Old Friends...Sit on Their Park Bench Like Bookends

by Pa Rock
Native Son

This morning after breakfast at my Dad's favorite cafe, we drove into Southwest City and visited with my former brother-in-law, Bob Smith. Bob's mother, Lucy Smith, passed away last month. She had been a lifelong resident of the Southwest City area, and worked fifty years there at the Cornerstone Bank. They are auctioning off Lucy's estate tomorrow (Labor Day), and there should be a million or so people crowed into the yard and house. (Well, maybe not quite that many, but Lucy had lots and lots of nice things, and she knew everyone for miles around - so it will be especially crowded.)

This afternoon I have made the rounds checking in on old friends, a pleasurable and treasurable experience. My first stop was at the Noel Housing Authority to visit Mollie Carroll, one of the dearest people in the world. Mollie graduated from Noel High School a few years before me, and then headed off to New York City where she spent over three decades teaching in Catholic schools and living on the fringe of the theatre community. Her background is in English and drama, but she can speak for hours on literally any topic and do it well. She is one of the singularly most knowledgeable and caring people whom I have ever known. Mollie told me that she is working on a novel - and who better to write one!

Stop number two was to spend some time with Mertie Harmon and her housemate, George McGee. Mertie is my Dad's age, the mother of one of my classmates, and a very cherished family friend. She caught me up on more local news, and I shared stories about my children and my old girlfriend, Susan. When Susan and I lived in Noel years ago, she and Tim and I would often play cards with Mertie and George. Mertie is very alert and seemed to be well and happy. George is frail and on oxygen, but also very alert and talkative. It was good to catch up with both of them.

The third stop of the afternoon was to visit with James and Patti Carroll. James and I have been close friends since junior high school, and I have known Patti (Gough) almost that long. James works for the local post office as a mail carrier, and Patti has been a fixture at the local Methodist Day Care center for many years. Both have quietly evolved into family caretakers, carrying the weight of dealing with siblings and parents as they get older and are no longer able to care for themselves. James and Patti have two sons. Anthony lives in Springfield, MO, and manages a nice restaurant, and Ryan has been teaching in China for several years.

Tonight I may catch up with Brenda Cates Kilby, a former classmate of my sister's who has remained in this area and managed to navigate past its shortcomings. She has been a college professor, newspaper reporter, and world traveler. Brenda writes a couple of blogs and occasionally posts comments to things in the Ramble. She has a unique perspective on the world and is a very good person.

My niece, Tiffany Burke, will be here at noon tomorrow to take me to Highfill International - and my brief vacation will be at an end. I know that Scroungy Bastard will be glad to see me back in Arizona. He has had to spend the past couple of days panhandling - but, hey, he was panhandling when I met him - and he's very good at it!

More from the Ozarks

by Pa Rock

Today I am taking up space in a Barnes and Noble somewhere near the dividing line between Bentonville and Rogers, Arkansas. In the early days of Wal-Mart when Sam Walton and David Glass would go out into the world buying clothes or crockpots en masse, the people doing the selling would often enquire, "Where is Bentonville?" Their reply was always a deadpan "Right next to Rogers." And it is!

It is cloudy, cold, and windy today. I wouldn't mind experiencing some snow, but I certainly don't want it interfering with my flight back to Phoenix tomorrow.

Kansas City Southern's Christmas Train came to Noel yesterday, and I drove Dad down to see that. Children and adults were lined up for several blocks to walk through the specially decorated old-time train and receive Christmas goodies from the man with the flowing white beard. Dad sat in his pickup and watched the activity while I walked around taking pictures of the train and the crowd.

Several charities and civic organizations were on hand to work the crowd. I ran into Jane Hamm who was manning a booth for the Noel Fire Department. Her son, Matt, works for that organization. Jane was our best fifth grade teacher at Noel during the years I was there. She taught in the same room in which I had attended fifth grade with Boonetta Davis in the late 1950's. Jane will be retiring after this year. She caught me up on her other two sons, as well. Jake is a librarian with the Joplin Public Library, and Andy works for Glad in northwest Arkansas and is quickly becoming rich!

I also visited with Marcia Denny. Marcia is one of my former college students, and she has worked for Economic Security in McDonald County for the past decade. Marcia was ringing the bells for the Salvation Army, and I had dropped my dollar into the bucket before I even recognized her! The Salvation Army bell ringers are always the best of people!

A fellow who was filming the event told me that Kansas City Southern and a group of co-sponsors had a list of families with special needs and were making certain that they received some extra help this Christmas.

Preceding the Christmas Train into town was a KCS passenger train from the 1950's. It was parked on a siding on the other side of town, and we drove up to see it after leaving the commotion near the old train depot (now City Hall). There were several of us walking around the passenger train taking pictures and trying to stay out or each other's shots. We had to face west into the setting sun, making good photography a real challenge.

My first experience on a passenger train was a school trip from Goodman, MO, to Joplin, MO, at the end of my first grade year. When I was in high school my good friend, Tom Anderson, and I rode the train from Noel to Joplin to spend the day with his dad at work. Also, it was during high school that my other close friend, James Carroll, and I rode the train from Noel to Kansas City to visit a family of tourists whom we had met in Noel on the river that summer. My final trip on the Kansas City Southern Railway was when I was in college. I rode the rails to Kansas City and visited Mike Box, a close college friend, and his family for the day. The passenger service must have ended sometime around 1970.

