Bob
Walker's
"Online since 1999"
E-MAIL MEMORIES
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Fun email we've received through the years with memories about
radio and growing up in New Orleans in the 50's, 60's and 70's!
JOSEPH ENROUGHTY, The Guy Lombardo Society:
Hi Bob-
I was looking at some of the New Orleans memories on your web site and saw a reference to Leon Kelner. I have all of his recordings, even the ones he made after he left the Blue Room in 1971. Leon played Piano with Peter Toma in the 40's before he took over as house band there. I have no recordings by Peter Toma, but do know he played more than just POLKAS! Leon told me before he died, that Peter's was a dance band like Lawrence Welk, and could play all styles very well. But people seem to think because Peter was an accordion player, he only played Polkas. Not so! Peter's band never included more than 10 musicians plus himself on accordion, but it was a very good one.
Leon made three albums while at The Blue Room. They were:
Cha-Cha With Leon Kelner and his Trio
Dancing In The Blue Room (Full Orchestra)
Requests Most Played In The Blue Room (Full Orchestra)
He made several other Trio albums after he moved to Biloxi, Mississippi to play at the Broadwater Beach Hotel with his trio. Years later, in the early 80's, he released an LP of a CBS Radio Broadcast he purchased from the studios of WWL in New Orleans. This was called "Around The World With Leon Kelner And His Orchestra". I assume the "Around The World" references the fact that WWL had such a strong signal and could be heard all over at night.
In 1996, Leon recorded a CD simply titled "Leon Kelner At The Piano". It was a dandy. Leon was a very fine pianist. As you probably know, he died in 2000 at the age of 77. I spoke with him several months before he died.
I have an autographed photo postcard of Leon and his orchestra from 1962 if you would like me to scan it in for your site.
Jan Garber, Paul Neighbors, and others, used to "fill in" for Leon when he would go on tour up and down the East Coast. I believe this was in the summer time. But they were never known as the "House Band" there. Jan Garber made many records for DECCA Records and I have most of them. One such record was titled "Music From The Blue Room". Paul Neighbors recorded for Capitol Records but his records have never crossed my path (excpet for one 45 which warped). Leon told me he became the official House Band at the Roosevelt in 1948 and remained as such until 1971 when they let him go. Herb Tassin's orchestra played there in the 80's, but was not as large a band as Kelner's. It was more like a quintet. Perhaps not always, but most of the time. I'm sure Herb could add or take away musicians as needed.
I have been in touch with Leon's son, Kirt, and he is a very nice person.
If you would like the postcard, please let me know and I'll scan it in for you.
BOB:
Yes, please do send the postcard of Leon Kelner and I will post it for all to share. Leon would be honored to know that so many people remember him so fondly!
MARLA EHRHARDT MANCIL:
Bob, I have spent the better part of a day browsing your site. I grew up in Slidell in the 60's and 70's listening to TIX on my "baby blue" portable radio. How great those times were. I have fond memories of Pontchartrain Beach, I remember at the end of the school year you could bring your report card and get free rides for good grades. Also Bali Hai was so exotic and as I remember, the food was pretty good. It was a place for really romantic dinners for someone in high school and college! Thanks for all the great memories.
BOB:
Hi Marla, my portable radio was green...a big old bulky plastic thing in a leather case with a strap that went over one's head and onto the shoulder so the radio could be worn at your side! But the tunes and radio stations that came out of that speaker were great, like on yours. If I had brought my report card for free rides at Pontchartrain Beach they would have had me washing and scrubbing elephants at the beach stage instead. And yes, when you went on a date to the Bali Ha'i at the beach you knew that you were finally a grown-up...sorta. I wish I had kept one of those tall souvenir Bali Ha'i glasses with the carved Tiki face on it...what a nice piece of memorabilia that would be as we recall the great days and nights we spent "At the Beach, at the Beach, at Pontchartrain Beach..."
