific islands in fierce battles with the Japanese, the SeaBees would then bulldoze an airstrip, and his unit would be the next to come in to service the airplanes flown in by the pilots. He had wanted to be a pilot himself, but was too young- just 17- when Pearl Harbor occurred on 7 Dec 1941 and brought the US into the War. Although he wanted to join up right away, he also had to help support his mother, so he finished high school and continued working part-time. Ed then started college, hoping to be a doctor like his father, but enlisted two years after Pearl Harbor, in December 1943. By that date the military had already trained a lot of the pilots needed, and had a greater need for aircraft mechanics; additionally, he had worked at a Newton, Iowa gas station so had some mechanical experience, thus the military made him an aircraft mechanic.

Ed’s active duty began in boot camp at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. He went next to a military training school, and then overseas. He spoke of his trip to the Pacific and being packed into the troop ships (converted from passenger ships) like sardines, with hammocks six high- one couldn’t even turn over as the guy above was only inches above- and the heat of all the men and the tropics sweltering. He crossed the International Date line and endured whatever ceremony the sailors enacted upon them- he would never tell us details, as it was supposed to be secret.

"US landings" by General MacArthur's General Staff - MacArthur, Douglas (1994) [1950] Reports of General MacArthur (Vol. 1 ed.), Center of Military History, p. 432.
“US landings” by General MacArthur’s General Staff – MacArthur, Douglas (1994) [1950] Reports of General MacArthur (Vol. 1 ed.), Center of Military History, p. 432. Note #32 is Biak, with US landings on 27 May 1944. (Click to enlarge.)
Mac was stationed in Australia, New Guinea (where there were still head-hunters in the remote mountains), a tiny island called Biak, which always intrigued him- we did find it later on a map (see above)- and many other small Pacific islands. He said they would bulldoze a wide strip around the camp and barracks on the islands, but you could still hear the enemy rustling out in the forest at night, just beyond that strip. (It must have been terrifying to live like that day after day.) The Pacific War often gets overlooked with the horrors of the Holocaust, but the Japanese practiced similar horrific torture, ‘scientific experiments,’ mass killings, and unendurable POW camps.

Possibly Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in South Pacific or Australia, c1944.
Possibly Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in the South Pacific or Australia, c1944. (Click to enlarge.)

There were horrors within the Allied camps too. To get to aircraft engine parts that needed working on, sometimes the mechanics had to clean out those areas first- there might be bodies, body parts, and/or blood and other fluids in those areas, depending on how much fire the aircraft had taken on the latest mission.

Maintaining our military readyness could be a dangerous job even though Mac’s unit was not on the front lines.One of Mac’s duty stations had a big pit dug for them to dispose of the used and mangled aircraft parts, oil, etc., and gasoline would have been everywhere within. Of course, in those days, much of the population and many of our service people smoked cigarettes. One day, Mac was off on a break when someone possibly threw a lit cigarette into the pit; whatever the cause, the pit exploded in flames. He had been working in there and was supposed to have been working there at that time; he always had ‘survivor’s guilt’ that he was on a break when the conflagration occurred. So many of his friends and coworkers died or were burned terribly. They rescued as many soldiers as they could, but the horrors of the day included the smells of burning flesh and screams of the dying; they stayed in his mind forever after.

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in uniform with unknown friend. c1942 in Newton, Iowa.
Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in uniform with unknown friend. c1942 in Newton, Iowa. (Click to enlarge.)

Being on the other side of the world, so far from home must have been incredibly difficult for all those sweet 19-year old Iowa boys, and those from elsewhere, but their committed service shows the true grit they had, and their determination to save the world from the Axis powers and their planned world domination. When asked why he enlisted, Mac replied that it was his duty to protect his mother, his future family, and the innocent people of the world. These men and women truly were, “The Greatest Generation.”

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family photos and oral history.

2) US Landings in the Pacific: “US landings” by General MacArthur’s General Staff – MacArthur, Douglas (1994) [1950] Reports of General MacArthur (Vol. 1 ed.), Center of Military History, pp. p. 432. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_landings.jpg#mediaviewer/File:US_landings.jpg. Accessed 9/1/2014.

