t
VOLUME NUMBER SEVENTEEN THIS ISSUE
TI:::A Heaven, The Table k Laid"
OTW
FAISON McGOWEN
Duplin Coanty Auditor and assist
ant to Sua Byrd and Gilbert Alpbin
la ; prodaetlim of "The Duplin
F!:c!dgrephs
Available
. Charlie. Craft of Craft's Studio,
'" official photographer for "The Du
A pUn StoryT asks us to announce
1 that negative; of all pictures of in
' dlviduals and groups made through
, . out the production of "The Duplin
V :- Story! including those during the
L" broadcaaU, are on file lili his stu-
in Mt Olive. Any one wishing
a copy '.of any picture may Secure
S"' It by dropping a letter or post card
td Craft's Studio, Mt. Olive, N. C.
a The charge la nominal.',,. - '
,KiS. F. W. (Pearl), McGOWEN
Chairman ' of Duplin Colonial
Came. English teacher1 In-Ke-innsvlUe
schoL Actress In "The
r. ,Hn Story". A number one as
:at,.nt to Mr. Byrd In" the direction
arnf rehearsing of the play. . . '
-,-) i , .. , . i , Mr
l5caYnirC::!(
i1
!
i-4
(-
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1 5
1 A 58 page book of "Tha Du- "
plln fitory" will go on sale in
Kenansvllle at the DupHa
times Office. Wednesday'1
Frtco for the book will be 50c.
(en eente extra for wrapping
nd mailing. Uheae books wlU
oo be on sale In the amphi-
heatre by the Duplin Coanty
.TJL Association each night
luring the play, tfp&$&
Thj. hAnViitt la an attractive r
'ty page Job, sfam SVi Si U i
."see, printed en good book
1 i per. The cores le In two col- '!
e s, designed and drawn by
i ('rwin fclfe, soenlo director
j : -The Duplin Story Fifty
) ! ures of Duplin folks who
e had a leaadlng part in
i s celebration are Included.
' JA.T, Outlaw's history of
i I : lln County, toEeuier wlJi
ay ether interesting f
' ' t program and east -c I , 1
y. This book has beea made. '
:iile by the adwtlsersy
jars are asked to patron
e these advertisers.
r-r.tralien" On Sale
"Cntrftllen", 1849 annual of
,."a ..,3iool win -be en ale
1 hoi! re t.l -f y ' l-
v SAM BfRD, Playwrtte, Actor,
"" COBWIN RIFE of Charleston, S. C. Scene and Technical Dl
rectorf "THE DUPLIN STORY' " "
I LIKE THE
- By J. R. GRADY
: Kenansvllle. I like the Old
.South, I like ld Southern tsadl
tlon as told to me by my mother;
Hew she lived and played when a
child in an old Southern two-tory
house on the- banks of the North
East River, in Duplin County. I
like 'the way she told of now the
young people did in the- days, of
yonder past; how her father,, when
he was a slave-owner, hired private
tutors to come Into his home and
teach her, her four sisters and two
brothers. ' And then as she would
tell hoW' she began teaching near
Sarecta, the v. first Incorporated
town in Duplin County. I enjoyed
listening to her' tell of the dances,
the real old time square dances,
that the young folks enjoyed in the
old days. ; . ;. ,,'
In iny first year of high school
at Seven Springs, I studied North
Carolina history, and I recall read
ing about t:;o Battle of 1: 00k Fish
fought near Tallwe whan General
Kenan lead 1 'a militiamen against
the British and Tories.
My mother had p'
v'-- f 9 ; 1 J
-1
PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS
i ,
4
Director of "The Duplin Story"
OLD SOUTH
my in Kenansvllle. Chartered by
the North Carolina legislature' ev
en before the University of North
My mother was a staunch Pres
byterian and couldn't help but be
lieve that "what is to-be will be."
All you good old Presbyterans re
call how you were taught with a
firm hand to attend Sunday School
and church every Sunday and be
lieve everything the Presbyterian
oreaeher told you Our forebears
in Duplin have had this instilled; In
to them since the days of Hugh Mc-
Aden when he road horseback over
Duplin County preaching the John
Calvin philosophy, or doctrine, of
Presbyterlanlsm when he founded
old Grove Presbyterian church in
Kenansvllle, first of the Calvlnlstic
faltft to be organized in North Car-,
olina. ,
. ?As a'chlia'l recall, slightly, the
days of the first World War when
"your and my brothers were march
ing o!f to Europe. I wasn't pres
ent In Warsaw at that time because
I was a kid i- '"" ' . but
I - --v f ! ' 1 ' 1
KENANS V1LLE. NORTH CAROLINA . FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16th 1949 No. 38 SECTION No. ONE
SEP TO PEAJ TMURSDA Y
G0JBERT E. ALPHIN, JR, President Duplin Coanty Historical
Association, Inc., produeer of "The Duplin Story".
