The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
5 Per Copy
VOLUME 2
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1959
NUMBER 18
Few things are really lasting, yet |
Time makes little change in those
good old western movies, filmed
on a back-lot range. Each cowboy
has a pair of guns that need re
loading never—they ,iust go on a-
shooting forever and forever.
The stage coach always runs
away, along a mountain trail, and
trapped inside is some poor gal-
hollering and so pale. Our hero, in
the nick of time, comes riding up
like mad, and stops them stage
coach horses, and everybody’s glad.
All westerns have their barroom
fights, a balcony is near from
which the hero takes a leap and
grabs the chandelier. He kicks six ]
rustlers in the jaw, then drops to i
the floor, where he starts his fists |
to flying and whips a dozen more.
Then a nasty doggone mean man,
in that corner over there, comes I
rushing Two Gun Willie and
smacks hifn with a chair. He then
picks up a table, and hits poor
Will again. He chunks a whiskey.|
bottle that sails through a window
pane.
But Willie weathers everything,
justice will prevail, and in the end
he gets the gal, the rustlers go to
jail. Such is the way of westerns
yet everywhere you go, you’ll find
that grown folks more than kids
are thrilling to them so.
“Wagon Train” and “Gun Smoke”
are a pretty certain bet to keep
that man around the house—right
by the TV set. And of course,
“Have Gun Will. Travel” is a cinch
to hold him home, in fact most
any western kills the plans he had
to roam.
These new stars ain’t much dif
ferent, in acting out their part,
from guys like Dustin Farnum,
Tom Mix or old Bill Hart. The guns
today look just as big, the horses
run as fast. The villains have them
sneaky scowls we hated in the
past. It’s true few things are last
ing, the world succumbs to change,
but a cowboy’s still a cowboy as
he rides his movie range.
The above rhymed lines are rath
er corny, but they do point up the
overwhelming popularity that the
horse operas are enjoying all over
the land. It’s a national craze, and
will continue as long as countless
millions clamor for such programs,
and buy the sponsor’s product.
If ratings mean anything—and
the television industry swears by
them—^New Bernians are about on
a par with other Americans when
it comes to being enthusiastic over
westerns. We might add that here
as elsewhere many of the fans are
pe6ple who would qualify for the
highest bracket in anybody’s intel
ligence test.
Strangely, the craze for westerns
Is comparatively new in every sec
tion of the country except the
South. A few decades ago, movie
producers accepted the fact that
the only place you could sell a
horse opera at any price was in
seven Southern states.
However, it didn’t cost much to
make such pictures, and the de
mand in Dixie was so great that
Hollywood studios recognized these
films as their surest money makers.
If you recall your own childhood,
and those crowded Saturday mati
nees at New Bern theaters, you
can appreciate this point of view.
In those days, we were laughed
at below the Mason-Dixon line for
being “backward” in our movie
taste. Now, at this late date, it is
quite clear that instead of being-
backward we were actually ahead
of our time.
For better or for worse. Southern
movie-goers were the first to dis
cover that westerns are exciting
entertainment, if you let yourself
go. It just took those Yankees up
North a good 40 years to wake up
to the fact.
Maybe some of you are like us,
you’d rather see something else.
But we might as well face it. those
horses and guns are here to stay
REALLY LIVING—Who wants to head for distant places,
when there’s fun to be had on the Neuse and Trent? New
Bernians make no idle boast when they point with pride to
our coast country as the Land of Enchanting^aters. Noth
ing beats a cooling river on a sultry Summer day, and these
local youngsters know it.—Photo by Billy Benners.
Judge Don Gilliam's Fairness
Endeared Him to New Bern
It can be said without exaggera
tion that every New Bernian who
knows Judge Don Gilliam of Tar-
boro was proud and happy this
week when his portrait was unveil
ed to hang with honor irt Eastern
District Court at Raleigh.
Looking down from the bench
and meting out justice in 15,000
Federal cases could hardly be
counted on to make any. mortal
a beloved figure. Yet beloved the
retired Tarboro jurist is, as few
men are in public life.
If ever a human lived up fully
to the admonishment of Rudyard
Kipling to walk with kings nor
lose the common touch, Gilliam
qualifies. Perhaps his most admir
able of many fine traits is the fact
that his high position and great
authority didn’t tempt him into a
state of aloofness. He met the low
ly, the friendless, the foolish and
the woefully ignorant on a level
that all could understand and ap
predate.
New Bern lawyers --ourt offi
dais, defendants and witnesses, law
enforcement officers and the press
have been deeply impressed with
his complete sense of fairness dim
ing his 15 years on the bench. It
mattered not to Judge Gilliam
whether a man was rich or poor,
dumb or smart, he was dealt with
impartially. *
As a matter of fact, if the kind
ly jurist had a judicial failing it
was his tendency to go easy on
sentences that could have been
much heavier. Aside from his sym
pathetic realization that human
frailty is common to us all, he has
always exhibited an abiding faith
in rehabilitation.
' At times no doubt his gentleness
has been exasperating to Federal
officers, but in numerous instances
the break he gave to a defendant
has resulted in a grateful man go
ing straight and becoming a useful
and respectable citizen.
Don Gilliam didn’t covet the role
of judge. On two occasions before
becoming a Federal judge he de
clined appointment as a Superior
DON GILLIXM
Court jurist. Finally ,when Judge
I. M. Meekins of Elizabeth City
passed away in 1945, he was pre
vailed upon to accept appointment
to the bench in Eastern District
Federal court.
Gilliam was stepping into the
shoes of as colorful a judge as ever
presided in a Tar Heel courtroom.
Not only had Meekins been able
and emphatic, but as witty as a
half dozen comedians bundled into
one.
As a rule, the Elizabeth City
judge was inclined to be somewhat
caustic in his comments, and at
torneys and defendants alike en
deavored to tread lightly in his
court. None, however, doubted his
sagacity nor his sincerity.
He could see through a phony
bit of testimony like a hungry tom
cat peering at a caged canary.
Likewise, he tolerated no shenani
gans from lawyers, and was quick
to squelch any Federal officer who
appeared to have exceeded his
authority in apprehending or inter
rogating an alleged lawbreaker.
To the surprise, perhaps, of
many. Judge Gilliam proved to be
colorful in his own right. Entirely
without intent, his mild and almost
fatherly attitude on the bench gave
him a tremendous dignity. Indeed,
few jurists in all the land have
looked more “in place” as a judge.
And when it came to wit, his
courtroom humor was priceless.
Seldom did it carry the sting that
some of his predecessor’s barbs
possessed. In some respects he com
pared with the tolerance and phi
losophy of the late Will Rogers,
when it came to "the inoffensiveness
of his impromptu quips.
(Continued, on back p«9«l