E-MAIL MEMORIES, PAGE 16



CAROL RICHARDSON:
It was in Thibodaux, not NO, but:

Hitch-hiking to NO to go swimming at Audubon Park Pool
Jack-the-Cat on WWEZ
Renting swim suits at Ponchartrain Beach
Local music from the beach stage
Sat. nights on the lake front near West End
The Zephyr

BOB:
Girls hitch-hiking from Thibodaux to New Orleans?? Ah, the good old days!
Renting swim suits???? EWWWWWWW !!!!


SUSIE Q FROM CHALMETTE:
My sister was a Hazel Romano dancer on Saturday Hop and she can still dance up a storm. No canes or walkers yet. I remember my Mom loading all her friends in the family station wagon and going to the dance studio on, I think it was on Milne around Filmore, for lessons. Afterward we would go to the Frost-Top for burgers and of course an ice cold mug of Rootbeer. Oh!!! what a memory. We lived in Chalmette and it was an adventure for me, as I was only around 8 or 9 years old at the time. My sister was also a beauty contest winner, Miss St. Bernard, Miss Tomato Queen, and she also won a date with Fabian on WTIX by drawing a tiger with WTIX hidden in the tigers strips, (someone else drew it for her). So you see I was exposed to all the fifty hoop-la growing up with her as a sister.

My own memories were mostly of sixties, the Arabi Show, St Bernard Drive Inn, when you put every body that would fit in the trunk before you drove in to pay, (smelling pics because the cow pasture behind the drive-inn was a breeding grown for mosquitos), the old Beach, going to see Oliver "Who Shot the Lala" Morgan at the Union Hall in Chalmette, renting camps every summer in Little Woods on Haynes Blvd., watching Morgus on Saturday nights, skating at Compliments Skating Ring on Charbonnet St, swimming at Splash Pool in Chalmette, watching the Arabi Parades on Mardi Gras Day or riding in it down St Bernard Hwy, St Claude Ave to Elysian Fields, cars on Mardi Gras draped with palmeta leaves with the tires flatened riding on the rims, the trunk lids off, the tops cut off and people hanging on for dear life trying to get a beer out of the ice chest that was being pulled in a wagon that was tied to the back, WTIX in the swamp on the other side of the levee, the pontoon bridge over the Ship Channel on Paris Rd, Paris Rd flooding with the least bit of east wind and having to go around through the city to go the gulf coast, oh and lets not forget Powers Junction, and the White Kitchen the two main places to stop on the way to the coast for a cold drink, snack and to use the restroom. Thanks for the memories. Your website is great.

BOB:
Amazing, the effect WTIX had on so many of our lives as we all had such similar and fun experiences growing up!


RONALD HERNANDEZ:
In 1948, my two year old sister was kidnapped in Harahan where we lived then. I was 7 years old at the time. The story was all over the newspapers and radio. As you know Henry Dupre and the Dawnbusters were perhaps the biggest show in town then. My older brother named Walter and I used to listen to the introduction because he would always open with the following:" Walter, it's a quarter past seven, Walter it's seven fifteen." We used to think he was personally saying this to my brother. Well, of course when we heard that Henry Dupre was coming to our house to interview the family about the kidnapping, I was very excited. In fact, more excited about that than all of the other activities swirling around this tragedy. When Mr. Dupre came in, he asked that I sit in his lap while the photographer took pictures. We still have those pictures from that memorable time. Oh, before I forget, this story has a happy ending. My baby sister was found alive unharmed.

BOB:
Whew! The good old days before the world went nuts.


PHILIP HELD:
Found your website, WOW what memories of listening to you as a kid, I am 41 now. I grew up around radio as my uncle worked at WJRW in Picayune for many years, before his retirement. His name was B.J. Johnson, they used to call him B.J. the D.J.. I can remember meeting Dan Diamond and Charlie Douglas (Doug China), what a treat that was for me. Can remember going on remotes with my uncle as a kid, in an old Volkswagen bus used as a studio, talk about budgets.

BOB:
B.J. The D.J. huh? Wonder if he took that name from the old Kitty Wells / Stonewall Jackson song that Charlie Douglas used to play on the Road Gang on WWL allnights.


