POPPA STOPPA
Letter in the Times Picayune TV Focus
Printed Sunday April 15, 2001
Note: I never knew Duke Thiele (middle pic), but he must have been quite
a character!
Geez...and my buddy Jack The Cat looks soooo young!!
See bottom of this page for more.
Text of letter and response printed in TV Focus:
THAT OLD-TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL
DOES ANYONE KNOW what ever happened to "Poppa Stoppa," who
was one of the greatest DJ's of the '50's? He was our music god after school
during those great doo-wop years. Also, "Jack the Cat" was from
10 to 12 every night. - J.E.H.
WELL, THERE WERE three New Orleans disc jockeys who used the name "Poppa
Stoppa." The third and final "Poppa" was Clarence Hayman
(sic), who died at 81 in 1999 following a lengthy illness.
The name was actually begun by Vernon Winslow, who became known as "Doctor
Daddy-O." See, Winslow was black and wasn't allowed on the air during
the 1950's and early 1960's, so he coached the white disc jockeys on how
to sound more black and hip.
Winslow died in 1993, and is credited as "New
Orleans' First Colored Disc Jockey." Duke Thiele was the second
"Poppa," and he was 45 when he died in 1966.
Hayman's "Poppa Stoppa" is credited with playing the first
rhythm and blues records to which local white kids were exposed, and with
playing songs like local singer Clarence Henry's "Ain't Got No Home."
He also came up with Henry's now famous nickname "Frogman."
Hayman replaced Thiele in 1953. His theme song was "Dig It"
by Joe Houston. Around 1979, Hayman moved to WSDL in Slidell and spun classics
until retiring in 1986. "Poppa Stoppa" became such an entity that
Pee Wee Crayton recorded an instrumental piece by that name as a tribute
to the legendary disc jockey.
Ken "Jack the Cat" Elliott and his brother Bill were very
popular local disc jockeys on radio station WNOE. Ken Elliott started out
there in 1938 when he was 19, and as "Jack the Cat" was featured
at various times on radio stations WNOE, WDSU, WWEZ and WJBW. According
to a 1958 clipping from the New Orleans Item, he became the hippest 30-something
guy in town as master of ceremonies on "New Orleans Bandstand"
- similar to its network counterpart, "American Bandstand" - on
television channels 4 and 12 during the late 1950's.
Elliott and one of his wives, Ann, who became known as "Jacqueline
the Kitten," teamed up on the "Bandstand," where local teens
gathered every Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Invitations were extended to kids from
13 to 19 with the requirement that they dress "in good taste."
Boys were expected to wear coat and tie.
Along with the couple, Elliott's 17-year-old daughter from a previous
marriage, Kendra Elliott appeared as hostess. She's now Kendra Bruno and
with her husband, Joseph, owns Dixie Brewing Co.
"Jack the Cat" died in 1969 at the age of 50.
A NOTE FROM BOB WALKER:
I knew Ken "Jack the Cat" Elliott for many years
and what a wonderful person and inspiration he was to me.
Ken experienced heart problems most of his life.
He suffered a number of heart attacks through the years.
After each heart attack Ken would joke with his friends,
telling them
"Don't worry...a cat has nine lives."
His ninth heart attack in October 1969 killed him at age
50....
Listen to Bob Walker's internet radio show
"NEW ORLEANS JUKEBOX GOLD"
and click on our tribute to "POPPA STOPPA AND HIS MUSIC"
featuring the POPPA STOPPA THEME SONG and ACTUAL SHOW OPENING,
with POPPA STOPPA'S FAMILIAR VOICE AND GREETINGS.
48 MINUTES, 15 SONGS