E-MAIL MEMORIES, PAGE 12
BETTY THATCHER IN HAWAII:
Dear Bob, Paul Yacich sent me
your website address. I am a homesick ex-Orleanian who grew up with Paul.
We started school together 'way back when. Gayarre was our school but I
understand it has since been renamed and given a facelift. Paul's father
wrote our school song; we were proud kids in those days and I understand
Paul and his sister attended one of the anniversary parties for this school.
I so enjoyed reading oh, so many familiar names of "famous" places
where we kids hung out, attended dances and loved to visit. The Blue Room
was for special occasions and the Fountain Lounge was our hang out in the
40's and 50's. I believe my mother's cousin, Hal Jordy and his orchestra
also played at the Fountain Lounge. Paul and I lost touch with each other
when he went into the Navy; I married a Marine Officer and moved away from
my beloved city in the early 50's. Paul and I met at a F.T. Nicholls High
School (also renamed) Reunion about 10 years ago. It was just wonderful
to renew our friendship, reminisce about our childhood, school years and
pick up where we had left off nearly 50 years earlier. We are now in touch
often via e-mail; Paul and Rita, his wife, have come to Honolulu where I
now live and had some good times together when my husband and I return to
New Orleans. Unfortunately, not often enough but the strong friendship has
survived all these years. When my husband was overseas without family, I
lived in New Orleans with three of my young children. They loved the "Morgus"
show that Paul and Rita produced and I was proud to tell them this was the
brainchild of my old and dear friend, Paul Yacich. I am sorry I left New
Orleans before you probably were born so never had the chance to hear any
of your broadcasts but judging from the response to your website, you and
the show are very popular. Good luck in your career. Aloha from Hawaii.
BOB:
Glad to hear you've had such a long and nice relationship with Paul and
Rita. Hop over from Hawaii anytime and have an erster po-boy with them anytime.
And, whew, I'm glad they didn't change the nickname of De La Salle to the
... bobcats ... like at the former Nicholls High! But Nicholls will always
be the Rebels forever!!
CARL VOUGHT:
YO BOB! What a fun site!!! A few years ago, WWL ran a series of short snippets
from some old broadcasts. These included The Dawnbusters. One of the guys
trere (a real gentleman) sent me some recordings of about a dozen of these
snippets. I was raised in Houma and Paincourtville (on Bayou Lafourche)
and the only station we could get in the thirties and early forties was
WWL. Consequently, I developed a devotion to shows like "The Dawnbusters,"
"The Renfroe Valley Gathering," "Lets Pretend" broadcasts
from "the Blue Room of the Rosevelt Hotel," Lowell Thomas, Jack
Smith, Beula, etc., etc.,. I would like to buy a collection of recordings
of this material. (I was born in 1934). Do you know where I could find such
a thing? Does the library at Loyola have any of this stuff? Thanks for reading
all this.
BOB:
You've got me there on those old broadcasts. If anyone out there knows where
Carl could get some of those programs, please email me.
GLADIOLA:
Just loved your website. A friend sent me the link and boy did it bring
back memories. What stood out the most was when the Nola show collapsed.
My oldest brother was there that day, left unharmed thankfully. And of course,
The Magnificent Morgus!!!! Thanks for contributing so much of New Orleans
to us.
BOB:
Rough job but somebody's gotta do it! Morgus and I are both happy that your
brother got out the Nola Theater in time before the roof collapsed!
RON BRANDON (N4AH):
Hello Bob... enjoyed spending some time browsing your site. Many years since
(at the ripe old age of 21) I graced the WNOE control room (first in the
Sheraton Charles and later on Bienville). What great fun it was in the glory
days of rock and roll with an AM that reached six states at night!
Got into ham radio in high school.. out of school with a 1st phone..
and three years later at WNOE. What fun. Well.. I used to drop in vampire
voice tracks on the air.. some local kid did them for me as I recall.. also
did some JFK voices..but had to drop them when he was killed. Great to remember
Jack the Cat, Eddie Gale, and Jim "the Stew" Stewart. I know Jack
the Cat died (I later worked with him at WLEE Richmond).. do you know the
whereabouts of any of the others. I cant tell you how exciting it was to
work on the big signal at night.
Somehwere I have an aircheck and some souvenir stuff... I'll hold
onto your site and try to pull it out and share it with you one day.
Thanks for the memories.
Ron Brandon...now semi-retired, owner of night clubs in Charleston,
SC
BOB:
Hey Ron! Geez, you were the night time DJ around '63 and I remember that
vampire character..."Count Brandon" as I recall? You were one
of my inspirations to get into the biz in '65. What a pleasure to hear from
you. Please do find that old WNOE aircheck...I'm wading thru my mountain
of old tapes from WTIX and digitizing them. Sometime later this year I'm
intend to put up a New Orleans Radio Audio Museum site and I'd like to get
one scoped 2-3 minute aircheck of as many New Orleans jocks as I can from
the 50's thru the 70's to post to show people what they each sounded like.
