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Wednesday, September 29, 2021 - Pike County Journal Reporter - Page 5A
Early movie star from Pike was in 125 films
LETTER TO THE EDITOR PRINTED IN THE
PIKE COUNTY JOURNAL ON FRIDAY, APRIL 28,1939
Allene Simmons writes "Back Home"
A very thoughtful friend recently sent me some copies of the Pike County
Journal- and with all the big-city papers that you pick up filled with wars and
murders and plunder - you just can’t imagine what a joy it was to sit down and
read about real folks who are going about the daily job of living, and visiting,
and working. And to add to the enjoyment of reading about folks and farming,
to recognize those as my own people, that was great!
Then the thought occurred to me that 1 am no different than other people,
if I enjoy hearing about you back there in Georgia maybe you would enjoy an
occasional bit of news about those of us who are out here in Hollywood. So I
propose to send you crumbs of news from Hollywood crackers to show my ap
preciation for the feast 1 always get when I open a Pike County Journal.
There are quite a few Georgians out here, but the way I usually sound them
out for sincerity is to ask them when we meet, “So you are a cracker, too?”
Now if they come out with a cheery “you bet I am” or something as typical, 1
know I’ve found a real Georgian. You see there are quite a lot of professional-
southerners floating around, but it doesn’t take one long to get their number.
Now when ever Georgia and Hollywood pictures are spoken in the same breath,
1 guess the next thought is “Gone With The Wind.” My southern friends and I
out here are always ready, when some newcomer says, “What part of the South
are you from?” And in the same breath with which we say “Georgia” we add
“and we are not in “Gone With The Wind.” To you all I bet the keen disappoint
ment you will feel when you do see the picture, I’ll tell you now, there are no
Georgians in the picture and a very few people who have ever been south of
Chicago. We, although it is happening right here at our doorsteps, know no
more than of why of it than you there do. It will no doubt be a good, well acted
picture. Much money is being spent and there are lots of good actors working
in the production - but it will not be the book you read and enjoyed so much.
I went out to the Selznick studio several days ago and met Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz,
who are from Atlanta and are superintending the technical work. But there are
a lot of things getting by them that you will at once know are not true to the
country and times during which it was supposed to have happened.
But since I live in Hollywood and 1 want to live here peacefully, 1 have to
desist from saying lots of things I’d like to say about the way the South is
portrayed in all the picture laid in that locale. Now, Mr. Editor, if you think
your readers would like to know about what their fellow Georgians are doing
in Hollywood, I just love to answer any questions about them that I can. There
are lots of things going on out here besides pictures, so send me questions
and I’ll go a long way to find answers to send back to you. Take a good whiff of
honeysuckle for me - we have it here, but no flowers out here have as much
perfume as those back there. Lots of love and luck to all my homefolks!
Just a Georgia cracker,
Allene ‘Georgia’ Simmons
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was
compiled from the September edition
of the Pike County Historical Society
Newsletter. To learn more or to join
the historical society, email president
Lynn Cunningham at cunningham53
@ bellsouth.net.
Nora Allene Simmons
was born on June 13,
1884 in Zebulon. She was
the daughter of George
Alexander Simmons, Sr.
and his first wife Annie
M. Harper and had an
older sister, Bertha. Their
father, George was for
many years a mail carrier
at Zebulon.
Allene never mar
ried, but counted all the
children she taught as
hers. After teaching for
20 years, friends urged
Allene to go on the stage.
A suggestion she fol
lowed. She took the name
“Georgia Simmons.”
The following article
appeared in the Pike
County Journal on Friday,
Nov. 8, 1929.
A great many of our
home folks who have
enjoyed the very humor
ous old-time stories sent
out from San Francisco
on the radio by the black
characters Magnolia,
Henry and Charlie, will
be surprised to learn that
“Magnolia” is a former
Zebulon girl. While liv
ing in Zebulon she was
known as Allene Sim
mons and was a daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Sim
mons, who formerly lived
on the property recently
vacated by Jack Smith
and family. She has a
host of friends here who
remember her as a very
jolly, fun loving girl and
they are gratified to learn
of her wonderful success
on the mic.
The San Francisco
News has the following
to say relative to Miss
Georgia (Allene) Sim
mons: “Georgia Simmons,
more widely known by
the radio audience as
‘Magnolia’ of the NBC
Woman’s Magazine of
the Air, colored supple
ment, is one artist who
has the courage of her
convictions. With the
advent of radio, Georgia
decided that nothing
could convey the ideas
of good food and a happy
household better than
a charismatic Southern
mammy.
