My Favorite Coolidge Story

March 3rd, 2012

The following interview by Mary Gilbert Smith ran in the Rutland Herald on January 17, 1933 following the death of Calvin Coolidge. It’s my “favorite” Coolidge story. Some day – One day, I’ll thread the microfilm of Rutland Herald back issues into the machine looking for Mary Gilbert Smith’s by-line. She seems to step aside and the subject of her interview speaks, seemingly, without interruption. If she did five more such stories I’d put them together in a performance piece that would rival Spoon River Anthology.

“FRANK WILLIAMS RODE FOR DOCTOR
WHEN CALVIN COOLIDGE WAS BORN”
- by Mary Gilbert Smith

The man who, at 22, rode for the doctor the night Calvin Coolidge was born, still lives in the village of Cuttingsville. He left the Coolidge service to enlist in the Tenth U. S. Cavalry under Custer, where he served for three years. He is Frank Williams, 82, retired carpenter.
“I don’t remember much about riding for the doctor,” he said. “No one expected then that Calvin would ever be president. They expected it less when they saw him later, a little freckle-faced, barefooted boy. But on account of having gone for the doctor I always kept track of him.
“I was born in Plattsburgh, N. Y., in 1850, and we moved to Plymouth in ’62. The Williams and Coolidges were always neighbors. There have always been Williams in this part of the country, for we are descended from Roger Williams.
“I was working for Calvin’s grandfather when I rode for the doctor. I had to go about five miles, but I found him at home. So it didn’t take me long to get him as time was reckoned in those days. It was towards morning when I got back.
“A month and a half after that I went with a fellow named Styles and enlisted in the Tenth Vermont Calvary under Custer. We went to Alabama first, but spent most of the next three years in Dakota. Custer was as fine a man as ever lived. He had a heart as big as a pumpkin. If all the officers had been like him, I’d have re-enlisted when my time was out, but I got all I wanted in three years. The best thing I saw in that time was my discharge.
“Some of the meanest men that ever lived in the world are officers, and you can’t give ‘em any back talk. If one of them gets down on a private, he can make him miserable. Our orderly sergeant was an Englishman, born and brought up in the old country. He made us see why the Revolution was fought.
“We got into our barracks one night and put out the lights. Then we shot off 15 rifles. He came at a bound to find out who did it; but we were all asleep and snoring.
“Styles’ enlistment and mine ran out on the same day. He re-enlisted and went out to get killed with Custer, but I came home. About 12 years ago I saw the name of one of our men in print. He was living in Texas at the time. I wrote to him, and he answered my letter. He was taken sick on the march, and was left behind to get well. So he wasn’t in the battle where all the others were killed. It was too bad about them.
“I worked on a farm the summer after I got home, and helped my father make potato starch. Women used a lot of starch in those days. Everybody wore starched clothes. I’ve seen my wife work after the babies were asleep ironing their long starched dresses. We had thirteen children, and we have grandchildren and great grandchildren to carry on the line.
“I’m a carpenter by trade and I’ve done a lot of building in Rutland county. I built Bond’s store in Danby, the Town hall that burnt up, the house next to ours, some houses in Russelville and three of the biggest barns in town. I helped Albert Pike build his two houses on Woodstock Avenue and built four houses in Mendon for Henry Crossman, and Orange Baker’s house on the hill in Wallingford besides a lot of others.
“I was married in Plymouth, 55 years ago in April. My wife, Minnie Smart, was an only daughter. Her people opposed the match and they never did get reconciled to it, but we’ve managed to put up with each other all these years. We’ve lived in Cuttingsville about 46 years. This was her father’s house, but we’ve lived in other ones–houses that I built for us, and sold when I had a good offer.
“We had an exciting time here in the Flood. You wouldn’t suppose it would come so high, but it nearly swept our house away. There was a hole that you could put a house in at the foot of this hill when the bridge went out. The last man that tried to cross the bridge was in over the horses’ heads before he got to it. We thought they’d all be drowned, but there were enough men to help save both the driver and his horses.
“Yes, we’ve seen a lot of things, and done a lot of work in our time, but it’s nearly over. I can’t do much now but split our stove wood. My eyes bother me some, and I can’t read as I used to. My wife says she’s nearly blind, but she’s just made a maple leaf quilt that’s good-looking work for a blind woman. Women sure take a lot of comfort cutting cloth into little pieces and sewing them together again.”
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Now, Don’t Quote Me On This!

January 2nd, 2012

Temporarily removed. Content will return in a week or two.

We’re back!

Recently, I received a request for information from a writer at the Huffington Post working on a story about presidential impersonators. While it can be said I “impersonate” two US presidents plus a couple of other men – it’s not something I’m likely to say. The Post writer is hoping to connect my work and the work of others with the comic presidential impersonators we see on Saturday Night Live, Mad TV and elsewhere.

This post was temporally removed until the writer’s work was competed. Its absence went unnoticed; I doubt its return will generate excitement.

My remarks didn’t make the cut but my photos appear in a slide show in conjunction with the story.  You may read Mr.David Moye’s Huffington Post piece at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/mitt-romney-newt-gingrich-impersonator_n_1190243.html?ref=weird-news

In response to some of Mr. Moyes questions:

Many solo actors hedge themselves in characterizing exactly what it is that they do. I perform ‘solo history’. That’s what I say I do. I let people describe what I do as they choose; though I draw the line at “look-a-like”. The late Bill Meikle performed “Franklin, Alive!” - he was numbered among the very best in New England. Bill would say with some heat: “I do not ‘impersonate’ Dr. Franklin! “I ‘personate’ him!” And, he did for many years and I miss him.

 

Why Calvin Coolidge?

