TOMMY COLLINS AT HIS BEST

 Carolina was a school teacher in her later years in Bakersfield and in summer months she worked the sales floor at Brock's in Valley Plaza. I worked with her part-time on weekends stocking the various departments, and I'd see her at the many charity events where she'd perform as a volunteer.

WHITE HAT GOOD GUY

 

                                                                     Door Mat

Arrest me, IRS, I dare you

                                                 © World Wide News   April 7, 1981

Paul Bell ran a small print shop in Taft, Calif., where I first met him. I had made an order for a dozen or so bumper stickers of my own design. I soon realized he was the man who made a trip each year from his home in Taft to the Internal Revenue Service in Bakersfield and demanded that officials arrest him for not paying his income tax, which he said the IRS had no basis for requirement by individuals, based on religious and Constitutional overriding authority. I asked him for details and he had plenty to offer, speaking in a serious and confident tone and with an edge of anger in his voice. National attention came in the above clipping from a grocery story tabloid, one in the vein of National Inquirer and with actor Tom Selleck on the cover. Each year the Californian newspaper carried the story. Each time it was the same. No arrest. Until one year... click, click, went the handcuffs.

 The Buckaroos -- Don Rich's final days

Back L-R: Ronnie Jackson, Jerry Wiggins, Jim Shaw

Front L-R: Don Rich, Doyle Singer

 Moseying along...

From Deke Dickerson website

 "Mrl" by artist Brian Demarest

More Bakersfield Art

The Plunge on Union Avenue

"Dontcha, dontcha step on my blue suede shoes..."

Yeah, lay off my blue suede shoes. I bought a pair at a department store in Joplin, Mo., but not because of the popular song at the time by Carl Perkins (pictured above), nor because they were suede, certainly not because they were blue. I was just looking for another pair of non-lace ups to replace my worn out ( I could say spent) penny loafers. I liked the snap-top.

YES, BUT...

1937 billboard — Designed by the Campbell-Ewald Company, The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) billboards were positioned in every city with a population of over 2,500. Nearly every American would have seen one. They were part of the American home’s furniture. Bourke-White and her colleagues recording the American tableaux for the Farm Security Administration – Dorothea Lange, John Vachon, Arthur Rothstein, and Edwin Locke – spotted the jarring chasms between the image and the reality.

SLIM THE DRIFTER

His take on "Streets of Bakersfield" sells the song like no other version could hope to match, and he really did walk 'em.

 

 Geraldine, the Bus Stop Queen

Every morning at eight and evening at five 

All those workin' boys come alive 

Those are the times she's on the scene 

Geraldine, the bus stop queen 

chorus: 

Pedal pushers and tight capris 

And a tight-fitting T

Geraldine, you beat all I've ever seen

Geraldine, the bus stop queen

She's got curves beyond reason

A shape like a goddess in a museum 

I'll get another peek if I have to lean 

Geraldine, the bus stop queen 

chorus: 

Pedal pushers and tight capris 

And a tight-fitting T

Geraldine, you beat all I've ever seen

Geraldine, the bus stop queen

She's got traffic backed up for blocks

Cars runnin’ through the stops

Guys driving in circles and stopping to stare 

You'd think it was Marilyn Monroe on the square 

bridge: 

Hey, it's really the time

I'm gonna call the helpline 

I'm addicted to what I've seen 

Geraldine, the bus stop queen 

[Spoken voice trails away gradually as music continues]:

I need to take another route, she's got my mind reamed out

Mercy, I could just shout, she's what it's all about...

© Godot Boys Music (BMI)

Words and music by Bryce Martin (2003)

Double Feature Fun

It's that time of year again

See Ya at the Pink Cadillac

By Bryce Martin

NOTE: I grew up in Kansas and in California when drive-in movie locations were fairly common. Some things you remember.

--A drive-in movie complex was referred to as a "passion pit" because it was mostly teenage couples who attended.

--Sometimes you double dated and other times it was just you and your girl. A carload of guys you might try once but never again because it was too much horseplay and distractions if you really wanted to watch the movies. It was always a double feature with previews and a cartoon in the middle. It was 75 cents a person, but a dollar for a carload.

--The "concession stand" was in a short, flat building, as were the restrooms. If one girl went to the restroom the other girl always went with her. Over to the side of the concession building was a small cluster of swings and other playthings for kids to occupy prior to the movie starting.

--Sometimes a singer, with or without a band, or a comedian who performed antics, would be up front of the first row on a makeshift stage or flatbed performing their specialty hooked up to the main PA speaker. It was an added feature and did not change the regular movie prices. Once it starting getting close to the start of showtime (read dark), the performer would bid adieu.

--At the drive-in you could talk and joke at your heart's content and not be concerned about your behavior the way you would in a walk-in theater, or "hardtop," as they called walk-ins in California. It was obviously more intimate.

--I remember when Jerry Keller had his only hit song "Here Comes Summer," and he sang:

Here comes summer, drive-in movies every night,

Double features, much more time to hold her tight

--Some got out of their cars and sat on front fenders, or stretched out on the hood with their head propped up on the windshield.

--You could smell the aroma of hot dogs warming. Before the movie kicked off, a short skit would show a couple and their kids enjoying some delicious food from the snack bar and then cartoon clock was on the screen acting as a 15-minute timer countdown to load up with your food before the first feature began. At intermission, the food angle repeated in a shorter form.

--I would imagine it is all still the same at the few locations where there are drive-in movie locations.

