Friday, August 8, 2008

Local Talent, Great Performers and the Von Theater










Booneville. The Von theater, the little corner building in the above photo (circa 1984, long past its' heyday and missing its' marquee) is innocent-looking enough, but it has hosted a million dollars worth of talent inside its' doors. Singers and musicians of many descriptions have been on the tiny stage and some have gone on to achieve great fame and fortune in one way or another. Performers such as Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Lloyd McCullough, the Burnette Brothers (Johnny and Dorsey), Elvis Presley, and local favorites Hayden Thompson and Edgar Lee Carroll, just to name a few.

If you went to a live band country or rock 'n roll dance in the Baldwyn, Wheeler, or Booneville area in the 50s you may remember Hayden Thompson and his band. Hayden was in demand then and had a record or two that were doing very well. He was on the "Von" label, a subsidary of the Von theatre.

Hayden was from Wheeler, and I first saw him up close while at Gerald Hodges' print shop visiting. He was getting some printing done. I later saw the signs he had printed, advertising a dance that weekend, on power poles. I am almost sure he was a warm-up act for Elvis Presley at the Von on January 3rd, 1956 at which time I saw Elvis live for the first time. Elvis at that time was advertised as "The Folk Music Fireball". He did two shows that day at the Von, along with Johnny Cash and his band. I do not recall the times, but I was at the one after dark, probably 9PM. The usual patrons were replaced by young teenaged guys and their dates - picture that street with one of the biggest, noisiest crowds in a long while blocking traffic to a standstill. The show was played to a mostly standing crowd - seats were scarce and most had more than one person in them. I have tried to get photos of that event, but the cartoon representation of the Von (above) is how I remember the theater looking at that time.

Elvis had previously appeared at the then NEMJC (now NEMCC) auditorium on January 17,1955, sponsored by the Local Kiwanis Club, but not to as much fanfare as he received this time at the Von. His entourage was using two cars, both parked in the alley to the right and we watched them later as they loaded up and headed for Jonesboro, Arkansas for a show the next day. The only car I recall was a very large, long Chrysler or Dodge with a luggage rack on the top.

In addition to Hayden, also in the audience was another local celebrity of sorts; a schoolmate, Lamar Ratliff of Baldwyn, who was the national champion corn grower of 1955 with a record of 304.38 bushels to the acre. Also present was Carolyn Cunningham of Booneville, first alternate in the '54 Miss Mississippi pageant.

How many of you readers were there at the January 3rd show? I recall a few, but it was a mad, mad, mad crowd!
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Photo of Von theatre courtesy of Willie Weeks.
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Hayden still is performing and is really in demand in the UK where "rockabilly" is very big even today. His story can be found at:

21 comments:

  1. I went to the Von and saw Elvis. They should have taken the seats out and let everyone have more room. no one was using the seats after the show started anyway.
    It was a wild night in Booneville.

    Doug Henshaw

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  2. The Mississippi Alabama Fair and Dairy Show appearance was only about 7 months later so between those appearances there was quite a career acceleration. I read in one of the Elvis books that Vernon and "Shine" Hood (father and son) from Baldwyn are fairly close relatives to Elvis and "Shine" bore a lot of resemblance in his younger days.

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  3. He did get more noticed after the Booneville dates. He did his first movie between then and the Fair, but I think the movie was in theaters after the fair.
    The Von was a good little movie theater, and the country music shows were live on Saturday nights - had lots of talent there.

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  4. I also remember the Princess and the Jeran theaters. One more was out near highway 45, but can't remember the name of it. But I remember the opening night, they showed "From Here to Eternity" and I went there quite a few times. I lived in Geeville then.
    RC

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  5. All of us Baldwyn girls were big fans of Hayden. I can still hear him singing "Come along and be my pa-party doll".

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  6. I remember all the theaters in Booneville, also. I cannot remember the name of the theater near old 45, either.
    I have a photo of the old Princess theater, if anyone wanted to see it.