All the best to you and thanks for the good times!
DARRYL MARTIN:
Dreamland Show, Elysian Fields and Burgundy. On Friday nights you could
get in for a nickel and a Blue Plate Margarine flap. We use to go to Schwegmann's
on St. Claude and Elysian Fields and procure the flaps than go to the show.
For Clubs, how about House of Zin in the Lower French Quarter near the Old
Gaiety Show. For Dances, don't forget the Italian Hall on Esplanade Ave,
900 or 1000 block.
We not wealthy by any means but we always had something to eat. My
father, Alex "Red" Martin, worked at and managed Martin Brother's
Restaurant at 1940 St. Claude Avenue, 504-949-9209 (Ahh the things we remember).
The restaurant was originally owned by my father's uncles Benny Martin and
his brother Clovis Martin, and then later by a cousin, Lehman Martin and
his partner Vital "Vic" Orgeron was the originator of the poor
boy (correct name, not po-boy) sandwich. The bread being made for them by
Angelo Gendusa. I sometimes worked as a delivery boy for them. We definitely
delivered to some characters, from Roswell Thompson, perennial political
candidate, to the musician's hall where there was always a card game going
on. The occasional old lady who was naked and wanted you to bring her sandwich
into the house. It was interesting.
In Martin's you never new what you were going to see. At that time
there weren't many 24 hours eateries. You went in after The Quarter was
winding down and you would see people with tuxedos next to women with pedal
pushers and bras on. You would have Pete Fountain or Al Hirt eating after
their clubs closed next to a local junkie. There was also the obligatory
police officer trying to eat without having to get involved in whatever
was going on in the restaurant at the time. They served, besides the traditional
potato sandwich, the largest hamburger steak I've ever seen. Another good
choice was the pane' chicken.
I was lucky to also have in our family another New Orleans classic,
the Swiss Confectionary, then located at 606 Frenchman Street, now located
at 747 St. Charles Avenue. When I was growing up the Swiss was owned and
operated by Laurent Moecklin. The business was then run by his son Laurent,
Jr. (Junior) and the store area by my aunt, Olga Dussor. The bakery is now
owned and operated by Laurent, Jr.'s son Larry Moecklin and his wife Rhonda.
Many of our family members worked there, either on an as needed basis or
as a regular employee. I also delivered for them when needed.
You can see why we always had something to eat.
Off of this topic I also had a rare opportunity to go to a FREE Catholic
Grammar School, Holy Trinity, on Royal and St. Ferdinand Streets. It has
long since closed. When I started there around 1950-51 it was free and by
the time I graduated eighth grade it went to $5.00 per month for the first
child then $4.00 for the next and $3.00 for the next (Ah the rhythm method
of birth control).
Thanks for bringing back memories.
BOB:
Hard to believe the risque movies they showed at the Gaiety would now be
rated PG-13. The other 90% of your email made me hungry for a POOR BOY myself...with
Creole tomato slices and lotsa my-nez!
LARRY ROQUES:
I ran across your website on Pontchartrain Beach and could not resist getting
my 2 cents worth in. Do you remember the "Billy Goat" machines
they used to vacuum the gay midway. I was only two or three when I first
encountered one of these industrial maintenance marvels, but they scared
the tar out of me at such a tender young age. Now, at 48, I make more noise
and am probably uglier than they were. Oh yeah, has anyone mentioned the
sky-lift that was added during the latter years. I attended the party given
by Ed Muniz for then WAIL-105 fm (later WLTS) at the Bali Hai. I think that
was one of the last functions to take place there. Some others in attendance
were the WAIL crew at the time, and George Mayoral, my then boss from WSDL.
I believe the Costellos were also there. There was a live performance in
the Bali Hai by Sister Sledge and some other up and coming singers. The
Bali Hai was also the site of our before prom dinner (and probably loads
more high school seniors).
Also, let us not forget Good ol' Bob Drew's local kid's show where we were
hypnotized into saving the USDA "837A" label on the package of
King Cotten Hot Dogs for whatever "valuable premium".....the Great
Mac Nutt (Wayne "Killer Bees" Mack) and kids crawling through
that rediculous barrel on "Funny Company".....Johnny's Follies
( who was that Guy?) and sending off for the Pepsi cap shaped Yo-Yo. What
a Prize! How about John Pela as Captain Mercury and that bogus space ship
set. (O where have all the creative geniuses in Television gone?)
BOB:
Dem Billy Goats did a great job. That gay midway was always spic-n-span.
The Skylift gets mentioned in our musical visit back to Pontchartrain Beach
in the New Orleans Jukebox Gold section of this ole site. Check it out!
That was Johnny Miller in the striped suit on Johnny's Follies. And didn't
John Pela look like a dork in that silver tin foil spacesuit as Captain
Mercury??