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The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OP
EASTERN NORTH
VOLUME 16
NEW BERN, N. C. 28560. FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1974
NUMBER 42
Yesterday was when
evangelist Billy Sunday, as
famous in his generation as
Billy Graham is now, visited
New Bern High School one
morning and spoke to students
at assembly in Moses Griffin
auditorium.
At the time he was holding a
revival in a tobacco warehouse
at Greenville. Sunday, a former
major league ball player, was a
spell binder who bounced
around in the pulpit in a manner
that did justice to his athletic
ability.
Your encyclopedia, if it’s a
good one, wiU reveal that
William Ashley Sunday was
bom in Amex, Iowa, in 1863, and
remained among the living until
1935. He was here about 10 years
before his death.
Yesterday was when the
adage that the show must go on
didn’t apply to a vaudeville
troupe due to open a two-day
engagement at the Masonic
Theatre on Dec. 1, 1922. New
Bern’s big fire struck that day.
Mostly the half d(^en per
formers wanted to get the heck
out of town. Huddled on thehr
threatrical trunks outside
America’s oldest operating
show house, they watch^ wild
eyed as flames leaped only a
block away.
Yesterday was when one of
the cheapest things you could
buy at the grocery store was a
mess of dried beans. If you
shopped ftnr a New Year’s
ser^ng of black-eyed peas a
few days back, you know how
times have changed.
Yesterday was when it paid to
have a little age on you, if you
wanted to kid Greek cafe owner
Dennis Pafe about “coming
over on a banana boat.”
Otherwise he had a ready an
swer. ‘Tve been an American
longer than you have,” he would
remind guys attempting to
belittle him.
Yesterday was when Helen
Stevenson Hines was one of New
Bern’s better tap dancers, and
unquestimaUy one of the most
attractive. Possibly she has
forgotten the extent of her
talent, but we haven’t.
Yesterday was when New
Bern had a set of twins bom in
different years. Hie distinction
belonged to Dolly and Walter
(Sonny) Foote, and of course
the birth dates were Dec. 31 and
Jan. 1.
Yesterday was when Pearl
White, appearing in the Perils
of Pauline at the Athens
Theatre, got tied to a railroad
track, and almost was hit by an
onrushing locomotive before
she was resuced.
It was such a close call that a
lot of local kids sat through the
movie thriller twice to see if she
woidd get clobbered the second
time around. For the sake of the
record, she did escape again.
Yesterday was when W. M.
(Dopey) Darnell raised a north
bound autimiobile on the lift at
his service station, and
discovered a kitten perched
under the vehicle. It proved to
be a family pet, missing since
((Continued on page 8)
OLD PHOTOS OF CAMP BRYAN IN LOWER
CRAVEN COUNTY, WHERE MANY A
NATIONAL CELEBRITY
HUNTING AND PISHING.
HAS FOUND JOY