Long before movie stars Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger became governors of California, a popular radio personality with no previous political experience—who wasn't even registered to vote—swept into the governor's office of Texas. W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel was a 1930s businessman who discovered the power of radio to sell flour. His musical shows with the Light Crust Doughboys (which launched the career of Bob Wills) and his radio homilies extolling family and Christian values found a vast, enthusiastic audience in Depression-era Texas. When Pappy decided to run for governor in 1938 as a way to sell more flour—a fact he proudly proclaimed throughout the campaign—the people of Texas voted for him in record numbers. And despite the ineptitude for politics he displayed once in office, Texans returned him to the governorship in 1940 and then elected him to the U.S. Senate in 1941 in a special election in which he defeated Lyndon Johnson, as well as to a full term as senator in 1942. While the hit film O Brother, Where Art Thou? celebrated a fictional "Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy" O'Daniel, this book captures the essence of the real man through photographs taken by employees of the Texas Department of Public Safety, most of which are previously unpublished. Reminiscent of the work of WPA photographers such as Russell Lee and Dorothea Lange, these photos record the last unscripted era of politics when a charismatic candidate could still address a crowd from an unpainted front porch or a mobile bandstand in the back of a truck. They strikingly confirm that Pappy O'Daniel's ability to connect with people was as great in person as on the radio. To set the photos in context, Bill Crawford has written an entertaining text that discusses the political landscape in Texas and the United States in the 1930s, as well as the rise of radio as mass medium for advertising and entertainment. He also provides extensive captions for each picture. John Anderson, Photo Archivist of the Texas State Archives, discusses the work of Joel Tisdale and the other DPS photographers who left this extraordinary record of the greatest vote-getter in Texas history, who became one of America's first celebrities to cross the line from entertainment to political office.

Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy: Pictures of Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel (Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series)

Arts & Photography

Crawford, Bill

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

University of Texas Press

Texas politicians are a lively, sometimes controversial, always entertaining breed, and the ways they have chosen to put themselves and their messages before the public are equally as interesting. Anything and everything that can be printed with a candidate's name, image, and slogan—from buttons and bumper stickers to chewing gum, pocket knives, and plastic pickles—is likely to turn up in a Texas political campaign. Though many consider these items ephemeral, collectors value political memorabilia as a fascinating "sound bite" record of the candidates and issues that engaged the voting public over decades. Texas Political Memorabilia presents just such a pictorial history of Texas politics, the first ever compiled.
Drawn from the vast personal collection of Chuck Bailey and augmented with items from other private and public collections, this book presents the most exceptional, most memorable, and most informative examples of Texas political memorabilia. The featured items cover everything from the presidential campaigns of Lyndon Johnson and both George Bushes, to U.S. House and Senate elections, to statewide races for governor and the Texas House and Senate, to county and city elections. All the major figures of twentieth-century Texas politics—as well as Sam Houston and Davy Crockett—are represented in the book. To set the images in context, Chuck Bailey and Bill Crawford provide background on the candidates, races, and issues that inspired many of the pieces pictured in the book.
From LBJ's Stetson-shaped ashtrays to Jake Pickle's plastic squeaker pickles to George W. Bush's "W" buttons, Texas Political Memorabilia is a treasure trove of the nuts and bolts and buttons of Texas politics.

Texas Political Memorabilia: Buttons, Bumper Stickers, and Broadsides (Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series)

History

Bailey, Chuck

Americas

Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves, Revised Edition

Before the Internet brought the world together, there was border radio. These mega-watt "border blaster" stations, set up just across the Mexican border to evade U.S. regulations, beamed programming across the United States and as far away as South America, Japan, and Western Europe.
This book traces the eventful history of border radio from its founding in the 1930s by "goat-gland doctor" J. R. Brinkley to the glory days of Wolfman Jack in the 1960s. Along the way, it shows how border broadcasters pioneered direct sales advertising, helped prove the power of electronic media as a political tool, aided in spreading the popularity of country music, rhythm and blues, and rock, and laid the foundations for today's electronic church. The authors have revised the text to include even more first-hand information and a larger selection of photographs.

