PREFACE
Sonny Get Your Gun is a song written by Hanson for their members-only exclusive EP entitled Facing The Blank Page, released in 2011. In the past year, I've found myself drawn to the song, going back to it every now and then just to hear the beautifully simple melody and haunting lyrics. Every single time I heard it, I found myself emotionally sucked into the story it told, lost in a world created by my imagination.
Roughly a month ago, I was riding down the road in my car with the CD in, and the song came on. I turned it up, allowed myself to get drawn in as I always do and then, when the song was over, I put it on repeat. And then I repeated it again. And again. And ever since then, it's the only song I listen to in my car. That morning, I formed this story in my head, planning out the last half of the story before I even knew what my lead characters' names were or where they came from.
From there, I was consumed. I've lived and breathed this story ever since, trying hard not to abandon the other project I'm currently working on. The research is intense and the emotion I feel in my attachment to it is even more intense and I hope that, if I do this right, it could really turn into something great. It's different from my norm, updates may take a little longer as research can be extensive, and I feel very strongly about it. I appreciate those of you readers who are willing to think outside the normal Hanfic box and take this journey with me.
Some of my closest friends have been extremely supportive, listening to me ramble on about nearly nothing else, being my test audience, and taking time out of their busy schedules, if only for a few minutes, to help me research and answer my questions. I am extremely grateful to these ladies for their support and their love and if not for them, this story might have never been possible.
Below, I've posted one or two excerpts from my research and will update as I feel it necessary. Again, thank you for reading.
--Abby Y., September 21, 2014
RESEARCH
In 1930, the population was over 140,000 people, approximately double that of the 1920 census. Some significant events continued from the previous decades. The Tulsa Union Depot, completed in 1931, consolidated all passenger railroad traffic in one location. Passenger service was discontinued in 1967, and the building stood vacant for 14 years. In 1982, it was converted into offices.
The Philcade Building, commissioned by Waite Phillips, was completed in 1931. It was the last high-rise Art Deco office building constructed in the downtown area. For many years, the Philcade was also known as the Stanolind Building or the BP Building. A new terminal building was completed for the Tulsa Municipal Airport in 1932.
The Great Depression arrested population growth in Tulsa. The change in population was insignificant (increasing less than one percent) between the 1930 census and the 1940 census, and the land area increased by only half a square mile.[5] However, the local economy was not devastated in the same degree as much of the rest of the Midwest.
--Excerpt taken from Wikipedia
*********
1930's slang terms taken from Vintage Allies
*********
Excerpts from Shakespeare's Sonnets taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets
*********
Merchants in small towns decided to show free movies to draw country folks in to town on Thursday evenings. They projected the film on the wall of a downtown building. Helen Bolton remembers going to town for the free outdoor movies. "They had this big screen outside, and they had benches that people could sit on. You know, it'd really draw a crowd. I think they had band music, too, in the middle of the street. It was pretty nice, we went to town, you got to see all your friends ... and it was a happy time."
--Excerpt taken from Wessels Living History Farm
*********
Boy meets girl is a story that's as old as time, but how boys and girls meet has changed a little over the years. Still, the reason for dating – finding a compatible partner – is the same. Stanley Jensen says, "I think guys, boys, are attracted to girls. That's always been the case. I don't think that's any different. Hormones are raging and so forth. And girls are attracted to boys. I still am good friends with some of the girls I used to date back there." Louise Dougharty says her parents were very strict, and she didn't go out with anyone they didn't approve of. She had many "beaus" in high school. The man she eventually married had a car, and they used to drive to the Dairy Queen in Waco.
Depending on where you lived, young people in the 1930s dated and double-dated by going to movies, getting something to eat, going for ice cream, driving around, spending time with friends, going to dances, and even "necking."
Millie Opitz (left) is one woman who is willing to admit that she "necked" with her eventual husband. Dating is dating, according to Millie. She says they did things with other people, activities that didn't require much money. "Kids have to have money, now. My heavens, if you had a five-dollar bill when we were going together, that was a lot of money, it seemed like." Delbert Apetz says he didn't have a car so he had to walk to pick up his date. "You walked clear from east hill up there downtown, picked up your girl and – just walked. Went to the movies or wherever you was going." Alvin says movies cost him a dime.