3) To illustrate the zeal of the Japanese soldiers, the last Japanese soldier to surrender did so in 1974- he had been holed up on an island in the Philippines for 29 years. Hiroo Onoda thought that reports that WWII was ended were Allied/American propaganda to entice him to give himself up. It required a trip by his former commanding officer to the P.I. to convince him that the war was really over. See interesting articles about Onoda, who died 16 Jan 2014, at http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/world/asia/japan-philippines-ww2-soldier-dies/ and http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/hiroo-onoda-japanese-soldier-dies.

4) For an American point of view, see Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. It chronicles the life of juvenile delinquent Louis Zamperini,  who became a track star and participated in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. A favorite of Hitler, Zamperini was on target to break the four-minute mile, but the cancellation of the 1940 games due to the war never gave him that chance. He enlisted and his harrowing life as a pilot and prisoner of war are detailed in the book and an upcoming movie (to be released Dec. 25, 2014) directed by Angelina Joile. Zamperini, who died in July, 2014, also wrote 2 memoirs about his life: Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian’s Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in Word War II (William Morrow Paperbacks, reissue 2011, ISBN-13: 978-0062118851), and Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life (Dey Street Books, 2014, ISBN-13: 978-0062368331), to be published November, 2014. See also:

http://www.louiszamperini.net/?page=bio

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/arts/louis-zamperini-olympian-war-survivor-unbroken-dies.html

 5) The Pacific, an HBO Miniseries produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, tells the story of three real Marines and their experiences in the Pacific.

 

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“The Man with the Hoe,” Edward B. Payne, and Labor Day, Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series "The Man with the Hoe," Edward B. Payne, and Labor Day
Review of The Arena, published in The Critic (New York) and reprinted in Vol. 5 of The Arena.
Review of “The Arena” published in “The Critic” (New York) and reprinted in Vol. 5 of “The Arena.”
Review of The Arena, published in Truth (Toronto, Canada) and reprinted in Vol. 5 of The Arena.
Review of “The Arena” published in “Truth” (Toronto, Canada) and reprinted in Vol. 5 of “The Arena.”

(See Monday, 1 Sep 2014 for Part 1 of this story.)

The Arena was a Boston review magazine begun in December, 1889 by Benjamin Flower, considered a radical journalist in his time. He published articles that exposed the seedy side of society- sweatshops, poverty, child labor, etc. The articles also included socialistic thought as a way to remedy these problems. The magazine was even marketed to ministers with a discounted rate, in order to help educate the public through the pulpit and possibly start new centers “for the diffusion of the light of justice, fundamental democracy, for intellectual hospitality.”

Following Edwin Markham’s poem “The Man with the Hoe” in the July, 1899 issue of The Arena (pages 15-16) was an article written by Edward B. Payne (our ancestor) entitled, “The ‘Hoe Man’ on Trial.” (pages 17-24) Payne was a minister who practiced “Christian Socialism,” and although he no longer had a church pulpit (he had resigned due to health reasons, and was working as an editor in 1899), he still lectured on cooperation rather than competition in order to provide a good life for all. Payne had worked in poor tenements in Chicago and the impoverished mill towns of New England; he had seen firsthand what it was to be the “Slave of the wheel of labor” as Markham described it. Payne did not want to ‘redistribute’ the wealth as in some forms of socialism- instead he wanted to teach people how to help themselves so that they could be successful, and in turn contribute to the good of all.

Edward B. Payne
Edward B. Payne

Edward B. Payne was an excellent choice to author an article reviewing the controversy that arose around the world with the publication of  Edwin Markham’s poem, “The Man with the Hoe.” Payne was extremely well read- he had a significant library of his own, (sadly lost in the Great Berkeley Fire of 1923), lived just north of the University of California at Berkeley and thus had access to university libraries, and probably borrowed books from the extensive library of Jack and Charmian London. (A letter exists from Payne requesting the loan of a book, however we don’t know for sure if London granted it.) In the article for The Arena, Payne quoted many editors and writers from around the country. (How did he read all those articles without the internet??)