MICHAEL BALLARD:
Memories of New Orleans in the Fifties? My father was a high diver who often performed at Ponchartrain Beach in the mid-Fifties. I have vivid memories of the roller-coaster, the hand-propelled cars, and the clown's head with the gaping mouth, that always seemed to be filled with smashed tomatoes. I spent July 4th of 1956 at Harry Batt's home (a friend of my father's) , watching the whole Batt clan setting off firecrackers and roman candles. You can imagine my disappointment, when I finally made it back to New Orleans, in 1994, and found that the park was closed. No modern amusement park can compare with the old ones.

BOB:
Your dad wasn't one of the famous Nerveless Nocks on the Beach stage, was he?? Yep, not even a trace of old Pontchartrain Beach left today but the Lighthouse. But the ghosts of days gone by still live there in the gentle breeze off the lake...still alive in another dimension and still having good times at Pontchartrain Beach.


KING LEMOINE (JACK PEARSON):
Hi Bob, King LeMoine here... I go back to the Harry Negosia days! I was 7-8 and I used to listen to New Orleans "First Disk Jockey" on WJBW on "The Mid Day Serenade". His theme song was "Does Your Heart Beat for Me."

He was the first of my recollections of radio in New Orleans. Everyday, while my mother did housework, she'd have the radio tuned to WJBW and listen to Mid Day Seranade. "Well, well, well, well, well, well, well..." Harry would say and begin his requests and dedications sent him by telegrams; from Lutcher, Algiers, Gretna, Slidell, Chalmette and from all over the South. And, my mother, bless her heart, would send birthday greetings to me on my birthday and we'd listen intently for his mention.

The last I heard of Harry Negosia, was that he was a ticket taker or usher at the movie theater on the North end Elysian Park Blvd. near Pontchartrain Beach. I think it was the Pitt Theater.

I was honored to have worked in the Cigali Bldg. on St. Charles Avenue and probably sat in the same chair that he did. Tarlow Associates bought the station and moved everything to the John Mitchell Hotel at 635 Common Street about 1960 and upped the wattage to 1,000 watts, daytime. Your site is GREAT and brings back many fond memories. Keep up the great work!!! There are a million ways to make people happy... I hope this has been one of them. Thank you! Yours truly... King LeMoine.

BOB:
Yes, that was the Pitt. Harry might have worked with our next writer below, Mike Hurley. Ex-radio personalities do go on to the most interesting and lucrative careers in later years! Some of the great moments in New Orleans radio came from the studios of WJBW. Thank YOU for the good times!

MIKE HURLEY:
Hello Bob, my name is Mike Hurley. I am writing to you from Florida, but I am a native New Orleanian. I just found your site on my computer today, and have been on it for hours. IT"S GREAT!

I am a former employee of the Skyvue Drive-In, The St. Bernard Drive-In, The Tiger Theatre (on Franklin Ave.), The Pitt Theatre, The Coliseum Theatre, The Joy Theatre, The Paris Theatre, The Saenger, Loews, and Orpheum theatres, and the Gentilly Orleans Theatre, and several other local theatres.

I am currently manager of the Silvermoon Drive-In Theatre in Lakeland, Fla. (silvermoondrivein.com)

I sure miss New Orleans, and have really enjoyed your site today. I will surely visit it again tomorrow.

I especially have enjoyed the Pontchatrain Beach selection on your site. I have been trying for years to find a photo of the great 7-UP neon sign that greeted us as we entered the 'beach' prior to Hurricane Betsy. But I've had no luck.

If you find anyone with a photo of that great sign, could you please e-mail a copy to me?

Thank you for the memories-I do remember you on 'TIX in the late 60's & 70's. I have to say that this site has me longing for NOLA.

BOB:
Wow! A career show person. Bet you saw many a good movie in your time, and FREE too! If anyone with a picture of that 7-UP neon sign at the Beach entrance (fish bubbling up as the sign flashed the slogan "You like it, it likes you) I'll post it on my site and let you know. Since you'll longing for N.O. now I'll have a sloppy roast beef poboy, dressed, on crispy French bread in your honor today.

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