Thursday, March 13, 2008

Thursday Night at the Radio!

By special request, another Information Please! This one has Oscar Levant and Jesse Stuart, author of the bestselling Taps For Private Tussie, "the humorous story of how a deceased World War II soldier's life insurance benefit transformed the lifestyle of his formerly impoverished mountain kin." It won the Thomas Jefferson Southern Award for best Southern book in 1943. As far as I could find, the Thomas Jefferson Southern Award for best Southern book was awarded only once. In 1943. To Jesse Stuart.

Stuart was also a poet so rural in his imagery that, as commenter "dougie" once said of another poet, "you can taste the dirt clods." Legend has it that Stuart actually came up with the following lines while plowing a field:

I am a farmer singing at the plow
and as I take my time to plow along
A steep Kentucky hill,
I sing my song.

Seems impossible, though.

Update: In the long tradition of annual awards given only once, I hereby create the Drunkablog Award For Extraordinary Bravery Under Rather Trying Circumstances, and award the prize for 2007 to myself. The award, by the way, comes with a cash prize of $10,000. Small bills, please.

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