Williamsburg County Remembers Robert Mitchum

Earlier this month, Williamsburg County paid tribute to two internationlly-known men with long-standing ties to the county by unveiling historical markers in their honor. The two men were the late film star Robert Mitchum and the very much alive Ernest Evans, better known to the world as Chubby Checker. In the next two weeks, we'll look at each of them, starting with Robert Mitchum, known for such movies as Thunder Road, Cape Fear, and The Night of the Hunter.

Actor Robert Mitchum

Mitchum's father, James Thomas Mitchum, known as Jimmy, was born near Lane, SC, in 1886. Although he was working at the Navy Yard and the family was living in Charleston in 1917, Robert was born at his mother's home in Bridgeport, CT. Jimmy Mitchum died in an accident at the Navy Yard two years later. His wife and children lived with Jimmy's sister in Williamsburg County for a time before moving back to Connecticut. However, Robert always felt strong ties to Lane and to his relatives here.

James Thomas "Jimmy" Mitchum

In 1991, he was in Charleston filming the pilot for an educational television series, written and directed by his younger brother, John. The Post-Courier sent a reporter to interview him. The article, which appeared in May 1991, noted that during a break in the filming, a "matronly woman" walked up to bench on which Robert Mitchum was sitting and bluntly asked, "Are you Robert Mitchum?" to which he just as bluntly replied, "Yes."

She then went further by asking if he was in Charleston to make a movie.

Mitchum, in his own enigmatic way," replied courteously, "Well, actually, ma'am, I thought I'd drop in to use the bathroom."

The woman nodded and said, "Oh," before walking away, "apparently satisfied with his answer."

Their interaction demonstrated why celebrity columnist Earl Wilson once wrote that Robert Mitchum was hands down the hardest person he had ever tried to interview–and he had been interviewing him for 39 years. Wilson wrote, "Mitchum's conversations are thrilling with unexpected allusions to geography, literature, and fights he's been in–but you come away with sealegs as though you've been in a storm."

Others described the actor as devilishly charming.

Mitchum visited in Lane periodically throughout his life. When he was a teenager, he and two friends from Connecticut once hitchhiked to South Carolina and camped in the woods near his Aunt Idell's home.

The newly unveiled marker honoring Robert Mitchum at Lane.

And when he was filming nearby, he made sure that cousins were able to visit him on set. In the late 1950s, 23 of them went to Asheville, NC, in cars that Robert Mitchum rented for them to visit the set of Thunder Road.

On one of his visits he made a brief appearance in Kingstree where one of his movies was playing

Lane was only two years old when Robert Mitchum's father Jimmy was born there. The town then had a 20-room boarding house, three hotels and heavy railroad traffic, according to a 1991 Post-Courier column, written by historian and attorney Ruth W. Cupp. While Jimmy Mitchum didn't live to see his son's climb to movie stardom, he himself was a talented to musician. And all three of his children worked in the movie industry. His daughter Annette, under the name Julie Mitchum, appeared in several films and later became a nightclub singer who entertained the troops overseas during World War II. His youngest child, son John, born several months after Jimmy's death, was a character actor for a number of years, appearing in many Westerns before he began to write and direct. In addition, Robert inherited his father's musical abilities. To hear him singing the Ballad of Thunder Road, click here.

When Robert and John Mitchum were in Charleston in 1991, they made the pilgrimage to Lane with one of their cousins. John, who apparently had no memories of Williamsburg County, later wrote the cousin to thank her, saying, "To walk the same ground, to see the same trees, to feel my past has helped fill a void that's been with me for 71 years."

Many of Robert Mitchum's cousins still live in Williamsburg County, including Kingstree Mayor Darren Tisdale. Robert's great-grandfather, Abe, is Mayor Tisdale's third-great grandfather.

Mitchum family members at the unveiling of the marker in Lane on December 3.

Photo courtesy Rep. Roger Kirby

The marker which stands in Lane's downtown park, fills a void that has existed for many years in Williamsburg County, where people have known of Robert Mitchum's ties here but those not related to the Mitchum family were fuzzy about the exact details of his connection to the area.

Christmas in the Sixties

A crowd estimated at 8,000 got an unexpected dose of excitement during the 1960 Christmas parade. A fire call necessitated the Kingstree Rural Fire Department's trucks and tanker to pull out of the parade in the middle of town. As the trucks began to weave in and out among the nine bands participating in the parade and numerous floats, many of the spectators thought that it was a planned part of the festivities. However, it was really a tractor fire near Greeleyville.  

Kingstree's Fire Trucks in a more recent parade.

Forty beauty queens participated in the parade and the Miss Merry Christmas pageant. Another highlight of the parade was the local Girl Scout troop riding in two Model Ts and one Model A cars. The Kingstree Jaycees, sponsors of the parade and the beauty pageant, dressed as clowns and circulated through the crowds as part of the parade fun. The parade lasted for over an hour.