Humor & Entertainment

Fowler, Gene

Radio

From the comedy clubs of New York to his big break on "Saturday Night Live" to block-buster films like "Big Daddy" and "Little Nicky" Adam Sandler has left America howling in their seats and peeing in their pants. Sandler has emerged as the decade's most unstoppable comedic-and the ladies love him! But how many people know the story behind this lovable comedic prodigy's ascent to fame? Bill Crawford takes you back to Sandler's childhood in a small New Hampshire Town, where his stand-up routines were always hits with his classmates but not necessarily the teachers! When Adam left his small town to take on the big city at New York University, it wasn't always easy, Sandler performed as a street musician crooning Springsteen songs to commuters, but he was destined to succeed. From his long friendship with then college classmate Tim Herlihy, who went on to co-write all Sandler's movies, to being discovered by Dennis Miller and eventually becoming America's funnyman, Bill Crawford looks behind the headlines and tabloid tales to shed new light on this decade's comedic darling.

Adam Sandler: America's Comedian

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

St. Martin's: Griffin

Traces the life of one of America's greatest guitarists, from his early years in the Texas music scene, his rivalry with his brother Jimmie, and his battles with drugs and alcohol, to his tragic death in 1990

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire

Patoski, Joe Nick

Little,Brown & Co

Now available in paperback, here is the bestselling biography of America's last guitar legend, Texas firebrand Stevie Ray Vaughan. Hailed the greatest guitarist since Hendrix, Vaughan emerged from the hotbed of Texas blues to develop a blistering, unforgettable style all his own. "A rich, complete, and loving portrait."--Detroit Free Press.

Little. Brown and Company

Documents the heroic achievements of the fighter pilots of World War I, profiling the author's father's harrowing military experiences as a member of the newly created U.S. Air Service as drawn from diaries, letters, and previously unpublished interviews. Reprint.

Echoes of Eagles: A Son's Search for His Father and the Legacy of America's First Fighter Pilots

Wooley, Charles

Military

NAL Trade

All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe

All American is riveting and grand-that rare pairing of exquisite writing and unassailable research. Crawford delivers you to an age when iconic titans like Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner marched across the planet, and he is the perfect guide to their enormous triumphs and tragedies. This is epic American history at its page-turning finest. -Bill Minutaglio, author of City on Fire and First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty He was the greatest football running back of his era, leading his Carlisle Indian Industrial School team to victory over all the great college powerhouses. King Gustav of Sweden called him ""the greatest athlete in the world"" after he won gold medals for the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games. Yet Jim Thorpe was also at the center of the greatest sports scandal of the twentieth century-a scandal that took away his Olympic medals and banned him forever from intercollegiate sports. Now, in this revealing new biography, Bill Crawford captures Jim Thorpe's remarkable rise and fall. From his youth on Oklahoma's Sac and Fox Indian reservation to his astounding feats on the gridiron, from his Olympic triumphs to his complex relationship with coach ""Pop"" Warner, who mentored, exploited, and ultimately betrayed him, All American brings you up close and personal with the greatest athlete of the twentieth century.

Trade Paper Press

Documents the heroic achievements of the fighter pilots of World War I, profiling the author's father's harrowing military experiences as a member of the newly created U.S. Air Service as drawn from diaries, letters, and previously unpublished interviews. 35,000 first printing.

Echoes of Eagles: A Son, a Father and America's First Fighter Pilots

Woolley, Charles

Dutton Adult/The Penguin Group

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crawford, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Crawford, Bill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crawford, Bill. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Please Pass the Biscuits, Pappy: Pictures of Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel (Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series)

Texas Political Memorabilia: Buttons, Bumper Stickers, and Broadsides (Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage Series)

Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves, Revised Edition

Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves, Revised Edition

Adam Sandler: America's Comedian

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire

Echoes of Eagles: A Son's Search for His Father and the Legacy of America's First Fighter Pilots

All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe

Echoes of Eagles: A Son, a Father and America's First Fighter Pilots