Totch Brown (Photo/Int'l Video Projects)
Loren G. "Totch" Brown, a lifetime native of the Florida Everglades was known for many achievements in his life, but maybe best known as hunter, fisherman, singer, author, song writer, actor...
To understand and know Totch better is to know his roots. Totch's great-grandfather, John J. Brown and grandfather C. G. McKinney were among the very first to settle in the southwest Everglades in 1880. His mother Alice Jane McKinney and father John J. Brown, Jr. were born in the SW Florida area in 1892.
Totch Brown was born in 1920 and died in 1996. His last home was in Chokoloskee, Florida, with all those among the Everglades.
Totch's memory and spirit remain with those who knew him, as well as those who didn't, as one of his legacies he left behind were his many writings (one published book, another ready to be published just before he died), several songs as well as film and documentary credits, all of which included his remarkable ability to tell such tall tales in a most colorful way - but in his case, the tales were the real thing.
At times, Totch's life in the Everglades was sustained by no more than what the Glades had to offer, and the Everglades, as he always liked to say, never really let him down.
Despite many hardships while bogging across the Everglades for food or hides to sell, they [the Glades] always gave me a warm campfire and a place to lie my tired body down. This makes the Everglades a very special and dear place to me." ~ Totch Brown with dog Troubles
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Brown's acting debut was in 1958 - Wind Across the Everglades, starring Burl Ives. His book, films and documentaries that followed, even though years later, were: (book) Totch, A LIfe in the Everglades, (films) Best of: The Everglades National Park, The Sage of Chokoloskee (1993), The Everglades Outlaw: Totch Brown, Yesterday's Everglades (1996), Tallahassee 7000 - Bootleg Whiskey in the Everglades (TV), and the feature film Gone Fishin' (1997) - (Totch died before the film's release).
The documentaries were shot throughout most of the 90s by International Video Projects. Brown's last film, Gone Fishin', was shot in 1996, but he died before its 1997 release. In that film Totch was the Everglades technical advisor in addition to writing the film's main song "Down in the Everglades" that Joes Pesci, Danny Glover and Willie Nelson sang in the film. Here is his credit as listed in film and at IMDB.
Gone Fishin' (1997) Soundtrack
Written by Totch Brown
Performed by Willie Nelson
Produced and arranged by Randy Edelman
Willie Nelson appears courtesy of Island Records
Totch was also originally cast, in Gone Fishin', as Billy "Catch" Pooler. But the day before the first day of shooting his first scene, Totch's wife, Estelle, The Queen of the Everglades, passed away. His film role was passed on to Willie Nelson.
Upon Nelson's visit to that part of southwest Florida, he and Totch became friends. Willie Nelson returned, months later, with the intent to help "save" the Everglades. The original director of Gone Fishin', John G. Avildsen and his son, along with Totch and government officials, were also part of the project.
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As Totch said, he was no scientist or big time engineer. He did feel, though, that he had a lot of good common sense about the Everglades, and he also knew very little about the billion dollar water project that they were beginning in the mid-90s. It was a project so expensive and time consuming, that it was thought to maybe take 15 to 20 years to complete, if it wasn't already too late.
Hopefully it is not too late for the Everglades, a home that Totch called his own, at least for a little while. For 76 years is only a drop in the bucket of time. Totch, you're missed dearly. ~ On a side note, Totch was a huge fan of John Wayne.
Comments
I remember his admiring John Wayne. This is nice to kind of pay tribute to both at the same time. thanks
What a wonderful story about a wonderful person who made a lasting difference in peoples lives.
On another note... a wonderful Florida children's book which has been re-released as a limited edition is "Lions Paw". It is a wonderful story about orphans along the beaches and shores of Florida. It was going for over $750.00 a copy on Ebay before it was reprinted. it is a must read for all Florida children!
My people come from South Florida and Totch is an archetype of the people who master their environment, even when it seems beyond comprehension to the 'civilized world'. Adaptatability is truly the most important aspect of intelligence.
My family came to South Florida in 1882 from Georgia. My Great Grandfather Pat Brinson came to work on the Flagler railroad. My grandma said all their was down there at the time was skeeters and Seminole Indians. My family settled in Homestead and my Dad after many jobs as a boy earned enough money to open a drive inn resturant, the only one at the time in Homestead named "Dicks Drive Inn". Reading Totch Brown's "A Life in the Everglades" brought back so many wonderful memories of fishing out of Flamingo and Everglades City with Ike Smith. In 1957 the year I graduated from high school at South Dade High, dad was fishing with Ike for snook and redfish when my dad had a stroke. I always fished and hunted with my dad as it was a Southern tradition that was passed down generation to generation. School was out of the question come first day of hunting season. I remember my dad intoducing me to Mr. Brown once at the counter of the resturant. My whole youth centered around hunting, fishing, and spearfishing with my buddies. Mr. Loren "Toch" Brown's book is easy reading to us Florida boys and the terminolgy he uses in his fantastic book is the same we were taught and spoke. Fantastic reading of the King and Queen of the Everglades and the family before them making due with what they had and living off the country their God provided for them. My wife Elaine and I do bit parts in movies and have done so since I retired in 1992 and still do today. Totch played "One Note" i
This footage from the mid 1990s is a view to a by-gone era in South Florida history! His camp was re-created for the filming, and remnants still exist inside Everglades National Park. It's a bit hard to find, but if you'd like to see pics of what it looks like today, see @ http://kayakfari.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/moonshine-in-the-10-000-islands/
Does anyone know where 'Totch' is buried? I hope it's near his beloved Chokaloskee. I love to visit the Rod and Gun Club and the Smallwood store, which is the site where Edgar Watson was gunned down by his neighbors. Last week, I found the grave of 'Mister' Watson in the old Fort Myers Cemetery. I'd like to visit Totch's grave as well and lay some flowers there as well.
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