In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

36 C H a p t e r 3 “Go Hollywood, Young Man!” 1924–29 in marCH 1924, CF was offered the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Huntsville, the home of Sam Houston State Teacher’s College. He wanted his sons to be well educated, and settling in Huntsville, where he had friends, seemed the most congenial and affordable way to achieve this goal—especially after the birth of his eighth son, William (Billy), on September 29, 1925. Unlike CF’s troubled departure from Rockdale, his farewell to Uvalde seems to have been a pleasant, sociable occasion. On May 2, 1924, the local newspaper described a reception for the pastor and his wife, as well as tributes to the pastor given by several prominent citizens and clergy. Presented with the gift of a three-piece silver service, CF thanked everyone for the loyalty and love shown him not only by his congregation, but by so many others in Uvalde. Carver joined the high school debate team and did well. In his senior year, he won the leading role in The฀Lovebug. He also met and fell in love with Norma Felder. By the time Carver was fifteen, the couple considered themselves engaged. Pledging himself to Norma Katherine, as her friends called her, meant Carver would have no time for other girls. But like everyone else in the family, Carver worked—in his case, earning $30 a month making deliveries for the local butcher. A few years later, when the family moved to Madisonville (about thirty miles from Huntsville), he remained behind to attend college, working for a farmer in exchange for room and board. He also worked part-time at the local bank. Huntsville, the home of Sam Houston, its founding father and the patron saint of Texas, had a population in the vicinity of five thousand. The state college, founded in 1879, had a year-round enrollment of approximately a thousand students. At first, Carver thought he might enjoy a career in teaching or business, but he soon grew interested in drama. “ g o H o l ly w o o d , y o u n g m a n ! ” ( 1 9 2 4 – 2 9 ) 37 Like Charles, Carver may have noticed that teaching was not really a career for truly successful men. “For from the time of its establishment to the present that profession has ever been the hope for the aspiring poor, the ambitious mediocre,” Charles wrote in his novel, describing a college in which “all the good ones, all the sleek ones, all the well fed, all the brilliant ones were aiming at engineering, medicine, law, and business. . . . Teaching was for dolts.” Charles’s protagonist, Jeff Harvey, “could remember no occasion when . . . the super teacher was ever asked to air his views, his methods and techniques before the associated student body. . . . By and large the people of the town and the school population looked down upon teachers.” Twice the size of their home in Uvalde, their new house in Huntsville had three bedrooms and a parlor. Across from the college and atop a hill, the “grim gray towers of the Texas State Penitentiary,” overshadowed what the WPA Guide called “this dignified old town.” Executions by electric chair began in Huntsville in 1923. The prison, a considerable enterprise , housed a machine shop and facilities for shoe making and printing , and for the manufacture of candy, mattresses, and license plates. The prison could be seen from Old Main, the building that dominated the college campus. “When we lived in the parsonage,” Wilton said, “every once and a while a convict would escape. They brought bloodhounds up to our front door. The escaped convict came right through our house. Another time a convict went right over the front porch.” College girls sometimes fell in love with prison trustees, who were allowed to go into town. Most of these men were not violent and were in prison because of liquor violations. College students were not allowed to visit the penitentiary , Wilton noted, but the boys often found rubbers on the church floor. Huntsville had a social hierarchy, its own “400,” as Wilton put it. Although Harlan dated Julia Smither, daughter of a prominent local family, a poor minister’s children generally did not socialize with the well to do. This prohibition became a sore point when Carver began to go out with Norma Felder. She had an active social life, often hosting parties for girlfriends to celebrate...

Share