I was born in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Hillman Hospital built in 1887, now a small speck in the University of Alabama Medical Center. However, that building is still there to honor my birth on December 15, 1932 (just kidding). My mother was Julia Payne Morgan, and my father was Hugh Henry Morgan.
My sister, Mary Evelyn, and I were brought up in a strict Pentecostal Holiness home. It was a sin to drink cokes, to purchase ice cream or anything on Sunday, and the motion picture shows were of the devil. I could write a story about that, but later on after I graduated from high school and was dating, I would take my dates to the Alabama Theater.
The Alabama Theater is still in operation today. It was built in the 1920s. It is one of the nation's last operating movie palaces featuring first-run and revival films, concerts, and special events.
The Mighty Wurlitzer still rises from the orchestra pit and is often played to accompany silent films.
In the 50s, when I took my dates there, we sang along with the organist while the words of the latest popular songs were flashed on the big screen. Young people enjoyed singing, and the secular songs spoke to where were were as teenagers, and I still love the secular songs of that era.
The music of the 40s and 50s were some of the best. They made sense to me, and they were not loud and the lyrics made sense to me. One of the songs we enjoyed was, "They tried to tell us we've too young, too young to fall in love." Little did they know.
If it weren't too late Thursday evening, I would list some other titles.
Posted on
Fri, April 15, 2011
by Hugh Morgan