E-MAIL MEMORIES, PAGE 6
RICHARD DELACROIX (KNIGHT):
Hi Bob, I was just looking over your Your web site again and happened across
the "Neighborhood Shows" It brought to mind 2 that I remember
from the past and thought I'd pass them along to you if you're interested.
One was the Tiger Theater on Franklin Ave at Abundance St. (right at the
foot of the overpass) and a theater I used to go to when I was a kid MANY
years ago. It was the Laurel Theater, and was on Laurel St. and Austerlitz
St. I grew up on Austerlitz St and the Laurel and Napoleon Theaters were
my "Shows." Last time I passed where the Laurel Theater was it
was an old warehouse. Well, that's about it, but I still enjoy looking around
your web site.......
BOB:
Seems people told me there was one helluva good pizza place next to the
Tiger on Franklin Avenue but that was too far from Carrollton Avenue for
me to run! Too bad the "Nabes" (theater slang for neighborhood
shows) are gone. I miss them!
And what was a kid from Austerlitz Street doing over by the "bad
kids" on Franklin Avenue??
NORM WILLY (CASEY O'CONNOR):
Bob ...In doing an Internet search for info on Marshall Pearce, I ran across
your Web site. It's great! Back in the 60s, I was the Norm Willy you have
listed as being on WSMB. I had the opportunity to work with Marshall, Roy,
Jeff, Jerry Valence, Bob Nelson and Keith Rush, who I understand is still
working in New Orleans. I was sorry to hear that Roy and Jeff and Larry
Regan died a couple of years ago. After leaving WSMB, I moved to Florida
where I worked for a time with David Nebel (WTIX alumnus) at a station in
Pensacola. I worked under the name Casey O'Connor and later had it legally
changed. The last I heard, David (who ended up in the restaurant business
managing Rosie O'Grady's in Pensacola), was running the Executive Club restaurant
in that city. I did return to WSMB for a time in the 80s and worked briefly
as Program Director and News Director after Marshall left and Rosalie Pergantis
was running the station.
I was raised on West End Blvd. and have faint memories of the New Basin
Canal with its high levees and streetcar tracks that ran in from Bucktown.
I had not started school at St. Dominic (Harrison Avenue) yet but recall
when they filled the canal and left this huge "neutral ground"
- (Now there's a New Orleans term). The intention as I remember was to have
the Causeway cross the lake and empty onto an expressway between Pontchatrain
Blvd. and West End. After school, we used to play ball on that neutral ground
watching grounders hop and jump over the rip rap (roots and cement) used
as fill. But those were great days. And then they built a huge concrete
Civil Defense bunker on the neutral ground out near Robert E. Lee.
I went to Jesuit and will always remember those Catholic League football
games at City Park Stadium - especially the ones between Jesuit and De La
Salle or Holy Cross. There were more than a few games with crowds up near
22,000. I was a freshman at Jesuit when Pat Screen was a senior quarterback
and Rusty Staub was just starting out. And after graduation, I recall watching
that famous Jesuit basketball team that was built by Kevin Trower and went
on to win the state championship under Dick Francis, averaging more than
100 points per game. I remember listening to the championship game with
Bruce Miller doing the play by play on WDSU.
I ended up at WSMB and was fortunate to work with a group of guys that
were heroes of sorts when I was young. While in grammar school, WTIX was
THE station. It was there that I first heard Marshall Pearce and David Nebel.
When Hurricane Betsy struck in 1965 ... I became infatuated with Roy and
Jeff ... and David was over there as was Marshall. When the power went out
and all the towers went down, it was SMB that kept everybody up to date
on generator power. It was that week of emergency broadcasting that pushed
SMB to the top of the ratings and told me I wanted to be in radio ... and
I got the opportunity as a result of a chance meeting with Keith Rush and
a good word put in by Barbara Elliott. As you know, she was married to Bill
Elliott (1825 Tulane) and it was their daughter who was the voice for the
Rosenberg commercials. Barbara put in the good word because at the time
I was dating Karen Hebert (New Orleans Ballet) and Karen's mom and dad were
good friends with Barbara and Bill. SMALL WORLD.