I was born in Vermont – as was Coolidge; he more famously on the 4th of July, 1872. In 1976 I was cast as CC in a play and found him a fascinating puzzle. At once it was clear that there was more to him than the nonentity fostered by historians. Coincidentally, I was drawn to minimalist playwright – Samuel Beckett. Ten years later it didn’t seem much of a stretch to reach out to the minimalist president. Besides, no actor had ever “done” Coolidge. New Deal historians did a hatchet job of bullship and scholarshit on old “Silent Cal”. As I read his speeches and autobiography I could hear a voice in my head; I liked the way it sounded. I liked his honesty, humility and humor. Especially his humor – Will Rogers said: “Calvin Coolidge was one of the funniest public men I ever met!”

John Quincy Adams?

JQA offers a powerful example of what a man can do at the end of life if he is driven to do something. In his Journal he remarks that he might have preferred a literary career – a “life of letters”. I incorporate some of his poetry and present the last decade of his extraordinary career. Fact: I’d quite like to keel over and make my final exit in performance much as he did in Congress. (I’m not in any hurry!) I’m older than my other characters. When I started out with Coolidge in 1985 I was playing this old man who used to be president. Today: I play Coolidge as a young man who was once president. I’ve a few years left to grow out of Adams.

 

Which one came first and why?

Coolidge first. Physically – I “fit” both men. I wouldn’t consider a character I could not “see” myself in. When I started with “More Than Two Words” I didn’t think of  myself as one who would stay long with solo history. I was a serious actor devoted to Williams, Miller, Osborne, Shakespeare, Beckett, etc.,  but like Michael Corleone says: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

How long does it take to work up an act; what’s the biggest challenge?

I’m never “ready” -  However: All you really need is your character and a performance date. That focuses the mind. I look for the “way” into each character and the “way” out. We find Calvin Coolidge at one of his twice-weekly press conferences; John Quincy Adams sits for his “last” portrait. (Here, I see the influence of Samuel Beckett’s “Krapp’s Last Tape”.) All my work is in progress. I’m never ready; I’m never done. My performances are a work in process; my biggest challenge is getting a lazy actor to rehearse!

“The Way to Study the Past is not to confine oneself to mere Knowledge of History but, through application of this knowledge: To Give Actuality to the Past.”

- from the I Ching or Book of Changes

Richard Wilhelm translation, 1950

That’s what I hope I’m doing. “Giving Actuality to the Past”.

 

What are the keys to doing Coolidge on stage? What about Adams?

With both men – “Why is this man talking?” and – “Who does he think we -his audience- are?” 

Side note: The “key” to performing King Lear?  A light Cordelia!

With Coolidge – How do you motivate a man to speak who is noted for reticence? Very soon, I understand “Silent Cal” was a myth; a myth which he encouraged and cultivated. True, he lacked any capacity for small talk, and – unlike most of us: He was comfortable with silence.

JQA was an intellectual giant; it is generally believed he had the highest IQ of any president. With Adams it was a matter of adjusting JQA’s language so it is attuned to the contemporary ear. As far as possible, in all performances – I use the man’s actual words; edited, of course. (See above I Ching quote)

How do they differ? 

Coolidge and Adams? I’ve written at length on this – See:

First Liberal and Last Conservative Presidents?

In response to a question about SNL type impersonators:

I admire their work but we are engaged in very different activities; I might be able to offer advice to an actor fifty years from now but I have nothing helpful for impersonators of contemporary figures. We are as “like” as table tennis and badminton. They must project what is familiar and known. The audience sees and “gets” it. Their characters live in our minds. We are drawn in by familiar lines. Reagan’s “There you go again.” Nixon’s “I am not a crook!” Clinton “I did not have sex with that woman!” Elder Bush “Read my lips.”  Younger Bush “I’m the decider!”

My job is harder in that I must present the whole picture. In solo history I need to make my audience believe – to paraphrase old Walter Cronkite - “That’s the way it was.”

Is there a fraternity among people who do this?

Yes. See: www.solotogether.com. We are a spin-off from a conference I convened at the JFK Library a dozen years ago. We are helpful and supportive of each other and meet three times a year – usually in Mr. Longfellow’s carriage house on Brattle Street in Cambridge. The real sustaining and motive force behind SoloTogether is Ted Zalewski who performs Teddy Roosevelt and Galileo portrayed by Michael Francis. There’s an association of Lincoln presenters composed of tall men married to large women. See: www.lincolnpresenters.net. I’m a fringe member owing to Edward Everett: The Other Speaker at Gettysburg. Of course, I’m always looking for a large woman.  I’ve not mentioned Daniel Webster, He is sulking, just now. Of all my men: “Black Dan” wanted to be president more than any other man who sought the office. Coolidge, on the other hand, might well have been content to run the General Store up in Plymouth, Vermont. However, he was driven by a desire to please his father and win his approval. John Quincy Adams was likewise driven by parental expectations.

I’ve not touched upon Chautauqua Players and the Chautauqua revival because my experience in that area is limited. The Chautauquans are distinguished and distinguished especially by the fact that they are credentialed scholars. The early work of Clay Jenkinson as Thomas Jefferson best represents the scholarly Chautauquans. Dr, Jenkinson has often repeated that what I and others who remain in character are doing is akin to a dog and pony show. I must tread softly here because John Quincy Adams has been invited out to the High Plains Chautauqua in Colorado in August. The mantle of “scholar” is not one I’m comfortable wearing. I’m an actor. Actors are artists. An artist’s standards are higher than the scholar’s. I base this assertion on the scholarly hatchet job done on Calvin Coolidge by New Deal scholars. It would be impossible to portray the man they present. He lives only in the minds of those historians. I could name names. See my blog on: “Presidential History”.

Who is your target audience?

My Cranky Yankees can link to a past time, event or place. I’ve been invited out to Mount Rushmore to recycle Coolidge’s 1927 speech of dedication – the last time a president travelled on horseback to deliver a major address. The end of this month, I’ll go to Florida. In retirement, Coolidge spent a month at the Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora. Earlier, as president, he had  dedicated Edward Bok’s Singing Tower and Bird Sanctuary at Lake Wales, Florida.  Coolidge is our only President to visit Cuba while in office; one time there were plans to get him back. It was thought he might hand out Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream. However, it was not to be. 9-11 ended all thought in that direction. The Civil War Sesquicentennial should provide Edward Everett opportunities to redeliver some of his Gettysburg Address. Three years ago our State Department sent John Quincy Adams to Russia to mark the Bicentennial of diplomatic relations. I’m trying to position myself for any upcoming observance of the Bicentennial of the Ghent Treaty of 1814.

