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Pass
the Biscuits, Pappyby
Bob Bowman |
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Older East Texans
who remember W. Lee (Pappy) O’Daniel will find a special appeal in a new book
by Bill Crawford. Daniel, a song-writing flour salesman who launched the musical
careers of Bob Wills and the Light Crust Doughboys, was a politician unlike any
we’ve seen in Texas.
His Texas homilies, radio broadcasts, hillbilly music
and affinity for rural Texas propelled him into the governor’s office for two
terms. He also handed Lyndon B. Johnson his only election defeat in Texas during
a special election for the U.S. Senate and later won a full term.
Pappy
decided in the spring of 1938 that selling flour wasn’t much different than selling
politicians. Even though he was a Republican in a state controlled by Democats,
Pappy ran for governor, campaigned across Texas with his family and the Hillbilly
Boys (the forerunner of the Doughboys), and won.
During Pappy’s cavalcade
from Fort Worth to Austin for his inauguration in 1939, 250,000 people cheered
him along the way with a chant that became famous in his campaign, “Please pass
the biscuits, Pappy.” |
As
governor, Pappy commandeered photographers from a state agency to record his activities
and, as a result, Texas has an excellent pictorial history of a Texas governor.
Bill Caldwell’s new book is a remarkable collection of many of these black-and-white
images.
Scenes with links to East Texas towns like Zavalla, Marshall, Livingston,
Troup, Winnsboro, Paris, Newton, Liberty and Tyler offer snapshots from a kinder
political era in Texas. Many of them are scenes of Pappy visiting the rural homes
of Texas legislators during a tour in the fall of 1940.
The
joy of “Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy” lies in a close examination of the details
found in the old photographs. At Zavalla, when Pappy visited the home of legislator
Ottis E. Lock, the photographer caught a foreground scene of a woman sitting in
a car that had been converted into a homemade pickup truck. |
Order
Here
Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy: Pictures of Governor W. Lee "Pappy"
O'Daniel | |
In Marshall, a crowd of Pappy supporters was snapped as one of them was wheeled
down a street in a wheelbarrow. A nearby man carries a sign, “Mountain Music and
Biscuits Got Me.”
At Livingston, Pappy and his wife were greeted by Alabama
Coushatta Indian Chief Bronson Cooper Sylestine, robed in full ceremonial dress,
at the home of Senator Clem Fain.-- When Pappy visited the simple, clapboard home
of legislator Washington M. Whitesides in Troup, the entire family, including
a little grandmother and five children, were included in the photo. Pappy held
one of the kids.
At Winnsboro, when Pappy visited Rep. Joe Gandy’s ranch,
the photographer snapped a photo of an old black ranchhand leaning on his walking
cane--a lasting symbol of a proud, hard-working cowboy.
At Paris, the photographer
shot a scene of Pappy and his wife sitting down for supper with Senator A.M. Aikin,
Jr. and his family.
In Newton, during a stop at the home of legislator
N.O. Burnaman, Pappy paused to pet a favorite hound dog owned by Burnaman, an
editor and county judge, and when he visited legislator Price M. Daniel at Liberty,
the two Daniel families had their photo made under a moss-covered oak.
When Pappy’s daughter Molly married Jack Wrather, Jr. of Tyler, a photographer
caught them cutting their wedding cake in 1941 at Austin. In a radio broadcast
heard throughout Texas, Pappy invited everyone to attend the wedding.
Some
25,000 people gathered on the lawn of the governor’s mansion to hear the vows.
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All
Things Historical
June 1, 2005 Column
Published with permission
(Distributed by the East
Texas Historical Association. Bob Bowman of Lufkin is a member of the Texas Historical
Commission and the author of more than 30 books about East Texas.) |
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