Payne began his article acknowledging that the poem had exceptional literary merit that is, “almost universally conceded.” The poem, however, was “the center of a remarkable controversy bearing on the social problems of modern times.” He quoted Walt Whitman and concurred with “the power of the poet to stir and direct the thoughts of men.” Payne continued,

“Here is a case in which men are deeply moved and sharply aroused, not by an act of legislation, not by a scientific demonstration, not by a logical argument, but by a few lines of verse sung out from the frontier West by one hitherto but little known [poet].”

Some recent literature books and websites have included excerpts of Payne’s words in their descriptions of the poem:

“[“The Man with the Hoe”] appears to have everywhere stimulated thought upon social problems, and to have called out vigorous and diversified expressions of opinions all along the line of its course…. Clergy made the poem their text; platform orators dilated upon it; college professors lectured upon it; debating societies discussed it; schools took it up for study in their literary courses; and it was the subject of conversation in social circles and on the streets.”

Payne, and many others, were elated that the poem sparked world-wide discussions of socio-economic disparities that were often only whispered about, swept under the rug, and seldom debated except in socialist circles.

The main controversy was just what it was that caused the Hoe Man to have “on his back the burden of the world.” The poem suggested that those with the wealth placed this burden on the lower classes. Others, like Ambrose Bierce, whom Payne characterized as “that distinguished critic, whose pen is sharper than a locust thorn,” declared that the Hoe Man “…is not a product of the masters, lords, and rulers in all lands; they are not, and no class of men are, responsible for him, his limitations and his woes– which are not of those that kings or laws can cause or cure.”

Payne explained in his article that another group joined the controversy: workers. Some felt the poem was “a direct assault on the American farmer” but it was not meant that way.

Payne continued his review of the varied points of view of the poem writing, “The poem has not been spared at the hands of those grotesque critics whose humor is chopped out with a meat axe.” He quoted a San Francisco Evening Post writer who called Edwin Markham, “our laureate of the clod and hoe.” Another author claimed that the poem was “founded on the theological assumption that man is not the fashioner of his own destiny,” an old-fashioned and unenlightened religious viewpoint by that date, and thus the indictment was invalid.

After summarizing and quoting many authors both critical and laudatory, Payne discussed the most important line of the poem: “How will you ever straighten up this shape [of the Hoe Man]?”  The controversy engendered by the poem,

“…illustrates the loose but intricate tangle of modern thought as touching the conditions, the possibilities, the obligations of civilization; and how tradition, self-interest, prejudice, and passion, as well as sincerity, good-will, and the love of truth and justice are all potent factors in determining the variant opinions and irreconcilable purposes of men. We are far from any such consensus of opinion as might enable us to effect wise and speedy readjustments looking to improved conditions for the masses of men.”

Finding a way to improve conditions was a guiding principle of Payne’s work and life. He felt that “We have all been brutalized under this regime of… ever intensifying competition.” He had founded Altruria, a Utopian colony in Sonoma County, California, just five years earlier, in which cooperation of all contributed to the good of the colony. Sadly the colony only lasted two years, but Edward B. Payne worked the rest of his life to educate the public about social inequalities through his work as an author, lecturer, and editor.

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1)”To the Man with the Hoe” by Edwin Markham, The Arena, July 1899, Vol. 22, No. 1, Pages 15-16: http://books.google.com/books?id=9S4ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP7&lpg=PP7&dq=to+the+man+with+hoe+Edward+b+payne&source=bl&ots=Rf8YvFxc1K&sig=BskDJ7PfUUjkXRBiV0KxydrNQRA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uzb0U_qCHo6oyASOt4KQBQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

2) “The ‘Hoe Man’ on Trial” by Edward B. Payne, The Arena, July 1899, Vol. 22, No. 1, Pages 17-24. Arena Publishing Company, 1899. http://books.google.com/books?id=9S4ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP7&lpg=PP7&dq=to+the+man+with+hoe+Edward+b+payne&source=bl&ots=Rf8YvFxc1K&sig=BskDJ7PfUUjkXRBiV0KxydrNQRA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uzb0U_qCHo6oyASOt4KQBQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

