NEW BERN-CRAVEN COUNTY
The m/fIStRN
or Copy -
VOLUME 10
NEW BERN, N. C„ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, \967
NUMBER 36
One ot the nicest of many
nice things about Christmas,
here In New Bern and around
the world. Is the part that music
plays In Its Observance.
Since that first Holy Night,
when angels sang above aBetti-
lebem stable, the Christ Child's
birthday has been an occasion
for carols. Without the blessing
of song, the Yuletlde would lose
much of Its Incomparable ap>
peal for mankind.
Surely, God Intended It this
way. Aptly termed the uni
versal language, music lifts us
closer to the heights of heaven
than anything else on the face
of the earlh.
Carols are as ageless as the
Christmas spirit, as per
petually charming as the happy
face of a kid In die passing
throng.. New songs have their
brief melodic moment and
vanish Into Oblivion, but the
old songs remain, unblemished
by time.
"Silent Night” and "Away In
A Manager” are as beautifully
fragile as a butterfly's wing,
but they have the durability of
reinforced concrete. Neither
wars nor rumors of wars re
move them from the scene.
We can't visualize a more
stupendous task, or an under
taking more definitely doomed
to failure, than the effort of
any comtemporary composer
to write a carol that will sup
plant "Hark The Herald Angles
Sing” or "It Came Upon The
Midnl^it Clear.”
Such permanence Is somn-
tbing of an oddity In a world
where mortals In their rest
lessness are ever anxious to
switch to the new, whatever it
may be.
Come to think of It, every
thing about Christmas remains
pretty much the same. Who
would want it otherwise?
* * * * * e e, e,
Hearing Llberace play
"Rhapsody In Blue” on last
Saturday’s Jackie Gleason Show
brought back memories of Paul
Whiteman, the King of Jazz.
George Gershwin wrote the
composition while he wiis
pianist for the great Whiteman
band, and from that day on the
paunchy, moon-faced maestro
featured It whenever he filled
a dance engagement or gave a
concert.
Whiteman played Morehead
City’s Atlantic Beach on one
occasion 'In the old days, as
did several other name bands.
That was before the Pagoda
burned, and the coastal resort
became, apparently forever, a
place of poor dancing facilities
and mediocre music.
Cab Calloway, currently
starring with Pearl Bailey In
Hello Dolly, brou^t his famed
cotton Club orchestra to the
Carteret vacation spot too, and
went all out to give New Bern-
lans and other eastern North
Carolinians attending his dance
their money’s worth.
That's considerably more
than one could say for Ben
Bernle, also nationally popular,
who was booked into the At
lantic Hotel, years before It
went up In flames, like the
Pagoda over at.the beach.
Bernle, sloppily dressed in
badly wrinkled clothes, ap
peared only briefly on the band
stand with "all the lads.” The
rest of the night he sipped brew
outside the hotel, while a fiddle
(Continued on page 6)
and events of the Revolution.
OUR HERITAGE- -This painting, courtesy of the Og* iod to depict the people . .xn^rvuiunou
den Collection of the New York Historical SocieW, is Many, from private collections, are available for view
one of oyer 50 works of art which appear in “FYee- ing by the general nublic for the first time winnet
dom’s Finest Hour” Friday night at 7:30 p.m. on
New Bern’s WNBE-TV, Channel 12. Here, undaunted
citizens of a budding America jeer at British redcoats
occupying one of their towns during the Revolution
ary war. The award winning documentary, in color,
utilizes paintings, etchings and documents of the per*
ing by the general public for the first time. Winner
of coveted awards from the Council on International
Nontheatrical Events in Washington, D. C., and the
Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Pa., the film
will undoubtedly rank high on the roster of all-time
television presentations. When you see it Friday night,
you’ll be prouder than ever of your birthright
. -.j .