Originally published in the January 28, 2015 edition of the Cherokeean
Long before there was Chris Davis and HIGH POINTS ON THE EL CAMINO REAL, there was Frank L Weimar (pen name A. Hick) and A LITTLE ADO ABOUT SOMETHING. Mr Weimar, who came to Alto and took over the Alto Herald in 1920 started his column in 1935.
I can’t help but wonder how many of the faithful Alto Herald readers understood and were impressed by the column’s title, which was, of course, a take-off on the name of a Shakespearean play, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
At first the column was mainly political and world news commentary, and that continued once or twice a month, but it soon also became pretty similar to what you read today in the Cherokeean Herald.
Like Chris, Mr Weimar often commented on the weather and kept readers informed of sickness and death in the community. He was sure to mention club, church and civic activities, even when they were covered in the regular news. He loved to poke fun at prominent citizens and often remarked about the women of the town he had seen shopping.
Here are some stories from Mr Weimar’s columns of 1937-1939:
If you get salt in your coffee and sugar in your potatoes when you dine at the Green Lantern Cafe, don’t get angry with the popular hostess, Mrs Jimmie Carleton for can’t you see that big sparkler on her left hand. Jimmie says that Santa Claus brought it and far be it from a mere news hound to question the veracity of so fair a lady.
Charlie Miller musta sold a cow or something as we see him splitting the streets wide open with his new Pontiac.
Heard Mrs Delia Bowen and Mrs W T Whiteman fussing over the ungodly antics of a Methodist lizard. Delia threatened death and destruction to Sir Lizard if he dared set foot in her Sunday School room again. Mrs W T dared Delia to molest the pet of her classroom. The lizard was her pet protege.
Congratulations to Howard Mason of the Central High Community for bringing in the first crate of tomatoes which netted him $12.00 in cash.
A deep dark mystery has now been solved and the good name of Alto book readers has been lifted above suspicion. Stella Hill has at last recovered her lost copy of Alice Adams. After accusing everybody in town of purloining her book, Stella was stricken with the brilliant idea of cleaning up her book case, and the result was to discover Alice Adams hiding behind the Bible which, strange to say, had not been disturbed in some time.
Mr and Mrs Oscar Allen came close to losing John Ellis the other day in Houston. They took their young offspring out to see the Zoo. When the parents were ready to go, John Ellis told them in no uncertain terms that he had decided to join the Zoo.
Roddy McDaniel drove up to Clarence Mounce’s filling station last Thursday and ordered 5 gallons of gas, at the same time remarking that if it did not rain in 30 minutes all his tomatoes would die. Clarence became so excited at the prospect of tomato destruction that he gave Roddy 10 gallons of gas and collected for only 5.
Stories from Frank Ed’s column, GLANCING AROUND, next time.
From the SFA website from Deborah Burkett
As pioneers moved west to settle new territories, the printing press and newspaper followed close behind. Such was the case in 1847 when the Cherokee Sentinel appeared in Rusk. Within three years two other newspapers were also launched in the county seat.
Later along the El Camino Real, the town of Alto was established just eleven miles from Rusk. In 1896 the first newspaper published there was the Alto News. Soon the name was changed to the Alto Herald and multiple owners ran the business over the years. In 1920, Frank L. Weimar took over the paper. Frank had originally set out from Tennessee to join his brother, Harry, as a pressman for the Houston Chronicle. Traveling by log train in 1911, Frank heard of an editor’s position at the Ratcliff Herald and stopped there for nine years before moving on to Alto, while his brother Harry worked at the Houston Chronicle for 65 years.
The Alto Herald built quite a reputation. As other newspapers in Texas changed to offset or computerized style of printing the Herald still used the ‘hot type’–Linotype method of putting out a newspaper. Journalism students from Stephen F. Austin descended upon the Alto office. Under the guidance of Instructor Ben Hobbs they saw firsthand how a ‘real’ newspaper was printed.
After being in the Weimar family for 58 years, the Alto paper was sold in 1978. Frank Ed Weimar, publisher and editor of the ‘hot-type’ press, sold the business to Emmett and Marie Whitehead of Rusk, owners of the Rusk Cherokeean. Interesting to note–in the mid 1970s Marie Whitehead was a journalism student at SFA. The Whiteheads published the first ‘cold type’ or offset issue of the Alto Herald and ran the paper until it merged with the Cherokeean.