3) Ambrose Bierce, in 1894 speaking about the founders of Altruria, called them “amiable asses” with a “scheme based upon the intellectual diversions of such humorists as Plato, More, Fourier, Bellamy, and Howells. That assures the ludicrous fizzle of the enterprise…” [Quoted in Robert V. Hine’s California’s Utopian Colonies, W.W. Norton & Company, 1973, first published in 1953, page 113. The Bierce quote was from the column Bierce wrote weekly for the San Francisco Examiner, 21 Oct 1894, called, “Prattle.”] The ‘humorists’ listed were writers and philosophers. It is interesting to see Edward B. Payne’s description of Bierce five years later.

4) See also previous posts about Edward B. Payne, and watch for posts to come on Altruria and the rest of EBP’s life.

5) The controversies continue to this day concerning socio-economic disparities and the solutions. There will, I am sure, be more to come on that too (but not on this blog) as election time draws near.

 

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Edward A. McMurray, Jr. at the Surrender of Japan, 02 Sep 1945

(Due to scheduling conflicts, our post for “The Man with the Hoe,” Edward B. Payne, and Labor Day, Part 2 has been delayed until Thursday, 4 Sep 2014.)

 

Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in South Pacific or Australia. c1944.
Edward A. McMurray, Jr., in South Pacific or Australia. c1944. (Click to enlarge.)

Edward A. McMurray did not talk much about his time in the Pacific during World War II. He had a few stories he would tell only when extremely prodded, and would just say that he couldn’t remember much more, though it was obvious that he did. When the WWII Memorial was being proposed and built in Washington, DC, however, he became more interested in his time in the military- though sadly that did not translate to new stories being told- and he even donated money to the Memorial. He was very excited about it finally being built, and wished he could have gone to see it. I wish we could have taken him there, but he did not want to travel once he was in his late 70s/early 80s.

One of the stories he told again was that he was on a ship in Tokyo Harbor the day of the surrender of Japan to the Allies, which ended World War II officially.

The clouds hung low in the early morning over Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945, and the harbor was full of ships, including the one that Ed and those in his unit stood on to listen to the radio. The Stars and Stripes, along with the flags of the Allied Nations, were rippling in the breeze over the USS Missouri, on which representatives of the Japanese and Allied powers stood at attention. The ceremony and its broadcast around the world began at 9:02 am.

"Shigemitsu-signs-surrender" by Army Signal Corps - Naval Historical Center Photo # SC 213700. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 02 Sep 1945 aboard USS Missouri.
“Shigemitsu signs surrender” by Army Signal Corps – Naval Historical Center Photo # SC 213700. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. 02 Sep 1945 aboard USS Missouri. (Click to enlarge.)

After the Japanese signed “The Instrument of Surrrender,” American General Douglas MacArthur accepted it and signed the surrender as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. He gave a brief speech that included the following words:

“It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn

occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past.”

In just 23 minutes, World War II, the “war to end all wars,” was truly over. This date is commemorated as “V-J Day,” or Victory over Japan Day, in the US. (“V-E Day,” or Victory in Europe Day, had occurred on 08 May 1945.)

Edward, just 21 on that momentous day, told how elated they all were to be a part of the occasion, and right there in Tokyo Harbor, after all they had been through the past few years. They were later allowed to go visit in Japan, and he brought home Japanese money, a chocolate set, and a Japanese flag.

He also spoke of how incredible their first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty was as their ship finally returned to the United States. It was a reminder of what they had been fighting for, and that now the world was safe. They could return to their lives as planned, though they themselves, would be forever changed.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Fold3 HQ- the official blog of Fold3: Japan Surrenders: September 2, 1945. http://blog.fold3.com/japan-surrenders-september-2-1945/?utm_source=tmih&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tmih-sept-2014. Accessed 09/01/2014.

