EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, September
6, 1956 Vol. C584
LOCAL
NEWS
6th ANNUAL MUSIC,
ARTS & COUNTRY FAIR RENAMED BUT SILL A BIG HIT
East Farewell – The name has been changed but the fun is still
the same. The Annual Music, Arts & Country Fair has been renamed to simply
‘The Fair’. The Fair opened on Friday with a musical extravaganza on the stage
of the Fairgrounds as the Regional High Jazz Band kicked things off with a
spirited set of patriotic and popular tunes. Led by music teacher Ben Grant the
15 member band, most beginning their senior year in school, showed great talent
and musical understanding as they romped through their set beginning
appropriately with the National Anthem and ending with America the Beautiful.
The Fair continued around the music as the midway was opened as well as many of
the local artist stalls where many local craftsmen and women exhibited, took
orders and sold their wonderful creations. Great food was also available as
most of the
local restaurants set up shop, most with table service but some with just a
counter and some stools. One new addition this year was an Ice Cream Truck
sponsored by Hagan Farms. The music continued until the first night closing at
midnight on Friday. The lineup of bands spanned the spectrum of musical
interest from high school jazz through country, blues, swing and even some rock
and roll. The bands were both local support and national fame. Jerry
Tabor’s Swing Band was very popular and people called them back for several
encores. Gus
Sloan’s Quintet did jazz numbers and drew a huge response from the crowd
when they invited some of the members of the High School Jazz Band to sit in
for a couple of numbers. Country
star Charlie Green had people square dancing and two-stepping in style. A
local group of kids who could not have been older than their teens called
themselves the Blackjacks
played some of that new sound, rock and roll, and they were pretty good.
The kids loved them and there was a lot of jitterbugging going on during their
set. Big
Roy and the Magnificents who were, well, magnificent was the last band on
the roster. Their rhythm and blues numbers were both raucous and smooth and
their slow numbers were captivating and had the entire crowd swaying to the
sound. The evening was closed by an all
on the stage get together with most of the bands joining together to play a
couple of late night songs and close the evening. “Good Night Irene” was a
fitting ending to a wonderful first day.
Saturday
started early with the livestock auction beginning at 6:30AM. Surprisingly, the
event was very well attended considering most of the non farmers who were there
had just left the fairgrounds a few hours before. The auction is a holdover
from the original Country Fair and dates back to the first County Fair. It was
almost dropped from the event list a couple of years ago but the committee was
petitioned by both local famers and locals in general to keep it and it has
been very well attended ever since. It adds a lot of flavor to the Fair. The
rest of Saturday was open for artists and craftspeople to show their creations
and for people to taste some of the great food available. Many carnival type
games along with some small rides for the little children made the whole event
seem very carnival-like. Pony and wagon rides were also offered. More music
played throughout the day. Some of the Friday night headliners made repeat
appearances. Saturday night had a fireworks display over the lake and more
music, mostly from local musicians and a standout performance by local boy who
made it to the national stage, Jerry
Tabor and his swing band.
On Sunday the
expected rains came but they did not dampen the enthusiasm as people slogged
around the midway, visited the many crafts booths and dined and socialized
under the canopies. The rain continued throughout the day and into the evening
but almost miraculously cleared just in time for the closing band numbers on
the stage. Charlie Green teamed up with Gus Sloan and his quintet for a
fantastic closing set which was a mix of country and jazz and is a surprise
appearance Big Roy sang the lead on Traveling
Salesman’s Blues and added a little swing to his blues repertoire. As the
final fireworks exploded over Lake Charles the Fair came to a spectacular
close, a huge success and another great summer event for the town.
The Midway at
the Fair 1956
SPORTS
HOGAN WINS 1ST REESE CUP –
TRAVELERS WIN AGAIN
East Farewell – Ben Hogan easily won the 1st
Invitational Reese Cup with a record setting 86 on his final round. Rain had
postponed the second round but it was played along with the third round on
Thursday. Many of the players were dissatisfied with the perceived rush in the
play. It was thought that the tournament was hurried to finish because of the
Fair that was opening on Friday. Both Reese Cup and Fair officials denied any
such action. Hogan had no comment on the issue. He just played a great round
and was only complimentary about the course and the event. “It was a wonderful
inauguration for what I hope is a yearly tournament,” said Hogan after the
event.
Hogan, fresh
off his win at the Masters made this a cherry on the top of his most successful
season. Coming in second was Doug Ford followed by Sam Snead and local Art Fox
came in third. There is a lot of talk about next year’s tournament most of
which centered on changing the date so there would be no conflict with the
Fair. General consensus was that the Fair took some of the spotlight off the
Tournament or visa-versa, depending on who you talked to.
Youngstown – The Travelers made it three in a row as they beat a
weakened Youngstown Steelers, 5-1 on Saturday. The Steelers have been hit with
a string of bad luck lately, losing their best hitter to a broken wrist during
an over the wall catch and then two days later their ace pitcher was hit in
shin with a line drive that put him out for at least two weeks. Ralph Morton,
Steelers leading slugger and currently third in the league’s batting average
standings, jumped up against the left field fence in Corning, reached over the
top of the wall and made what appeared to be a spectacular home run robbing
grab against CGW’s Dean Guest. Morton hung onto the ball but smacked his wrist
against the rail. After he came down and threw the ball back in he called for a
timeout and the trainers came out to look at him. The great catch came at a price.
Morton is out probably for the rest of the season. As for their ace pitcher,
Frank Jones, he was pitching a one hitter until the sixth when Slate Mountain’s
catcher, Bernie Doyle, connected with Jones fastball and hit it straight back
and hit Jones in the shin knocking him down. Jones, ever the gamer, was able to
recover and throw Doyle out at first but was unable to finish the game. He has
a severely bruised left shin and will be out for two weeks.
The Travelers
were able to take advantage of the Steelers bad luck by jumping on newly
activated pitcher, Phil Horn, by scoring three runs in the first inning. Watson,
Cloos and Dimero all hit singles and catcher, Joey Brown hit a well placed
double in between the fielders that rolled all the to the wall scoring all
three runners. Horn was able to settle down and was able to keep the Travelers
in check until the seventh when Johnny Cloos continued his extra base hitting
streak with a two run triple scoring Francis and Watson. The Steelers were
finally able to get on the board with a single by Thompson and a double by
Reston in the eighth. That was the end of the Steelers offense as Travelers
pitcher, Joey Alfred, had a very strong game only allowing five hits and five
walks.
The Travelers
finally come home next week when they host the Erie Eagles at 1:30.
NATIONAL NEWS
COMMIES ADMIT SHOOTING DOWN PLANE – 11 MARINES
DROWN IN OKINAWA – THIS WEEK AT THE MOVIES
Communist China admits attacking an American plane shot down last month, but says it will throw-out U.S demands for compensation as “unjustified.” Instead, they shot back, demanding, “the United States stop its provocative activities” in relation to Far East air and naval operations.
Some 11 Marines drown in Okinawa after being swept by a strong undertow. A Marine company out on a field exercise decided to take a break and go for a swim in what seemed like calm water. One witness said, “Before they got waist deep, the men were in trouble. They were knocked from their feet by a vicious undercurrent and tumbled seaward.”
At the movies
- Bus Stop - Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray
High Society - Bing
Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra
Trapeze - Burt
Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida
The Eddy Duchin
Story - Tyrone power, Kim Novak
Many, many thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
