Anderson Chevrolet Dealership

Before Anderson Motor Company was on Roswell Street it was here, on the first block of Powder Springs Street from the Square.

The owner James T. Anderson was a sincere humble man who didn’t mind doing some dirty greasy work. If you dealt with Anderson Motors much you probably would see James in work coveralls with the Chevrolet emblem more than you would see him in a shirt and tie.

I don't know when Chief Williams was chief of the Marietta Police Force. I know it was before my father, who was chief in the late 40s and early 50s.

Noticed up the side of the building you see two levels. The bottom level would be in the future Atherton Drugstore. Atherton Drug Store had a gas leak and blew up killing and injuring a number of people Halloween night in 1964. Because of the explosion the second level is no longer there.

My father bought our first family car, a Chevrolet, at Anderson’s.

It did not have a radio. I don’t think Daddy ever had a car with a radio. To him, it was an unnecessary expense, a distraction, and pretentious.

Anderson Chevrolet has ran its course. With Marietta and Atlanta just minutes away with the new expressways dozens of Chevrolet dealers materialized and the small town car dealerships could not compete with the fast talking dealers making fools of themselves in TV commercials. Or, that is what I think, anyway.

Now, some of the big dealerships are crumbling. Bill Heard Chevrolet for instance – but I think that might had something to do with “creative financing” with GMA Finance Company holding the bag… or not holding the bag.

Son of Movies

My sister developed a system of reading books in order and not missing many. A long time ago, she started with the Card Catalog and picked her books in order of the index cards. She said that way she will not miss a good author that otherwise she probably would. But unfortunately, she will not miss a bad author either.

Now I find myself in a similar situation. We belong to the Blockbuster Videos by mail system. We can see as many fast as the Postal Service will deliver them limited to our own available times to sit down and watch them. If we return one by mail they send us another movie from our list the same day they receive it. Plus we get to get two DVDs per month from the Blockbuster walk-in store. I suppose it is possible to see over 15 movies a month. We are seeing about six movies a month. We are just trying to get the most for our money.

There just are not six movies a month that we care about seeing – so, we are picking some we never heard of – maybe because of the actor or the director or maybe subject content. We have picked some excellent unknown movies like that and also some very bad movies. Movies lately:


COLOR OF MONEY, THE with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. I think this was a sequel of THE HUSTLER. The movie is very realistic. The pool hall reminds me of pool halls we went to Atlanta when I was a teenager. Paul Newman and Tom Cruise were excellent actors in it. Now, I know where Tom Cruise that jumping up and down on a couch on THE TODAY SHOW – himself in this movie. I thought the details and the acting were excellent however the story line was predictable. I knew within a minute after it was clear that Paul Newman (“Fast Eddie”) would be the hustler teacher and Tom Cruise would be the grasshopper that near the end they would have a clash and challenge each other. It was just too predictable.

INTO THE WILD Directed and screenplay by Sean Penn about Christopher McCandless with actor Emile Hirsch. This is based on a true story. A young positive man just graduated from Emory College near Atlanta. He had everything going for him but was obsessed with going into the wild country of the northern states and eventually the best of all wild states, Alaska. He kelp a journal and wrote into it his experiences and the characters he met and that is what the movie is based on. He died in the wilderness of Alaska in an abandoned bus. How did the bus in the middle of hills and a thicket of growth get there to begin with? Who knows? Who cares? That is not part of the story.


RENDITION with Reece Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard You remember Jake Gyllenhaal – he was the other "cowpoke" (if you get my meaning) in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. The investigating officials of the U.S. and I think Egypt believe an Egyptian-American is a terrorist because a known terrorist called him. The suspect was shocked when they told him that. He had no idea why the known terrorist called. It could have been a wrong number. The suspect had lived in the U.S. since he was 14, graduated from NYU, married a WASP (Reece Witherspoon), had a son, and traveled the world – he was an engineer. In this movie the only way they knew how to get information that he said he didn’t know anything about was to torture him. The authorities did not tell his wife they were holding him, he wasn’t allowed counsel – everything we Americans claim as rights. He finally gave them a list of names just to get them to stop electric shocking his testicles. It turned out the names were the names of an Egyptian soccer team that came to the U.S. many years ago (he was a soccer fan).
The movie raises the question just how good is torture interrogation if they will tell you anything just to get you to stop. It seems that kind of interrogation would do more harm than good.
It is the same with the Spanish Inquisition - the people would lie and say they are devil worshipers or anti-Christ, just to be able to get them to ease off on the stretch rack.


TWO DAYS IN PARIS Adam Goldberg and Julia Delpy. It is about two young lovers’ two days in Paris. Their interactions, their quarrels, her affairs, and self-realization. The girl played by Julia Delpy lived with her family in Paris before moving to New York. They are staying with her family. The movie gives a great tour of the back streets and alleys of Paris and a study of their social way of life… this is the 3rd movie that she plays the same self-analysis , same city, and the same kind of dialog and interacting. I guess they sell. psst! I did a google on Julia Delpy and found there are some naked pictures of her out there.