2) History.com- This day in history, September 2: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-surrenders

3) Amazing color footage of the Japanese Surrender. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5MMVd5XOK8

4) Japanese Instrument of Surrender: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Instrument_of_Surrender

“Shigemitsu-signs-surrender” by Army Signal Corps – Naval Historical Center Photo # SC 213700. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shigemitsu-signs-surrender.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Shigemitsu-signs-surrender.jpg

5) Family photos.

 

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Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

 
We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

 

“The Man with the Hoe,” Edward B. Payne, and Labor Day, Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series "The Man with the Hoe," Edward B. Payne, and Labor Day

 

"L'homme à la houe (The Man with the Hoe)" by Jean-François Millet - The Getty Center, Object 879, Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
“L’homme à la houe (The Man with the Hoe)” by Jean-François Millet – The Getty Center, Object 879, Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The 1890s were a turbulent time in America. The growth and expansion of “The Gilded Age” collapsed with the Panic of 1893, and sent the country into a depression. Railroads, the primary long distance transportation of Americans pre-automobile, had been overbuilt with shaky financing and could not earn revenues to exceed their loans and other costs. Just ten days before the second inauguration of Grover Cleveland, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad declared bankruptcy; three large railways went bankrupt soon after. Numerous banks failed and there was a run on gold. New silver mines flooded the market, driving down the price of silver, and the value of the American dollar fell. The United States still had a large portion of the population involved in farming, but prices for agricultural commodities also plummeted, especially for wheat and cotton, and farmers could not afford to put in their next crop, nor pay workers for planting or harvesting. To add to the economic woes, the McKinley Tariff of 1890 had increased the prices of imported goods by almost 50%, thus causing a sharp increase in prices for all.

Over 3,000 Pullman railroad workers decided in 1894 that the only way to deal with layoffs, wage cutbacks, and the high prices of living in the required ‘company town’ was to stop work. Their wildcat strike paralyzed travel of people and goods, including the mail. Unions were still illegal then, but strike sentiment grew across the country. When Pullman strikers were shot and killed, 250,000 workers in twenty-seven states stopped work at the urging of Eugene V. Debs, who led the American Railway Union. The Army was called in to force passage of mail trains and break the strike. More violence and sabotage of the railroads ensued and at least 30 persons were killed, many others wounded in the strike.

A Drawing of National Guard troops firing on Pullman strikers in 1894. More than 1000 railcars were destroyed during the strike. Published in Harper's Weekly, public domain.
A Drawing of National Guard troops firing on Pullman strikers in 1894. More than 1000 railcars were destroyed during the strike. Published in Harper’s Weekly, unknown date, public domain.

President Grover Cleveland knew he had to make peace with the workers and unions or risk more riots and a worsening of the economic depression. Just six days after the strike ended, he rushed a bill through Congress to create Labor Day as a national holiday to honor all those who toil in our nation. It was a unanimous vote for the new federal holiday.

Continued concerns about the economy, however, caused bank runs and thus more panic. Some estimates place unemployment rates as high as 18.4% in 1894; unemployment continued for four more years above 12.4%. Americans were stunned, afraid, out of work, and could not feed their families or pay their rent or mortgage. (Do you sort of know how folks in those days must have felt? It was as bad as the 2008 crash- probably worse.)

Sadly, we have little of the 1890 census available to compare with 1900, so we could look at incomes, home ownership, etc and compare the two decades. Reviewing at the 1900 census, it seems that more people than usual can be found living in one home- parents moved in with their children and grandchildren (or vice versa) to save money. Rural folks were moving to the city in hope of finding a job and boarding houses were full. The disparity between the rich and the poor was more striking than it had ever been in American Society. Social evangelists worked to alleviate the effects of the depression on the poor, and debates on socialism were common in magazines and newspapers, the lecture circuits, parlors, and universities.

Edwin Markham c1899.
Edwin Markham circa 1899. Library of Congress.