C GROUP- ANDREW, SHAUNA, JODI, KIM, DUANE, SARA, JOHN, AVERY, INBAL, TIFFANY, NICK, MAGNUS:
CC Courtney is our acting teacher (first years) at The Neighborhood Playhouse. The man is a genius. We are, by far, the luckiest 12 people in the school. We get the best teacher, the coolest teacher and the only teacher with "monday morning stories". We're extremely proud to have the opportunity to be guided by CC. We may never have had the chance to hear him on the radio like the rest of his fans, but we are definitely his biggest fans. We know how cool we are to have him all to ourselves... :) Love ya dad!!!
BOB:
Hi Gang! What a great letter and tribute to CC. As much as you love him now, as the years go by you will realize even more what a gem of a person he is and what an influence he will have on you every day of your lives. New Orleans was lucky to have him here for a few years, and everyone who ever listened to him or met him still remembers him fondly to this day. Such a charismatic person enters the lives of others rarely, and those he touches are forever enhanced by having known him, no matter for how long.
Embrace your time with CC and treasure every moment that you have to share with him!
STEVEN KEESE, Houston:
This will be the first year I have not replaced my Lucky bean, from St. Joe's Church 1802 Tulane Ave. I have had a Lucky Bean in my pocket, for 42 Years. I have had many Lucky beans from many homes when I was growing up in the Garden District..
BOB:
You would have gotten quite wet at Sunday's parade but I think the St. Pat parade downtown went off ok last night. I can't tell you how many Lucky Beans I lost to my wife's washing machine!
JOSEPH JOLLY :
I was raised in the neighborhood of Tulane Avenue and White Street and played tag, etc. in the Criminal Courts Building on Tulane Avenue, Broad and White Streets. The Sugar Bowl Restaurant was on Tulane and White Streets and every and every Friday evening/night the families got together for seafood. The adults bought beers, etc. and we all sat around a large table, cleaning Crabs, peeling shrimps and eating potato salad, etc. And sometimes a band for dancing. I think sometime after the early fifties Tulane Avenue became the Airline Highway (or The Miracle Mile). And most of us had grown up and married or moved from the neighborhood. Most of the people I knew moved to Metairie or Kenner and some to Chalmette or east New Orleans. Fond memories never leave you.
BOB:
You're right...nobody can take those memories away.
JOSEPH A CONDON, III, Midlothian, Va.
Bob: Just found your New Orleans Email Memories web site. I'm retiring next week from my one and only employer since graduating from USL (U. of La. - Lafayette now), and will enjoy reading the memories over the next few days. Here are a few contributions I'd like to submit.
About Me: Born 9/5/48 - Hotel Dieu Hospital * Grew up at 1485 Athis Street * Attended Saint Francis Cabrini Elementary through grade 7 then switched to Holy Cross for 8th and 9th grades until parents relocated to Baltimore (bummer).
Some Memories: Saturday mornings fishing the banks of Bayou St. John * Sunday morning breakfasts with neighbors and friends at the Rexall Drugstore booths (Mirabeau and Paris Ave.) * Playing the pinball machine at Ched's Lounge, while my parents drank, and getting paid 5 cents for each free game I racked up (don't tell the cops) * Seeing Carlos Marcello meet with his lieutenants at Ched's Lounge.
Buying Lik-M-Aid and wax lips, candle powered toy tin boats, and live dyed baby chicks and ducks at Woolworths on Canal * Saturday afternoon matinees at the Fox and Beacon Theaters * School field trip to see Ben Hur at the Sanger Theater * Having my mom drive a car load of us guys slowly down Bourbon Street at night so we could look through the open club doors * Seeing Blaze Starr pull up to the A&P in her Pink Polka Dot Cadillac on Saturdays to grocery shop * MacKenzie's Turtles and Upside-down Cakes.
My 15 minutes of fame on Miss Muffet (the cookie tasted awful and I spit it out under my stool on camera) * Jingle, Jangle, Jingle Here Comes Mr. Bingle * The Point * The story of the City Park Killer with a hook for a hand * Lizard, Lizard Show Me Your Blanket * Meeting Paw Paw (my maternal grandfather) at the docks when he returned from a cruise with United Fruit Company * WTIX and stopping on the Causeway one night to dance to Ray Charles.
