Another dramaturgy question has come down the transom, this time on the details of the train journey from Thomasville, Georgia up north (the band members have a lengthy dispute over archaic train lines, to the thrill of the subway-map-loving geek in us all).
Here’s Faedra’s clarifying note:
DRAMATURGY RESPONSE 3.13.09
1. As per earlier email: p. 75 Levee’s Train Route knowledge vs Cutler’s “Rev. Gates” train route?
I’ve always wanted Levee to be right. He seems so certain about it: “That train got four stops before it reach Macon to go on to Atlana. One in Thomasville, one in Moultrie, one in Cordele…and it stop in Centerville.” He even goes further to show his knowledge of the routes when he says, “The only train that stops at Sigsbee is the Yazoo Delta, and you have to transfer at Moultrie to get it!” He feels so certain and, clearly, is so eager to be right—for once. It takes him but a second to stop Cutler’s story and offer a corrective—I feel like he has to know what he’s talking about. And for him, I feel like he’s got something to prove and here’s his chance.
BUT…. in looking at the Mapquest map here (I sent the link separately, in case anyone wants to use the site themselves), we see that Sigsbee and Moultrie are very close together. Cutler insists that the train pasts Moultrie and stops at Sigsbee while Levee says the train foregoes Sigsbee and stops at Moultrie. Well, as it turns out, Cutler may be “more right” than Levee…
In a 3-Volume book on Georgia (dated 1906 and published by the State Historical Society) it notes in its Cyclopedia of Georgia, an entry for Sigsbee:
“Sigsbee, a post-town of Colquitt county, is a station on the Georgia Northern railroad, ten miles northwest of Moultrie, and in 1900 reported a populated of 227. It has some mercantile establishments and is an important shipping point”
So, Levee is WRONG when he proclaims that there is no stop at Sigsbee “except the Yazoo Delta” because there was, and it was the *same line* that stopped at Moultrie. So both Moultrie and Sigsbee—which are actually less than 10 miles apart were both part of the Georgia Northern Railway. Moreover, unlike the Sigsbee station, the Moultrie station still “stands” (not functioning, but retained as a historical site). In fact, there’s a whole webpage on the Moultrie station (with great pics):
http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/colquittcounty/oldmoultrietraindepot.htm
So, all this to say: I guess Levee IS wrong when he says that there is not train stop in Sigsbee and Cutler may be very right when he says that Rev. Gates stopped off in the small town of Sigsbee (rats).
2. Was Paramount Records connected to Paramount Film Studio?
No (and a little bit “yes”). The origins of Paramount Records can be found in a chaircompany, that eventually turned to making phonograph cabinets and then phonograph records. The company didn’t become “Paramount Records” until around 1918 and its “race records” business blossomed after it bought out the floundering black-owned record company, Black Swan. Along with such record labels as Okeh and Columbia Records, were among the most successful Race Record companies. Nevertheless, the decline of the industry during the Great Depression led to Paramount closing its door in 1932 (although for many years later, there were some “reissues” of discs under the label’s name).
As it turns out, Paramount Pictures purchased the rights to the name “Paramount Records” in the late 1960s but prior to that purchase their histories were totally unconnected.
PS: What map, you may say? Well, we’ve created a Google Map with all the locations of the Georgia Northern railroad, plus other locations mentioned in the play, which you can access if you click right here.