There have been many stories told concerning Bonnie's prowess in school. Also many tales told regarding Bonnie's aspirations to become a performer. Some of these stories, have her wanting to be an actress-- some a singer and some perhaps even a movie star. But Billie's Journal seems to reveal at least one of Bonnie's aspirations for sure. Please enjoy this funny story of how 2 sisters from West Dallas, used to spend their Saturdays, and the dinner they might have had??-- should one of them have been a bit more quiet. Again, this account is told verbatim-- from the journal of Billie Parker. As Billie says-- "Bonnie was in almost all the school plays-- As I look back now-- I can't remember her having any home work. I would study for hours after evening meals. But I can't ever remember Bonnie studying. She passed all her grades in flying colors. Do I have to say more-- now, I was just dense. We fished & swim a lot on Saturdays. She sang all the time-- even while she was fishing. I would always get across the creek from her. I told her she scared all the fish away."
"She would laugh & say I wonder when I get famous & singing on Broadway if you will put your fishing pole down & visit me. Bonnie was always a happy person. Sadness was seldom a guest of hers."
There's more to come from Billie's Journal. I'm finding myself putting these accounts out perhaps more rapidly than I had envisioned. But I can't help it-- as these personal accounts of Bonnie from Billie, are too wonderful and important not to post briskly. Which account to choose next??-- seems to be the hardest part. More soon.
It's wonderful to read these childhood reminices! It's too easy to judge someone's life when you know nothing about them, and I appreciate seeing these first-hand accounts of Bonnie when she was young and full of dreams and hopes and ambitions. In a way, I think this trait of hers kept her with Clyde - she seems to have had the sort of personality that makes the best of seemingly temporary bad times for the sake of the good times to come. Perhaps she really thought she could turn him away from the course he seemed set upon... and then when she realized she could not, that romantic nature of hers would have begun to spin the inevitable outcome into a "'til death do us part" fantasy. To me, too, these impressions of Bonnie in her young days show us a side of Bonnie that the media rejected - toward the end, they wanted to see a hard-bitten, cold-blooded femme fatale who could shoot someone in cold blood and then laugh, but there is no sign of THAT Bonnie in the young girl who could laugh and dream and tease her sister... by the end, everyone seems to have completely forgotten their HUMANITY (witness the circus sideshow from the moment they were killed that lasted through the funerals and even the trials that followed) and chose to see them only as monsters. I enjoy seeing Bonnie remembered by someone who actually knew her and cared about her.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to wanting to become a singer and/or actress, Bonnie also aspired to become...a poet!
ReplyDeleteAccording to what Blanche said in her memoirs, Bonnie didn't cook. So one has to wonder who cleaned those fish - and cooked them - if and when the sisters caught any. Too bad Billie Jean didn't happen to mention the names of any of the songs Bonnie sang while disrupting the fish! We know from reading Fugitives that she often sang a song called "The Crawfish Song" for Billie's babies. I don't happen to know this song, but it seems appropriate that this may have been one on her list!