FOURTH GENERATION
59. John Henry FAULK Jr.
(1) was born about 1914 in ____, ____
Co., Texas.(28) He died about 9 Apr 1990
in Austin, Travis Co., Texas. Austin storyteller
John Henry Faulk dies of cancer at 76
Humorist fought for civil liberties
Entertainer John Henry Faulk, who blended his unique humor with a passion
for individual liberties and fee speech died Monday evening at his West Lake
Hills home after a three-year battle with an inoperable form of cancer.
The wry, energetic Faulk - called the greatest storyteller since Mark Twain
by author Studies Terkel - died with his wife, Liz, and family members at his
aide.
A private funeral is planned. A memorial service will he held with-in two
weeks, but a time and location had not been set late Monday.
Faulk, who was 76, gained the respect of civil libertarians and col-leagues
in the entertainment industry by tenaciously pursuing a lawsuit against those
who blacklisted performers during the McCarthy era in the 1950s. Faulk had
been fired from his national CBS radio show after being attacked by an anti-communist
organization.
His wit and irrepressible good cheer later made Faulk a popular figure on
the stage, at political gatherings, on talk shows or anywhere an audience gathered.
Faulk often traveled the college banquet circuit, speaking on current events
and the First Amendment, a subject in which he had a scholar's interest.
From 1975 to '80, Faulk's folksy style earned him a berth on television,
where he p1ayed country bumpkins on the syndicated series Hee Haw. The same homespun
manner, touched with Faulk's intelligence and sensitivity, had a pealed to 1950s
listeners of CBS radio's Johnny's Front Porch, later called The John Henry Faulk
Hour.
Among Faulk's recent projects was writing and performing the one-man show,
Pear Orchard, Texas. The show, in which Faulk played 10 characters, is being
produced for television by KEDT-TV, the PBS affiliate in Corpus Christi, and
Public Affairs Television, journalist Bill Moyers' production company.
During the 90-minute tribute to Faulk, which Moyers said will air later
this year, the humorist portrays characters from Pear Orchard and is interviewed
by Moyers. Narration is provided by Terkel, an old friend of Faulk's.
In a July benefit at the Para-mount Theatre, several of Faulk's friends
- including actor Ossie Davis, producer Lee Grant and singer Jerry Jeff Walker
- toasted Faulk's career. He greeted guests as Bill Grumbles, mayor of fictional
Pear Orchard, and other characters from the play.
At the show, Davis said Faulk "has personified in himself much of what
the (Constitution) meant, said and intended." Grant said the humorist "speaks
to us with laughter about the most profound moral and ethical concerns of our
generation."
Proceeds from the benefit, which came after Faulk's return from a six-day
trip to Nicaragua as guest of then-President Daniel Ortega, went to the Live
Oak Theatre and to help pay the humorist's medical bills.
Terkel said Faulk "represents to me and I trust to scores of thousands
of others who love him, what this country is all about."
"He has a way of cutting through all the phony patriotism like a hot
knife through butter. He is possessed of a remarkable nimbleness of wit and a
keen understanding," Terkel said.
Long-time friend and Austin humorist Cactus Pryor said Faulk "was without
a doubt the most gifted conversationalist, the most charming person that I've
ever met will ever meet. About the only he had any prejudice against is prejudice.
He was literally a man of all people, literally classless."
Lady Bird Johnson called Faulk, a friend of the Johnsons, "a highly
caring individual. His compassion and understanding of the human scene brought
warmth and laughter to many."
Faulk had strong liberal views, but he counted among his friends politicians
with a more conservative inclination. "He believed in the freedom to be
different, if you wanted to be (and) was a man of unusual talents and a person
of great creativity," said University of Texas classmate and former Gov.
John Connally. "All of us who know him will miss him - and those who don't
will have missed a rare and unique individual."
"What a wonderful man, warm, funny, delightful. He has contributed
greatly to individual freedoms and freedom of speech," said U.S. Rep. Charles
Wilson of Luikin, an East Texas friend who recalled that his positions on defense
issues often riled Faulk.
