Flailing Arms, Skinned Knees

Photos by James D. McKeown III, courtesy Steven McKeownReader Steve McKeown sent me a selection of family photos taken by his father, James D. McKeown III. Time and storage haven’t done the negatives any favors, but that doesn’t keep us from enjoying the era they captured.

I don’t know who this girl is, but I give her credit for negotiating the cracks in the sidewalk without having the knees ripped out of her pants from falling. Or, she may have just started out.

Cracks weren’t the only problem

I remember those steel-wheeled skates. If the cracks didn’t get you, then they would come loose from your shoes and turn sideways while still strapped to your foot. If you cranked down hard with the metal skate key to keep that from happening, all you would accomplish would be to bend the sole of your shoe, causing the same result.

I hope the girl made it to adulthood in one piece, but the way she’s holding her right hand was an invitation for a broken wrist if she tried to catch herself while flying through the air like Supergirl.

Thanks, McKeown Family for the use of your photos.

The Dutchtown Tavern?

Possible site of Dutchtown Tavern 04-03-2015While searching for another story, I started seeing ads for dances to be held at the Dutchtown Tavern at Dutchtown, Mo.

I asked Mother if she knew where that might have been. She said it was really down in Bloymeyer, just north of the roundabout and south of what’s left of the old Montgomery drive-in. She also said it was long gone.

A January 27, 1954, Missourian spot promoted Ray Nunnally and His Melody Boys; the Schwach Bros Trio, and  Blackie Palmer and His Ozark Buckaroos. There was going to be a hot July 12, 1957, dance at the tavern when The Blue Rangers played.

Might have been a gas station

Possible site of Dutchtown Tavern 04-03-2015It was a cold, rainy day when I went to check this out. My contract says I don’t get wet, go hungry or lift heavy objects. Getting out of the car would have violated two of those provisions; three, if you count the photographer as a heavy object.

Mother wasn’t sure this was the right location, but the foundation looks big enough to have been a dance hall. On the other hand, the concrete island makes it look like it could also have been a gas station on some point in its life.

Raymond Ford Jr.

Possible site of Dutchtown Tavern 04-03-2015Raymond John “Tiny” Ford, 85, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, Oct. 21, 2002, at his home, The Missourian reported in an October 22, 2003, obituary.

He was born Sept. 29, 1917, in Cape Girardeau, son of Raymond John and Catherine Rogers Ford Sr. He and Lucille Virginia Griffaw were married Oct. 5, 1938, in St. Louis. She died Oct. 18, 2001.

Early in his career, Tiny Ford worked as a machinist, riverboat mechanic, and professional boxer. He moved to Fresno, Calif., where he worked at various jobs, owned a tavern, and was a lumberjack in Oregon. He continued to box professionally along the West Coast.

Operated regional bars and nightclubs

Upon returning to Cape Girardeau he owned and operated several regional bars and nightclubs, including Tiny’s Danceland, The Jamna, The Ozark Corral, Dutchtown Tavern, and Edgewater Bar.

He established Ford’s Booking Agency in 1956. Tiny sponsored and worked with The Golden Gloves organization in 1955 and 1956, and helped organize and was president of Babe Ruth League in 1957. He was a member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Michael “Mike” and Beckie Ford of Cape Girardeau, Ray “Butch” and Carol Ford of Chesterfield, Mo.; a daughter, Patricia “Patty” Ford of Cape Girardeau; a brother, John Ford of Cape Girardeau; a sister, Irene Richardson of Cape Girardeau; five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, stepmother, a brother, and two sisters.

 

 

 

 

Good Service, No Foolin’

Al - Charter contractor 04-01-2015It might have been April Fools Day, but I’m not foolin’ when I say I’ve had some excellent customer service since I’ve been in Cape. We finally decided to switch our Internet provider from AT&T to Charter. That’s not a knock on AT&T’s Erin, who did a good job explaining her company’s offerings and being candid about her personal experience with ISPs in the area.

The result was Al showing up at the house within minutes of his installation window, just like Lisa Smith said he would.

Above and beyond

I told Al that I wanted the modem and wireless router to be in Mother’s bedroom where it would hook up to a large UPS and plug into a power strip on the floor so that when I got the inevitable Internet trouble call, I could just say, “Step on the big red button until everything blinks out; wait about a minute, then step on it again.”

It was a little complicated because the path was hidden by acoustic tile in the basement ceiling. I had blazed that trail before, so I warned Al that “this is going to either be real easy or real hard.”

It was easy

Al - Charter contractor 04-01-2015Al brought the expertise and equipment to fish the wire and get the internal wiring hooked up in no time. After that, it was a trip up to the aerial cable to connect us to the world, and getting the equipment in the bedroom plugged in.

He WAS impressed with the cool Wifi Analyzer ap on my Droid that does all sorts of signal analysis. Minutes after he saw it, he was downloading it.

It’s nice to have a guy on the job who is knowledgeable, professional and personable. I never thought I’d be saying good things about a cable company.

For what it’s worth, both AT&T and Charter were in the ballpark of delivering the bandwidth they promised: about 6 Mbps down and 512K up for AT&T, and 65 down and 4.3 up for Charter. For roughly the same monthly price, I’m willing to gamble to get the higher speeds.

Mario’s Is Back

Mario and Angela's Italian Cucina 03-27-2015When I hit Cape last fall, I was disappointed to see that Mario’s Pasta House in Jackson had closed. I was super happy to see a Facebook notice that it was going to reopen in Cape as Mario and Angela’s Italian Cucina. It’s located on Broadway and Penny, diagonally across from Southeast Hospital (or whatever they’re calling it these days).

All you’re going to get today is a night shot of the building. They were getting slammed so hard the other night that I didn’t even TRY to shoot photos inside. I’ll have the full report in a few days. (I ordered Stromboli to go. It was as good as ever.)