Free Republic

Hank Williams was born in Butler County, Alabama, on September 17, in 1923. 100 years ago today. He changed the way people could hear the real American voice. An astonishing contribution to world culture. Here are just a few of his best words: “I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin’ like myself.” “To sing like a hillbilly, you had to have lived like a hillbilly. You had to have smelt a lot of mule manure.” “Folk songs express the dreams and prayers and...

Ruby Keeler was born into a catholic family in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on this date in 1909. She worked hard in tough times: "Dancing in speakeasies was a job, and none of us knew for sure who were gangsters. No one told us, so how could we know? My mother used to come and take me home. We thought nothing of walking home together at two in the morning." She supported Eisenhower's campaign in 1952. In the movie “Dames”, Ruby Keeler’s character Barbara Hemingway said, “I’m free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I’m going to dance.” Those...