Christmas Tales of Alabama Read Online Free Page B

Cookbook: Memories and Traditional Receipts from the Deep South in 1991. Years after Truman’s 1984 death, Marie used some of his recollections and Sook’s recipes to publish Fruitcake: Memories of Truman Capote and Sook . While promoting the book, Marie made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, showing him—and guest Mel Gibson—how to make a fruitcake. The sassy attitude of the eighty-something Rudisill led to occasional repeat appearances on the show as the advice-dispensing “Fruitcake Lady.”
    Rudisill died in 2006, days before the publication of her final book: Ask the Fruitcake Lady: Everything You Would Already Know If You Had Any Sense .
    T HE S TORY OF THE “A LABAMA B ABY ”
    Just after Christmas 1897, Verna Pitts, a little girl who lived in Roanoke, Alabama, dropped and broke the prized porcelain bisque doll she had received as a gift. Little Verna, inconsolable, took her broken doll to Miss Ella, a lady known around town for her creativity and ingenuity.
    Ella had a love of children, though she had none of her own, and took seriously the task of repairing Verna’s doll. After pouring plaster into the broken head, she laid its pieces in the proper places and secured them with strips of cloth torn from Verna’s petticoat. Miss Ella then coated the cloth with plaster of Paris and painted a new face on the doll. Little Verna took one look at her doll’s new countenance and skipped happily away. This doll, Miss Ella was sure, would not break.

    It was the start of a new career for the childless woman and a venture that would leave its legacy on the tiny town of Roanoke.
    Ella Louise Gantt was born in April 1868 in Heard County, Georgia, to industrious, artistic parents. Her father fought with the Confederate army and was an inventor who held several patents, including one for a coiled spring used in mattresses. Ella’s mother enjoyed painting. Unlike many young women of the time, Ella continued her education after high school and studied art at LaGrange College. Within a few years, she would arrive in Alabama to teach art at Roanoke Normal College. There she met Samuel Swainswright Smith, a local carpenter who went by the nickname “Bud.” They married two years later.
    Bud built the couple a home on the picturesque town’s Main Street. Now a housewife, Miss Ella spent time creating oil paintings and longing for children of her own. She was a well-known figure around Roanoke because she wore large hats and kept lots of animals, including a talking parrot. The parrot also had a reputation around town: it was known for singing hymns. Another legend states that when men would knock on the door asking if the Smiths needed a load of firewood, they would hear a response telling them to unload in the backyard. Eventually, Miss Ella went out back to find a yard filled with wood, and that was when she realized the parrot had apparently been ordering for her.
    Ella’s longing for children often took her to the local orphanage, particularly at Christmas, her favorite time of year. After repairing little Verna’s doll, Miss Ella realized she could use the process to create dolls that would be virtually indestructible. Beginning in 1899, she began creating what would become known as the Alabama Indestructible Doll, or, more colloquially, the “Alabama Baby.”
    Using her home as a factory, Ella created each doll by hand and then painted each of their faces. As the dolls’ popularity grew, Bud constructed a two-story outbuilding as a factory, and Ella hired women to help with production of the dolls. Already accustomed to a house filled with animals, Miss Ella used carrier pigeons to send messages to conduct her business.
    Dolls varied widely in appearance. They were typically from twelve to twenty-seven inches, although a few were as small as eight inches. The eyes were typically cornflower blue or deep brown. The lips were painted a deep