Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. Byrd’s "Small Town South" "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore I have just read again Sam Byrd’s "Small Town South" and even though I had written an article in 1980 on the author, I feel inspired to write more. This was his first (1942) book and it is mostly about Mount Olive and a little town in Florida where he later lived. As I wrote in an earlier article, it is a mixture of romanticism and realism. He had played the role of Dude in Erskine Caldwell’s "Tobacco Road" for 1,157 performances in New York between 1933-1936 and in his book he writes about the poor whites and blacks in North Carolina and Florida. It is also about declining aristocracy. I found his stories charming but they were entirely from a "Tobacco Road" influence and point of view. I saw "Tobacco Road" in New York in 1936 and met Sam Byrd backstage. I was young, but I had read about him in the Mount Olive Tribune. I had respect for him because he was a small town southern boy who had made it on Broadway. In 1954 he spoke at the P.T.A. at Herring School, Sampson County, where I was principal. His address was on the potential for promoting dramatics in small high schools. When I came to Mount Olive College I became a good friend of Mrs. Starkey Moore Cherry, Sam Byrd’s cousin, by marriage, and in whose home he spent much of his youth. Mrs. Cherry furnished me with most of the data, which I have on Sam Byrd. I am still lamenting the fact that his manuscripts, papers, and etc., were given to the University rather than Mount Olive College. Sam Byrd, born 1908, was the son of Samuel A. Byrd, an attorney in Mount Olive, and Frances Lambert Byrd. His mother was sister to the mother of the late Walter Cherry. After his father died his mother remarried and he went to live with the Cherry’s. Sam attended school in Mount Olive and later went to live with his mother and stepfather in Sanford, Florida. It was there that he became interested in drama and writing. He attended the University of Florida where he majored in journalism and had some experience in acting and playwriting. He then headed for New York, and besides "Tobacco Road," he had roles in 12 Broadway plays. He wrote four plays and in 1942 wrote "Small Town South." In 1942 Sam Byrd enlisted in the Navy and was commissioned Lieutenant Commander. He was decorated for distinguished service in the Normandy Invasion and he was in the Battle of Okinawa. In 1946, he published his second book, "Hurry Home to My Heart." In 1946 and in 1948, he received the Guggenheim Fellowship award in creative writing and his studies carried him to England and to Europe. He later taught sociology at the College of Charleston. In 1949, he wrote and directed the "Duplin Story," commemorating the bicentennial of the founding of Duplin County. This historical drama was given in Kenansville. In 1950, he wrote another historical play, "For Those Who Live in the Sun," which was given at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston. In May 1951, Sam Byrd married Patricia Bolam, an English girl whom he had met in England in World War II. They went to New York where Sam played a role in the play, "The Chase." In 1954, Sam returned to Wayne County, where he edited the Weekly Gazette in LaGrange. He became ill with leukemia and spent some time at Duke Hospital. His condition improved and he returned to Mount Olive to live with his cousins, Mr. And Mrs. Walter Cherry. He had a relapse and died on November 14, 1955. He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Mount Olive. His widow later married Dr. Bruce Draper and lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sam Byrd had a great love for Mount Olive and for the South, but he did have a fascination for the behavioral patterns of the so-called redneck element in the South. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================