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THE OLD
FIDDLER by
Bob Bowman | |
Way back
in the l930s, Henderson County storekeeper John Hatton leaped from obscurity
into statewide prominence when Athens
started its annual Old Fiddlers Reunion.
Hatton, who ran a store in the
little community of Opelika and did some farming on the side, was used in the
publicity shots showing him drawing a bow across a fiddle.
According to
a story told by the late Dallas newspaperman Bob Hays in his 1971 book, “It
Really Happened in East Texas,” Hatton’s photo appeared in scores of Texas
newspapers as “the best known of all fiddlers.”
Walter Robinson, an Athens
newspaperman, and Linden Jones, a state employee, had volunteered to promote the
fiddlers reunion and went looking for a someone who could become a symbol for
the reunion.
When they saw Hatton--with his wiry build, leathery face
and stubbled beard--they agreed he he was the perfect picture of an old-time fiddler.
Hatton
loved fiddle music and agreed to help promote the reunion. Photographers snapped
hundreds of photos, which popped up in newspapers and magazines all over the country.
Hatton, indeed, became a living symbol of an old fiddler. One photographer made
a close-up of Hatton and called it “the Old Fiddler’s Metronome,” For a while,
Hatton was Athens’ most recognizable face.
In the late thirties, according
to Hays, Robinson and Jones ran out of promotion ideas, so they carried Hatton
to the Dallas Morning News and asked photographer Earl Moore to make some new
photos that would appeal to a new crowd of editors. Moore set up his lights in
the News’ studio and told Hatton he wanted to shoot some action shots. “How about
playing Sally Goodin’ while I shoot away?,” he asked Hatton.
“I don’t
know it,” said Hatton.
“How about Rosin’ Down the Bow?” asked Moore.
“I don’t know that’n either,” said Hatton.
“Al'right,” said Moore, somewhat
frustrated. “Give me a round of Turkey in the Straw. Surely you know that one.”
Hatton was silent for a minute or two. Finally, he confessed he couldn’t play
the fiddle.” It turned out that Hatton was willing to help promote the Old Fiddlers
Reunion, but he didn’t know one note from another.
Moore asked him how
he had kept up the deception for years.
“I never said I could play the
fiddle and, until now, no body ever asked me to,” he said. |
All
Things Historical
November 1, 2004 Column
Published with
permission
(Distributed by the East Texas Historical Association. Bob Bowman
is a former president of the Association and the author of more than 30 books
about East Texas.) | | |
