No seafood restaurant anywhere
could have ever been more pic
turesque than King Watson’s at
the foot of Middle street.
It could hardly have qualified
for a tea room, but what it lacked
in dainty surroundings it more than
made up • for with the choicest
fish, oysters, clams, shrimp and
scallops that the Atlantic-contain
ed.
Back in the days when the King
reigned supreme over his river
front domain, the State Board of
Health didn’t go around making
sanitary checks on the various eat
ing places. Had there been such
germ-chasing in vogue, there prob
ably wouldn’t have been enough
letters in the alphabet to reach
King’s lowly classification.
Yet, so far as we know, not so
much as a single customer ever
got cramps from cramming tainted
food at Watson’s esteemed estab
lishment. Maybe folks were strong
er in those days, or the germs were
weaker. At any rate, health in ad
mittedly unheajlthy surroundings
was as constant as the proprietor’s
boisterous congeniality.
King himself was a sight to be
hold. Rosy of cheek, with a white
mustache that alternately remind
ed one of a self-centered rooster
or a fatted walrus, his voice boom
ed like v/ind-swept waves beating
upon a rock-ribbed shore.
When you darkened the door at
his restaurant, you got a welcome
that all but overwhelmed you. It
was on the level too, and made
you feel good all over. That, as
much as the seafood, was the rea
son that landlubbers camelrdfti'
( far away as Carolina’s Land of the
Sky to partake of his luscious
viands.
Drummers peddling their wares
to merchants in the coast country
always arranged their schedules
so they could end up in New Bern
for an evening meal. Eating with
the King was always ah extraordi
nary delight, but it seemed doubly
delightful after darkness set in.
For cne thing, Watson’s robust
humor appeared to have adfled vig
or during the evening hours. His
rousing laughter rattled the rafters
more vehemently, and his tall tales
ascended to astronomical heights.
Others on the scene, inspired by
his loquaciousness, spun pretty fair
yarns, too.
King’s sons couldn’t quite match
their old man in color, but they
’ were characters in their own right.
In our considered opinion, New
Bern never had three brothers who
were more collectively musical than
Guy, Leo and Bill.
Leo’s rendition of early Irving
Berlin melodies—particularly “All
Alone’’—set an all-time high for
local theaters, and the way he
sang “Delaware” out at i.’fated
Glenburnic Park was a memorable
event.
Still, some New Bemians as
well as a lot of out-of-towners cred
ited Guy with the best voice. His
notes possessed unbelievable mel
lowness whenever he warmed up to
the occasion with a snort or two
of Craven county corn. Fortunately
(Continued on back page)
The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
5 Per Copy
VOLUME
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1958
NUMBER 5
WHERE'S THERE'S A WILL—Foy Keene has been
living his life in wheel chairs since rheumatic fever
crippled him at the age of 10. Far from bitter about
his predicament, he laughs it off and earns a liveli
hood. Once a solicitor for magazines, he is now the
efficient dispatcher for a taxicab concern. He is
an honorary member of the New Bern' Fire De
partment, an authority on baseball, and has one
of the City's keenest minds.
Activities Of New Bern AA
What will future historians re
gard as New Bern’s most outstand
ing achievement of the decade from
1950 to 1960? Assuming, of course,
that this First State Capitol and
the rest of the world hasn’t been
obliterated by atom bombs, hydro
gen bombs or some other kind of
bomb.
Nothing that Has happened here,
if you_5lcp to think about it, even
closely approaches the marvelous,
inspired and heart-warming, work
of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Our olher projects, worthy though
some of them were, and still are,
dwarf them§,elves into approximate
nothingness when Compared with
AA. In fact, some of these self
same projects would never have
yielded their full fruit without the
competent leadership of erstwhile
drunks.
New Bern’s two chapters, more
than any Protestant or Catholic
church, or the Jewish Synagogue,
brought men and women chained
in the depths of despair and self
degradation into a new life of use
ful respectability.
Families have been restored to
happiness, horned have been built
by husbands and fathers who used
to spend all they oould earn, beg
or borrow on intoxicants, business
es have been saved or started,
and churches have gained new
members.
Inspired at the outset locally by
the almost miraculous restoration
of the town’s most notorious and
most hopeless drunk, Alcoholics
Anonymous has put those' who
laughed at it to shame.
