Institute for Southern Storytelling’s Latest Documentary Explores Prolific Southern Writer’s Life, Loves, Losses
During his freshman year at Mississippi College, Anthony Thaxton was selected to design and produce a poster to promote the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium, an annual celebration of the achievements of Southern authors and scholars named in honor of the world-renowned short-story writer, novelist, and photographer.
One year earlier, Thaxton had attended the first Welty Symposium at the author’s alma mater, the Mississippi University for Women, in Columbus. He had asked Welty to autograph his well-worn copy of her book, “One Writer’s Beginnings.” Now, he was side-by-side with the soft-spoken matriarch of Southern literature in Mississippi, signing prints of the limited-edition poster he had created.
“She even thanked me for letting her sign my poster,” Thaxton recalled. “I have been in love with Eudora Welty ever since.”
As an English language and literature major at Mississippi College, Amy Bryant Thaxton studied Welty under Lee Harding, professor emeritus of English, and came to regard her as one of the South’s literary giants. Among the first gifts Anthony gave his then-girlfriend was a print of the poster autographed by Welty.
“Anthony knew that he could talk about Welty and get my interest,” said Amy. “She was common ground for us. He’s an artist. I’m a literary person. So, Welty’s writing was a common interest that we both had.”
Since Welty helped bring the couple together, it stood to reason that the creative minds behind MC’s Institute for Southern Storytelling would one day produce a film about the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and longtime resident of Jackson. Their documentary – simply entitled “Eudora,” – is scheduled to officially debut on Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson.
For almost three years, the Thaxtons meticulously combed through a treasure trove of previously unpublished photos and letters, newspaper articles, and interviews supplied by Mary Alice Welty White, one of two beloved nieces whom Welty treated more like daughters.
Along with restaurateur, author, and “enthusiastic traveler” Robert St. John, the Thaxtons produced the hour-long “Eudora,” which represents the partnership’s second full-length documentary. The first – “Walter Anderson: The Extraordinary Life and Art of the Islander” – received a pair of Southeast Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Why choose Eudora Welty as the follow-up to the Walter Anderson documentary?
“She has such a great story,” Anthony said.
“She lived to be 92 years old, and most people now think of her as this little old lady in her house in Jackson,” Amy said. “We wanted to tell the story of who she really was. When she was young, she lived a lot of life that we didn’t know about because she was very private. When interviewed, she would talk about her writing and about Mississippi, but she never delved into her personal life.
“That’s what piqued our interest. We wanted to know more about who she was as a person. That’s what we really wanted to discover.”
Which is why they named the documentary, “Eudora.”
“It’s not about ‘little Old Miss Welty,’” Anthony said. “It’s about Eudora. The film is not an academic treatise on her writing and the themes in literature. It’s about her as a person and getting to know who she really was in an intimate way.”
What they discovered would be surprising to all but the most serious of Welty scholars. For example, there were two great loves of Welty’s life – and they weren’t literature and photography.
“Her romances – the loves and losses of loves – were big revelations to me,” Anthony said. “She wrote to Ross Macdonald, who was a mystery writer. He was married, but they shared between 300 and 400 letters together. They were very personal and intimate, and I would say they shared a ‘soulmate’ relationship through these letters.
“It’s a beautiful love story, but they could never be together. In the documentary, we see examples of tragedy and loss, but there are also stories of a rich life filled with meaningful friendships.”
Welty’s personality shines throughout the piece. Far from the sweet, docile old lady she became known as in her later years, the burgeoning author had plenty of spunk.
“What we found surprising was how fun she was,” Anthony said. “She was a lot more playful, witty, and mischievous than we realized.
“At one point in the film, she says, ‘Somebody asked me, “Miss Welty, do you always write about olden times?” And she said, “It wasn’t olden times – it was the present when I was writing about it.”’”
The film follows the budding literary superstar as a 16-year-old college student at “The W” to Columbia University and beyond, sharing many examples of her mischievous, fun-loving nature and humor.
Before she became known for her writing, Welty was making a name for herself as a photographer. Many of her depression-era photos taken during the 1930s and ‘40s were exhibited in New York shows before she had published her first story.
“Eudora had this wonderful ability, because of her personality, to feel what another person could feel,” Amy said. “That shows in her photographs. We talk a good bit about her photography in the film, because it shows her ability to connect to a person in an entirely different way.
