The NEW BERN
I PUBLISHED WBIKLY
^ . >N THE HEART OP
NORTH
0
VOLUME 14
NEW BERN, N. C., FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1972
NUMBER 50
Yest«^ay was when just
about every boy in town did his
first swimming naked as a
jayUrd, off New Bern’s docks.
The guano warehouse on lower
East Front, and the Pocomoke
in Riverside, drew dozens of
skinny dippers daily.
Yesterday was when any guy
foolish enough to pull out a pack
of cigarettes in a crowd of
loiterers had the coffin nails
pounced on immediately. The
smart way was to keep a pack
exposed with a single cigarette
in it.
Nobody ever took your last
cigaarette. On the sly you could
keq> the rest of your smdces
concealed, and fish one out to
replenish the empty pack as
nc^ed. Unless you rolled your
own, the Depression switched
you to Wings.
As for cigars, New Bemlans
puffing expaisive brands today
used to reap pleasure from two
for a nickel stogies in the late
Twenties and early Thirties.
Remember those El Reesos,
Robert Fultons, and King
Edwards?
Yesterday was when any
local movie fan could cite you
several instances where not just
one but a number of stars
beamed in the same family. At
that time the Barrymoores
(John, Lionel and Ethel) were
still exclusively on stage.
Shuffle your recollections,
and maybe you’ll recall Norma,
(instance, Natalie and Richard
Talmadge, as well as those
popular cowboy brothers,
Dustin, Franklin and William
Farnum.
Maurice (fostello, the silver
screen’s top matinee idol in the
earlv days, fathered a pair of
lovdy daughters who made it
big too, Delores and Helene.
Douglas Fairbanks,' Sr., had a
iess famous brother, William.
Incidentally, in the realm of
western stars, everybody
remembers that Roy Rogers did
his riding m Trigger, but how
about Tom Mix and Fred
Thompson? Give up? Tom’s
trusted- steed was Tony, and
Fred straddied Silvor idiig.
Yesterday was when owning
an Atwater Kent radio was a
status symbol in our town. On a
good ni^t you could pick up
KDKA in Pittsburgh and WLW
in Cincinnati through the ever
present static.
Yesterday was when nobody
else around here had a latvdi
like Squib Moore’s. We always
thought it was sort of put on, but
he unleashed it freauently,
especially at the pool hall and
rimng in his roadster. You could
hear it in James City, and smne
parts of Bridgeton.
Yesterday was when the
thoi«ht of eating breakfast in
bed held no tq[>p^ for even the
most pampered New Bemian.
You woke up in a room that was
freezing cold, and what
you craved was a chance to
roast your posterior by the coal
heater or fireplace downstairs.
Yesterday was when Bob
Pugh, Shorty Kafer, and Rip
Summerell needed vaseline or
something of the sort to control
their unmy hair. Time took
care of that. Now, with a lot
more face, all they need is a
(Continued m page 8)
NEW BERN-CRAVEN COUNTY
PUBLIC LIBRARY
COLDER BY THE MINUTE—Uncovered ruts are
mute evidoice that snow has ceased to fall, for
awhile, but heavy skies will make good their promise
of a real blanket of vliite. We know this, for the year
was 1899, and February’s blizzard was descending on
New Bern. We know too that the temperature was
dropping, since the cart on your left had made no
tracks, nor had the pedestrians. Before the im-
poiding storm abated, both the Neuse and Trent
would freeze over, and hapless New Bemians would
shiver miserably in homes that couldn’t be warmed
adequately. Speaking of the Neuse, it is visible at the
far end of this hazy thoroughfare, for you are gazing
down Pollock, between Craven and East Front. In-
cidentaUy, we are grateful to all of the many, here
and in far off places, who have expressed keen in
terest in our currrat series of rare pictures from the
past.—^oto from Albert D. Brooks Collection.
V