Sometimes, I find a mystery in the old newspapers and this is one. In March and April, 1934, the Ridgeway Journal printed a series of ads. “Seth Parker is coming to the Methodist Church.” Later the ads read “Seth Parker & Ma Parker coming to Methodist Church” and to watch for further announcements. But, no further announcements were ever made and no description of any event involving “Seth Parker” was mentioned in the Ridgeway Journal, especially in connection with the Methodist Church.
One clue was an ad in the Cainsville paper that they were offering the movie “Way Back Home”, starring Seth Parker for a reduced price. An internet search turned up more information about clergyman Seth Parker who was actually a character on a radio show created by Phillips Lord. Lord, himself the son of a Protestant minister, based the character of Parker on his own grandfather, Hosea Phillips. The half-hour radio show featured the Rev. Seth Parker with other fictional characters and always included old-time songs. Lord sold scripts to radio stations originally titled “Seth Parkers Singing School”. NBC Radio then contracted to buy the scripts to run 6 days a week, calling it “Sunday Evening at Seth Parkers”. “Seth Parker” became very popular and Lord sold two books in the 1930s: “ Seth Parker’s Album” and “Seth Parker’s Hymnal”. In 1933, Phillips Lord took the show “on the road”, broadcasting on short wave radio from a ship at sea from various exotic ports. The traveling show continued until the ship was damaged on a storm in February 1935. When Phillips Lord returned from the trip, he switched genres, abandoning the Rev. Seth Parker for a series of true crime tales called “Gang Busters”. He died in 1975 in Maine.
We may never know if he was actually expected at the Ridgeway Methodist Church or if a special program was planned around one of his broadcasts or if a play was being produced by local talent from one of his scripts. You can still watch his film, “Way Back Home” starring himself, Frank Albertson, Bette Davis and Lord’s wife Sophia on DVD and VHS.