Beyond that, there are Historical Societies, Libraries, Corporate events looking for a little history, clubs, civic organizations, family reunions, birthday parties, presidential libraries, birth sites and museums. Schools? Rarely. They don’t teach the men I portray. Neither Coolidge nor Adams was a “great” president. To be a great president many people must die on your watch. You need a war. It is that simple. You can become president by promising to keep us out of war but if you wish to be a great president you will do well to forget your promise once in office. Coolidge had opportunities a greater man might have seized. We could have had a wonderful war with Mexico; Nicaragua was another promising avenue to the top tier but, for whatever reasons, he wouldn’t go there. My guess: His regard for the Constitution was an impediment.

JQA was our first photographed president. Photographer Meg Birnbaum has replicated an early Daguerean image. See: www.megbirnbaumphotography.com/index.htm. Click on: “Persona – Persona”

Coolidge, speaking to a photographer who had earlier taken his photo, said: “I don’t know why you need another picture; I’m still using the same face.”

“Presidential Impersonators See Serious Business in Election”

In my case . . . Not so much.

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First Liberal and Last Conservative Presidents?

November 10th, 2011

The administrations of our 6th and 30th Presidents are separated by one hundred years. Calvin Coolidge and John Quincy Adams offer a study in comparisons, character and contrasts. (I might add “coincidence” but fear my alliteration license would be revoked.) “Silent Cal” was noted for reticence as he presided over the Roaring Twenties. JQA’s single term was 1825  to 1829. Near the end of life he would be called “Old Man Eloquent” yet throughout life he often regretted words spoken in anger. Coolidge? Not so much; famously saying: “The things I do not say never hurt me.” Many contemporary descriptions of Adams can be recycled to fit Coolidge. Neither was a “people pleaser” and neither had any capacity for small talk; Adams would sometimes denounce his own “indiscretion”. However, in conversation, both men could be brilliant on subjects of their own choosing.

July 4, 1826, fifty years after the Declaration of Independence – JQA’s father passed on to his reward within hours of the death of Thomas Jefferson. Coincidentally, John Calvin Coolidge saw the light of day on July 4, 1872 in Plymouth, Vermont. The first birthday he remembered was his 4th, our Centennial Year – 1876 – Fifty years after the deaths of Jefferson and John Adams.   The eldest son of John and Abigail Adams was our first liberal or progressive president. He believed the role of government was to improve the lot of the people. As president, he wished to provide “unceasing public improvements”. Coolidge goes too far – invoking the Adams family nemesis – Thomas Jefferson, writing: “In his theory (Jefferson’s) that the people should manage their government and not be managed by it, he was everlastingly right.” Coolidge was our last conservative president. Jefferson and others might talk of limited government but he showed us what one looked like. “It does not follow that because something ought to be done the National Government ought to do it.”

Both men’s dedication to the United States Constitution was deep and abiding. Adams used the Constitution in his Supreme Court defense of the Amistad Africans. Coolidge recalled his introduction to it when a boy at Black River Academy. “No document devised by the hand of man has ever brought so much happiness to humanity. The good it has done can never be measured.” Many presidents, after swearing to defend and protect that document, come to view it as a stumbling block; they  look for ways around it. Not Calvin Coolidge. If in any doubt he consulted it to determine his course of action. In Congress, Adams would fight the Gag Rule for eight years, in part, because it was a violation of his right to freedom of speech under the Constitution.

Each man was driven by a desire to please his parents. Coolidge was certain of his mother’s love; her early death when he was 16 was a burden he carried through life; that weight would be compounded by each subsequent loss. For JQA, no less heavy was the burden of high expectations instilled by his parents. Both men match today’s diagnosis of clinical depression. Abigail Adams would always be her son’s harshest critic and sternest judge – with one exception: John Quincy Adams! Abigail’s concern spins as much as anything from how it made her look in the eyes of others. John Adams approved and respected his son’s decisions. Calvin Coolidge never had such certainty from his father. I recall a conversation with John Coolidge, the president’s eldest son. We were talking of Jim Lucey, the old Northampton shoe maker who gave Coolidge advice and counsel when he was young. In his first letter on White House stationary Coolidge writes to his aged friend, telling him that he loves him and, were it not for him: “I would not be where I am, today.” John reflected, “My father never told me he loved me; I knew he did but he never said it.” Old newsreels show President Coolidge kissing his father on the lips when leaving the Homestead in Vermont.

President Coolidge writes on August 2, 1925 “Dear Father: It was two years ago tonight since you woke me to bring me the news that I was President. It seems a very short time. I trust it has been a satisfaction to you. I think only two or three fathers have seen their sons chosen President of the United States. I am sure I came to it very largely by your bringing up and your example. If that was what you wanted you have much to be thankful for that you have lived to so great an age to see it. Your son, Calvin Coolidge”

That last sentence I find haunting. “If that was what you wanted . . .” Really? Is that what his father wanted? Coolidge’s father would die in 1926.

John Adams would die in 1826. He was one of the fathers who saw “his son chosen President of the United States”. The following year, October 30, 1827, JQA pens this sonnet:

“Day of my father’s birth, I hail thee yet.

What though his body moulders in the grave, 

Yet shall not death th’ immortal soul enslave;

The sun is not extinct—the orb has set.

And where on earth’s wide ball shall man be met,

While time shall run, but from thy spirit brave

Shall learn to grasp the boon his Maker gave,

And spurn the terror of a tyrant’s threat?

Who but shall learn that freedom is the prize

Man still is bound to rescue or maintain;

That nature’s God commands the slave to rise,

And on the oppressor’s head to break the chain.