Charles Edward Anson Markham (1852-1940), generally known as Edwin Markham after 1895, had grown up poor as he toiled on his family’s farm. He became a teacher in northern California. Markham was influenced by socialists such as Thomas Lake Harris, and Jack and Charmian London (both avowed Socialists) were frequent correspondents and friends. As a poet, after seeing the French painting, “The Man with the Hoe,” Markham was inspired to write about the plight of poor workers.

First presented at a New Year’s Eve party reading in 1898, the poem was published by The San Francisco Examiner on January 15, 1899. It was picked up by newspapers and magazines around the world- over 12,000 reprints in 37 languages before the computer age- and it made him famous. The poem begins:

“Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.”

 The entire poem can be found online in a number of places, but was also reprinted in The Arena, Vol. XXII, July 1899, No. 1, pages 15-16. There is an intriguing animation of Markham reading his poem, “The Man with the Hoe,” found on YouTube.

 

Thursday: our ancestor, Edward B. Payne’s analysis of the poem and its controversy.

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) “L’homme à la houe (The Man with the Hoe)” by Jean-François Millet – The Getty Center, Object 879, Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%27homme_%C3%A0_la_houe_(The_Man_with_the_Hoe).jpg#mediaviewer/File:L%27homme_%C3%A0_la_houe_(The_Man_with_the_Hoe).jpg.

2) The issues involved in the Pullman Strike are much more complex than just lowered wages and layoffs- ‘company towns’ and not lowering rents when wages are lowered,  the railroads refusing to run trains without Pullman cars, government intervention in the private sector when national issues are involved such as mail service, etc. See, among other good sources,  http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/1912/content/pullman.cfm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike.

3) Note population changes with City Directories as well- look for the address, not just the name, and you may find many married children, often with children of their own, living at the same address as parents/grandparents. Remember too, that these were small houses- we have one family group of 11 living in a two-bedroom house in 1900!

4) Panic of 1893: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1893 and other readings.

5) I wonder who attended that New Year’s Eve reading- Thomas Lake Harris (who later founded a Utopian religious community in New York and later at Fountain Grove, in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California), Jack & Charmian London, possibly Edward Biron Payne (who later founded Altruria, another Utopian community in Sonoma County)? They travelled in the same literary circles and all had socialist leanings, plus Markham was probably living in Oakland, California at that time. (His move to New York occurred the next year.) We still have not found a definitive link to Markham and Edward B. Payne, though it is highly likely that they knew each other due to politics, geography, and social groupings.

6) Sources for the life of Edwin Markham include:

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/edwin-markham http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/markham/reflections.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Markham

7) See also previous posts about Edward B. Payne, and watch for posts to come on Altruria and the rest of EBP’s life.

8) A good article on Markhams’ poem and the origins of Labor Day: http://westchesterguardian.com/9_9_10/Abady_Cov.%20Markham%20poem.html

9) We like this digital reproduction of “To the Man with the Hoe” in The Arena, because we know it has not been changed like what has been typed into so many websites, especially those calling it “To the Man with a Hoe.” (It was originally ‘the’ hoe, not ‘a’ hoe.) : http://books.google.com/books?id=9S4ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP7&lpg=PP7&dq=to+the+man+with+hoe+Edward+b+payne&source=bl&ots=Rf8YvFxc1K&sig=BskDJ7PfUUjkXRBiV0KxydrNQRA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uzb0U_qCHo6oyASOt4KQBQ&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

10) An intriguing animation of Edwin Markham reading his poem (apparently from an image of him and an actual recording, I think.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apHsb5Xou-0

11) Edwin Markham image available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c05934.

 

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Wishful Wednesday: Elsie Janis

Sheet music cover for "Bless Your Ever Loving Little Heart," from "The Slim Princess."
Sheet music cover for “Bless Your Ever Loving Little Heart,” from “The Slim Princess” stage musical. (The movie used a different actress.)

Elsie Janis’ real name was Elsie Bierbower (or Elsie Beerbower), so if you are a Helbling or Bierbower cousin, you may be related to this very-famous-in-her-time comedienne, actress, singer, mimic, and entertainer of our troops in World War I. Those troops gave her the nickname, “Sweetheart of the A.E.F. (American Expeditionary Forces)” and she truly earned the accolade.

