J.C. Penney 'Turn Back the Clock Day' 1949

After my mother died in 2004, I found this photo of the employees at J.C. Penney’s all dressed up in vintage clothing.

I may have seen it as a kid but I don’t remember any family stories about the picture.

My father is on the front row, fourth from left. I can spot him even with that pasted-on droopy handlebar mustache.

After a lot of digging over the years, I finally found the story.

It was April 21, 1949, Founder’s Day at J.C. Penney, where my father worked after the war.

All the employees wore styles from the turn of the century – Penney’s had been founded in 1902. It was called Turn Back the Clock Day.

According to the newspaper story many of the employees had spent weeks working on their costumes.

There was even a contest to select “Miss Penney of 1902!”

Mrs. Grace Ketron, who worked in the Ladies Department, took top honors. She is the tall woman in the black hat, third row, third from the left. Mrs. Noble Bacon (second row, second from left, with the fan) finished second. Hannah Thompson (second row, seventh from left), who worked in Layaway, was third.

I got a few i.d.’s ten years ago from John Welch, who worked at Penney in the forties:

Front row, far left, Jack Clayman, who worked in the Shoe Department, where the photo was taken; fourth from left, Lyle Staten, who worked in the Men’s Department; fifth from left, Clarence Ford.

Second row, far left, Betty Stapleton; second from left, Hanna Thompson; fifth from left, Audrea Smith of the Boys Department.

Third row, fifth from left, Patsy Smith; sixth from left, Georgia Poe of Receiving; seventh from left, Grace Ketron, Miss Penney of 1902; eighth from left, Lena Bledsoe who worked in the office.

Back row, far left, Tilford Salyer of Men’s Shoes; second from left (partially obscured) Ross Jenkins of the Men’s Department.

 The unidentified man to my father’s left seems to have on spats. And his cigar is a nice touch.

Lots of buttons and bows in the picture! And the men in the front row seem to be holding bowler hats.

Patsy Smith was the mother of Billie Mae Smith, who in 1955 would have a date with Elvis when he played the Civic Auditorium.

Tilford Salyer went on to become a well-known gospel music promoter and producer, founding Trail Records, which recorded the McKameys, the Kingsmen, the Dumplin Valley Boys and many others. He also played Uncle Sam in Kingsport’s annual Fourth of July Parade.

Jack Clayman had been a cheerleader at D-B (class of '46).

My father left Penney’s in 1956 to open Munford Do-It-Yourself Store on Supermarket Row.

Here's the full newspaper page from 1949 - note other ads, including the one for Skateland. (As always, click to enlarge.)

More literary notes:

Kingsport native Patricia Ledford (D-B ’64) published a historical novel this year. “Strings: the Story of Hope” is set in upper east Tennessee and western North Carolina during the Revolutionary War. Reviewers on Amazon rate it a five-star “page turner.”

Pat was the first Executive Director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, recruiting 35 film projects to the state which made Tennessee’s film industry rank fourth in the nation in film production at the time.

She is also a fellow alum of Andrew Johnson Elementary School. At the time Johnson opened in 1953 it was the only school in America named for a president who had been impeached.

Poet Laureate Charles Wright’s years in Kingsport included all the familiar stops of childhood: patrol boy at Lincoln, drummer in the junior high band and city league basketball.

A dozen or so years ago one of his teammates on Harkleroad Feed in the Junior League sent me this team picture.

That’s the future Poet Laureate third from left.

After my recent post about the unmasking of wrestler Count X in Kingsport City Court in 1960, curiosity got the best of me so I did more digging on the case. Two days later the referee who had brought the assault charges, Bill Canny, decided he wanted revenge in the form of a match against the unmasked Count (real name: Jack Ross). But claiming he was out of shape, he convinced the local wrestling promoter to turn it into a six-man tag team match. (I don’t think it took much convincing.)

The Count and his team won the match. So Canny didn’t get his revenge. But the City Court judge got played by a wrestling promoter.

It wasn’t an assault after all, it was just another wrestling stunt.