Not all dates involved movies, especially if you didn't have the dime. Carla Due (right) remembers just hanging out with friends, or going on double dates. They couldn't afford to buy a hamburger in the 1930s, even on a date.
Walter Schmitt says at one time there were three soda fountains in Gresham. You didn't get ice cream in small town restaurants, you went to a soda fountain. In the evenings, the soda fountain tables in the drug store "would be full. I mean, it was an occasion to go to town and eat ice cream."
--Excerpts on dating and relationships in small towns in the 1930's taken from Wessels Living History Farm
*********
"Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her" by Christopher Brennan (1870-1932)
*********
How To Write Telegrams Properly--A Small Booklet by Nelson E. Ross, 1928
A Brief History of Telegrams--Retro-Gram.com
*********
Carnival sideshow links used for reference:
Sideshow World: "Preserving The Past...Promoting The Future"
Endangered Species by William T. Usher -- "The biography of a kid, born and raised in the carnival business, who relates some funny and interesting stories about a talker and a geek, gaffed-up freaks, croaked games, rip-offs, raids by the police, "Hey Rubes," a three hundred pound gorilla who thought a carnie strip-tease dancer was his mother, a sex-wise orangutan plus much, much more!
A rollicking, real life story of carnival life that moves from the 1920's through the 1960 s.
William "Fats" Usher tells it like it was, from his early years to the present, via a series of bawdy, mischievous, humorous, heartwarming, revealing and sometimes risqué stories of life on the midway!
A reading must for anyone who ever worked-on or visited a carnival midway." --Excerpt from Sideshow World about the book
Magician's Scrapbook--"Find out more about Magicians of the early 1900’s. Their lives, tricks, shows and deaths"
YouTube videos about carnival history:
Traveling Sideshow: Shocked and Amazed!
History of the Circus Sideshow/Freakshow
Sonny Get Your Gun is a song written by Hanson for their members-only exclusive EP entitled Facing The Blank Page, released in 2011. In the past year, I've found myself drawn to the song, going back to it every now and then just to hear the beautifully simple melody and haunting lyrics. Every single time I heard it, I found myself emotionally sucked into the story it told, lost in a world created by my imagination.
Roughly a month ago, I was riding down the road in my car with the CD in, and the song came on. I turned it up, allowed myself to get drawn in as I always do and then, when the song was over, I put it on repeat. And then I repeated it again. And again. And ever since then, it's the only song I listen to in my car. That morning, I formed this story in my head, planning out the last half of the story before I even knew what my lead characters' names were or where they came from.
From there, I was consumed. I've lived and breathed this story ever since, trying hard not to abandon the other project I'm currently working on. The research is intense and the emotion I feel in my attachment to it is even more intense and I hope that, if I do this right, it could really turn into something great. It's different from my norm, updates may take a little longer as research can be extensive, and I feel very strongly about it. I appreciate those of you readers who are willing to think outside the normal Hanfic box and take this journey with me.
Some of my closest friends have been extremely supportive, listening to me ramble on about nearly nothing else, being my test audience, and taking time out of their busy schedules, if only for a few minutes, to help me research and answer my questions. I am extremely grateful to these ladies for their support and their love and if not for them, this story might have never been possible.
Below, I've posted one or two excerpts from my research and will update as I feel it necessary. Again, thank you for reading.
--Abby Y., September 21, 2014
RESEARCH
In 1930, the population was over 140,000 people, approximately double that of the 1920 census. Some significant events continued from the previous decades. The Tulsa Union Depot, completed in 1931, consolidated all passenger railroad traffic in one location. Passenger service was discontinued in 1967, and the building stood vacant for 14 years. In 1982, it was converted into offices.
The Philcade Building, commissioned by Waite Phillips, was completed in 1931. It was the last high-rise Art Deco office building constructed in the downtown area. For many years, the Philcade was also known as the Stanolind Building or the BP Building. A new terminal building was completed for the Tulsa Municipal Airport in 1932.