Friday night seafood dinner with family at Bart's * Fried Oyster and Roast Beef Poor Boys * Classmates and Neighbors - Danny McPheeters, Fred Burner, Alan Bop, Joe Gautreaux, all the Aucoins * Seeing Fats Domino through his 2nd floor recording studio window while riding the bus to Holy Cross * Friday night high school football games at City Park Stadium.
The tipped 'Hail Mary' pass that beat Jesuit with no time left on the clock * My pediatricians Drs. Craven and Cohen * Bali Hai * Watermelon and Snow Ball stands on Lakeshore Drive, and standing on the Sea Wall when a hurricane was coming.
That's enough for now. Thanks for the great web site.
BOB:
Funny you should mention Bali Ha'i. See the picture at the top of this page. The entrance to the Bali Ha'i and the sign, along with one of the peaks of the Zephyr, all original relics of Pontchartrain Beach, were saved from the scrap heap when the Beach was demolished, and they are now on display at the park next to Kenner City Hall. The original little miniature train that you could ride around Audubon Park is there as well. And I bet when you stopped on the Causeway and danced to Ray Charles, I bet it was to "What'd I Say" ... seems we all started to move when we heard those first few notes! And speaking of "Lizard Lizard," did you also believe (briefly) that when a green lizard made a circular red pouch under its neck, that there was really a penny in there ... ? :-)
DEBBIE PERRONE:
Hi Bob,
How about: Uncle Henry Dupre and Popeye * Wayne Mack, the Great McNut * Miss Linda with her magic mirror * Popeye summer movie "club" at the Saenger * fish sticks on Friday * white pleated skirts on the first Friday of the month (blue pleated skirts every other day - Catholic school of course) * beanies and ties for girls uniforms * Four o clocks pre-teen club * Valencia club for pre-teens and teens * streetcar seats folding to ride forward or backward ...
Traveling sno ball truck in Metairie * Lester's watermelon at the lakefront (you would buy a slice of watermelon and eat outside on picnic tables) * Manuel's hot tamales * Verbena bakery in Gentilly * Mr. Wedding Cake bakery in Gentilly * St. Aloysius school * Sacred Heart dances * Frankie Ford * 3 o'clock afternoon movie * Loretta Young show * Terry Flettrich noon ("Midday) show * Krauss shopping * Rockery Inn at Robert E. Lee and Canal Blvd. * Melmac dishes ...
Hair dryers with the "inflatable" hood * spoolies (pink rubber curlers for hair) * Betsy Wetsy dolls * Tiny Tears dolls * Patty Playpal dolls (real child size) * Nash automobiles * Fireball XL 5 puppet show on Saturday morning * Captain Kangaroo * Morgus the Magnificent * The clown at Pontchartrain Beach * Pontchartain Beach theme song * The bunnies at Scheinuk florist on St. Charles Ave. (at Easter) * Mr. Bingle at Maison Blanche * Labiches's * Gus Mayer * Kreegers * Morgan and Lindsey stores * T G & Y * Katz & Besthoff ...
Progress Grocery muffulettas * Hopper's Drive In * french fry po-boys * Krauss lunch counter * D.H. Holmes lunch counter * Goldrings * ladies wearing hats and gloves to go to Canal Street * people making the sign of the cross when passing a church * Nuns clicking a clicker to have everyone genuflect at the same time * SRA reading * Piggly Wiggly * A & P * Mike Persia Chevrolet * St. Roch market * Fitzgerald's Restaurant * T. Pittari's * Sclafani's Restaurant * Shakey's Pizza * Mr. Pizza * Campo's appliance giant * getting measured for shoes * Royal Castle * Duncan yo-yos * skates with a key ...
Wagons * scooters made with skate wheels * spinning tops * chinese jump rope * jacks * tiddly winks * pick up sticks * paper dolls * 108 crayon box with the sharpener (you really hit the big time if you had these) * chenille bedspreads * clothes hanging on the line * picking figs off the tree * aluminum Christmas trees with the revolving color wheel and ornaments all the same color * carboard fireplace and chimney at Christmas time * The President river boat * Repertory theater for high school students * The Bali Hai at the Beach * Playboy club (never went) * Victoria station restaurant * The Tiki House or lounge * Frankie Brent's * The Blue Room entertainment * Werlein's music (now Palace Restaurant) ...