Since 1987, Faulk's activities were interrupted by periodic hospital ration
and therapy for cancer of the nasopharynx, which went into remission after treatment
but returned last year.
Historians likely will remember Faulk for fighting his dismissal from CBS
in 1957 after being blacklisted by an anti-communist organizati6n called AWARE
Inc. In 1962, Faulk won a $3.5 million judgment against AWARE Inc. - at the time
the largest judgment in the history of U.S. jurisprudence. Although he collected
only a fraction of the damages awarded him, Faulk's moral victory signified that
the McCarthy era, which had spawned the blacklisting practice of reviewing political
preferences as a prerequisite for employment, was indeed over.
Faulk was an Austin native, born in 1913. His father, John Henry Sr., was
a sharecropper's son who, at age 17, could neither read nor write. But he was
also known as a strong-willed idealist, and became a schoolteacher and prominent
lawyer in town during the early 1900s. The elder Faulk was a staunch early supporter
of civil rights.
"When I was growing up, segregation was accepted as a way of life,"
the junior Faulk reminisced in an interview several years ago. "I never
heard it questioned by anyone except Daddy." Faulk said his father predicted
blacks "will be voting, they'll be going to school, Johnny, in your lifetime,
because that's the nature of our republic."
Faulk said his father taught him not to personalize disagreements and to
take exception without taking offense. The other great influence on Faulk's
life, according to those who knew him well, was iconoclastic UT professor J.
Frank Dobie.
After taking Dobie's class, "Life and Literature of the Southwest,"
in the early '40s, the two became kindred spirits. Dobie passed his affinity
for Texas folklore on to Faulk, and Faulk, in turn, used his talent for mimicry
to create comic sketches that both parodied and embraced life in the Lone Star
state.
A New York Christmas party in 1945 gave Faulk his break into entertainment.
A rapt audience, which included several CBS executives, listened as Faulk led
them through a one-man tour of his beloved Hill Country.
Faulk's stable of characters grew exponentially to include such favorites
as Rep. Claude Dirt, a man who realized politics was his field of choice "because
ignorance ain't no handicap in the Texas Legislature," and cousin Ed Snodgrass,
a reactionary who took offense at protesters. "Of course I believe in the
right to free assembly," Faulk's Snodgrass drawled. "It's a sacred
American right, the right to protest. What I'm trying to put a stop to is all
this criticism."
By 1956, Faulk was a promising young radio star. His show was syndicated
throughout the Eastern seaboard, and soon Faulk was at CBS, working alongside
such contemporaries as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. On his radio show,
Faulk had a great appeal to black listeners but was also "the darling of
the sophisticates," Pryor recalled. "Here was this man with the voice
of the South coming forth with great lofty knowledge, intelligence and sensitivity.
It was a paradox."
A popular figure among the New York Cognoscenti, Faulk agreed to run for
the local board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on
a slate demanding performers not be subjected to political screening prior to
hiring. After announcing its opposition to Faulk and his AFTRA compatriots,
AWARE, Inc., used its newsletter to claim Faulk harbored communist sympathies.
CBS fired Faulk. The network said his ratings had dropped.
The ensuing litigation lasted five years and cost Faulk his broadcast-ing
career. At the conclusion of the trial, Faulk was entirely vindicated, and AWARE,
Inc., was nearly bankrupt. Faulk collected only $135,000 of the damages awarded
him; most of his money had been spent on attorney's fees and in repaying friends
who helped support him during the case.
"He is one of the most gallant men I have known; in the bleakest of
times, he stood up," Terkel said of Faulk's blacklisting battle. "He
puts bubbles in my blood and gives me hope when I'm feeling down."
Grant said Faulk "had courage to be a David when there were Goliaths
all around."
After years of trying to rise above the controversy, Faulk and his second
wife, Liz Peake, returned to Austin in 1968. At 55, he became a father again,
when John Henry Faulk III was born. Pryor quipped, "He was the first child
born under Medicare."