The Pink Cadillac Drive-In

By Bryce Martin 

 

C                                                          F

I’m live and in person on Saturday nights

C                                                         G7

My name up there in the marquee lights

C                                                    F

I’ll be on stage until it gets real dark

G7                                                             C

Come early for your favorite place to park

 

G7                                        C

It’s the drive-in movie place to be

G7                                         C

It’s not that tired old teevee

G7                                          C

It’ll be a great double feature,

D7                                        G7

A western and a swamp creature

 

The Pink Cadillac is the place to go

Be sure and catch my sunset show

I’ll be there to sing 'n' play a little bit

Then it’s the teenagers’ passion pit

 

It’s the drive-in movie place to be

It’s not that tired old teevee

It’ll be a great double feature,

A western and a swamp creature

 

It’s the Saturday night thing to do

Songs and movies and some coochy-coo

I'm tuning up for when it next begins

Pink Cadiillac, Pink Cadillac… Drive-in

© Godot Boys Music (BMI) 2017

Words and music by Bryce Martin

 A pair of humdingers

 Imagine this family setting around the TV in the 1950s

                           "Mommy, what was that commercial about Erectile Disfunction?"

 Joe Maphis and his Mosrite Special

                                                                         1972

In 1973 the lineup of celebrities included, but was not limited to: Mickey Mantle, Buck Owens, Don Rich, Johnny Mann, Don Barry, Telly Savalas, Roy Clark, Max Baer Jr., Dennis James, Johnny Crawford, Charley Pride, Foster Brooks, Buddy Alan, Alvy Moore, Monte Hall, Rafer Johnson, Joe Rudi, Don Sutton, Glen Campbell, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Joey Bishop. 

GALENA, KANSAS, SMELTER WORKERS BATTLE UNION

1937

BLOODY GALENA!

 

BUCK OWENS

 

 JOPLIN'S OWN, BOB CUMMINGS  -- 1956

TRONA SNAPHOTS

👇

Photo from 1976 of locomotive with the Trona Railway in Trona, Calif., on the Mojave Desert in       Searles Valley. Warren Clark, from Galena, Kansas, was head of the railroad. Locomotive is stalled due to broken drawbridge.

The Roadrunner blended in well with desert sand. 

New shoe warning label: Inspect inside before wearing

“Always check your shoes and boots before putting them on,” Grandma Martin warned. She said one of her grandsons fell into that habit after getting stung by a scorpion lurking in one of his shoes. I told her I had not seen any scorpions around. “They’re around,” she said. “They don’t want you to see them. There’s also black widows, centipedes, and all manner of stinging creatures looking for hiding and nesting places and your shoes attract them.” Occasionally, and not even  close to always, I recall that warning and closely examine my footwear before sticking in my feet. “One can’t be too careful,” I recall her concluding. Those in her day had to be extra careful. She had to wash clothes, prepare, cook, and serve food, and do it all and much more in a house without running water or electricity. She couldn’t afford to get sick. Survival was of an utmost concern in the Missouri woods with no neighbors nearby to rely on in case of need. She also could not afford to have a family member down with an illness. That meant she then had to find time from her usual, daily multiple chores to doctor a loved one, which she would tend to rigorously and religiously. Most of us today will never hear of such warnings from a wise grandmother. A cab, a neighbor, someone is usually within reach by way of a cellphone and doctors and clinics are not far away. But, like I said, I do sometimes search my shoes before planting my feet. One can’t be too safe any time.

Grandfather Martin offered the same advice, but in a more colorful way as was his nature: "Remember, the horse always kicks, the dog always bites, and the gun is always loaded."

-30-

HELL WEEK IN BAKERSFIELD

 

Mayf Nutter

 From West "By Gawd" Virginia, Mayf Nutter was all over the map in making a name for himself. 

We ran together some in Bakersfield where he and I both resided. Amazed I was at how he managed to juggle so many different careers, I asked how he did it. "Well, I guess one gives me a vacation from the other, keeps me fresh."  I described him as a “renaissance man.” He asked what that was. It was a fair response. It was a new buzz phrase making the rounds. I guess I caught him up a little too soon. In his case it simply meant a man of many talents. I preferred “talented multi-hyphenate.” Mayf was skilled in many high-level areas. He had record releases on major record labels, played guitar and wrote and sang many of his own songs, appeared as a singer in major cities and venues, narrated Walt Disney films, starred as an actor in major Hollywood films and television series, wrote a monthly column for a national country music publication, and owned a celebrity limousine service. He built quite a name for himself. His name? I once mentioned his name to a fellow who said, "Oh, yes! I remember him from The Andy Griffith Show." I knew that to be false because Mayf never had mentioned it, and Mayf would have mentioned it. It took some real digging until the name I was looking for came up. Not Mayf, but Rayf, just as West Virginian but different. Guest actor Jack Prince portrayed Rayf Hollister, an itinerate singer who showed up one day to sing a tune for the folks in Mayberry. Mayf's mother, like many in her day living in rural areas, looked forward to welcoming traveling vendors such as "The Watkins Man," and the "Jewel Tea Man," for lotions, liniments, and everything from baking powder and other grocery and household items to cleaning supplies, linens, cookware and dishes.

A Jewel Tea man by the name of Mayf showed up just in time to rush Mayf's mother to a doctor to deliver her son, and for that the newborn... you guessed it.

Album Cover Project No. 3

I have for many years enjoyed looking at vinyl record album covers. Now, I also enjoy designing my own. Even though I am the subject I am not always on the cover. Case in point: I have out now a 4-song CD titled Driller Man and I am not part of the design.

 

 ME and KIA

Mickey D's: A smokers den no more 

 

 Something to get all-googly about...

A marvel of the times

...

 From swinging doors and a barroom to Jesus...

*From an article written by Stan Hitchcock and published in a magazine after Hitchcock's death:

RIP STAN, MERLE

 MAMA WAS STILL TRYING

BAKERSFIELD CALLING

TEHACHAPI PRISON YARD ART BY JR