Born and reared in
Zebulon, Pike County,
Georgia, Miss Simmons
knew the southern life
and she had the dialect.
It seems as if things were
made to order, but she
spent several unsuc
cessful years trying to
convince producers that
her idea was plausible.
“A flour company
finally became enthusi
astic,” says Georgia, with
an intriguing southern
drawl. “1 sold in the idea
of a good old mammy
baking pancakes and
gave their first program
at the NBC studios in the
summer of 1928.”
Georgia’s career as an
entertainer began years
before, however. She told
Uncle Remus stories to
children in Georgia while
she taught school in vari
ous localities.
“The most exciting
period was that spent
in the mountain settle
ment school at Rabun
Gap,” she volunteered.
“1 used to get the kiddies
to do almost anything by
promising to tell them an
‘Uncle Remus’ story.”
For years, Miss Sim
mons told the Uncle
Remus story which fea
tures the annual George
[Joel] Chandler Harris
Memorial at Wren’s Nest,
Atlanta. After several
years of teaching, Miss
Simmons specialized at
Columbia University in
primary work and spent
two years in Chicago
working with Jane Ad-
dams at the Hull House.
Later she went to Denver,
Colo., and afterwards
to Los Angeles. Though
she taught school some
years, Georgia never lost
her ambition to enter
tain.
“1 studied dramatics,
but every time 1 attempt
ed to secure an engage
ment 1 was told that I’d
never have a chance until
1 stopped using negro
dialect. Somehow, I just
couldn’t shake it,” she
explains.
Since she has been
with NBC, Georgia has
originated the “Colored
Supplement” of the Morn
ing Magazine and written
the “Magnolia, Henry and
Charlie” episodes which
provide the comedy
features of the Wednes
day morning program.
She also writes the
Monday night “Plantation
Echoes.”
A 1954 article from the
Valley Times North in
Hollywood, California on
Friday, March 12 had the
headline, Stage Star Was
Once Teacher.
Georgia Simmons,
the distinguished ac
tress who portrays Ada
Lester each night except
Monday in the John Car-
radine revival of Tobacco
Road at the Civic Play
house, on La Cienega,
regards herself as “just
an old maid, that’s all.”
Yet despite the fact
that Miss Simmons never
married, there are any
number of folk through
out the South, including
doctors, lawyers, impor
tant business executives
and even a few mayors of
southern cities, who look
upon Georgia Simmons
as “Ma.” And, in return,
Miss Simmons likes to
regard them as her chil
dren.
For Georgia Simmons,
before she turned to the
stage as a career, was a
teacher for many years.
“1 taught first, sec
ond and third grades,”
she says, and many of
my boys and girls have
grown up to be outstand
ing citizens. Not all of
them, of course, but
many still keep in touch
with me and 1 enjoy noth
ing better than hearing
from them. It gives me
great pleasure to think
that 1 had some share in
shaping their good lives.”
This article from May
15, 1971 in The Atlanta
Constitution had the
headline, Yes, Zebulon
Can Claim a Movie Star:
Georgia Simmons
once made film direc
tor Frederico Fellini
change his mind about
how grandmothers
talk. She once had the
director of “Cleopatra”
roaring at her because
ALLENE‘GEORGIA’SIMMONS
she didn’t look like a
snaggle-toothed old hag.
She told Dustin Hoff
man and Jon Voight “Aw,
shaddup!” when they
were making “Midnight
Cowboy.” She has danced
naked on Stone Mountain
when there was ice on
the ground one beauti
ful morning. And now
what’ll she do at age 87?
Well, she might grab a
freight boat and go round
the world. She might go
back to Hollywood and
go into the witch-laugh
business. She might play
Ada in “Tobacco Road.”
She might run off to Aus
tralia. Or she might just
settle down in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Simmons is a tough,
hardboiled little lady
who brings out love in
everybody. She was born
in Zebulon, Ga., got into
acting on the old Chau
tauqua circuit, went to
Hollywood and went
from silents to talkies.
She was in lots of Gene
Autry and Roy Rogers
movies and cropped up
in “Boom Town” and
“Grapes of Wrath.” All
in all, she has been in
about 125 pictures. She
dropped into town last
week when another of
her pictures was show
ing: Fellini’s “8!4” She
played a grandma and
got the role the way she
got more than a couple of
others.