Roll, years of promise, rapidly roll round,

Till not a slave shall on this earth be found.”

for JOHN ADAMS

President John Quincy Adams’ poem existed only in a coded form for many years. In 1827, the President of the United State could never suggest that slaves should rise and break chains on their master’s head. He considered including the last two lines on his father’s memorial table in Quincy’s First Parish Church but decided against it. After all, our Constitution protected that “peculiar” institution.

In retirement Calvin Coolidge would write: “My father had qualities that are greater than any I possess. I cannot recall that I ever knew of his doing a wrong thing.”

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Arctic Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson Met Calvin Coolidge

October 27th, 2011

Stefansson Met Calvin Coolidge

My late brother, Alan Cooke, was Stefannson’s secretary at Dartmouth College in the Stefansson Collection housed in Baker Library in the late 1950s. I remember when I first visited him there. There was the hide or pelt of a seal on the wall; as we went down some stairs, Alan ran his fingers through the short fur. He introduced me to the explorer who was seated behind a desk. The large room was decorated with many items relating to Eskimos and the Arctic.

One time, Stefansson was to be interviewed on Chanel 11 at UNH in Durham, New Hampshire. I’m thinking this was in 1959. It is incredible to contemplate but I believe Alan drove Stef from Hanover to Durham.  There, with my first and former wife and mother of our children we lived on lower Main Street. After brief socializing, Stefansson retired to nap in our bed; he got up refreshed and went off to his interview.

My nephew, Stefan,  is named for Stefansson. Stefan created this elegant website; his good wife, Resa Blatman, is responsible for the art.

Discovery, the Autobiography of Vilhjalmur Stefansson was published in 1964; therein he recalls this meeting with Massachusetts’ Governor Calvin Coolidge in 1919 . . .

“After the Philadelphia award I set out on a lecture tour of one-night stands that carried me from Boston, Los Angles, San Francisco, and Seattle. I have both a pleasant and an unpleasant reason for remembering the Boston lecture. Calvin Coolidge was Governor of Massachusetts at the time, very much in the public eye as a result of the Boston police strike. He was invited to be present at Tremont Temple. Unfortunately, both he and I were told to be on hand an hour too early. We both arrived at the appointed time but, there being no member of the committee present, had a hard time getting in the stage anteroom where we could sit down and wait. The Governor may have been displeased. He was certainly uncommunicative at the outset. Since I associated him—rather vaguely, I admit—with the police strike, I began to question him about it. This apparently, was the right approach. From that moment until the committee members began to arrive, I could not get a word in edgewise. Later, when I heard Coolidge, as President, referred to as “Silent Cal,” I supposed the appellation was the result of the same quirk of human nature that impels men to call a fat man “Slim” or a tall man “Shorty.” My talk with Coolidge was a pleasant send-off for my lecture.

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September 4th, 2011

GRACE & CALVIN COOLIDGE

(January 5, 1933)

What did she think? Upstairs,
at the Beeches when she found him
lying there and, oh
So silent at the last.
About to shave, she guessed.
Suspenders down, shirt undone
His body cooling, not yet cold.
Did she recall his shaving scene
on Round Hill, over half her life ago?

Well, what did she see in him
On Round Hill, back then?
The bright sun shining on
border flowers nodding
under a morning shower
pouring from her watering can
lightening as she traced a path.
When emptied, she set it down
and looking up saw him standing
at the window of his rented room.
“The light is better, there.”
“To shave,” he later said. “My hat?” 
“It keeps my hair in place.”

Trying not to laugh, again. Oh!
But she had when she first looked.
He’d heard her, too –
She hadn’t so much looked
as seen! You couldn’t help but see
Him, at his window, wearing a bowler hat
and shaving — In his union suit!
Her laugh splashed up like startled birds.
He heard and looking down he saw her, too.
And always said he said,
“I’ll marry that young woman.”

The campaign began: For her
He tried to dance and tried to skate,
but found the grace he lacked in
letters that brought them
closer than ice or polished floor.
He wrote, “You are like the sunrise.”
She, a teacher of the deaf, had
taught the dumb to speak!
They went to lectures, plays, concerts;
read poems and walked a path to Paradise
worn by other Meadow City lovers.

Ah, but what did she see in him
This dark haired beauty of charm and grace?
He was “Too quiet,” one friend said.
He lacked frivolity but she had some to spare.
She was all fun and laughter;
He was business and his business was
courting her. He did  that day’s work well.
Choosing her – he left her little choice
to say, “No” to such persistence.

On the October day they wed,
it rained. Her mother glowered.
He didn’t care. He had his bride,
his Grace, his sunrise girl for
one week in Montreal of sights,
connubial nights and entertainment.
Then: Home to run for office.
His one defeat! “School Committeemen,” 
they said, “Need children in 
the public schools.” He said,
he needed time and stood for higher office.

“I need your vote. I would appreciate it.”
From door to door he went then up
the steps and into the State House
to take a seat in the General Court.
The grave Mahatma looked and said,
“Either a parson or an undertaker.”
(That’s what they saw in him.)
The Speaker of the House scanend his note
of introduction: “Like the singed cat
He is better than he looks.” 

At Adams House he drank green tea,
read the Manual, saying less and
knowing more than other men. He
made few friends and yet no foes.
From the North Station, a slow train
conveyed him home at week’s end
then back for Monday’s session.
He favored Progressive measures like,
A woman’s right to vote and direct
election of United States Senators.
He served two terms of one year each
then ran for Mayor of the Meadow City.

Again he knocked from door to door,
“I need your vote; I would appreciate it.”
Elected? Ah, sure he was – Now, with
The help of Irish voters who saw
something in this Yank they liked.
The city’s debt? Reduced. Taxes?
Lowered. The roads? Improved.
The laws? Enforced. Salaries were
raised for teachers while he refused
a voted increase for himself.