In the '70s, Faulk's written account of the AWARE, Inc., suit, Fear On Trial,
became a made-for-television movie -- ironically on CBS, the network that fired
him.
Faulk moved from Austin to Madisonville in 1974, declaring the United States
had become fiscally irresponsible and "an economic storm is brewing."
"They wanted to get back to the country, to the chickens, to the South
Austin life he grew up with, to a little tranquility," Pryor said. The
Faulks returned to Austin in 1981.
He sued the FBI that year after discovering he had been kept under government
surveillance from the 1940s through the 1970s. He dropped the case shortly thereafter.
His zeal for politics led Faulk to run for Congress in 1983 as a Democrat
against Phil Gramm, who renounced the Democratic party, then sought election
to the seat as a Republican. Faulk lost in the three-way special election to
Gramm.
After the race, Faulk devoted his energy to developing a version of his
one-man play Deep in the Heart, which opened in Houston in 1986, as well as a
dramatic duet with Pryor. The Austin humorists recreated conversations with Dobie.
Throughout the development of Pear Orchard, Texas, Faulk was beset with
deteriorating health. But he always remained philosophical and optimistic about
his chances for recovery. "You know, cancer is just an affliction of the
body, and you can get through that," Faulk said after returning from the
hospital last summer. "I just finished chemotherapy, and it's tuckered me
out, but the prognosis is good. I beat this thing before about two years ago,
but it came back, and so you just go and take another shot at it."
Last year, Moyers interviewed Faulk for three hours as part of the television
production of Pear Orchard. "He made me laugh because he's a wonderful humorist,"
Moyers said. "He made my cry because he was so viciously persecuted by
the right wing. He made me angry because his story is a case of America gone
awry. He made me proud because he had stood with such courage against the creatures
of the dark."
Even as Faulk lay ill in late March, television taping of Pear Orchard continued
at his boyhood
home, now the Green Pastures Restaurant in South Austin.
In addition to his wife and son, the humorist is survived by daughters Cynthia
Faulk Ryland of Austin; Johanna Faulk of Winnipeg, Canada, Evelyn Faulk of Toronto;
and son Frank Dobie Faulk of Toronto.
Faulk's sisters are Martha Stansbury, Mary Faulk Koock and Texana Conn,
all of Austin; his brother is Hamilton Faulk of Georgetown.
by Pete Szilagyi
Austin American - Statesman, April 10, 1990
John Henry Faulk: As a gallant battle ends, humanity loses a friend
His struggle was as tough and valiant as the many he fought for the principles
of free expression and human rights.
Texas, Austin and humanity at large lost a devoted friend Monday with the
passing of
John Henry Faulk. Typically, before death could claim Faulk, he waged a long
and gallant battle against it, a struggle as tough and valiant as the many he
fought for the principles of free expression and human rights.
Faulk's life - as a humorist, writ-er and orator - was dedicated to the
spirited defense of the liberties of all people, particularly their freedom to
speak, write and think as they choose. His dedication to those principles sprang
from the genuine love he bore for all his fellow men and women, from the profound
humanity that distinguished him even more than his ready toughness in a fight.
That humanity never left him. Even when his life led him through the rarified
air 6f the nation's political and intellectual elite, Faulk was never far removed
in spirit from the barefoot boy who had herded cows through the pastures of South
Austin early in the century. Even when locked in bloody ideological combat, Faulk
could sincerely look at a detractor with a twinkling eye and ad-dress him as
"sweetheart." Rarely have grit and gentility found such a happy mixture
as in John Henry Faulk.
The humankind he loved and defended is the poorer for his passing.
Austin American - Statesman (Editorial), April 10, 1990
John Henry Faulk
John Henry Faulk, our much loved and revered husband, father, grandfather,
brother, uncle and friend, died peacefully at home on April 9, 1990. He spent
his final week lovingly nurtured by his wife, all of his children, his family
and dear friends. We shall miss him more than words can expert, but we celebrate
his invincible spirit, his 1trenchant humor and his indefatigable courage - and
his joy in being a "rosarian."
We thank him for his wisdom and counsel and for all that he taught us.