There have been failures, but
they were in a minority. Time and
time again an alcoholic who had
reached rock bottom went to the
little .one-time chapel on upper
Pollock street or the second-floor
location on lower South Front.
He or she went there because
at long last there was the soul-
searching realization that nothing
but a Greater Power could end the
engulfing misery, the wasted
month.s and years, the loss of
friends, the anguish of loved ones.
There, in a rare state of tempo
rary sobriety, the newcomer looked
upon other alcoholics. They were
lear of eye, alert in manner and
happy in disposition. They had
come a long way, and having ar
rived they were determined to stay
in their present respectability.
It was a gathering unlike any
other gathering that New Bern
has ever known. The Protestant and
the Catholic, apart from their re
spective faiths, had come to appre
ciate God as never before. The so
cialite, well educated, had found a
common bond with a fellow alco
holic who never reached high
school.
They knew their weakness, and
had found their strength. They
were prayerful mortals, gratefully
acknowledging that with God by
their side they would walk alone.
And, more than anyone else the
town has ever had, they were mis
sionaries—reaching out to others
to assure them of the manifold
blessings that they already possess-
(Continued on back page)
(
New Bern's
Blvis Guilty
Of Fowl Play
Life hasn’t been the same on
upper East Front street since Elvis
moved into the neighborhood.
In case you haven’t met Elvis,
he is a devilish and amorous-acting
young parrot that Jim and Betsy
Blades carted down here from
Yankee Land. What he lacks in
Southern drawl he makes up for
with a wolf whistle that would put
a freshly docked sailor to shame.
Now a wolf whistle may be all
right in some places, or even in
most places. A world without wolf
whistles would, in fact, be about
as dismal as a world that didn’t
have somebody in it worth whist
ling at.
Through no fault of his own,
Elvis just ended up in the wrong
location You see, the Blades home
is right next door to the residence
of George and Lou Ellen Slaughter,
and the repercussions have been
stupendous.
It Isn’t that George and Lou
Ellen hate parrots in general and
Elvis in particular. They get along
well with everybody and every
thing, including dogs and cats.
Their two sons, George and Bill,
and their own dog, Aleck, are much
the same way.
This w’ouldn’t be much of a story
if Lou Ellen wasn’t a dress maker.
An expert in her field, with such
accomplishments as the uniforms
of New Bern High School’s major
ettes to her credit, she sews fer-
some of the City’s most discrimi
nating ladies.
These good women, when they
are being fitted up, occasionally
get rather close to a first floor
window. This gives Elvis something
better than a bird’s eye view of the
proceedings, and puts the lady in
volved well within the range of
the parrot’s unseemly vocalizing.
Imagine her startled reaction,
when that wolf whistle disturbs
her equilibrium and sends her
scurrying for a trifle more raiment.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the young'
whipper snapper didn’t wink at
her too, when she spies him sun-
(Continued on Page 7)
NEW BERN'S
Anne Edwards Is Versatile Actress
All New Bernians can be proud
of Anne Edwards, who is continu
ing her successful stage and tele
vision career in New York City.
Once a delightful standout in
New Bern High school plays, and
later starred in Carolina Playmak-
ers productions at the University,
she appeared on Broadway with
Helen Hayes in “What Every Wom
an Knows.”
She understudied Maggie Mac-
Namara in “The Moon Is Blue”,
played in a road company of “Voice
of The Turtle” and has made num
erous television appearances on
such programs as Robert Mont
gomery Presents, The U. S. Steel
Hour, Armstrong Circle Theater,
Kraft, Philco and Studio One.
Of Irish descent, she was starred
in the title role of “Peg of My
Heart” when it went on tour, play
ed as Jackie Gleason’s niece in a
televised spoofing of the “$64,000
Question” and has been uwized in
many commercials, including Oxy-
dol.
TV Guide ran six color photos
of her when she was named Star
Tonight for her ABC performance
in Rod Sterling’s “Strength of
Steel” in which sh^ played a
young Army widow.
Not content with acting, Anne
has always displayed a keen inter
est in other aspects of show busi
ness, particularly staging and light-
(Continued on back page)
There's a hint of Irish impi^ness about Anne Edwards, and
it adds immeasurably to her stage and television perfornMnees.
She had it too during her early years as a New Bern High school
actress. (See Page 8 for other photo.)