A son was born and then another;
John came first and next was, Calvin.
The sunrise girl, now twice a mother,
was seeing what she saw in him.
Darning socks, keeping house, raising
boys and her fine voice in song
at Edwards Church. She was once
asked: “Would you say your husband is
romantic?” Grace answered with a
question, “Have you met my husband?”

He called her, “Mammy” so many did
in those dim ages. He was her, “Poppa.” 
Both boys were bright. A photo,
shows the family posing at Parcheesi.
Young Calvin, alert to read the dice,
looks sharp as any squirrel. But
something darkens John’s
pale face. Did Poppa scold in that
tic before the shutter snapped?
“I did the things my brother did,” 
John later said, “What he did was 
cute while I would get in trouble.”

Poppa was Mayor, then Senator
and then the Senate President.
He had faith in Massachusetts
and people had their faith in him.
Some say the Bay State’s “escalator”
conveyed him ever higher. (Why did
it never work for any other man?)
When the Great War came on he was
Lieutenant Governor and rode a British
tank up Bunker Hill to  tell the Hun
Watch Out! The Yanks are coming!

By 1919, he was Governor and it was
over “Over There.” But here, the
influenza filled more graves than died
in trenches. The boys came marching
home to find few jobs, high rents, low
wages, inflation and a bad Red scare.

Shaking from the flu, he got up to
welcome Wilson home but would not
say the League was right or wrong,
“A Governor has no foreign policy.”
Anyway, our Senior Senator
was pleased to lodge complaints.
Autumn came and Boston’s police
affiliated; they formed a union, and
Nearly all went out singing,
“Hail, Hail the Gang’s All Here!”
The city lived in fear of looting.
Craps were shot on Boston’s Common,
a woman raped and eight men killed.

At Adams House, the Governor sat
reading law and waiting for a cue.
Remember: Boston has a Mayor,
and  Commissioner Curtis rules the
force. One telegram from Labor said:
“Fire Curtis! Rehire those good boys on strike.”
Calvin Coolidge, having none of this,
fired back: “There is no right 
to strike against the public safety 
by anybody, anywhere, any time.” 
Calling out the Guard, he wondered:
“Is there more damage I can do?”

He thought his stand would be the end,
a last and final act, but he was wrong.
It was just beginning for Calvin Coolidge.
Editors said this pilot  braved a storm
on tossing waves of anarchy. He should
be President! But he said: He was Governor
and would not use one office to reach another.
He wondered, “What do they see in me?”
He wrote his father, “I am just the same as 
when I was a boy at home and at my 
best when most like you.”

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Presidential History

August 26th, 2011

“Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him”
Cardinal Richelieu (1585 – 1642)

So said the Cardinal. I often feel that way when reading about Coolidge. I’ve no interest in executions butt there are several errors I’d like to kill. When it comes to Coolidge these factual errors persist and are endlessly recycled by authoritative sources. Yet there is hope: The sources that disparage Coolidge grow ever less condescending.

Plug “presidential history” into Google. The University of Virginia’s Miller Center comes up second right after the White House. Many, consider the Miller Center the “go-to” resource on the American Presidency. Let’s compare their opening paragraphs on 30th President Calvin Coolidge . . .

The White House
“At 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was President. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administered the oath of office as Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible.”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

The Miller Center
“A quiet and somber man whose sour expression masked a dry wit, Calvin Coolidge was known as “Silent Cal.” After learning of his ascendancy to the presidency following the death of Warren Harding in 1923, Coolidge was sworn in by his father, a justice of the peace, in the middle of the night and, displaying his famous “cool,” promptly went back to bed.”

http://millercenter.org/

The White House Spokesman scores two factual errors. They recycle the idea that the Coolidge hand was on the family Bible. It wasn’t. “The Bible which had belonged to my mother lay on the table at my hand. It was not officially used, as it is not the practice in Vermont and Massachusetts to use a Bible in connection with the administration of an oath.” News of Harding’s death reached Plymouth around midnight not at 2:30..

The Millerites ignore the Bible but tell us that Coolidge’s father was a justice of the peace which he was but it was in his capacity as a notary public that he administered the presidential oath. To tell us he was a JP is as relevant as telling us he was road commissioner which he sometimes was. The quaint idea of the new president going back to bed suits the Center’s tone of cute condescension. Coolidge was up for several hours “after learning of his ascendancy to the presidency.” Before leaving their bedroom – he and Mrs. Coolidge got down on their knees and he offered this prayer: “To bless the American people and give me the power to serve them.” He drafted his condolences to Mrs. Harding and a message to the nation; he gave a statement to reporters and there was considerable back-and-forth phoning to members of the Cabinet. There was no telephone in the Homestead. They used the phone in the general store. Always cautious, Coolidge wanted to be certain that the report of Harding’s death was genuine. His vice presidential predecessor, Thomas Riley Marshall, once responded to a false report of the death of President Wilson.

It’s hard to get details right. “We are all fallible but experience ought to teach us not to repeat our errors.” - Calvin Coolidge

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THE LAST GASP OF NEW DEAL HISTORIANS?

July 20th, 2011

My review of this coffee-table book originally ran eleven years ago on Amazon.com/ There’s a television series of the same name; no doubt, many high schools have the boxed set. Also, there’s a 1995 movie starring Michael Douglas.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (2000)

Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III and Peter W. Kunhardt

The best that can be said about The American President is that the photographs are reproduced with wonderful clarity. The caption writers, however, often seem ignorant of the accompanying text. Of those presidents of whom I knew a little or next to nothing I learned a few things of interest. Of the men with whom I had slight familiarity — I gained nothing new. When it came to administrations I’ve studied, I found the three Kundharts to be often in error as they recycle discredited scholarship from the middle of the last century. This is especially true of Calvin Coolidge.

