Celebraties I have met - Part III

Most other celebrities that I have met were from my radio days. I was working all alone one Saturday morning at KSTB in Breckenridge when a tall, bald-headed gent stuck his head in the door and inquired about one of the other disk jockeys. I told him he was off and he said, “Well, tell him that Johnny Horton stopped to say ‘Hi.’” I didn’t even know Johnny Horton knew there was a radio station in Breckenridge, let alone know one of the DJs.

It was also at the station in Breckenridge where I spent the afternoon with Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. They were scheduled to play the American Legion Hall that night and since the station was sponsoring the show they came to be interviewed and play some songs to drum up publicity. He sang the same three songs over and over again – not wanting to expose the entire repertory before the show. I’ll bet Cash played “Ring of Fire” 15 times that afternoon.

I moved on to the “big time,” KRBC in Abilene when I went to school. They were equipped to do remote broadcasts and one Saturday night I was broadcasting a “Sock Hop” (that’s a ‘50’s euphemism for a dance) out at the Dyess AFB Youth Center. That’s where I met the famous “John Smith” and all the other equally famous “John Smiths.” They were members of the live band also playing for the event, and between numbers I attempted to interview them. I asked the leader what his name was and he said “John Smith.” Then I asked the next guy and he also said “John Smith.” So did the other two members of the band. I was puzzled, but after I started a record, the leader came over and said, “Are you trying to get us kicked out of school? We’re from ACC and if they find out we’re here we’ll all be expelled!” Of course, the thought struck me that I was using my real name! Turns out the leader was Ed George, later a distinguished member of the ACU music department.

Remote broadcasts at the West Texas Fair got me interviews with a number of recording stars. I remember Brenda Lee as a tiny person who wore a lot of heavy makeup. Connie Francis talked like the Nanny, but didn’t sing that way. Anita Bryant, the former Miss Oklahoma and Florida Citrus commission spokesperson, sent me postcards for years afterwards, telling me of her latest new album. I don’t know where she got my address – probably sent them to the radio station and they turned in a forwarding address after I left. I remember still getting them after I met and married Barbara. I had to explain why I was getting postcards from the most homophobic pop singer in history (but that was later).

I interviewed Bryan Hyland, the guy who sang “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” He invited me to come out to the Sands Motel where he was staying and hang out with him the next day, since there was little to do in Abilene Texas. I did, and enjoyed getting to know the guy. He never had the same success with anything else he did, but he’s still in the business – he currently performs at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater on the strip in Branson, Missouri.

Pat Boone was in there somewhere. I met him through a relative when he was returning from Dallas where he had been filming “State Fair.” I know. You’ll have to Google it to have any clue about the movie. I later met his brother Nick Todd (trying unsuccessfully to make a career without trading on the family name).

And then there was Peter Paul and Mary in 1963. They were among the very first big-name performers brought to the ACU campus by the Student Council. This was another case of having the key to the back door of the auditorium and I was there for the sound check and backstage for the show. I remember asking Mary some inane question about the “purity of folk music” (as opposed to the commercial version they were performing). She is rather taller than I am and she backed me against the wall and talked down to me (literally) about commercial success being necessary to preserve the genre.

By the way, the defining moment of that concert was when PP&M asked the audience to sing the chorus to a song and the voices of the ACU student body and the unforgettable acoustics of Sewell Auditorium blew Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers away. They stopped playing and simply listened to the singing.