Roosevelt Hotel * St. Charles Hotel * La Louisiane Restaurant * Moran's Riverside Restaurant (now Bella Luna's) * Elmwood Plantation Restaurant * Tchoupitoulas Plantation Restaurant * St. Joseph School * Redemptorist School * Holy Angels School * Tulane Stadium * Loyola Dental School * Pontchartrain Beach beauty contests on stage * Skyvue Drive-In on Chef Mentuer * Westgate Drive-In in Kenner (where Lexus is now on Vets) * Do Drive-In on Metairie Road * Airline Drive-In on Airline * Jeff Drive-In on Jefferson Hwy. * Saturday Hop and the John Pela Show ... I used to be a Romano dancer.
BOB:
Whew! I just re-lived my entire life!! About all I can add is...when Sclafani's Restaurant was in business on Causeway Blvd, two regular customers in the '50's were Roy Rogers and Mario Lanza.
BIG LOU DUFFOURC, Washington D.C. (The WYAT Rock 'n ROLL PIG) :
Bob, I just ran across your web site. Talk about bring back memories. I did a show on WYAT in the mid eighties. It was Big Lou golden oldies show. It was on the weekends. I worked for Ed Muniz then (Phase Two Broadcasting). I statrted my show each week with a tribute to Poppa Stoppa and opened my show with his theme song - Dig It by Joe Houston. Talked through the beginning of the song like the Poppa did and mentioned names of people like "Skim Milk Mamie" who was Ed Muniz's mother who always drank skim milk. I used my own 50's collection of music because I had better control over my music. I have around 2000 oldies 45's in my collection. My listeners loved my show and my music. I still have all of the fan mail I received while on the air. I was sorry to see W'YAT go off the air. Thanks for the memories and good luck with your fantastic web site.
BOB:
Even in this era of suck-corporate radio, we could still use a little, down-to-earth AM like WYAT that people could love again. But nobody's interested. Oh well, we were all part of a great little radio station and we have some nice memories.
GARY HOLLAND:
Hey Bob! Gary Holland here. Just a note to say how much I've enjoyed your site and I found it by way of searching for Hap Glaudi, my all time favorite sportscaster and the "I Speak As I Please" author. This is a phase I still use to this day!
My "Humble" story goes into Chalmette where I was manager of "Stash" records(Can you imagine?), a record store owned jointly by Hugh and someone else whose name escapes me now. Too many years and too much New Orleans to recall anything too distinctly. The 70's are a little blurry.
So I instituted the "Hap Glaudi Memorial Football Pool" while working on the film "Independence Day" which coincidentally had Harry Connick Jr. with a minor role. I don't think Jr. was old enough to appreciate just who Hap was though.
Captain Humble and Scoot were quite a pair when they were teamed up and I sure wish there were some archives of any of their shows or any of Hap's for that matter. If anyone anywhere has anything at all related to these shows please post the info. It certainly would be like a night at the F&M Patio all over again.
I left New Orleans back in '84 during the World's Fair and landed in LA for the Olympics! What a great time to be alive and ME for that matter! I had been signed on with Explorer Jacques Cousteau as his Audio Engineer for the "Rediscovery of the World" series which took us around the world several times on one Expedition after another! WOW!
Greetings to the Glaudi family and to Eric Tracey and to all who traverse this site and have New Orleans roots. Bon Chance"~ Gary Holland
BOB:
Hi Gary, great email. Nice to hear from you. "Stash" - now that brings back memories, along with the other great record stores of the '70's. You'd hear them mentioned on the radio at the end of commercials for new albums, "Available for only $2.99 at Stash, Warehouse Records, Tape City, The Mushroom, and the Music Box" etc. Such fun radio days!
FRANK GRECO:
HI BOB. I, LIKE A LOT OF OTHERS, FOUND YOUR WEBSITE BY ACCIDENT. WHAT A JOY TO READ ABOUT ALL THE GREAT MEMORIES EVERYONE HAS ABOUT GROWING UP IN NEW ORLEANS . GROWING UP IN THE GENTILLY AREA WAS GREAT. REMEMBER THESE:
THE FOX, THE PITT, THE PEACOCK, THE GENTILLY,THE TIGER AND ARTISTA'S PIZZA.