The Kunhardt’s parcel out history on a “need to know” basis. If it doesn’t fit their agenda: You don’t need to know it. They assure us that Calvin Coolidge was the minion of Big Business, of the status quo, of “haves” over the “have nots.” Consequently, we would never guess that, in 1916, Massachusetts’ Senate President Calvin Coolidge cast the tie-breaking vote in support of William Monroe Trotter’s efforts to suppress a Boston showing of the racist film “Birth of a Nation.” We are never reminded of Coolidge’s early support for the vote for women or higher wages for teachers. We don’t learn that the GOP in 1920 had the only National Platform denouncing the “hideous crime of lynching.” Or, that the Coolidge administration’s relief efforts in the wake of the Mississippi Flood in 1927 was the largest Federal Relief project up until FDR’s New Deal.

The text writers cut and paste from old college notes to give us this young Cal Coolidge: “As he saw it, reading for pleasure, anything musical, dancing, playing a sport, indulging in a hobby, having a sweetheart all squandered precious time and energy.”

This simply is not true. The most superficial reading of Coolidge’s Autobiography would refute nearly all of the above. In it, a far different picture of the young man is revealed. OK. Cal didn’t dance! But he was a voracious reader of history, fiction and poetry, he acted in amateur plays, was an “endman” in the minstrel show, where — granted, it’s not p.c. or musical — but he played the bones. In winter, he attended informal neighborhood “singing schools.” Baseball? His autobiography reveals, “I had some skill with the bat.” Once, every summer he and sister Abby were roused before dawn by their “taciturn, puritanical” father — To do chores! Right? No. To go to the circus. Letters home from Black River Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy and Amherst College list lectures, musical recitals, games, plays, picnics, debates, practical jokes, magic lantern shows, an ox roast, along with vivid accounts of football games and other student events. A monochromatic, straight-laced puritanical Coolidge suits their simplistic agenda but never provides anything like an accurate picture of the young Calvin Coolidge.

The historians employed on this project seem aware that people have been up and working on Calvin Coolidge in the academic kitchen for a while. However, they personally, have not yet smelled any coffee. At the same time, their serious — even dignified treatment of President Coolidge is far better than we might have expected five or ten years ago.

Could this be the last gasp of the New Deal historians? I doubt it. Old habits die hard and the vengeance of dead and dying scholarship continues to twitch reflexively like the severed leg of a laboratory frog. When will it ever end?

-30-

I wrote the above in June of 2000. There is little I would change, today. This is a popular book – I wonder if the authors would change anything in a second edition?

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PAYBACK?

July 1st, 2011

I’m working as a film extra on an Adam Sandler film, I Hate You Dad!” shooting in Peabody, Massachusetts. The scene is a sleazy strip club. Mr. Sandler stars and co:directs. On the first day I did nothing. A few extras were used; most of us sat in the holding area, ate our lunch, gossiped, read, cell-phoned or dozed. After about eight hours we “wrapped” which is to say: We were sent home.

In some future life I think Plato spent time in holding and the experience inspired him to write his Allegory of the Cave. As an extra you know nothing and are told less. Many try to make sense of the few clues you receive.

I’m a member of SAG – the Screen Actor’s Guild – the Union of film actors. For a union member, if the day runs into overtime – extra work can be worth while. Some actors seek out the work and make a marginal living of it, obtaining medical insurance and other benefits. The hope is always to be “upgraded” and perhaps given a line to speak. If that happens you cease being an extra and are upgraded to day-player. I view extra work much as Mr. Dooley explains the office of vice presidency. I’m sure Calvin Coolidge read Finley Peter Dunne so I’ve allowed him to tell Mr. Dooley’s story in performance of “More Than Two Words”. Dooley, the Irish bartender explains our country to a greenhorn fresh off the boat:

“The vice presidency is the second highest and the lowest office in the land. It’s not a crime exactly; you can’t be sent to jail for it, but it’s a kind of embarrassment; it’s like writing anonymous letters.”

That defines extra work.

My second day of anonymous letter writing began with more sitting about. Then – I was sent down to the set and given instructions for the scene in progress. It involved talking with a near naked woman and then – on a signal – to walk around the bar. This signal never came and I was given new instructions: Enter the strip club – “Classy Rick’s Bacon and Leggs” and present my ID to the bouncer. (Breakfast is served at Rick’s 24/7.) This, too, was never enacted because I was immediately directed to take a seat at the very edge of the runway – the elevated platform or stage where scantily attired women disport themselves to loud, thumping music. Most, lack any attire whatsoever. Incidentally, very little stripping takes place at these clubs. The dancers are nearly all in the altogether from the get-go. If we were outdoors we might say they were skyclad. (I will speak of “pasties” in a moment.)

Coincidentally, a month ago I was part of a bachelor party in Providence, Rhode Island for a soon-to-be-married man from my men’s circle. Our night on that town began with cigars and concluded with two strip clubs. (There are no accidents in life!) I’d not been in a similar establishment for many, many years; the last time – during the Eisenhower administration. The Providence foray was educational but disappointing. My fantasies are still fueled by fifties icons: Marilyn Monroe; Jane Russell; Anita Ekberg; Jayne Mansfield – I could go on. In Providence the women were emaciated; some bordered on anorexia. None my cup of tea or size of cup.

But, back to Classy Rick’s Bacon and Leggs. Mr. Sandler is in this scene; the strip-joint is his establishment. The eponymous Rick is seated catty-corner from me at the edge of the runway engaged in conversation with a stripper – a large, older African-American woman. Her midsection is covered by a garment of mesh and she wears a platinum blonde wig; the nipples of her huge breasts are covered by red pasties with tassels. The adhesive is problematic and require the attention of several crew members. Comedian, Luenell Campbell, is playing this large lady. She is the mother of a conventionally attractive young woman who brings her a plate of sausage and scrambled eggs. The daughter exhibits flexibility by extending one leg above her head saying that she, too would like to be a stripper. Her mother disparages her daughter’s ambition while continuing her routine and conversation with Rick while eating the breakfast she has been served. This is a remarkable feat – accomplished while hanging upside down from the pole! She also deals with an obnoxious patron seated nearby who is giving her a hard time. While confidentiality is not required of extras: I do not choose to divulge the content of Mr. Sandler’s conversation with Ms. Campbell’s. The scene is shot many times. Sometimes it includes very bad language and sometimes with language – not so bad. This, I surmise, for different viewing markets.

