Magazine Tells Story Of William Spratling

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Budd Schulberg, author of the classic novel What Makes Sammy Run? and the screenplay for On the Waterfront, described his friend William Spratling this way: “[He was] not only My Most Unforgettable Character, but My Five Most Unforgettable Characters.”

Schullberg was talking about the multifarious talents and pursuits of the man who spent his formative years in Alabama dealing with the loss of both his parents. He then went on to great success in New Orleans and, ultimately, Mexico, where he single-handedly revived an ancient but struggling industry in the sleepy little village of Taxco. Wayne Greenhaw takes a closer look at the life and times of William Spratling in the winter 2001 issue of Alabama Heritage.

As a youth, Spratling saw his mother and a sister die of tuberculosis, his father suffer a mental breakdown and die at his own hand in what was dubiously called a hunting accident, and his guardian uncle, a doctor, murdered by a former patient. After a settling time with his father’s family in southeastern Alabama, Spratling went to Auburn, where he studied architecture and honed his burgeoning talents as a sketch artist. Little did he know it was the first step in what would prove to be a globetrotting journey.

From Auburn, Spratling went to New Orleans to teach architecture at Tulane. There he worked feverishly, publishing articles, drawings and books at a breakneck speed, and he hooked up with a crowd that celebrated life at about the same tempo. The group, centered around the novelist Sherwood Anderson, included various artsy types, not the least of whom was a young Mississippi writer named William Faulkner. Spratling’s revelry with Faulkner reached infamous levels in their time together – they shared a room on St. Peter Street – but Spratling eventually found himself wanting a new challenge, his creative juices all but dried up by the artistic scene in the Crescent City.

Mexico proved to be the answer. Traveling there at the suggestion of his friend and fellow Tulane instructor, Frans Blom, Spratling fell in love with the country’s old world beauty set against the backdrop of a centuries-old indigenous culture. He immediately scrounged for a plan to make Mexico his home, arranging for ways to make a living in the bucolic town of Taxco. At first, he earned money through his writing, articles for various American publications probing into the architecture and culture of Mexico, and a book, Little Mexico. But he made his name for himself, and a small fortune, reviving the mining and smithing of the region’s vast silver deposits that had gone untouched for years.

Spratling died in Mexico in 1967, driving his Mustang at top speed over a still-wet blacktop road in rural southwest Mexico, rushing toward death as he rushed toward life.

Wayne Greenhaw, a graduate of The University of Alabama, is the author of fourteen books and numerous articles and short stories. His latest book, Beyond the Night: A Remembrance, was published by Black Belt Press. Greenhaw is currently working on a new novel and a play for television.

Alabama Heritage is a nonprofit quarterly magazine published by The University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. To order the magazine, write Alabama Heritage, Box 870342, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0342, or call 205/348-7467.