Lula Belle and Scotty Wiseman home movies collection

Collection

Identifier: COD0000040-ACC 1999-0001

Staff Only

The 25 color and black and white 16mm home movies in the collection cover a diverse range of activities dating from the duo’s heyday in the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s, with the bulk of the films concentrated between approximately 1938 and 1941. Within the collection are events including, but not limited to: family gatherings; public appearances; trips both within the USA and abroad; Hollywood studio backlot footage; and other events that reveal the personal lives of a public family. The dates describing each film are estimates derived by using edge codes and context clues.

In addition to the films, the donor provided clippings that give the researcher further contextual information on the Wisemans. These clippings may be accessed by researchers in the Lula Belle and Scotty Wiseman Collection file.

Dates

Probably filmed between 1938 and 1947

Creator

Wiseman, Scotty, 1909-1981 (Creator, Person)

Access

This collection has been processed and may be viewed online.

For more information contact curator Lydia Pappas at PAPPASL@mailbox.sc.edu.

Copyright and Use

Extent

2,108 feet of film

Additional Description

Biographical Note

Western North Carolina’s Scotty Wiseman (November 8, 1908–January 31, 1981) and Myrtle Eleanor “Lulu Belle” Wiseman (December 24, 1913–February 8, 1999) were a notable husband and wife Country music duo of the radio era. They achieved their greatest and most enduring musical success with their song Have I Told You Lately that I Love You? The duo’s popularity reached its height in the 1930s-mid 1940s, when they were stars on WLS-AM’s "National Barn Dance," broadcast from Chicago, IL.

In addition to appearing on the "National Barn Dance" show and its touring circuit, the duo was featured in seven Hollywood films, primarily for Republic Pictures. The 1938 film Shine On, Harvest Moon featured the Wisemans along with an up-and-coming Roy Rogers. Feeling as though their time in the spotlight had run its course, the Wisemans chose to retire from show business and return to their native western North Carolina in 1958. Scotty became a schoolteacher and Lulu Belle served several terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives (as Lula Belle Wiseman). Scotty passed away in 1981 due to complications from a heart attack. Lula Belle remarried after Scotty’s death and lived until 1999.

They had two children, Linda and Steve.

Physical Location

Moving Image Research Collections. 707 Catawba St. Columbia, SC 29208.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Linda Johnston in 1999.

Processing Information

Collection processed by John Zelenka in the Spring of 2012. Finding aid by John Zelenka. Edited by Heather Heckman. Entered into Archivist's Toolkit by Ashley Blewer. Updated in ArchivesSpace by Amy Ciesielski in 2015.