Claude and Matt Hood Foster

This is Claudius Linton Foster (1888 – 1965) and his wife Matt Hood (d1964).



This first picture of them together is estimated to be 1919, the year they were married.




And here they are in 1959, about about 40 years later posing by a newer model.

Time changes or adjusts everything.

Pool Hall Reviews

We watched the movie THE COLOR OF MONEY with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise this weekend. It is a movie about playing pool for money. Big money.

The walk up slim stairways to the pool hall and the street level pool hall in the movie reminded me of two places we used to go as teenagers.

We first started playing at the Teenage canteen (T.A.C.) In a short time we moved our fun to the Pastime Billiards on Roswell Street near the corner of Waddell Street. For a while there after enough of us teenagers started playing pool there it was almost like our own little social clubs, BOYS ONLY – not unlike Tubby’s Club in Li’l Lulu comics.

A little fellow by the name of Neal owned pastime and it was very much a mom & pop establishment. When he asked for parental permission slips we willfully gave him the parental permission slip, signed by one of our female school mates. I think a sweet simple minded little cheerleader Nancy M. signed most of the slips.

One time Doctor M., the high school’s official sports doctor saw some of us leave and reported our names to the school. I don’t remember how we got out of that, probably by showing our official parental permission slips signed by Nancy M.

Always looking for new land to conquer we ventured to Red’s Pool Hall near the corner of Lemon and Cherokee Streets. It was dark and gloomy and looked too much like the kind of place if their was a stabbing or shooting there would be no witnesses…. Or at least nobody to claim they witnessed it.

We wanted to see some big time riff-raff kinds of pool halls only Atlanta would have. One night a group of us went to one on Forsyth Street. I was a amazed at the enormous room with a sea of pool tables with the constant clicking of balls. The place stunk of nicotine and smoke. There, like the movie today, they had raised seats against the wall. Probably the same kind of seats that were used for shoe-shine stands. You could see several pool games at once. It was fascinating to see the green money bills peeled off a larger stack and hand the winner. I bet thousands of dollars changed hands in the very short time we were there.

I don’t remember actually playing pool there. It is kind of like swimming in shark infested waters. But we did enjoy watching the skills of pool. It is a game of physics. You have to “eye” your angle your cue ball will hit the ball and knowing the target hit will also reflect at the same angle and predict where it will go, what it will hit to cause another mentally physic formula.

Another pool hall was one block up from the Varsity on North Avenue. We heard about that place and during senior week a few of us cut class, as all other seniors did, had lunch at The Varsity and went to the pool hall up the street. You had to walk up a long narrow stairs to get to the second floor to the pool hall. I wondered how they moved all those pool tables up that long narrow staircase? We did play there. I think they had a different system there for paying there. It has been a long time but maybe you rented your table by the hour.

And deja Vu !!! After we finished our games we went down the stairs out onto the sidewalk and one of us swears Dr. M., the same guy who reported us before, rode by in his car and did a double take. That gave us something to worry about but nothing ever became of it. Well, we always had some fine-mess we were worried about how to explain ourselves out of – back then we were no angels.

So Long Paul

Paul Newman we are going to miss you in many ways.

World-wide your movies will be missed. You were an expert actor.

You were a philanthropist with your salad dressing company that helped many underprivileged people.

Marietta will miss you. With your generous monetarily gifts Marietta gave the downtown Glover Park a beautiful facelift.

So long.

Today was the Bell Boys Reunion

(remember - click on any picture to see just how big we are)

It just doesn’t get any better than this: Old high school friends, barbecue, and beer – what more would one want? A new car, a cabin in the mountains, and a big bin of cash money for starters.

It is so good to see old friends in their mature years (or old farts). I saw a few people today that I forgot existed until they smiled and I am glad to renew my acquaintance.

The below pictures are mostly people I knew in my formative years – when I was being molded into what I am today. Remember, they are not smiling and laughing with me, they are laughing and smiling at me.

Another Gas Shortage Report

Yesterday with my tank filled driving away from Krogers about 3 blocks down the street was a hog-of-car just sitting in the right lane that was pointed to where I just left.

In front of the car was an angry looking man walking. I think the man probably ran out of gas and was pissed off over the whole situation.

I thought that he had no gas container. He would probably have to go inside Krogers, buy a gas container and come back out and get in line like everybody else. Which by then was stretched three blocks way. And what do you do standing in line between cars when you are not moving? Twiddle your thumbs? Look up at the clouds? Fold your arms behind your back?

If he felt pissed off when he ran out of gas, boy after he moved to the back of the line, I bet he was really felt pissed off and pissed on.

The Privileged Goes First and also Gas

This gas shortage business is, I think, a business. I think Ike stirred up a good excuse to cause a gas shortage, long lines at the few places that have gas, and after the bulk of it is withheld for a while, when it comes back at higher prices we will be so happy to buy gas freely with no lines, we won’t even think about complaining about the jacked up prices.

I hope I am wrong.