“At the time she was coming up, there were so many more rules about who could look at who, who could talk to who. Eudora crossed those boundaries in her quiet way and presented the Mississippi of the 1930s and ‘40s with such dignity.”
Anthony Thaxton will moderate a panel on Eudora Welty at the Mississippi Book Festival, which will lead into the screening of “Eudora.” Also on the festival’s docket: a panel discussion about a second companion book to the Walter Anderson documentary, “The Bicycle Logs of Walter Anderson,” written by the artist’s son, John G. Anderson, designed by Anthony Thaxton, and edited by Amy Thaxton.
Published earlier this year, “The Bicycle Logs” – a Thaxton Studios book published in conjunction with the Center for Southern Storytelling at MC – is a complimentary volume to “Walter Anderson: The Extraordinary Life and Art of the Islander,” written by St. John and Anthony Thaxton and released in November 2021.
Through an extensive collection of mostly never-before-seen art and writings, “The Bicycle Logs of Walter Anderson” provides an extraordinary view through the eyes of an artist as he was developing his craft.
An explorer as well as an artist, Anderson kept logs and created artwork on his journeys, whether walking through China towards Tibet, sailing a small boat out to a wilderness island, or bicycling 2,000 miles. His travels paint an fascinating image of a unique life.
“One August, it was so hot that the asphalt melted the tires off his bike. So, he camped out under a bridge and painted while he waited for new tires to be delivered. Nobody outside of the family has ever seen these bicycle logs.”
The rare nature of Anderson’s journal entries and artwork included in the “The Bicycle Logs” make the 300-page full-color coffee table book jam packed with art a “must-have” for all admirers of one of the South’s greatest artists.
“It’s gotten terrific reviews,” Anthony said. “This volume is chock-full of new information about Walter Anderson, and it’s designed to feel like his logbook and sketchbook. Artists, in particular, love the book because it includes unfinished drawings so you can see his process.”
Similar to the Anderson volumes, the Thaxtons have released a full-color companion book for “Eudora.”
White, who wrote a forward for the book, provided dozens of family photographs and other material for the volume.
“When you do three years of research, you end up with a lot of material that won’t fit in the 56 minutes you’re allotted for the documentary,” Amy said. “That’s where the companion book comes in. We have more room to share the whole story.
“There are a lot of photographs and things no one outside of the family has seen. It’s almost like you’re looking through a memory book that a family member would have put together. It’s a visual feast of Eudora’s life, a museum-in-a-book of memorabilia.”
William R. Ferris, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, and a member of the Institute for Southern Storytelling’s advisory board, penned the book’s introduction.
In keeping with the institute’s interdisciplinary approach to storytelling, many Mississippi College students were included in the production of “Eudora.”
Kate Gammill, Elizabeth Kessel, and Sydney Thaxton served as cinematographers in the film. Nathan Brock provided guitar pieces for the soundtrack. J.T. Spears captured drone footage. And MC alum Bryant C. Thaxton – who earned a regional Emmy for his work on the Walter Anderson documentary – served as composer, conductor, recording engineer, and sound master for the score.
“What we’re trying to do with the Institute for Southern Storytelling at MC is to tell good, positive stories,” Anthony said. “Eudora” certainly qualifies. “We’ve experienced a side of her not many people did. We’ve gotten to know that she was once this young person enjoying life and soaking it in, and that she happened to take beautiful photographs and write wonderful stories that still resonate.”
Anthony said the film will have its television premier on Mississippi Public Broadcasting later this fall and may appear on PBS stations nationwide next year. He said he hopes the documentary will serve as a springboard for audiences to rediscover Welty’s magnificent writing.
“I would like for viewers and readers to revisit Eudora’s writing,” he said. “This is a big invitation for people to dive back into her work. Most young Mississippians have never read Eudora.”
“Eudora had a very strong connection to the human condition,” Amy said. “She experienced loss and heartbreak, and those things come through in her writing. Even though she lived in Jackson her entire life, she traveled the world and had all kinds of experiences that also informed her fiction. Those who study her are always amazed at just how complex her writing is.
“Our film is an effort to reacquaint folks with one of the literary giants of the South.”
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