A younger African-American woman of similar size and shape is Luenell’s body-double accomplishing the athletic moves the scene requires. Both women, in my opinion, appear to have augmented their breasts with visually stunning, spectacular “Felliniesque” results. Both capture my attention and my enthusiastic approval is not difficult to convey. I’ve never been a Method Actor so neither substitution nor sense-memory recall is needed when the director calls: “Action!”

Close encounters with augmented breasts has never fallen to my lot. In passing I note that add-ons do not respond to gravity as do Nature’s attributes. Coincidentally and parenthetically, I’ve known three women who had reductions in this area. I know! This may be more information than is required for my story – “Payback” – We are getting to that.

In the 1970s as an actor – when I worked – it was in alternative theatre. I was teaching at Emerson College in Boston. I’m not certain what our ensemble’s alternative was or what we were an alternative to or for. I may even have raised this question back in that heyday of feminist theatre. Our plays were nearly always directed by women or the male half of a soon to-be-divorced couple. It was in just such a company I encountered our 30th president in “The Calvin Coolidge Follies”. Elsewhere, I’ve written of Geoffrey Bush’s play so I need not touch upon it here.

My recall of feminist theatre exists in fading ink of varying colors in old journals. Soon, I’ll have forgotten what I didn’t say or set down. If given a name, that memoir might be titled: “Am I Your Brother or Just Heavy?”

What made the ensemble choose this Coolidge play? Rehearsals had hardly begun and it was not going well; it didn’t look like The Follies would deliver the desired message. What was the message? “Woman triumphant in the face of male oppression and stupidity?” Maybe? We’ll go with that.

Alternative theatre for a time trained me to not open doors for women, never call them “girls” and – Oh, yes! When talking to a woman – always maintain eye contact. Our dressing rooms were shared and several women took their time in changing costumes, often seeming to linger in the topless mode. Perhaps this only occurs in my mind’s eye memory? Yet, I think not.

I liked and loved members of these companies. It was one way to get through the 70s. No doubt there were other routes. In any case, it was the route that chose me and it carried me to Calvin Coolidge.

-30-

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Chief Leading Eagle’s Sacred Pipes

June 25th, 2011

Native Americans became citizens of the United States in June of 1924 during the administration of 30th President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge was our first president to acknowledge that he had “Indian Blood” – maybe he was the first to have any? This Congressional Act met with a mixed reception. If you were ten years old when the Battle of Little Big Horn took place, in 1924 you would still be under fifty. Little Big Horn is also known as Custer’s Last Stand or the Battle of the Greasy Grass. Some view it as America’s last great victory. While in time of war, Indians could always enlist to fight and die – yet there were states where indigenous people would not be allowed to vote for many years. Some Indians didn’t welcome the prospect of further assimilation and weakening of tribal identity.

From his grandmother, Sarah Almeda Brewer, Coolidge derived this Indian heritage. Col. John Coolidge, Cal’s father, always looked as if he might stand in any tribal council and so, too Coolidge’s first-born son. John’s resemblance to his grandfather was striking. They were “real” Coolidges — large-boned, dark and tall. President Coolidge and his youngest son, Calvin, Jr., took after the Moore side of the family – his mother’s side – pale, thin and of slight bodily frame.

This matter of Indian Blood was common knowledge in Vermont. The Coolidges were proud of it. Cal’s grandmother, though: Not so much. In a letter at the Vermont Historical Society to a friend, she resents implications that her son, John, was “too dark” when he was a student at Black River Academy.

In the 1920s, I believe most Native Americans knew that the President of the United States could trace his ancestry back to theirs. He was made a member of many tribes where he smoked sacred pipes with his Indian Brothers. (Often, improperly called “peace pipes”). It’s interesting to see archival newsreels of these ceremonies. Coolidge is impassive, stoic, unsmiling; he is respectful and seems to appreciate the dignity and honor accorded.

The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum is in Northampton, Massachusetts. NoHo was always Coolidge’s political base. Today, it is the east-coast bastion of political correctness. Coolidge was, without a doubt, ever and always a Vermonter; his poetic tribute to his native state is featured on postcards and engraved in Montpelier’s Capitol Building. Less known is a similar tribute to Northampton delivered in 1915 after being elected Lieutenant Governor. Less lyrical than his “ode” to the Green Mountains – it is nonetheless, moving.

“Northampton is my home, not by an accident of birth but by reason of my choice. It was here I brought my wife and here my boys were born. Here I came to receive the returns of the election, knowing the city would rejoice in my success or cheer me in defeat. My vote in my hometown was enough to repay me for the work of the campaign had it gone against me. I do not see much of my neighbors, now. I am not one who knows how to show them appreciation. But they are always present with me, I too, am ‘a citizen of no mean city.’”

While it is not part of the chain of Presidential Libraries – it would like to be; the Coolidge Library and Museum is in Northampton’s Forbes Library and was formerly known as, “the Coolidge Room”. It holds the books he received as well as photographs, correspondence, scrapbooks and political memorabilia. You can see his electric exercise horse. Especially interesting are gifts he was given in 1927 when his Summer White House was in South Dakota. Striking and remarkable in a tall glass case is the famous Indian headdress of eagle feathers. Coolidge sat for his portrait wearing it. When America’s part-Cherokee philosopher-comedian Will Rogers saw a photo, he telegraphed: “Politics makes strange red fellows!”

Also in a glass case on the wall are five or six pipes smoked at “naming ceremonies” when Cal was made a tribal member. The last such ceremony would have been in 1930 when the former president was named “Chief Silent Waters” at the dedication of the Coolidge Dam on Arizona’s Gila River. A gum-chewing Will Rogers was on hand providing caustic-comic observations. In his syndicated newspaper column Will wrote: “Cal coughed about a car-load” - in timely reference to an advertising slogan for Camel cigarettes promising there would not be a cough in a boxcar load. Cancer maybe? But: No cough.