On December 8, 1961, a colorful, 100-unit parade, passed by a crowd of an estimated 9,000 spectators. Seven bands from Andrews, East Clarendon, Macedonia, Berk, St. Stephen, Florence, and Kingstree high schools participated in the parade. Fireworks lit up the sky at dusk, preceding the Miss Merry Christmas pageant, which was won by Mary Lavan Collins, Miss Marion.

A gala parade welcomed the season on December 7, 1962. Huge numbers of spectators turned out, with crowd estimates at "not far from 20,000." The 80-unit parade was described by a reporter for the News & Courier as "outstanding, even in this town accustomed to big and lavish Christmas parades." Miss South Carolina Evelyn Ellis rode on one of the 12 floats in the parade. Statewide Jaycee President Jim Smith of Aiken also participated. The parade, which in addition to the floats included eight bands and numerous other entries, covered 10 blocks throughout the downtown area. One entry of special interest to local spectators was the State Champion Kingstree Mites Football Team.

Majorettes marching in the 1958 Kingstree Christmas parade.

Photo Courtesy of Lamar Bodiford

Mary Frances Nexsen, Miss Anderson, was chosen Miss Merry Christmas from 25 contestants. Winning contestants had to make do with plain trophies borrowed from the high school's trophy case until their trophies could be mailed to them. In an embarrassing mix-up, the trophy company had sent a trio of football trophies rather than the Miss Merry Christmas awards.

In 1963, the Christmas festivities became a two-day event with the parade and beauty contest on Friday and the Merry Christmas dance on Saturday night at the armory. The 80-unit, seven-band parade moved through a "canyon of cheering youngsters," according to the News & Courier. The parade included floats from Town of Kingstree, Drexel, Williamsburg State Bank, the Sumter Iris Festival, Santee Electric, Warsaw Manufacturing, Dubin/Silversmam's Department Stores, and the City of Lake City.

Ruth Henderson, Miss Columbia, was crowned Miss Merry Christmas from a field of more than 20 contestants.

Statewide newspaper coverage of local parades tapered off after 1963, and I found no mention of Kingstree parades for the rest of the 1960s. However there is a brief mention in Frank Gilbreth, Jr's "Ashley Cooper" column in the News & Courier in December 1968. He and Bessie Swann Britton enjoyed a longstanding correspondence. He always referred to her as Mrs. BSB of Kingstree in his columns. In this one Mrs. BSB reported, "overheard at the Christmas parade here... Gentle Old Lady: It was nice of the News & Courier to send such a handsome float to be in our parade. Peppery Old Lady: It was no more than they should do. That newspaper's been Kingstree's Bible more than a hundred years."

Christmas in the Fifties

Christmas parades are a relatively modern addition to the Town of Kingstree's celebration of the holidays, with the first parade held in 1949. Prior to that, numbers of Kingstree citizens would drive to Sumter to view its Christmas parade. 

Santa waves to spectators during the 2022 Kingstree Christmas Parade.

In 1949, the Kingstree Chamber of Commerce sponsored the town's first Christmas parade on November 30 at 3 p.m. During that era, almost all businesses in town closed on Wednesday afternoons, making Wednesday afternoons a perfect time to hold a parade. Thirty units participated in what bystanders were quoted as saying was "the biggest crowd seen here since Barnum and Bailey came to town about 1907." The Kingstree Police Department estimated the crowd at between 7,000 and 10,000. Spectators were massed several deep over all the blocks of the parade route. That year, the Chamber also sponsored a Community Carol Sing at the Courthouse on Christmas Eve, which was broadcast on radio station WDKD.

The next year, 1950, holiday festivities kicked off with a huge downtown concert at 7:30 on Monday night, November 27. All county mayors, Sam Joe Haselden of Hemingway; Alton McCollough of Lane; J.H. Brown of Greeleyville; and Rodgers Harrell of Kingstree, were invited to participate, as were all choirs in the county. The Kingstree High School Band, led by Helen Culp, played Christmas carols and the singing was led by the High School Glee Club, directed by Jean Hamilton. The concert took place around the monument in the middle of the intersection at Main and Academy streets. After the concert, the town's Christmas lights were turned on, as well as a lighted double-barred cross, the emblem of the Christmas Seal drive to fight tuberculosis.

The 1950 Christmas parade was held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday,  December 13. The procession started on Highway 52 and proceeded to the intersection of the Andrews Highway and then marched back into town, disbanding at the courthouse. Crowd size was estimated at larger than that for the 1949 parade. Mrs. Henry McFadden as Miss Liberty; J.F. Timmons as a Southern Gentlemen and Cecil Hanna as Uncle Sam, led the parade, dressed in costume, and on horseback. In addition to numerous floats and vehicles, there were five high school bands and 40 riders mounted on horses. 

