ASK
BUBBA MEYER Q: Bubba, what’s the meaning of the Star of David windows with the letters ‘DB’ in the middle at the old Aubert Motor Car Company in downtown Gulfport? Did a congregation meet there?
A:
Actually, that’s the original Dodge Brothers logo. The Aubert Motor Car Company hired Hobart Doane Shaw and Dean Parkhurst Woleben (whose work is also extant at the Masonic Temple in Ocean Springs) for the Spanish Revival design, and the building at 1617 25th Avenue was completed around 1928. As the only Dodge Brothers dealership in the area, Aubert showed its affiliation by installing the two stained glass windows you’ve asked about. They are still there, thanks to a careful renovation started about a decade ago by the Vaughn, Bowden and Wooten law firm, now housed in Dodge Brothers logo window, downtown Gulfport, Miss. the building. In 1947, Pringle Motors acquired the building and it operated a Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge dealership from there until the 1960s, after which it became a furniture store. The law firm acquired the building in 2006, after it survived Katrina. There are also a couple of medallions with the logo on the side of the old dealership in downtown Florence, Ala., now a Fred’s store at the corner of Court and Tuscaloosa. Danielle Szostak-Viers with Dodge’s Historical Services department in Detroit clued me in on why the brothers would choose a Star of David as their symbol. Turns out, they actually didn’t. It seems the original Dodge Brothers logo from 1914 consisted of a globe over which was superimposed twin deltas – the Greek letter ‘D’, symbolizing the two Dodge Brothers, John and Horace – and the Roman letters ‘D’ and ‘B’ for Dodge Brothers intertwined. Because the interlocked deltas appear as the Star of David, people have made assumptions that the Dodges were Jewish, or were backed by Jews with the brothers using the symbol as a sign of thanks. Another theory is that knowing how anti-Semitic Henry Ford was, the brothers used the symbol to irritate their former boss and competitor. None of it is true, but just the thought of annoying a hater like that makes me want to go back in time and buy the brothers a drink. L’chaim! Speaking of Ford (and we’re all good post-Henry), the Israel Defense Force is testing F-350s as autonomous vehicles to monitor dangerous borders, and in August, Ford bought Israeli startup SAIPS to further their technology for driverless cars.
Have a question for Bubba? Send it to bubba@sjlmag.com.
October 2016 • Southern Jewish Life 9