FARRELL'S ON CLEMATIS STREET, THE VERBENA BAKERY AND THOSE HOT GLAZED DONUTS AT NIGHT.
THE HUGE REGAL BEER SIGN AT THE CORNER OF ELYSIAN FIELDS AND GENTILLY BLVD.
THE GOLDEN ROD ON FRENCHMEN ST. AND THOSE GREAT HOT DOGS.
SONATA'S LOUNGE, THE SURF LOUNGE, PARNELL'S LOUNGE ON ELYSIAN FIELDS.
DOC'S DRUG STORE ON FRANKLIN AVE.
MC KENZIE'S AND FRIED CHICKEN ON FRENCHMEN ST.
STEER INN, ROCKERY INN, LENFANT'S, WALLACE AND RAOUL'S
THE VELVET SWING ON HARRISON AVE.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK WITH THIS ENJOYABLE WEBSITE. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES.
BOB:
No doubt about it...Gentilly was a great place to go to movies, eat, drink and be merry...then go to Doc's Drug Store to get the necessary ingredients to feel good the next day!
RICHARD TYRONE:
Dear Bob, I grew up in Jeff Parish in the 50's and 60's. We did everything in our cars. I remember Lenfant's, Rockery, Wallace and Raoul, JC's, the Rainbow Inn, the College Inn and Kelly's. Not to mention the Jeff, the Do-Drive In , the Airline, the Skyvue, the Point, Lover's Lane, Mona Lisa and any other place we could find. The dances at Sacred Heart, St. Anthony's, Metairie Lodge, Germania Hall. We had it all.I used to listen to Jack the Cat and Jaqueline the Kitten at night on WJBW and Poppa Stoppa. The midway at Ponchatrain Beach. We would be out there every night during the summer. We wouldn't have to nickles to rub together, a couple of cigarettes between three or four of us and the gas tank was always on empty. I'm just glad I was there to live them and to be able to remember them.
BOB:
Ah, the freedom that wheels brought to all us teens. A dollar of gas meant an entire evening of just cruising around town with friends and doing all the fun things that poverty brought with it!
JOEL SCARBOROUGH:
Hi Bob: I was a fledgling small town early 60s rock jock in Biloxi, Mississippi when I discovered WTIX. I did everything I could to copy and emulate "The Mighty 690" and actually apprenticed from the awesome talent of "TIX the Tiger." The first talent I ever booked in Biloxi was Irma Thomas, who showed up for a high school prom dance many months pregnant. My second shot was "Cathy & Joe", and they were an absolute sensation at the skating rink dance we held, and I have always remembered them fondly. Another thing, whatever happened to Johnny Stevens (I was on opposite him, and also Ted Green on "The Teddy Go Round"). That time of the evening WTIX was starting to fade out in Biloxi, leaving me with a meager rating share, but one I shall always remember. When I began researching and writing Casey Kasem's American Top Forty in 1970, much of the style I brought to that show was harvested from memories of TIX.
It's encouraging to know that some of the great REAL RADIO pioneers are still at it.
I ran into Buzz Bennett during my Los Angeles years, so where is he now? I also established contact with Dan Diamond recently and he gave me an update on his activities since he left N.O. Sure wish we had some of that old talent butting heads and having a blast in New Orleans again. Hey, I was still in high school when Bill Stanley and Bill Elliott "locked themselves into the WNOE studios, and played "Shtiggy Boom" by "The Nuggets" for 24 hours non-stop to herald a new radio format called "Rock & Roll". Wow, radio is such a drag these days; a real groaner. No wonder Casey Kasem is retiring along with everyone else I know. So keep driving, Bob, you're one of the few left jogging our nostalgias. Warmest regards, and an earnest salute to one of radio's all time super talents, "Bob Walker".