Anyway ... this is running forever ... but I ended up at SMB and worked
with John Vath, Marshall, Richard Fahey, Richie Delacroix, Keith Rush, Larry
Regan, Jerry Valence ... and the list goes on. I later had the opportunity
to handle play by play for University of New Orleans basketball and baseball
which was broadcast over a 3-year period over WSMB, WWL (NIT games) and
in my last year over WTIX. I think Kenny Trahan did it after I left. Take
care!
BOB:
Wow, Norm, what a life! You realize by the end of the '80's the powerhouse
WSMB was gutted by ignorant out of town corporate radio as*holes and A-holts
and brought down so far that it was sold at auction. And the beat goes on
today. But "we was there" when radio was fun and owners were sincerely
interested in the market. My year working at 'SMB is a treasured memory
(1967). By the way, during my years at De La Salle (Class of '63) we did
beat Jesuit in football...once. Thanks for a great letter from another old
N.O. radio warhorse and best wishes to you and your family over there in
the Orlando area!
BILL DUNCAN, Temple, GA:
Hi Bob...Steve Farrington sent me the link to your site, and may I say it's
a lot of fun and memories, like the day I walked into the old WTIX studios
and there you were on the air smoking a pipe! That was sometime in Aug.
'75. I was working in New Iberia at KANE and was coming back from vacation
at my home in Atlanta. I was friends with Mark Sommers and he invited me
to visit the station whenever I could. I did, and there you were. I also
met Bob Mitchell. I knew Lou Saint from a phone conversation we had in early
'74. I was working at WULF in Alma, GA. way down in the swamps about 100
miles from the coast. The "Big WULF" was on a local freq., but
we signed it off at midnight anyway. A friend and I that night at the station
were fooling around with the air-raid monitor and caught 'TIX. We both decided
to call the station, and we both yakked with him for quite a while. I believe
he had left WTIX by the time I came by. In fact, I think he was at WOAI.
I waved at you. I remember the window out to the reception room was on your
left as you faced the board, I think was a Gates President or Executive.
That vacation to Atlanta led to my landing a gig at WAPE. While at home,
I went to WFOM in Marietta to apply for a job. The PD there, Paul Sebastion,
was friends with John Long, PD at WAPE. He played my A/C down the phone
to John and in Oct.'75, I was on the air at KANE and I got a call from John
asking me how soon I could get there! I said "How about three hours
ago?" I sent Mark a big pack of stuff on the station, formats, music
lists, etc.
Bob, sorry this is such a long note, but we actually never spoke back
then. I'll get outta here for now. Hope to hear from you soon. I am working
at WSB FM here in Atlanta (B98.5) doing weekends and fill-ins. Stay well
and happy. All the best.
BOB: Yes, Bill, I did seduce olfactories from 1969-2000 with my pipe...Captain
Black (white pack) blend. And you know I wanted to cut it off before I possibly
got some lung disease but, damn, I miss that pipe and the cotton candy smell
of Captain Black. Some days at WTIX somebody would open the studio door
and have to grope around because the pipe tobacco was so thick! Thanks for
writing and I'll tell Lou Saint hi for you wheneverthehell I see him again.
New York Marc Sommers too.
CARL ENNER, Alexandria, LA:
Bob....in the mid' 60's it became a nightly ritual in our house to watch
Nash Roberts' weather on Channel 6....not for the weather--unless there
was a hurricane coming....but rather for the animated "Jax" beer
commericals with the dog....
BOB:
Weather ain't the same without old Nash. Jax had another memorable commercial
run after the "dog" years, featuring "Andrew Fabacher,"
a Andrew Jackson lookalike who rode around town on a horse (!) promoting
Jax Beer in the late 60's and early 70's. They could have gotten my dad
out of the bottle shop and on the horse for a lot less money!