#204
Celebration Time
From
Don Bailey collection
A rarely-seen print of a photo taken in the 'teens. No one has been able to identify the event with any certainty. Some guess that it's a July 4th celebration; another has suggested that it was an appearance by John Phillip Sousa and his famous band. The man addressing the crowd looks to be wearing a military uniform, as do the musicians on either side of him. If it indeed was July, pity the poor souls in those dark, heavy clothes. If any descendents of D.C. Cole, Cliffside's Music Man for over 40 years, are out there, perhaps you can help us solve this puzzle.
Jim Haynes, grandson of Robert Edgar Haynes (son of R.R. Haynes) thinks the man in uniform addressing the crowd is Barron P. Caldwell (1882-1952), husband of RRH's daughter Virginia. Caldwell was Superintendent of Cliffside School in the early days. It's told that, on special occasions, he would wear his WWI army uniform to school.
Lula Goode Humphries says when she was nine or ten years old (about 1918), John Phillip Sousa and his band indeed came to town and performed at the exact place shown in the photograph. She remembers going barefoot and standing in the crowd. Whether the occasion captured in the photo and the one she remembers are the same, she can't say.
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