“When 1 have money
in my pocket 1 get a ticket
and travel.”
She was in Rome when
8V2 was being made, and
decided to try her luck
with Fellini. She showed
him her clippings and
photos.
“That looks like my
Sicilian grandmother,” he
said when he glanced at
one. He stuck it up on his
desk and every couple of
days told an aide, “Phone
my grandmother and see
if she’s still there.”
In the film, Georgia
was supposed to take
some clothes off a line
and mumble against her
husband for being stupid
and lazy and all. Her lines
were written by an Ox
ford graduate and when
she saw them she went
right to Fellini with them.
“No grandmother talks
like that,” she said.
“Make up your own
lines then,” he said.
She did and that was
that.
She was In Rome an
other time when “Cleopa
tra” was being made, and
this time director Joseph
Mankiewicz said he had
a role. But he wouldn’t
dare offer it to her. What
was it? A flower seller, he
said an old hag.
“Go ahead and make
me an old hag,” said
Georgia.
So they blackened
her teeth and got her all
ready. After lunch she
went up to the director
and said she was all set
to go. He took a look at
her mouth and exploded.
The food had taken
the black off her teeth.
Whereupon she took
out her plates, plopped
them in her bosom for
safekeeping, and told the
man all over again: “I’m
ready.”
Her last picture was
“Midnight Cowboy,”
which earned her $100
for two words. The movie
was made on Ninth
Avenue in New York. She
was living around there
at the time, so it was
easy to talk herself into
something. When Hoff
man and Voight tried to
rob a fruit stand and the
owner tried to grab them
and everybody started
hollering Georgia came
by with that clincher:
“Aw, shaddup!”
She has never seen the
film and has no desire to.
What does Georgia think
of today’s movies? She
hasn’t seen very many.
She has been in Florida
lately, at a place where
there isn’t a nearby cin
ema. But she does have
ideas about things. On
nudity?
“I’ve always believed
in using the body freely
- swimming nude and
things like that. 1 once
went up on Stone Moun
tain with some other girls
to see the sun come up,
and took off my clothes
and danced up there. It
sure was cold; there was
ice and snow all around.
But people who take their
clothes off in movies
aren’t being free. They
just want everybody to
see them, and that’s what
1 call bad taste.”
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ASSEMBLY OF GOD
Pike County Assembly of God, 4990
Hwy. 19 S., Zebulon, 770-567-1594
BAPTIST
Antioch Baptist Church, Highway 19
North, Zebulon, 770-228-8878
Berean Baptist Church, 2677 Highway
41, Griffin, 770-227-5817
Beulah Baptist Church, Highway 109,
Lifsey Springs, 770-567-3525
Christian Fellowship Baptist Church
of Pike County, 970 McKinley Rd.,
Zebulon, 770-567-4300
Concord Baptist Church, 9670 Hwy.
18, Concord, 770-884-5205
Corinth Baptist Church, Merrybrook
Road, Williamson, 770-227-2113
Elkins Creek Baptist Church, 7504
Crest Highway., Molena, 706-647-6250
Emmanuel Baptist Church, 5015 Hwy.
19 S, Zebulon, 770-567-8825
Faith Baptist Church of Pike County,
Hwy. 19 N., Zebulon, Pastor Nesbitt
Odom
First Baptist Church, Concord Street,
Zebulon, 770-567-8498
Flat Rock Primitive Baptist Church,
107 Flat Rock Church Rd., Zebulon
Friendship Baptist Church, 121
Friend-ship Church Rd., Milner, 770-
227-1885
Georgia Baptist Children's Home,
1508 Highway 19 South, Zebulon, 770-
567-8987
Harp’s Crossing Baptist Church, 6749
Hwy. 362 W„ Williamson, 770-229-4253
Meansville Baptist Church, 501 Hwy.
