I
The NEW BERN
: -■
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OP
5^ Per uppy
VOLUME 5
V*-.
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1963
NUMBER 39
On a recent afternoon, be
fore Sam Whitehurst reported
once more for duties in the
State Legislature, we were
motoring in the vicinity of, his
home on the Bayboro highway.
Along the road the two of us
observed a very dead skunk.
"That's the second one I’ve seen
run over out here in the past
few days,’’ Craven’s represen
tative commented. "They’vegot
loads of the things down
in Carteret county, but during
all the years our family has
been here we haven’t had any
signs of the critters.”
it was easy to see a sign of
them now, on that road, and this
was just one more item for Sam
to ponder while constituents kept
his telephone busy on the eve
of the General Assembly’s open
ing in its magnificent new State
House.
Could it be that a Republican
hauled several of thehigh-smel-
ling polecats to Sam’s neighbor
hood, and set them free to
populate the section? We didn't
stop to determine whether it was
a Republican skunk or a Demo
cratic skunk, since neither
variety is a nice crowd to hang
around.
Coming from us, that may
sound , rather snobbish, because
some folks are probably of the
opinion that a newspaperman,
a politician and a skunk have
enough in common to get along
gloriously together. The skunk
we saw wasn’t talking, but he
might consider himself better
off dead than in such company.
Having admitted as much,
we’ll report that a sample sur
vey by the Mirror indicates
Red Skelton’s characterization
of Freddie the Freeloader is by
far his best role in the eyes
of New Bern TV fans. They
like him too as George Apple
by, Cauliflower McPugg and
San Fernando Red, but Freddie
is closest to their hearts.
Many of Skelton’s admirers
in our town may not know it,
but his wistful and tender por
trayal of the ragged tramp is
practically a page from his own
life. There was a time in New
York when he went for days
without eating in the midst of
the Great Depression.
As John C. Waugh, the colum
nist, recalls it. Red’s idea of a
feast in those days was cook
ing eggs on a flatiron in a room
in the old Flanders Hotel. A
dresser drawer, laid upside
down across two chairs, was
his table and the bed springs his
grill.
Red, like every other clown,
discovered long ago tliat the line
between comedy and pathos i.s
as slender as the strands of a
spider web. No other living
comic can approach hi.s talent
for turning the laughter of an
audience into ,udden tears with
his pantomitiie.
‘T would define a clown,”
says Red, "as one who
reenacts In anexaggerated way
scenes which have taken place.
They then become funny nr sad,
depending on the content and the
point of view of the watcher.
We are all right as people a.'
long as we don’t lose nurlaugh-
(Continued on Page 8t
TOOK A LiOOK—Pictured in the parsonage of St. building sites, in event the college moves to this city.
Mary’s Free Will Baptist church are President W. Burk- Assurances of financial support were given the group,
ette Raper of Mount Olive College (fourth from right Mount Olive citizens hope to keep the school.—Photo
standing) and members of the board of directors. They by John R. Baxter,
were in New Bern last weekend to inspect possible
STEPPING LIVELY—New Bern’s Teen Club at Union
Point is strictly for the High school crowd Friday and
Saturday, but the City Recreation Center gives adults a
chance to enjoy a square dance there on Thursday
night. The idea has caught on, and tthe dances have
become one of the many regularly scheduled activities
of the Recreation Department. Teenagers like square
dancing too, but haven’t forsaken rock ’n roU.—^Photo
by John R. Baxter.