Ballad, Legend, and Film: The Representation of Frankie Silver

Abstract

In 1833, Frankie Silver became the only woman ever to be hanged in Morganton, in Burke County, North Carolina. Convicted by an all-male jury for the ax murder of her husband Charles, Frankie Silver has become a heroine to some and a villain to others. In the area near Morganton, where descendants of Frankie and Charles still reside, family relationships mark the different versions of Frankie's story. Folklore has been the constant element in keeping Frankie Silver's story meaningful and mysterious. Crossing genres, the case of Frankie Silver is now both a ballad (Laws E13) and a legend cycle. Although folklorists often try to compartmentalize traditional data into specific genres, on the basis of content and structure, Frankie Silver's tale transcends and yet exemplifies these categories. Thus, Tom Davenport's film The Ballad of Frankie Silver raises issues that will, no doubt, captivate folklorists, historians, and others who research and document community turning points. The relationship among history, legend, and ballad has never been so clearly illustrated, and the film's feminist slant resonates with contemporary audiences. How are conceptions ofpast events communicated? We have long been told that our ballads are the products of a moribund tradition (Albert B. Friedman, The Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-Speaking World [New York: Viking Press, 1956], p. xxxi). This film shows just how alive the ballad is. In fact, the film serves to tell two stories-one about song and the other about how one becomes a ballad singer. Tom Davenport has now completed five films in the American Traditional Culture Series in conjunction with Dan Patterson and the Curriculum in Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. These films have received acclaim from both filmmakers and folklorists, and the latest film is no exception. The Ballad ofFrankie Silver has already won the Paul Green Multi-Media Award (given annually to the best film on North Carolina history). Like both legend and ballad, this film creates its own story, combining stills, sync-sound scenes, and voice-overs with elements offamily feuds, ballad singing, and the impact of folksong on a subject. Dan Patterson (this issue) points out that Frankie's story has provided material for plays, novels, a museum exhibit, videos, and various educational and historical studies. But this film is also about singer Bobby McMillon. It is, after all, his family being immortalized.