109 E., Meansville, 770-567-3834, www.
meansvillebaptistchurch.com
Molena Baptist Church, 770-884-
Hwy. 19, Griffin770-228-8075
Mt. Hope Baptist Church, Highway 19,
Zebulon, 770-567-3880
Mount Nebo Baptist Church, Highway
109, P.0. Box 343 Meansville, 770-567-
8834
Mt. Olive Baptist Church, 1177 Hwy
109, Molena, 770-884-5327
Neal Baptist Church, Highway 18
West, Concord, 770-229-6132
New Hebron Baptist Church,
Pedenville Road, Concord, 770-567-
4113. Meets third Sundays, 3 p.m.
New Hope Baptist Church, New Hope
Road, Zebulon, pastor Jim Waller,
770-227-2529, newhopez.com
New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, 246
College St., P.0. Box 167, Concord, 770-
601-3616
Old Mt. Calvaiy Baptist, College
Street and Eppinger Bridge Road,
Concord, 770-884-5879
Open Arms Baptist Church, East
Milner Road, Zebulon, 770-567-3377
Providence First Baptist Church,
Highway 362 West, Williamson
Pritchett Memorial Baptist, 496
Jugtown Rd., Meansville, 706-648-3578
Smyrna Baptist Church, Smyrna
Church Road, Molena, 678 614-6343.
CATHOLIC
St. Peter The Rock Catholic Church,
3594 Barnesville Hwy., The Rock, 706-
648-2599
HOLINESS
Faith Deliverance Holiness Church,
525 Old Meansville Rd., Zebulon, 770-
567-9572
Mountain View Holiness Church, 3411
Kings Rd., Meansville, 706-648-4342
Pine Mountain Holiness Church, 1754
Hwy. 19 S. (Pine Mountain Holiness
Campground), 770-550-5815
Pure Holiness Church of God, Hillcrest
Avenue, Concord, 770-884-5796
True Solid Faith Holiness Church,
Second Street, Concord
Victory Temple Holiness Church of
the Apostolic Faith, 7767 Hwy. 19 S.,
Zebulon, 404-217-2440, Pastor Darry L.
Coverson Sr.
NAZARENE
Pine Mountain Church of the Nazarene,
1742 Highway 19 South, Meansville
Rehoboth Nazarene Church, Kinds
Road, Molena, 770-567-8620
N0N-DEN0MINATI0NAL
Bush Chapel, 398 Pullians Road,
Concord, 770-884-5560
Christ Chapel Community Church, 115
Sullivan Rd., Zebulon, 770-567-1141
Church of Joy, 754 Hwy. 362 W.,
Williamson, 770-227-1671
True Believers in Christ Tabernacle,
5800 Hwy. 109 W., Molena, 770-884-
9100, Rev. Fred Blackmon
Fairfield CME Church, Highway 362,
Concord, 770-412-6875
Free Liberty Church, P.0. Box 7,
Williamson, 770-227-0340
High Praise Tabernacle, 509D S. Hwy.
19,770-412-7477
Joyful Noise Praise and Worship
Center, 770-884-9786,770-567-8872
Mountain Gap Church, 2746 Pine
Valley Rd., The Rock, 770-567-3734
New Life In Jesus, Zebulon, 770-
Pike
567-0684
Pike County Church of Christ, 688
McKinley Rd., Williamson, 770-567-
5525
Flint River Chapel, 2556 Flat Shoals
Rd., Concord, 770-330-0063, meets 4th
Sun. 6 p.m., Pastor Jeff Yearwood
Vega Community Church, Vega Road
Victory Life Tabernacle, Williamson
Williamson Christian Church,
Williamson Road, Williamson, Rev. Johan
VanderMeiwe
Church of Joy 3080 Hwy. 362 W.
PRESBYTERIAN
Friendship Presbyterian, Pedenville
Road, Concord, 770-564-9040
(pastor), 404-697-2311 (church) www.
friendshippres.com
UNITED METHODIST
Concord United Methodist Church,
Hwy. 18, Concord, Arianna Eberle, pastor
Ebenezer United Methodist Church,
Highways 18 and 109 E„ 706-819-9357
Fuller United Methodist Church, Old
Meansville Road, Zebulon, 770-567-9600
Hollonville United Methodist, Hwy.
362, Hollonville, 770-378-4643, pastor
Shane Moore
Life Springs United Methodist Church
and Community Center, Rev. Alex Smith,
LifeSpringsPike.org.
New Pleasant Hill CME, 108 Society
St., Concord, 770-884-3910
Roberts Chapel UMC, 850 Powder
Creek Rd., Concord, 770-567-3371
Williamson Methodist Church,
Highway 362, Williamson, 770-227-2068
Zebulon UMC, Highway 19 North
Zebulon, 770-567-8621
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