BOB:
Well, thanks <blush> but this pioneer is no longer at it. I retired from radio after 38 years in April 2003 and do not miss it in the slightest. Corporate radio sucks now and I choose not to be a part of their lies, incompetance and destruction of the business I loved and devoted my life to. I'm waiting for that wonderful day when the music alternatives for listeners, including IPods, internet radio, CDs in cars and satellite radio, make the corporations go bankrupt and all their owners, officers and management officials starve to death in the gutter, and their bodies are rolled over and flattened by cars and trucks, and then eaten by pigs. Does that give you a clue how I feel about today's radio?
Buzz and Johnny "The White Eagle" Stevens are missing in action. I'll post something on them if I track them down.
ROBIN IN NYC:
Hey, Bob, I've been living in NYC for a while (and do find it so depressing to come home to a city that ain't what I grew up
with--I still can't get used to the lack of K&Bs on every corner.
But, I want to add a few things I didn't see on your great site:
Al Kagan's TV show "Night People" (later "Kagan's Corner") which featured many of the N.O. characters you list. Think it was on WGNO--the first UHF TV station in N.O. like ch. 26 in late 60s? There was also a guy who played spoons. Kagan was a gem. I went to school with his son, Chickie.
We grew up watching Johnnie's Follies, a kiddie show with locals sitting in bleachers. He wore a boater and striped coat, did a goofy dance, lived on State Street. Poor guy, we used to ring his doorbell and run.
And thanks for the Frostop pic. I learned to play pinball there, heard the Beach Boys for the first time on their jukebox, was locked in the bathroom by a badboy in the neighborhood, stuffed toilet paper into a training bra (which escaped out of the top of my shirt!) on a tweenie "date" there, and loved the Butter Burgers more than Jim's Fried Chicken. I also had my first summer job there while underage with mono, trained by Wanda, a toothless waitress who always reminded me not to forget the "stirrier" when serving the coffee. Gotta love it!
Kudos. Your site makes me long for home.
BOB:
Those Frostop burgers are still in my fondest memories. And the side order of fries with ketchup made the day complete!
BERNARD FERNANDEZ, Philadelphia Daily News sports writer
Bob,
I stumbled across your web site by accident, when I was fooling around with Google and typed in "Lenfant's Restaurant" to see if there was anything about one of my favorite facts-of-life instructional sites, namely the back parking lot with its frozen daiquiris and (hopefully) non-frozen dates. (See also The Rockery, Mardi Gras Fountain and any convenient,large bush a car could be pulled behind in Audubon Park.)Anyway, I was born and raised in New Orleans, uptown, De La Salle Class of 1965, and I was moved to recall a few more things which were there and aren't now, and may have escaped your attention.
-- Morgus the Magnificent, the "House of Shock" and, of course, Chopsley. Remember when WWL-TV had Morgus do its weather reports for a while? No fancy meteorological stuff for him. He'd wring out a rag in a bucket and announce, "Hmmm, humidity 68 percent."
-- In grade school, the "big treat" of going shopping with Mom and eating lunch upstairs at the Walgreen's cafeteria on Canal, looking down at the people passing below.
-- Before the advent of malls, shopping meant hitting D.H. Holmes and Maison Blanche on Canal Street.
-- "Jingle, jangle, jingle, here comes Mr. Bingle, with another message from Kris Kringle" commercials pitching toys for M-B. We thought Mr. Bingle was Santa Claus' No. 1 helper.
-- Proms were big enough for Irma Thomas to be the featured entertainer, but the Contours usually got the sock-hop gigs.
-- Slow-dancing to "Big Blue Diamond" and "Danny Boy" (James `Sugar Boy' Crawford version).
-- Playing tackle football on the neutral grounds on Napoleon Avenue, before they planted trees. Nobody ran end sweeps, lest they get bumped into traffic.
-- Those super-good milk shakes at Hopper's.
-- Sunday morning bakery runs to McKenzie's.
-- Friday night football games at City Park Stadium. The city's best rivalries in those days were De La Salle-Jesuit in basketball and baseball (was there ever a better prep coach than DLS' Johnny Altobello?) and Jesuit-Holy Cross in football.
-- Tookie Gilbert hitting home runs for the Pelicans into that ridiculously short porch in right field at City Park Stadium, which was never designed for baseball.
-- The New Orleans Buccaneers playing on the elevated court at Loyola Field House.
