Throwback Thursday: Billy, Rodney Petty, and Me

Throwback Thursday.  This is Billy and Rodney Petty, sons of my uncle Roy Petty and his wife Dorothy Humes, about 1959.  This same Christmas card photo was used as an insurance advertisement and was in Saturday Evening Post.  At the time they lived in New York City.

Later they moved to Carmel, NY, where Roy was over Clear Pool's Boy Camp, a Heinz Foundation project.  The second picture is of me and some Navy friends visiting Clear Pool Camp and played cowboys and Indians.   Rodney and Billy and in that picture also.  That was about 1964.

The color picture was taken about 1985 of Billy and his wife Joy when they visited Marietta.  They live in Colorado.  

PS click on the picture of the boys camp. You see the dog without a tail. On a previous visit when I was in the Navy we were on walking on a road that went around a lake and a car went around the curve past and almost hit us, but swerved and hit the dog. The mishap cut the dog's tail off.

Billy and Joy Petty

Herbert Goldstein Humble Merchant Millionaire Died

Herbert Goldstein died Tuesday, November 28th, just three days before his 94th birthday.  He was one of downtown Marietta's most interesting person, if not the wealthiest.  He was a retail merchant and property investor.  We saw him in a doctors' waiting room with his daughter probably less than a year ago and he did not look well.

I have two Herbert Goldstein encounters to tell:

First: Years ago, we took our boys to Chattanooga to the Railroad Museum.  At the gift shop we bought our sons gray striped railroad engineers hats.  After we were back home, I decided I wanted on too.  I called around to various local clothing stores asking if they had the hats.  Goldstein's had them.  Of course.

Goldstein's Department Store was in the place the old McLlellan's 5₵ and 10₵ store was.

When I called and Herbert said they had them I asked how much and he instantly said something like $4.99.

The next day I went to Goldstein's to buy the railroad hat.  I heard that price tags were not visible.  You had to ask Mr. Goldstein the price and he looked at you not the item when he said the price.

I selected my hat and asked Mrs. Goldstein the price, who you think was a clerk there, not the owner's wife.  She said she would check.  Herbert was a good 30 feet away, she held up the hat and called out, "Mr. Goldstein, how much is this hat?"

And sure'nuff, he looked at me, not the hat, and said $3.99.

That was a dollar cheaper than he told me on the phone.  He either judged me to be a wise shopper or was too poor to pay more.

I did not know whether  to feel insulted or complemented.

Encounter two:  My sister gave me an overcoat as a gift.  I think she included the sales receipt in case it did not fit.  It did not fit.  It came from Goldstein's.

Then, Goldstein's Department Store was in the lobby of the old First National Bank Building, which he owned the building.  He was also the only employee there.

Mr.  Goldstein was very cordial and hinted strongly that I should pick out something I liked and swap evenly.  He hustled around picking out shirts, ties, gloves, handkerchiefs,  and whatever else he had a hand-held calculator that he kept a running total.

He came within 25€.

He opened his cash register.  I thought he was going to hand me a quarter.  I was wrong.  He handed me a Wendy's coupon with a 25 cent value. 

Physical Therapy Blues

I went to physical therapy yesterday. It was the first session of a bunch that will go into 2018. I damaged my left shoulder and cannot raise my arm without enduring sharp pain. Today she gave me several arm tasks to do and groped my arm some and took notes on her electronic note pad. One time when she put down a lot of words after groping my shoulder muscle I said, "It would be easier just to put down "Flabby"".
She laughed. Another time she asked me where was I born. I said "Here, Marietta. One block from the Square,". She said she never met a Marietta native before. I said, "Yep, I'm a sight to behold". That cracked her up. She laughed at a lot of my wise-ass cracks.
I was thinking I have good insurance and mental health is also important. It is good therapy for someone to appreciate your wit. After my arm gets well I wonder if I can continue to go to the sweet therapist just to wise crack. I think it would help me.

Book Report: THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Sharyn McCrumb

Authors Patricia Springer and Sharyn McCrumb, 2003

I think I have read all of Sharyn McCrumb's books and each one is unique.  Several fall under the "Ballad" grouping, which I enjoyed more which mostly have reoccurring characters that I got to know and felt at home with, such as Nora Bonesteel, and elderly lady who saw the dead do things; Sheriff Spencer Arrowood; his Steve McQueen - like deputy, Joe LeDonne; and others.  THE UNQUIET GRAVE, also a Ballad series book, has none of the characters I knew.  However,  The Mothman, who I know of, made a vague mentioned, but not  by name.  In this book like other Ballad books by McCrumb, the dead did something undead:  Speak.

It is a well researched book of an actual murder that took place in West Virginia, before the 20th rolled in.  But most the people in the book would have lived to see the year 1900.