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  7. We girls from Poplar Grove, Jacinto, and east Booneville loved Hayden, too!
    He was cool, and would take us riding in his convertible when we asked him.
    Peg, Donnie, Martha Jean, and the "Strutters" of 1956

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  8. Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan on September 9, 1956 so that was a meteoric rise from the Von to Sullivan in 8 months.

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  9. Did Eddie (or Edgar Lee) Carrol perform around Baldwyn / Wheeler / Booneville? I only remember him from Memphis clubs back then.

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  10. His superfast rise to prominence from the Von to New York in a short period of time was absolutely due to his manager Col. Tom Parker. The colonel was bestowed on him by Louisiana governor Jimmy Davis. He was an excellent manager as we know, but he was an illegal immigrant!

    Parker's real place of birth was in Breda, Netherlands. Still carrying his baptismal name, Andreas Cornelis (Dries) van Kuijk left his native land at about the age of 18 and joined the United States Army, despite the fact he was not a U.S. citizen. Van Kuijk was stationed in Hawaii, at a base commanded by a Captain Tom Parker. After leaving the service, van Kuijk adopted the name Tom Parker. He became part of the circus world some time later.

    He also worked as a dogcatcher and a pet cemetery proprietor in Temple Terrace, Florida, in the 1940s.

    Elvis fans have speculated that the reason Presley never performed abroad, which would probably have been a highly lucrative proposition, may have been that Parker was worried that he would not have been able to acquire a U.S. passport and might even have been deported from the United States upon filing his application.

    In addition, applying for the citizenship required for a U.S. passport would probably have exposed his carefully concealed foreign birth.

    Isn't this a great country or what?

    Eddie Carroll performed at the Von, and several places including dances at "The Hut" and others. Saw and heard him many times at dances around the area.

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  11. Well, at least Parker didn't spend the manager's cut of sometimes over half of Elvis' income, plus what he stole, outside the United states, since he couldn't get out and back in!

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  12. I wonder what happened to Col. Parker's money when he died. If he was all that slick, he probably figured out a way to take it with him!

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  13. From what I have read, he left a lot of it in Las Vegas casinos. He was a tight wad who didn't mind blowing it gambling.

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  14. Found the timeline of the song "Young Love" by Sonny James - Jan 5th 1957. Eddgar Lee Carroll sang it at the Von within a week of us hearing it on the radio. He had the words slightly wrong, but he played the guitar lead and it was perfect.
    I only saw him at the Von, but heard he played at a big dance at Guntown on Saturday nights, never went there.
    Penny Davis, from Thrasher, Miss.

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  15. Barack Obama just made a speech to 200,000 people in Berlin. I have met at least that many who saw Elvis at the Von - just kidding guys and gals. I think Bobby Hamblin was working there at the time. Maybe he has a poem about it.

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  16. Eddie Carrol was so talented and never lost it until he passed away. He could sing anything and was also a good writer and played both guitar and honky tonk piano.

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  17. I went to the Castaways in Memphis quite a few times to listen to Eddie. He would always have a good evening show, even would take a few requests and seemed to know many types of songs.
    The thing I respected about him was that he seemed to get a gospel song into his program at least once each time.

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  18. Eddie would always sing "Lavender Blue" when a certain young lady from Baldwyn would walk in the door.

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  19. My wife and I used to see Eddie Carrol perform quite often at the Western Steakhouse & Lounge on Madison in Memphis - you can see it in the opening credits of "Great Balls of Fire" movie with Dennis Quaid. This was during the last decade of his life. He played honky tonk piano on Friday and Saturday night and his voice and charisma never failed even as he had a lot of physical problems. I was always amazed at how many songs he knew, taking requests all night and his strong voice never wavered. The fellow who owned the place was T. Tommy Somebody who is mentioned often in the Elvis book "Last Train to Memphis" by Peter Guralnik. I don't know why Eddie never made it bigger except that he was not a model of discipline.

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  20. Thanks, Joseph. I've been trying all week to think of the name of the Western Steakhouse. Now you have me wondering what T. Tommy's last name was!

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