- ; - . r - T;
, - I ' v I -
MARIETTA RICHARDS of Cleveland, Ohio. Organist for "THE
DUPLIN STORY."
Mrs. Womack,' Mrs J Blanche Wil
son and other ladles of Warsaw fed
hundreds of Duplin boys, white
arid icolored! who marched off to
'war that, day, Included among them
Charlie Gavin,, who was killed in
that holocaust
I recall when In the classroom at
at the Seven Springs High School
the morning of November 11, 1018,
the word was received that the
Armistice - was signed. Also I re
member only a -yesterday when
Hitlerlsm and all -It stood for fell
in Europe .and Duplin counted Its
dead on the battle fields scattered
from Munich to Okinawa when the
final bugle was sounded. People
thronged the churches in every
lanti.MUBt.like they did; in Rose
Hill Jowo In Duplin thatday. i -
- I den't remember the day that
thr big barbecue, political rally
was held In Beulavllle- In IDOff be
cause" thst was theVear I
but I do recall my Uncle "Bob"
Maxwell, the orator of Duplin from
over in , Albertson Township tell
about It :and I enjoy now hearing
Mft Stephen Grr nam 1 Beula
villa revel In m lories of those
days. "Uncle Bob " was there, hob
nc'ublng,. telling j -kes and argu
ing with all, and Mr. "Steve" was
cocking the bart""ue that-day.
I i ' wp1 h -j i' r'i tales
'l on
-
v" i s , V
the swamps of the North East in
Smith Township. I enjoy hearing
Judge Grady, native son of Duplin,
tell tales of the old days, and he
really Is a past master at the art,
especially when he is in the com
pany-of Judge Frizelle of Snow
Hill and such other notables.
I enjoy hearing the old tales of
the tobacco field and wish I could
tell them like some of the old tim
ers. I enjoyed- "crapping" tobacco
in the "baccer" fields when just
a barefoot boy at Seven ' Springs
and they "crap' It in Duplin today
the same as they did-when I was
a boy. The colored folks would
work and sing, sway and swing as
they could see In their mind's eye
the golden weed floating down
from heaven In the form of dollar
bills. Old Susie the mule would
awing her tauVback and forth like
the old clock pendulum r, as she
pulled the tobacco truck between
the rows. They were the good old
days then and they are the good
old days now. ii.f'i:i:7jii
' I'm1 glad I'm living5 in Duplin
County now for today I am one of
the hundreds of DupUners who aye
living in the past ai well as in the
present We are preparing to not
just tell, but to show, all Eastern
North Carolina history of this sec
tion for the past two hundred years.
Nearly 1000 of us, white and black,
g, , s '"V'some ae'lng, some
" ' f.9 ii;l props,
-V
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AMOS Q. BRINSON I
Mayor of Kenansvllle I
Extra Copies
There will be something like
400 extra copies of this issue
of the Duplin Times for sale.
Price will h? l.'io per copy. If
mailed, Jc Uuen ordering
enclose 20c In coin or stamps.
The publisher had' hoped to
have more copies for sale at
presk time but advance orders
i have already reduced the num-
ber.iWe advise you get yours
! early.
Sorry we are ' late but It
Isn't often we get out a 43
page paper. Thanks to every
one for their woperatt. i.
;V f .- The Edlior
MRS. A. D. WOOD
Minister's wife, director of public
school music In Duplin County
schools and director of "The Dupl
lin Story" Choir.
Times Reporters
Are On The Job
Tuesday morning Mrs. Hattie
Barbara Hall died at her home
in Kenansvllle. Shortly after
her death a member of the
Times staff had written the ob
ituary. That afternoon ' the
body was carried to the Qulnn
McGowen Funeral Home in
Warsaw. The Times reporter
in that city was immediately on
the Job.
Tuesday night she dispatch
ed a night letter, collect, of 98
words to The Duplin limes In
Kenansvllle, only 8 mHes away.