Cough. Cough. Ahem: I’d like to blow the whistle on these pipes. They are assembled and they shouldn’t be. The bowel should not join the stem until just before smoking; it’s the union of bowel and stem that renders the pipe sacred. Some might say: They should not even be on display. No doubt there could be more respectful and appropriate ways to show them. They are beautiful examples of artistry and craftsmanship but they are not identified. Which pipe was smoked where? In several instances, this could be established by close examination of archival film and photos. One pipe bowel was found at Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins – a National Monument. Could it be the one with the beautiful turquoise inlay of a leaf of the plant cannabis sativa? Maybe.

Many years ago, I pointed out that marijuana leaf to the director of the library. He said, “No, Jim. It isn’t.” I assured him: “Yes. It is.”

If Coolidge coughed, no doubt he inhaled. This – perhaps should be taken into account as Congress considers US House Bill HR 2306 designed to end one of our nation’s longest wars. Barney Frank and Ron Paul are cosponsors. While in office, back in the day – President Coolidge strictly observed Prohibition. Yet, in private conversation, he said it was a “bad law” because it encouraged disrespect for other laws – the “good” laws. That was then; this is now.

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Questioning Calvin Coolidge

April 22nd, 2011

My solo history — Calvin Coolidge: More Than Two Words is set at a press conference. President Calvin Coolidge held more press conferences than any other president; he met twice a week with reporters. “Silent Cal” responded to their written questions. The typed transcripts of these conferences are at the Calvin Coolidge Library and Museum in the Forbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts where they can be read on microfilm by anyone wishing to go blind. Soon, the whole nine yards will be on-line.

In 1964 Howard H. Quint and Robert H. Ferrell edited “The Talkative President” — The Off-The-Record Press Conferences of Calvin Coolidge. It contains about one sixth of the transcripts. This is a helpful but frustrating book; it’s arranged by subject heading and I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to examine the entire record by date.

Flash forward: Next month I’ll go to Montreal for video taping and audio recording of me, as Coolidge, for an installation that will be a part of the permanent exhibit in Plymouth, Vermont in the new Visitors Center and Museum. (Do I need to say that Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth on July 4, 1872?) There, I’ve said it!

That said: I’ve been asked to compile questions for President Coolidge to answer. Here are some questions that I think he could answer. Note: There are several curve balls contained therein. See: Question # 2. My man never said: “The business of America is business.” He didn’t say it; he didn’t believe it. However, it has endlessly served New Deal historians to say he said it. William Allen White originated this blunder; he is responsible for much error in Coolidge’s history. For more on this, see Sheldon Stern’s brilliant take down of Mr. White: http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/origins_of_the_coolidge_stereo.html

COOLIDGE QUESTIONS

1. Did you like school?

2. What did you mean when you said: “The business of America is business” ?

3. What advice would you give our president, today?

4. What sports did you play?

5. Did you visit Mount Rushmore?

6. What college did you attend?

7. Were you a member of the Ku Klux Klan?

8. You son died while you were in office. Can you talk about that?

9. Did you favor the vote for women?

10. Why did you move to Massachusetts?

11. Did Mrs. Coolidge campaign with you?

12. When President Harding died in August of 1923, you were up here in Vermont. How did you learn about it?

13. What did you think of Prohibition?

14. Did you play any musical instruments?

15. Why did your policy of taxation favor just the rich people?

16. In the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 – Why didn’t the government provide any relief?

17. Did you and Mrs. Coolidge have children?

18. How many foreign countries did you visit?

19. In 1919, as Governor of Massachusetts: Why did you fire all the Boston Policemen?

20. Why did you sign the Immigration Bill that excluded the Japanese in 1924?

21. What can you say about Vermont?

22. Were you a Democrat or a Republican?

23. You once said something about “Persistence” – What did you say?

23. The 4th of July is your birthday. Please comment on that.

24. What was your first thought when you became president?

25. How did you meet Mrs. Coolidge?

26. Did you have brothers and sisters?

27. What did you say to the lady who had made a bet she could make you to say more than two words?

28. Did you know your grandparents?

29. Tell me about your mother.

30. What was your greatest accomplishment as president?

31. What did you father do?

32. How often did you discuss politics with Mrs. Coolidge or ask her advice?

33. Did you have chores to do as a boy?

34. Who was your favorite president?

35. Did you have pets here and at the White House?

36. What was it like growing up in Plymouth, Vermont?

37. How many telephones did you have here at the Homestead?

38. What was your father like?

39. What kind of car did you drive?

40. When did you first fly in an airplane?

41. Your nickname was “Silent Cal” – Why was that?

42. You said: “I do not choose to run for president in 1928.” Were you afraid you couldn’t win?

43. As a boy: Did you ever think you might become President?

44. In your press conferences, reporters couldn’t quote you. Why was that?

45. What did your father think when you became President?

46. What did you do after you left the presidency?

47. I’ve seen pictures of you wearing a Native American Headdress or smoking a peace pipe. What was that about?

48. How many people were present at your Homestead Inaugural on August 3, 1923?

49. As President, did you light a Christmas tree?

50. As a boy, did you attend Town Meeting in Plymouth?

51. Did you want to be Warren Harding’s Vice President?

52. What did Mrs. Coolidge do before the two of you got married?

53. How many of the old 48 states did you visit?

54. Where was Mrs. Coolidge born?

55. What was your greatest disappointment as President?

56. Did you meet Charles Lindbergh?

57. Can you talk about the history of Plymouth?

58. Did you serve in World War I?

59. Did you ever join a church?

60. What was your salary as President?

61. What church did you attend?

62. What political offices did you hold?

63. Did you serve in World War I?

64.What was your profession?

65. Nothing happened when you were president. Is that true?

For answers to these and other questions – Book my performance – Calvin Coolidge: More Than Two Words.

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