The book was well laid out and well written and am glad I read it, 

Another book of McCrumb that I enjoyed so much is the Battle of Kings Mountain.  My ancestor, got his arm sliced off during the few minutes the actual combat of Kings Mountain.

Sharyn McCrumb came here to Marietta not long ago promoting THE UNQUIET GRAVE.  I already had my Kindle copy and had no excuse to go see her, to sign what, the back of my hand? 

However I did see her at another time she was in Marietta in 2003 at another book promotion at the Book Exchange(pictured above).

Was It a Test?

This evening I went to a dollar store to buy some more Christmas lights.  I found them with the help of another shopper.  He didn't talk except one word at a time.  He pointed them out to me.

I studied the box.  The box said it held 20 clear lights.  The man stood aside and let me read the box.  Then he said, "Buy?"

I told him I wasn't sure, I better call my wife and ask to see if this exactly what she wanted and how many boxes.

As I punched in our home number I saw that he was standing behind me and looking over my shoulder, which got me confused and I punched something that made a message pop up to tell me I dialed wrong, or whatever.  At the bottom of the message was a OK.  Meaning,  touch the OK button and the message would go away.  I was still stunned with him still looking over my shoulder, I did not press OK but he did.  He reached around me and pressed the OK and it went away.

Next time before I dialed I walked over about two aisle and quickly called home.  Anna told me to buy 5 boxes.

So, I went back, the strange man was gone.  I picked up 5 boxes and went to the cash register.  He was checking out, right in front of me.  Whatever he was buying he was $2 short.   He turned around to me and said, "Two!" and held up two fingers.  I looked confused of what he was saying.

He repeated himself, "Two!" with two fingers.

I asked, "You want two dollars from me?"

He nodded gleefully.

I said, "No!"

The truth is I did not have two dollars.  I was using my credit card, and I thought it would get complicated to ave is two dollars added o mine also.

The Cashier took whatever was worth $2 out of his sack.

He left.

After I left and got into the car and drove out of the shopping center, I saw him walking up the street with his dollar store  plastic bag.

Oh me.  

Prance Post Thanksgiving 2017

Click on any picture below to make it bigger.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! Shel Silverstein's THE CENTAUR

Remember  the late Shel Silverstine?  For us folk music lovers he wrote and recorded a lot of folk songs.  For us children books readers he wrote a lot of children books and for us cartoon lovers and PLAYBOY Magazine lovers he did a lot of work for that magazine.

And here he is again, in HELP Magazine, #8, March 1961.

Happy Black Friday!

Benjamin's Game

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

November 22, 1963

One of those days that the earth stood still.  If you were alive you will remember what you were doing when you heard the news that John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.

You Are Me?

Not long ago my 2.5 year-old grandson asked me, "Are you taking a picture of me?"

After thinking about it I think that question is a complicated sentence which took Tarzan years to understand.  In that one sentence he knows I am "YOU" and YOU are "ME".  I said, "Yes, I am taking a picture of YOU."  He would know in that sentence he is YOU not ME.  Also knowing the complexities of photography, that if you have the little machine, you can aim it at someone and have a likeness  of them.

I used Tarzan as an example because there is a dialog in a Tarzan movie where Jane is trying to teach Tarzan the YOU-ME concept, when he is ME and when he is YOU and when he is TARZAN.  It is as funny as the Abbott and Costello's "Who's On First."  By the way I don't think Tarzan (played by Johnny Weissmuller) ever did get the hang of it.  If I remember correctly  Tarzan called himself third-place TARZAN until the end of the old Tarzan movies..

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! DOGPATCH REVISTED

CLICK on image to make it bigger and readable

This is from the pages of HELP Magazine  of May 1961.  My old MAD founder hero Harvey Kurtzman was the editor.  The story was written by Ed Fisher, PLAYBOY and THE NEW YORKER cartoonist, and drawn by Will Elder (also MAD founder).

You might have to be gray and feeble to appreciate this, because otherwise the LI'L ABNER daily comic strip might be lost on you.

Watch Out! He's Keeping a List!

One Act Play

One Act Play

Person Number One:  She is guilty!  Throw the Book at her!

Person Number two:  What evidence  do you have that she is guilty?

Person Number one:  I do not like her!  That is all the evidence we need!

My Telephone Conversation With Franklin Garrett

This is Franklin Garrett (1906-2000).  He was the official historian of Atlanta. 

About 1990 I called the Atlanta Historian Society and told the operator that I would like to talk to somebody about  Troop movements in the Civil War.

My call was given to Franklin Garrett.  I did not expect to be talking to the Official Atlanta Historian.  I asked him a question about a certain CSA Unit, that a relative was in, like where were they before the Battle of Atlanta and where did they go afterwards  He told me just a moment and I could hear him walk away.

Maybe 5 minutes or more he returned and told me.  What he told me led to another question.  He said, "Hold on." and I heard his footsteps walk away and returning footsteps, and he told me what I asked.

