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It's Time for You to Get Low

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Get Low, billed as "a true tall tale" is a great movie I just finished watching about an hour ago. It was released July 2010, and just released on DVD via redbox yesterday.

Get Low is about a man who throws a "funeral party" for himself before he dies. Felix Bush, played by Robert Duval, is a hermit who claims to want to hear what others have to say about him. Truthfully, he throws the funeral because he has something to tell. And that's all I'm going to say; you'll have to watch it to learn more!

Felix "Bush" Breazeale surrounded
by flowers at his own funeral.
When I learned this great film is loosely based on a true story, well, I had to search for that story. And I found it. Felix Bushaloo "Bush" Breazeale threw his own funeral party in 1938 Roane County, Tennessee.

Here are portions of an article from the 27 June 1938 Times-Picayune in Louisiana (viewed online at GenealogyBank).
Bewhiskered Farmer Scans Heavens Happily as He Hears Own Funeral

Kingston, Tenn., June 26 -- Uncle Felix "Bush" Breazeale, bewhiskered Roane county farmer, sat beside his hand-made coffin today in a sweating, milling throng of more than 8000 people and heard his "funeral" preached...

...Then for three hours he shook hands with thousands and "autographed" books and cards with his "mark," a scrawled X...

...Uncle Felix, dressed in a new suit and straw hat, rode from his home in the hearse with the coffin he hewed from a walnut tree...

...After the crowd had left, Uncle Felix returned to his little farm where he lives alone except for an old mule.
Mr. Felix "Bush" Breazeale lived approximately another five years before passing away 9 February 1943. He was 78 years old. He was buried, with no fanfare, in the Cave Creek Cemetery of Roane County. His grave was unmarked for more than forty years, but there is now a modest granite memorial.

Photo by Karen Ann King Starkey via FindAGrave
Official Get Low Movie Site

Uncle Bush's Picture Book

Felix Bushaloo "Bush" Breazeale FindAGrave Memorial

[I also found it interesting, because I'm from the Peach state and all, that the movie was filmed at several locations in Georgia. I was particularly proud to see Pickett's Mill Battlefield State Park was used. I hope it generated some much needed revenue for them.]


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Comments

Greta Koehl said…
I would love to see this movie - Robert Duvall is my favorite actor. And there were Breazeales who were close friends of one of my ancestral families.
February 23, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Lisa Wallen Logsdon said…
Just gave hubby instructions to stop by Red Box and look for this movie. Got my fingers crossed, sounds great!
February 25, 2011 at 6:27 PM
Lisa Wallen Logsdon said…
Oh MY GOSH! What an awesome movie! I laughed through most of it, cried nearing the end. A great movie. Hubby loved it too!
February 25, 2011 at 11:26 PM
S. Lincecum said…
I'm glad to hear you liked it too, Lisa. I was watching some of the "extra stuff" on the DVD we rented and heard the director mentioning how hard it was to get funding for that type of story / movie. Since I enjoyed it so, and since it was based on a true story, I felt I had to blog about it! :-)
February 26, 2011 at 11:21 AM
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SouthernGraves.blogspot.com

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

So I answered, "O Lord God, You know."

Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!' Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live...'" (Ezekiel 37:1-5, NKJV)