Nineteen fifty-two's parade on December 3 was the culmination of a five-day "Holly Days" sales promotion, sponsored by downtown merchants. The parade wound through eight blocks, and at its end, which concluded with Santa perched on top of a fire truck, the Christmas lights throughout town were turned on.

Lane Head Start's float in the 2022 Kingstree Christmas Parade.

Newspaper reporter Ann McIntosh recounted a story associated with the 1953 Christmas Parade. The Kingstree Parent Teacher's Association needed a float for the parade. Mary Reid, then executive secretary for the Kingstree Chamber of Commerce, had an idea and sent a telegram to Ross Manning, owner of the Ross Manning Shows, in Miami. Much of the equipment for the Ross Manning Shows spent the winter in the New Warehouse in Kingstree, with two men Gerald Deschaines, known as Frenchie, and Warren Wullen, known as Shorty, as its overseers. Frenchie and Shorty lived in a trailer inside the warehouse, where one of them had to be present at all times from October until March when the show went back on the road. Their days were spent painting, repairing, reupholstering, and polishing brass. 

Mary Reid knew that Frenchie and Shorty had just painted ten merry-go-round horses, and she was asking for permission to use them on the PTA float. Ross Manning's telegram granting that permission didn't reach Kingstree until the night before the parade. Frenchie and Shorty worked most of the night to modify a trailer lent to the PTA by B.O. Browder to accommodate the horses. Other organizations using the warehouse to decorate their floats were well ahead of the PTA, and it seemed unlikely that the float would be ready in time. However, St. Alban's donated a long roll of white paper, and Carolina Power & Light lent them green streamers and white fringe. By 1 p.m. the float was finished, with a rainbow on the front, five pairs of prancing horses to be "ridden" by members of the student council, and a sign underneath the rainbow, showing a pot of gold and the slogan, "Our Children; Our Greatest Wealth."

The parade of 1955 is thought to have drawn the largest crowd, with an estimated 20,000 people turning out from Kingstree and surrounding areas to witness 35 floats; seven bands, including the Parris Island Marine Band, and Santa riding on a giant sleigh pulled by eight white reindeer, led by Rudolph. The parade route that year was down Main Street to Highway 52 and up the highway to the fairgrounds. Traffic was halted on US52 during the parade. Judges viewed the parade from the Carolina Hotel and awarded prizes to the best floats. First place went to Chelsie's Kiddie Shop and Roses 5 & 10. Second place went to International Paper, with East Side Motors taking third place for a float depicting the Williamsburg County Courthouse. 

Miss Andrews Jean Terry in the chilly 1958 Kingstree Christmas Parade.

Photo Courtesy of Lamar Bodiford

The 1956 holiday season began a new tradition in Kingstree with the Jaycees sponsoring the Miss Merry Christmas beauty pageant. The parade was moved to Friday afternoon, with the pageant beginning at 8 p.m. at the armory. A dance, also at the armory, followed the pageant. Karol Kalisky was parade chairman that year. Fran Semeno and his orchestra provided music for the dance. The parade included 30 floats, 20 beauty queens, the Shaw Air Force Base Band, and 60 tiny majorettes under the direction of Newell Clarkson. The parade lined up on the corner of Brooks Street and Hampton Avenue. It proceeded down Hampton to Main Street, turning right through the business district to Longstreet. From Longstreet, the parade turned right on Mill Street, right on Jackson, left on Main Street and then turned left on Academy, disbanding at Kingstree Elementary School. Betty Lane Cherry of Orangeburg, the reigning Miss USA, was the Grand Marshal for the parade.

Carolyn Melton (center) of Cheraw was crowned Miss Merry Christmas 1958.

In rear, left to right, are Kay Huggins, Miss Barnwell, first runner up: Grand

Old Opry star Minnie Pearl, one of the contest's judges, and Nancy Spivey, Miss

Hemingway, second runner up.

Photo: W.M. Gordon

While snow and ice are usually not a part of Christmas parades in Kingstree, 1958 proved to be an exception. A severe winter storm swept through the state just days before the parade, which was scheduled for December 12. Some other towns postponed their parades to a later date, but the Jaycees decided to go ahead with all the festivities. The sun was shining by Friday afternoon, although there was still plenty of snow and ice on the ground. They had expected a 90-unit parade, which was somewhat limited by the weather. However, it was noted that the line-up was still impressive, and thousands of spectators braved the 40-degree temperatures to watch. Grand Old Opry star Minnie Pearl was to be Grand Marshal of the parade and a judge for the Miss Merry Christmas pageant. News reports of the day seem to indicate that while she did not get here in time for the parade, as she and her husband had flown into Columbia before driving to Kingstree, she was a judge for the pageant, as well as providing her usual comedic monologue. The Pilot Club presented her with a spray of poinsettias.

Next week we'll look at Christmas in the Sixties.