While I had him on the line and he was good quickly finding information about my relatives I asked him a question about another relative.  He left and returned with the answered.  This time he was breathing heavy.

After he told me the answer he said for me if I had any more questions please asked them all at the same time, he was having to walk up a flight of stairs each time.

I think Mr. Garrett and I both learned something that day.

Throwback Thursday, Frances & Larry Bell Pak

Throwback Thursday.  This is my sister Frances Hunter in our front yard on Manget Street about 1954.  

Behind Frances you can see Larry Bell Auditorium and some of Larry Bell Park's ball fields.

Happy Birthday Frances!

Aim to Please

I think I told you about three or four weeks ago I saw an ad for a fast food chain a new item.  It was a deep fried Cajun turkey sandwich.  It looked tempting,  I went to the closest one of that franchise and ordered one.  The only thing is the three women ahead of me were a whirlwind of total confusion, changing their orders and all.  The young man behind the counter got doubled confused I think.  To make a long story short he gave them my Deep fried Cajun turkey sandwich I ordered after them.   They left with what they ordered and what I ordered before they realized their mistake.  They had to make me another order.

I thought it typical of my invisibleness, funny.   I thought I would share my funny episode with the corporate office.  On the printed off receipt they encourage comments.  In about a day someone from the corporate office called and apologized and told me he would send me some free dinner coupons.

I received two coupons for free meals.  The coupons did not look like coupons, more like business cards.  I think also it is a dead giveaway that you COMPLAINED.

Yesterday we used them.

The same kid took our order.  When we presented the coupon/business cards he did not know how to ring it up; he called his boss over.  His boss looked at the cards and his personality changed instantly.  Suddenly he became nervous.

As we ate there, several people that work in the back came out and the kid behind the counter whispered to them which ones were us and then they looked our way and study us.

I wonder if we got some additional stuff on our food we didn't order?

I went back and asked for something else and the kid bent over backwards saying he hoped we like our meal.

When we left I clanged  the bell by the door and a few employees cheered.

Does the Pope Tweet?

The Pope wagged his fingers at his Catholic followers for using their cell phones during Mass services.

I think cellphone addiction has gotten out of hand.  Maybe there should be CPAA, (Cell Phone Addiction Anonymous) organization to meet daily and talk to others like them about their addiction.   Wait!  It probably would not work because there would be too many people, it would be larger than a "group" and that is the best time for a cell phone addictive person get on their cell phone, when they are sitting in a group of people.  Just about every time I see a candid photo of a group of people at least two are on their cell phones.

There was a sign at the post office, in the counter service area saying, "TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES".  But I noticed the sign is no longer there, it probably got where it couldn't get anybody to obey it.

Also in the work place.  I see people working all the time with a cell phone to their ear.  No one seems to mind, but there is a reason why there are laws against people using their cell phones while driving, it takes your concentration away from what you should be doing.

I suppose it is a new way of life and we old farts need to adjust.

3 Plus Coins in a Fountain

I just read that about $4000 worth of coins are tossed into the Trevi Fountain in Rome every day.

We just put a purple cabbage looking plant on what used to be a bird bath.  If you want to toss some coins at it and make a wish or whatever, heck,  I say, go for it!

About 20 Minutes of Fame

We watched LA LA LAND today.  It is all about music; struggling musicians and musicians with a name.  And it deals with many types of music. The whole movie was surrounded with music.

On several occasions  Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone broke out into well rehearsed choreographed dance number with tap dancing and all, for no apparent reason.

It reminded me of many years ago when  I had a blind date with a co-worker's cousin.  It either 1962 or early 1963.

I was in the Naval Reserves and was taking advantages of the cheap beer on the Naval Air Station and of course the E.M. Club.

I lined up my co-worker with my friend Ed and with her cousin we double-dated and went to the E.M. Club on the base.

It was Saturday night.  A live band played.  A shit-stomping band that the drums were the most played instrument I think.

A few people started dancing.  I asked my blind date would she like to dance and she said yes.  I am not a dancer but I am an imitator.  While dancing she would make a move and I would imitate it, only funnier.  She saw the humor in it and made even a funnier move and I would top it.  I don't think the dance movement of reeling a fly-line for your partner and reeling her in was invented yet, but I think I just did then.  Then, she lassoed me with her invisible lasso and dragged me around the perimeter of he room.

Everybody but us quit dancing and just watched us.  That made us get even more innovative and creative.

We put on a good show that night.

I think that was our only date.  She married another friend of mine when I was on active duty.  Which was fine with me, I didn't know her well.  They had kids and opened up a nursing home business.  

And not too many years ago she died of cancer.

Frances' Birthday Luncheon

My sister Frances 80th birthday will be Thursday, November the 16th.