The telegram was duly deliver
ed the following morning. -
selling tickets, et cetera, to put on
the Pageant of Duplin's bl-centen-nial
celebration. We are not going
to have big parades with brass
bands, highly decorated floats, and
what have you. We are not evon
going to select a beauty queen, if
she sold the most tickets. We are
merely going to put on a play, a
two-act play with music and plenty
of singing. We are not going to
have a community sing but will
have a 100-volce white choir, two
100-volce Negro choirs and ona 65
voice Negro chorl to sing to the
accompaniment of a huge electric
organ. We are going to show you
how Dupllners and other Southern
boys fought for their homes and
their way of living during the War
Between the States. We are going
to show you a replica of the Battle
of Rock Fish, not lust on a stage,
but on a hill beside a clump of long
leaf pines as the Tories and the
Patriots tug it out. ; ,
By GERTRUDE CARRAWAY
Something new, novtel and high
ly enUr. lulling in a modernized
treatment of historical diama is
promised when Sam Byrd's ""The
Duplin Story,' a two-act historical
"play", with music, is presented
September 22, 23 and 24 in a scen
ic outdoor amphitheatre at Ken
ansvllle in commemoration of the
200th anniversary of Duplin County-North
Carolina has long been na
tionally famous for its historical
dramas through the attainment of
Dr. Frederick H. Koch, Hatcher
Hughes, Paul Green and many oth
ers distinguished in the dramatic
arts.
Sam Byrd has written, is direct
ting, and will act in his own pl?y,
and it now bids fair to mark anoth
er important milestone in Tar Hee.
dramatic history, which beBnn
strangely enough, just 10 years nfl
or the cstiblishnienl of Cuplm
County, when Thomas Godfrey, J..,
in 1759 completed at Wilmirglci
"The Prince of Parthia." a five at;
tragedy, the first play written by
an American to be produced pro
fessionally on the American stage.
Native Produces Play
Bvrd is staking his reputation on
his Duplin County production. Suc
cessful on Broadway in acting and
producing plays and in the nation
for his two books, he now wants to
make good in his native section. He
was born in nearby Mount Olive,
and lias come home from New York
to put over successfully what he
hopes will be the most significant
achievement of his career so far
Duplin citizens are so sure of it
that they are devoting their time,
energy and money to help in ecry
way possible.
Every North Carolinian interest
ed ,n Duplin County in particular
and in North Carolina history in
general, as well as outsiders and
all persons in or out of thp Stat
who like dramatic entertainment,
will be given a hearty welcome on
the three gala nights, with Duplin's
assurance of wholesome and stir
ring entertainment.
History Is Fictionized
It will not be the same kind of
historical drama as Paul Green's
magnificent productions. "The I .net
Colony," and "The Common Glory."
indeed, it will be far different from
the usual history lesson or historic
al pageant. It is fictionized his
tory, with actual characters called
by name and true events in real
places of which Duplin is justly
proud, seen through the eyes of a
lomesick GI in London and from
the viewpoint of two English chil
dren. This means that the audience will
in a measure form an integral part
of the dramatic sequence that Byrd
h:is written graphically to be de
pleted in strikingly moving and im
pressive form, with e'ery-day con
i ers.ition, in action rather than mo
nologue, pictures instead of words,
human interest and humor mora
than tragedy or melodrama.
An ideal locale was found for the
jpen-air production when H n
Williams offered used of a large
field between his home and the
community school. This is being
arranged appropriately and beau
tifully, with adequate stage end
seats to accommodate 5,154 spec
tators. There will be nearby park
ing space for 500 cars, traffic to
be directed by State Highway pa
trolmen. Cast to Include 500
Throngs of people are expected
from a wide area to witness this
unusual production, with lis 500
actors headed by Byrd himself in
the leading role. Various scenes
are being handled by different
schools of the county. Bvrd. as tha
director, means to have the entire
program move rapidly, without lags
or delays, from beKiniiine to end
in two and a half hours.
Besides the stage proper, there
will be a side fountain. The uptlnn
in 17 scenes of three minutes each
will switch from the stage to the
fountain, thus permitting quick
changes of backdroDs for tha va
ried, scenes under the overall back
ground of the histoiic Duplin court
house. ':
Eight handsome drops for these
secnes are buing painted, 20 by 30
feet in slz?, by Corwln S. Rife, who
obtained a leave of absence from
his duties-as technical director of
the Dock Street Theatre in Charles
ton, S. C, in order to serve as tech
nical director for" "The Duplin Sto
ry' .,:-.:: -V-'-;h
, Since 1948, Rife has been associ
ated with the famous Dock Stteet
Theatre. , Formerly he .was with
the Kanavha Players In Charles
ton, W.Va, the Kalamazoo Play,
ers, the Cain Park Theatre In CI eve-