A part of him will always be alive in each and every one of us. The best of
him we shall endeavor to pass along to our family and friends so that he will
live for many, many years to come.
He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Elizabeth Peake Faulk; his children,
John Henry Faulk, III (Yohan), Frank Dobie Faulk, Evelyn Faulk, Johanna Faulk,
and Cynthia Tannehill Ryland; by his brother, Hamilton Faulk of Georgetown; three
sisters, Martha Stansbury, Mary Faulk Koock and Texana Faulk Conn, all of Austin;
three grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A private funeral service will be held on Wednesday, April 11, 1990, at
Harrell Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held, 10:30 AM, Saturday, April
21,1990, at University United Methodist Church, 2409 Guadalupe.
Pallbearers are Arthur Greenspan, Bill McAfee, Kenneth Koock, Fred Chin,
Cactus Pryor and A. D. Stenger. Honorary pallbearers are J. R. Parten, Alan
Lomax, Jim Eskew, Norman Lear, Don Carleton, Miles Glaser, Mark Leonard, Paul
Martinson, Eli Friedland, Bernard Rapoport, Studs Terkel, Jan Patterson, Molly
Ivins, Wendy Wattriss, Fred Baldwin and Maury Maverick.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the John
Henry Faulk Fund, University of Texas, care of Dr. Don E. Carleton, Barker Texas
History Center, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 -- phone 512-471-1741.
This fund will be used for educational purposes relating to civil liberties and
constitutional freedoms.
Arrangements by Harrell Funeral Home in Austin. 443-1366.
Austin American - Statesman (Obituary), April 11, 1990
The Ballad Of John Henry Faulk
By Phil Ochs
I'll tell you the story of John Henry Faulk.
I'll tell you of his trials and the troubled trail he walked,
And I'll tell of the tyrants, the ones you never see:
Murder is the role they play and hatred is their fee.
On the TV and the radio John Henry Faulk was known.
He talked to many thousands with a mind that was his own,
But he could not close his eyes when the lists were passed around,
So he tried to move the Union to tear the blacklist down.
His friends they tried to warn him he was headin' for a fall.
If he spoke against the blacklist he had no chance at all,
But he laughed away their warnings and he laughed away their fears:
For how could lies destroy the work of many honest years?
Then slowly, oh so slowly, his life began to change.
People would avoid his eyes, his friends were actin' strange,
And he finally saw the power of the hidden poison pen
When they told him that his job was through, he'd never work again.
And he could not believe what his sad eyes had found.
He stared in disbelief as his world came tumblin' down,
And as the noose grew tighter, at last the trap was clear:
For every place he turned to go, that list would soon be there
-- Oh, that list.
And is there any bottom to the fears that grow inside?
Is there any bottom to the hate that you must hide?
And is there any end to your long road of despair?
Is there any end to the pain that you must bear?
His wife and children trembled, the time was runnin' short,
When a man of law got on their side and took them into court,
And there upon the stand they could not hide behind their eyes,
And the cancer of the fascist was displayed before our eyes.
Hey, you blacklist, you blacklist, I've seen what you have done.
I've seen the men you've ruined and the lives you've tried to run,
But the one thing that I've found is, the only ones you spare
Are those that do not have a brain, or those that do not care.
And you men who point your fingers and spread your lies around,
You men who left your souls behind and drag us to the ground,
You can put my name right down there, I will not try to hide --
For if there's one man on the blacklist, I'll be right there by his side.
For I'd rather go hungry to beg upon the streets
Than earn my bread on dead men's souls and crawl beneath your feet.
And I will not play your hater's game and hate you in return,
for it's only through the love of man the blacklist can be burned.
He was married
to ____ ____ about 1940. John Henry FAULK Jr. and ____ ____
had the following children:
98 i.
John Henry III FAULK(1).
99 ii.
Frank Dobie FAULK(1).
100 iii.
Evelyn FAULK(1).
101 iv.
Johanna FAULK(1).
+102 v.
Cynthia Tannehill FAULK.
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