I have sat in line twice at Krogers to get gas and with the Kroger people directing traffic everything went smoothly.

Before Krogers this morning, at 6am I found a line backed up to a Shell Station. I got in the back of the line and edged one car length at a time towards the front. When I got within a few car lengths of the entrance from the road I noticed some people that went around the line and went in – but they went to the parking area and walked in. Which I reasoned, that was acceptable, why wait in the long line to the gas pumps when all you want is a lottery ticket or a pack or cigarettes or something.

One odd looking truck I noticed pulled into the lot but did not go in the store. He went around and got in the “next” line. He had some equipment in the back of his truck – he was probably a contractor. He pulled a fast one.

Then van drove in. In it was a lady with a veil on her face. They went directly to the pumps too. The man faceless lady got out and went in to buy something while the man, who had a long length robe on got out and pumped gas. Technically they did go inside but not before they found a place beside a pump. They pulled a fast one too.

When I got up in the lot I saw that all but one or two pumps had “OUT” signs on them and cars seemed in a jumbled mess in front of the two pumps. I left, I waited 45 minutes for nothing.

In my mind I was cursing the oil companies for directing such a mess. And I also cursed the contractor and the Muslim couple for demanding more privileges.

Who do they think they are? Better than us?

They may be. But, outwardly we don’t know that. There is no way of telling.

In India they operate a caste system. You tell it a person of higher class that deserves special privileges by the dot on their forehead. Maybe the U.S. should start that. Us commoners don’t know to bow to or get out of the way for or anything. It would make day to day living much simpler.

I was mulling over all this in the Kroger line this morning. It was be much better for people of high social standing if they could just break in line – turn around and show the person behind them their forehead dot, or jewelry, or maybe even expensive clothes.

The only problem I was thinking while sitting at a red light is redlights. How dare a light tell an person of privilege to “stop” for a commoner to go. I think this could be solved by putting some kind of privilege micro chip on the car.

wait! Some day the car will be worn and sold to a commoner. Maybe a micro chip implanted under the person’s skin will work better.

Well, by venting all this while in the car I didn’t have to go home and kick the neighbor’s dog (Willow is privileged).

Never More...

Or instead of naming this Nevermore - maybe name it This Old House An't There Like It Used to Be.

It was there during the Civil War. Mary Phagan's grandfather owned the house at the time of her death. When I was growing up the Hunt family of Hunt's Ice Cream owned the house.

More recently a man who owned it tried to add a second level and it was looking sort of shaggy or maybe like the house that Jack built.

Then poof! It burned up. It all went up in smoke... all but the white stone bricks, but it was burned beyond use.

Up until then it was a pleasure to the eye - to see the big green lawn and a curved driveway leading up a slight rise to the house.... never more. Now, the driveway leads to nowhere.

I hate to see old landmarks go.

Tonight, Tonight, is Westside's Birthday

Tonight, Tonight, will be the 51st birthday for the musical Westside Story. It opened this date in 1957 at Broadway's Winter Garden Theater.*

And believe it or not, one of the musical's songs (One Heart**) was played in our wedding ceremony ten years later in 1967 (really). You should have seen me and the ushers leap over the pews while the bridesmaids shashayed towards us clicking their fingers. And then us, high stepping and clicking our fingers in unionson marching up the aisle... The people at Noonday Baptist Church are still talking about it (not really).


*The History Channel ON THIS DAY page-a-day calendar
** "Our hearts are one hearts" - or something like that.

William Luther & Lillie Mae Cook Foster

This is Anna’s grandfather’s oldest brother William Luther Foster (1879 – 1941) and his wife Lillie Mae Cook 1884 – 1904). He lived about 62 years and she about 20. She was hardly an adult when she died.

William Luther married secondly to Addie Dryman (1879 – 1963). Addie lived 84 years through a very busy time of history. The South was still trying to survive the Civil War that ended 14 years earlier and when she died the U.S. was tiptoeing into the Vietnam War. She saw the coming of running water, electricity, radio, television, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, …

I’m sure Addie heard many times the expression, “Lord, what will they think of next?”

Jack Davis and Big Feet

(Click on the pictures to make the big feet bigger feet)

Jack Davis knows his feet. He knows they bend at certain points when running and kind of slap the ground when walking in a relaxed mood.










One way to just about instantly recognize a Jack Davis drawing is the huge feet on men Huge feet means huge shoes. Many times the huge shoes are folded downward just below the toe lines- and sometimes upward. Sometimes the soles are parting from the main shoe exposing a row of toes.



Jack's sports figures always have big clodhoppers - with cleats, of course. Which he has contributed many UGA drawings to the UGA Booster Club - this isn't one of them, but the top picture is.



What is also interesting is a Jack Davis character with bare feet. It looks almost obscene. You can almost smell them.




Normally Jack Davis treats the women delicately with small feet. Unless of course, he had no intention of showing her delicate feminine nature but instead making her gawky with big feet.... but usually there is a reason, like a revenging temper. I think he is normally the type of southern gentleman that puts women on a pedestal.