We Were Lucky Back Then

Billy Joe Royal, Mickey Carlile, and Terry Lowe

 Other than what I already put on my blog chicken-fat I don't have many more personal memories of Billy Joe Royal.  He was a major star among a bunch of friends that I semi-ran around with.  The Marietta High school  clique  circles in the 1950s were overlapping and complex.

I have two memories of him that stand out when his family moved to Smyrna.  Smyrna, Georgia, is about three miles south of Marietta.  Back in our teenage years the main road going to Smyrna was Atlanta Road.

The Smyrna Drive in was on Atlanta Road.  The road that ran off Atlanta Road by the drive in  was the road the Royals  lived off of.

I think then Billy Joe and Jack's mother worked at Howard Johnsons and their father was a Marietta fireman.  While running around one summer we ended up at their house several times.

One evening shortly after they moved to Smyrna Billy Joe hosted a Ratskats meeting  .   I think it was shortly after they moved they moved there because the basement was almost empty.  The basement  is where we had our meeting.

I remember Billy Joe had just purchased a new guitar and he wanted to try it out in front of a group (us) as guinea pigs.  He played his guitar and sung several songs and really got all our approval.  The more he sang the more innovative he became with it.  We were loving his one man show.

Then, with my short attention span I wandered out the back door..  It was opened.  Looking around the back yard I came across either a broom or a leaf rake.

A small hill outside beside the house sloped down to the opened back door.

Outside I strum the rake or broom to the sound of Billy Joe's guitar strings inside.  He picked up his speed strumming and suddenly I leaped off the bank into the basement doing a perfect Elvis imitation with body hunching , shaking, and strumming*.

Everybody cracked up laughing.

Except Billy Joe.   I could tell by his offended look I ruined his one-man show.

I regretted doing that.

My second memory  of their Smyrna resident was us following and chasing each other north on Atlanta Road back to Marietta.    There was probably a mile to a mile and a half of almost straight Atlanta Road parallel to the railroad tracks.  Billy Joe had a black '50 Ford.  I was in my parents 53 Chevvy.  We thought nothing of passing each other on that short strip of highway, and  one time after i passed Billy Joe he sped up and got behind me and his front bumper tapped my back bumper going 60 MPH.  Then he would pass and I pulled up and did the same to him.

We were lucky.  

*It just so happened Larry Bradford and I were jokingly imitating Elvis at phys ed, and had his movements down pat.