Today we still have the Amtrak, a perennial target of Republican sleazoids who want to do away with practical transportation options and have us buying more of their gas. Hopefully the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress will recognize that the time has come to offer rail transportation to every city in the United States with a population of 50,000 or more. What a great public works project that would be! Jobs, jobs, and more jobs!

Come on January 20th!

Visitors

Two of my friends, James and Patti Carroll of Noel, MO, were in Phoenix Thursday evening. They arrived in the late afternoon, rented a car at Sky Harbor Airport, and then drove across Phoenix on Interstate 10 in rush hour traffic and 110 degree heat. I am sure that they had had quite enough of The Valley of the Sun by the time they made it to my place in Goodyear. Later that evening after a nice meal and a tour of Luke Air Force Base, we stopped at a local CVS so Patti could by a few necessaries for their trip to Sedona the following day. James and I sat in the car and visited while Patti went to do her shopping. When she returned to the car, she had a bemused look on her face. Patti said that she had been exchanging small talk with the clerk in the store and had mentioned that she was here on vacation. The clerk had replied, somewhat astonished, "You're vacationing here!

Amen, sister!

Holiday Highlights

Feliz Navidad Amigos,

I have been in Missouri for the past few days celebrating the holidays with family and friends. There was no snow in the Ozarks this holiday season, so I will have to be content with watching it snow on television or in the movies this winter. It definitely won’t happen in Phoenix!

This year’s holiday adventure began as I was trying to get cleared to catch my flight out of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport on the 19th. The good folks at TSA managed to find a reason to collect my shaving cream and toothpaste, even though I thought that I had met all of their insufferable criteria. (The plastic baggie that I had them in was too big, as were the containers. And, for all of you future travelers out of Phoenix, it’s not the amount of toothpaste in the tube; it is the amount that the tube was designed to carry.) Sky Harbor is one place where you do not want to argue with authority figures. Last September their airport security caused the death of a woman when they handcuffed her and left her alone in a locked room. The lady was inebriated, supposedly, and spoke impolitely to the airport cops. After they left her alone, she choked to death trying to squirm out of the handcuffs. Turns out she was a wealthy, well-connected socialite from New York. Whoops! That’s gonna cost them an airplane or two!

My second holiday adventure occurred at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, a former cow pasture located just outside of Bentonville, Arkansas, near the little crossroads of Highfill. Highfill International, as it is lovingly referred to by the locals, is a relatively new airport that was put together about a decade ago by the Walton’s, Tyson’s, Hunt’s, and other assorted aristocrats of the area. My Dad arrived there on the 19th to pick me up. There was a parking space right in front of the terminal, which he thought was great, so he parked there and went inside. (My Dad is eighty-three. It takes a great deal of effort for him to walk, and he can hardly hear at all.) When I met him in the airport I heard an overhead announcement describing his truck and saying that the owner needed to get out there immediately. I put on my best smile and went out to resolve the situation. The lady with the ticket pad was already writing and refused to show any holiday spirit. I had her bring her supervisor outside and proceeded to give them some of my holiday spirit. Total price: $20.00 - and I don't regret a single peso! There is no doubt in my mind that Santa Claus will leave chicken poop in her stocking this year!

Adventure number three happened the next day after I had torn apart my Dad’s house searching for my car keys. I had left my car at a park and fly (The Parking Spot) in Phoenix, so I didn’t need them; I just wanted to know where they were. After a long, futile search, I telephoned the Parking Spot and asked Stephanie, the sweetest lady in all of Phoenix, if she would check my car and see if I had left the keys in the ignition. I gave her time to check and then called back. Stephanie replied that my keys were in the ignition, and that my car was still running – thirty hours after I had left it there! A Parking Spot driver was eventually able to get into the car, turn off the engine, and retrieve my keys. I will be nominating myself for the Darwin Award this year!

My final adventure occurred on the night of the 22nd as I was trying to leave. Winter storms were flirting with the Ozarks, and I made a decision to go to the airport the night before my 5:30 a.m. scheduled departure. I didn’t want to take the chance of having my Dad get out in bad weather. A friend took me to Highfill and I spent the entire night listening to taped TSA warnings about all kinds of ways those sneaky terrorists might bring their evil to Arkansas.

Three of my New Year’s resolutions are to always use the Parking Spot in Phoenix when I fly, always be polite to the Gestapo at Sky Harbor, and never fly into or out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. Of course, there is a good chance that my next trip home will be by Greyhound, or in my amazing little car that can idle for thirty hours!

There were many happy times woven into this holiday. I saw all three of my children and both of my grandchildren. Tim, my youngest, informed us that he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Erin, which is great because we all love Erin! Boone, my oldest grandson, announced that he had given two girls diamond rings for Christmas. He bought them at the dollar store. I saw my sister, Gail, and two of her kids, Tiffany and Justin, and Justin’s wife, Lisa. I had lunch with some of my old co-workers, and ran into some others at the county courthouse. And I was able to visit with old friends Mertie Harmon and James and Patti Carroll. A lot happened in just a few short days! Now I will relax and spend the rest of the holidays with a few other good friends - both paperback and hardbound!