The Great Depression arrested population growth in Tulsa. The change in population was insignificant (increasing less than one percent) between the 1930 census and the 1940 census, and the land area increased by only half a square mile.[5] However, the local economy was not devastated in the same degree as much of the rest of the Midwest.
--Excerpt taken from Wikipedia
*********
1930's slang terms taken from Vintage Allies
*********
Excerpts from Shakespeare's Sonnets taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets
*********
Merchants in small towns decided to show free movies to draw country folks in to town on Thursday evenings. They projected the film on the wall of a downtown building. Helen Bolton remembers going to town for the free outdoor movies. "They had this big screen outside, and they had benches that people could sit on. You know, it'd really draw a crowd. I think they had band music, too, in the middle of the street. It was pretty nice, we went to town, you got to see all your friends ... and it was a happy time."
--Excerpt taken from Wessels Living History Farm
*********
Boy meets girl is a story that's as old as time, but how boys and girls meet has changed a little over the years. Still, the reason for dating – finding a compatible partner – is the same. Stanley Jensen says, "I think guys, boys, are attracted to girls. That's always been the case. I don't think that's any different. Hormones are raging and so forth. And girls are attracted to boys. I still am good friends with some of the girls I used to date back there." Louise Dougharty says her parents were very strict, and she didn't go out with anyone they didn't approve of. She had many "beaus" in high school. The man she eventually married had a car, and they used to drive to the Dairy Queen in Waco.
Depending on where you lived, young people in the 1930s dated and double-dated by going to movies, getting something to eat, going for ice cream, driving around, spending time with friends, going to dances, and even "necking."
Millie Opitz (left) is one woman who is willing to admit that she "necked" with her eventual husband. Dating is dating, according to Millie. She says they did things with other people, activities that didn't require much money. "Kids have to have money, now. My heavens, if you had a five-dollar bill when we were going together, that was a lot of money, it seemed like." Delbert Apetz says he didn't have a car so he had to walk to pick up his date. "You walked clear from east hill up there downtown, picked up your girl and – just walked. Went to the movies or wherever you was going." Alvin says movies cost him a dime.
Not all dates involved movies, especially if you didn't have the dime. Carla Due (right) remembers just hanging out with friends, or going on double dates. They couldn't afford to buy a hamburger in the 1930s, even on a date.
Walter Schmitt says at one time there were three soda fountains in Gresham. You didn't get ice cream in small town restaurants, you went to a soda fountain. In the evenings, the soda fountain tables in the drug store "would be full. I mean, it was an occasion to go to town and eat ice cream."
--Excerpts on dating and relationships in small towns in the 1930's taken from Wessels Living History Farm
*********
"Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her" by Christopher Brennan (1870-1932)
*********
How To Write Telegrams Properly--A Small Booklet by Nelson E. Ross, 1928
A Brief History of Telegrams--Retro-Gram.com
*********
Carnival sideshow links used for reference:
Sideshow World: "Preserving The Past...Promoting The Future"
Endangered Species by William T. Usher -- "The biography of a kid, born and raised in the carnival business, who relates some funny and interesting stories about a talker and a geek, gaffed-up freaks, croaked games, rip-offs, raids by the police, "Hey Rubes," a three hundred pound gorilla who thought a carnie strip-tease dancer was his mother, a sex-wise orangutan plus much, much more!
A rollicking, real life story of carnival life that moves from the 1920's through the 1960 s.
William "Fats" Usher tells it like it was, from his early years to the present, via a series of bawdy, mischievous, humorous, heartwarming, revealing and sometimes risqué stories of life on the midway!
A reading must for anyone who ever worked-on or visited a carnival midway." --Excerpt from Sideshow World about the book
Magician's Scrapbook--"Find out more about Magicians of the early 1900’s. Their lives, tricks, shows and deaths"
YouTube videos about carnival history:
Traveling Sideshow: Shocked and Amazed!
History of the Circus Sideshow/Freakshow