Why is this a “Wishful Wednesday” post? It is because Elsie’s 1st cousin once removed, Mary Theresa Helbling, wanted so much to be a singer like Elsie. Mary’s mother, Anna May Bierbower Helbling, was Elsie’s cousin, and talked about her often as Mary grew up. Mary also loved the movie magazines and cut paper dolls from them, when she was allowed to have such expensive and scandalous magazines. By that time Elsie was mostly a writer for the movies- she never transitioned well from the stage to talkies as an actress. Elsie led a glamorous life though, and was often pictured in the magazines. Mary, when young, wished she had a life like that too.

Mary Theresa Helbling- 1940s Glamour Pose
Mary Theresa Helbling- 1940s Glamour Pose

Mary also loved to sing- she had a very beautiful voice. She loved listening to light opera and singing along to it and all the wonderful old movies with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, and the fabulous musicals of the 1950s and 60s. Her voice was good enough to have sung on the radio back in the late 1930s or 1940s- wish I could remember more about that. Later, Mary and the love of her life, Edward A. McMurray, Jr., would sing together around the house, with a beautiful harmony and sometimes mooney-eyed in-love looks at each other even when they knew the kids were watching.

This is also “Wishful Wednesday” because I wished for so many years to be able to hear Elsie’s voice. There was a university in Idaho, IIRC, that had old recordings, including those of Elsie. Back then, I wrote a letter on paper (!) and sent it to them, asking if there was any way they could record Elsie’s voice on reel-to-reel tapes (!!) for me. No answer, despite repeated requests, even once the internet started up and I sent an email. (Maybe because I was not a scholarly researcher?) Many years later, there are now digital recordings of her music available to the public- even on iTunes. Wonder what Elsie would make of that???

Elsie Janis-Sweetheart of the AEF Audio CD Cover
Elsie Janis- Sweetheart of the A.E.F. Audio CD Cover

Downloading Elsie’s music was my first time for music with ‘Explicit’ material. I was sort of shocked- why would Elsie’s music be labeled as such? I then realized that some of the material was racist, such as that from minstrel shows or musicals that showed the races in the context of their times, the late 1800s-early 1900s, not our times. (Still hard to listen to some of those songs because of that.) I have also been able to buy one of her records on eBay, but no longer have a turntable so have not been able to listen to it.

The internet sure has made the amazing world of the past available to us all in seconds, and even while in our pajamas! It is wonderful to have my wish to hear Elsie come true; sure wish Mary would have had that opportunity.

More to come about Elsie’s interesting life!

 

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) See the International Movie Database at  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006059/ for details about the stage musical and movie, “The Slim Princess.”

2) Elsie Janis Find a Grave Memorial # 10334. The bio is inaccurate although I have contacted the person many times. The family links were finally changed but it still erroneously states that she was the daughter of Lou Bierbauer. See also the memorials for her family members on Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10334. A Bierbower researcher had also added a memorial for her: Memorial # 33617289 at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=186286&GRid=33617289&.

3) “Sweetheart of the A.E.F.” is the title of the audio CD that contains 20 of her most popular songs. It is available on smile.Amazon.com and iTunes.

4) Remember Mitch Miller and Sing Along with Mitch? It ran from 1961-1966 on NBC. Mitch had a male chorale and also featured other excellent singers, like Leslie Uggmans, on the show. (Bob McGrath was one of those in the chorale; he later went on to be a long-time host of Sesame Street.) Mitch is regarded as the inventor of today’s karaoke, as the program featured the words shown on the screen, so the whole family could sing along. (There was no bouncing ball though.) For more information, see the Archive of American Television– http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/sing-along-with-mitch. YouTube has videos of some performances: Sing Along with Mitch, Part 1 of 4– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dY9gtYeHhk. (The commercials are wonderful- frozen foods were just becoming popular. I remember the whole family eating frozen TV dinners on the folding metal TV trays while watching Mitch!)

5) Sheet music and photo of Mary Helbling in personal collection of the author.

 

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