May '08 bring Peace to us all!

Pa Rock

The Ozark Theatre

My first “regular” job was as the projectionist the Ozark Theatre in my hometown of Noel, Missouri. The job consisted of five shows each weekend (Friday night, Saturday afternoon and night, and Sunday afternoon and night), and if I remember correctly I made two dollars and fifty cents for each showing. I started doing that about the time I began high school and managed to hang onto that job until I left town to attend college.

The Ozark Theatre was a great place to work. I helped out at the concession stand before the show started and got to see who all of the couples were for that week. There was an outside balcony on the projection booth that allowed for monitoring everyone who was cruising Main Street. One of my predecessors had been thrown off of that balcony by an irate customer, but the reason for that ejection now escapes me.

One plus to working at the theatre was that I got to see all of the movies. A negative was that I got to see them all five times, whether I really wanted to or not! One time that the multiple showings had a serious impact on me was when we ran a movie on the life of Hank Williams, Sr, called Your Cheating Heart. When the movie started, I had no love at all for country music, but by the end of the fifth showing I had developed a real appreciation for Hank Williams unique songs and style. (Years later when I was introduced to Sheldon Williams – Hank III – at a political picnic in which his maternal grandfather was running for county office and working the crowd, I told the 11-year-old how much I liked his paternal grandfather’s music. That picnic was was on the banks of the Elk River in Noel.)

The projection booth was always too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. The summer heat could be alleviated somewhat by keeping the door to the balcony open, and even stepping out onto the balcony from time to time. My boss, Mildred “Ma” Cash always made sure that I had a soda and a box of popcorn at the ready during every show.

Friday evening I would haul the film cases upstairs to the projection booth. Each case contained three or four reels of 35 mm film. A normal movie would run around six reels, but some weeks we might be running a double feature which could mean lugging four heavy cases upstairs. Most weekends the presentation would also include a one-reel cartoon – a good one like those made by Walt Disney and Walter Lantz. If previews were included, I would have to splice them onto the cartoon or first reel of the film, and then remove them after the last showing on Sunday night. I would drag the film cases back downstairs after the Sunday night show, and sometime during the week a freight company would pick up the old movie and replace it with the new one.

The two projectors were World War II vintage. They got their light from a carbon arc reflecting off of a concave mirror. A full reel would last about eighteen minutes and it was necessary to constantly monitor the long carbon rods and the light on the screen, making adjustments as necessary. At the end of each reel cue marks would appear in the upper left corner of the film, alerting me to start the other projector and be ready to make a smooth transition. As soon as the next projector took over, I would have to rush around and drop the shutter on the machine that had just run out of film. The next step was to thread the upcoming reel in the projector that had just been turned off, and to replace its carbon rods if they had burned too low. One machine was always running and the other was always being prepared to run. It was a fairly complicated process that became second nature as the months and years rolled by.

My friend, Tom Anderson, and I acquired a recipe for homemade beer when I was a junior or senior in high school. The recipe called for the concoction to be placed under a heat lamp for several days. The main problem that we had to deal with was where to make this brew. Being bright lads, we hatched a plan to mix it in the projection booth one Sunday night after the show closed, and leave it there underneath a jerry-rigged heat lamp. We would then come in the following Friday before the show and bottle our beverage. What could be simpler than that? When we got there on Friday the boss’s daughter and her best friend were already there, and they were madder than the proverbial wet hens. The entire theatre smelled of our brew, and, although it proved to be essentially undrinkable, we had the smell right! We hauled the beer out, and opened every door trying desperately to air the building out before show time!

In the fall of 1966 I moved to Springfield, Missouri, to go to college, and I left the Ozark projectors in the capable hands of my best friend, James Carroll. Needing a part-time job to support myself in college, the first place that I looked for work was at the local theatres. There were four theatres in Springfield at that time. The Fox, Gillioz, and Landers theatres were downtown close to the square and were all owned by Fox. The Tower Theatre, closer to the edge of the city, was owned by Dickinson Company out of Kansas. Dickinson also owned the Ozark Theatre in Noel, so it wasn’t hard for me to get a job in their concession stand earning sixty-five cents an hour. Later I was promoted to the projection booth and a much healthier salary of ninety cents an hour.

James Carroll joined me as a projectionist at the Tower when he came to Springfield for college a couple of years later. The most significant difference between running projectors in Noel versus running them in Springfield, was the number of showings to which a projectionist might be subjected. In Springfield a movie could be held over indefinitely if it was drawing good crowds. James and I saw some movies way too many times!

James eventually went back to Noel and bought the Ozark Theatre. He and his wife, Patti, ran it for several years until it tragically burned to the ground one afternoon. My son, Nick, had the privilege of working the concession stand at that old theatre on its last night of operation.

There wasn’t much money in the theatre business, but to this day those job memories are some of my best and most satisfying.