We jumped the gun a little  and celebrated yesterday, the 11th at Vincent's Restaurant  on the Loop.

Loop te Loop

Click above to see her grand nephew M.C. Benjamin Hunter in action.

I enlisted into the Navy because of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  I would say it was because our nation was on the brink of nuclear war and they needed able body person they could get.  But that is not the real reason I enlisted.

I enlisted because I predicted in about 50 years restaurants would be thanking me for my service and offer me a free meal on Veterans' Day. 

And one department store offered even Veterans a flat $10 off on this Veteran's Day Weekend on any purchased.   Which I sadly found out is not entirely true.  It did not apply to Levis pants purchases.   

Trump Tweeting in China

I read this morning that the Chinese heads have banned tweeting and Trump is there tweeting.

In his defense, Trump never has went by rules, why start now?

Throwback Thursday: The Cobb County Extension Building

This was the Cobb Country Extension Building on the corner of Waddell and Lawrence Streets.  It was designed to have a staff of agents giving farmers a helping hand.  Cobb County was mostly a rural farming community.  The agents would visit farms and test their soil and suggest what they should grow or what other chemicals should be added and other details to improve farming.

That was daytime stuff.

At night it rented or loaned  space to various civic organizations in the basement. 

I know because our Boy Scout Troop 132, sponsored by Saint Joseph's Catholic Church met there.

When I first joined the troop me met in the Clay Homes meeting building, but in a short time we were in the basement of the County Extension Service.

We were there for only a short time too until we got kicked out. 

I think some of us were too mischievous to be turned loose in an office building after hours with unlocked office doors. 

Our group patrol in the basement of the Cobb Extension Blg

Left to Right: Me, ?, ?, Late James Brown, Walker Gaines, Gene Sanges, and Frankie Hunter (no relation).

Troop 132

I Hurt Myawld

I don't think many people think of  me being much of a handyman.  It is not that I am not mechanical inclined but I'm just don't want to get my hands dirty, greasy, or sticky.   Ewww!

Yesterday  I blew leaves off our driveway and most of my late in-laws driveway, did some more little odd-jobs.  I  bought a smoke detector and installed it; attached the little bracket to the ceiling, using my drill, screwdriver,  and sharp eyes. Yessiree!  I was on a roll!

After mission accomplished I meant to hop off my little ladder like a pro.

But instead making a graceful leap off the ladder my foot got caught between the rungs and I had a forceful crash landing.

While lying on the hall's floor  I did a mental body check.  I felt like my ribs and left armpit socket was knocked out of whack.

But after hobbling around making excuses and then taking a mile walk it got my body fluids circulating and I almost as good as new.

But it still hurts when I giggled.

Nastradamus or Peter Bagge?

What happens when two powerful bullies, who both were born with silver spoons in their mouths, that also are narcissistic and egotisical , challenge each other?

Nothing I hope.  Maybe  just a lot of hot air that will  fizzles. away.  

HOWEVER!   One of my favorite comicbook artists and writer, Peter Bagge published his   APOCALYPSE NERD in 2005, twelve years ago.  A wild prediction?  

This one panel in the book is scary in these times:

$$$ From Jukeboxes - POOF!

In a recent blog I talked about My late friend Larry Holcomb and his freshly bought Chevy he and it breaking down on the 4 Lane.

Larry died in 2000.

Here is another Larry Holcomb Adventure:

Larry's father was Gene Holcomb.  Gene was a Georgia State representative.  Then he was caught embezzling funds and was sent to prison.

Larry was put in charge of the family business, juke boxes.

Larry went around to various restaurants and hangouts. Would take the change from the jukeboxes, sat at a table or booth, count it, and give the proprietor half and he would put the other half in his sack.

One day I went with Larry to make his rounds.  We went to various beer joints, eateries, and one private club.  

The private club was last.

It was almost the same setup as a speakeasy.  You ring a bell, a little window opens and someone checks you out before there is a click at the door signifying "Enter."

It was a mid day in midweek. Only the manager and bartender were there.

Larry got the change out of the jukebox and we sat down.  Larry counted the money and gave the manager half and put the balance in his sack.  I think he had by then a few hundred dollars in the sack.  At some joints he would swap change into bills.

We left.  We got maybe a quarter mile away when Larry realized he forgot to pick up the sack.

We sped back to the private club and they let us back in.  They said they didn't see the sack.  The two men made the motions of looking around the room here and there.  Nope! Not here! (they said)

In case you are wondering, the club was a big Greek plantation mansion with big columns that lined the porch.

Shortly after that a big car lot was in the front and a sign that said Strother Ford.  Then the big mansion was bulldozed away and now car dealerships are on both sides of the 4 Lane.

Time to Change

Remember:  change your smoke detector batteries or your canary. 

Goof Ball!

Rubber Face Benjamin