-- Peter, Paul and Mary concerts at same Loyola Field House.
-- Corner groceries in every neighborhood, the 7-11's of their day.
-- Great amateur boxing at St. Mary's Italian Gym in the Quarter, where Willie Pastrano and Ralph Dupas learned the sport from Whitey Esneault.
-- Boy scout gatherings at Camp Salmen in Slidell, before the land became too valuable for kids to earn merit badges.
-- Cabbage ball played by boys and girls on cement fields because Catholic School Athletic League teams didn't have enough room or grassy areas for real baseball or softball.
-- Radio stations (we didn't know they were "oldies" then) playing such local favorites as Benny Spellman, Ernie K. Doe, Irma, the Dixie Cups and the Neville brothers. It wasn't until I moved away that I learned these artists didn't get air play nationally.
-- The swimming pool at Audubon Park, a great place to cool off during those muggy summer days. Too bad the lockers were so easily broken into.
-- Seven-cent NOPSI bus rides and St. Charles streetcar rides, with unlimited transfers.
-- Creole cream cheese for breakfast.
-- Eating crabs at Fitzgerald's in Bucktown.
-- Pontchartrain Beach, our downsized Disneyland.
-- The familiar purple signs of Katz & Besthoff.
-- Schwegmann's.
-- Louisiana Gridweek, which augmented the coverage of the Saints we got from the Times-Picayune in the early years of the franchise.
-- Pro boxing cards at Municipal Auditorium promoted by Leapin' Louie Messina.
-- My family's old, decrepit "camp" on Lake Borne, washed away by Hurricane Betsy.
-- LSU beating Tulane 62-0 in football three times in, like, six years.
-- Pete Maravich scoring 63 points in a road game against Tulane, but LSU losing as Johnny Arthurs scored 41 for the Green Wave.
-- Root-beer floats and Lottaburgers at Frostop.
-- Dances at Sacred Heart, always a good way to keep your little black book updated.
-- Madras shirts and the "fruit loops" your dates would want to cut off the back of them like a gunslinger would notch his gun.
-- Wearing coats and ties with white socks. Definitely a fashion faux pas these days.
-- Dancing on TV with the Brown twins, Bonnie and Connie, on the Jack the Cat show when I was, I think, 12. Well ... the twins did most of the dancing. My cousin and I kind of hid out in the back.
-- "Spin the Bottle" and "Post Office." Lenfant's and The Rockery came later.
-- King cake parties.
-- Going to Pontchartrain Beach for the free concerts to hear acts like Del Shannon and Tony (pre-Dawn) Orlando.
-- Going through eight years at St. Stephen's and four years at De La Salle and being taught mostly by nuns (in full habits) and Christian Brothers.
-- Kissing Archbishop Rummel's ring when I was confirmed.
-- Bowling at Mid-City and O'Shaugnessy's Lanes.
-- Playing wiffle-ball home run derby.
I hope you remember some of these things, too, Bob. And thank you for allowing me to drift back to the "Happy Days" of my youth. Richie Cunningham, Potsie, Ralph Malph and the Fonz had nothing on us.
BOB:
Sounds like you and I grew up in the same skin. Remember on Morgus' 5-minute weather show at 5:55 pm weekdays on WWL-TV around 1960, he would look at his inner wrist to check the Morgus "weather vein"? I sat in on many of those shows and it saw how it took Sid an hour or so to put on the Morgus getup and makeup for a 5 minute show!
BILL MUNSON, Baton Rouge:
Bob - I was looking for some information on WNOE history for a station member, when I ran across your web site. As a New Orleans school boy in the late forties I remember the McDonogh song as:
"McDonogh unto thee we rear, a monument to thy career.
He gave his wealth to educate, the stupid fools of 28." ect. ect. ect.
Reading on further, I saw a note on page twenty-one from David Nebel. I believe I went to LSU with David in the late fifties. Also, for a summer I worked with a Hewitt Gomez in Baton Rouge, who in the late sixties went to the Metarie Country Club as manager. Small world!!
BOB:
David Nebel is a prince and a well-respected WTIX alumnus. He did go to LSU.
Was the "stupid fools of 28" ad libbed? :-)