“Ben Zancundo from the French Quarter” says, “Although everyone in my family was raised Baptist, in 1950s New Orleans there was no escaping Catholic traditions and rituals.
“I attended a public elementary school, but Catholic students were excused from class every Thursday at 2 p.m. and marched to St. Theresa of Avila Church two blocks away for catechism class.
“After our public school classes let out at 3 p.m, we would run over to nearby St. Alphonsus school playground for basketball.
“At a quarter to 6, the nuns would block exits to the playground and tell us we had to go to 6 p.m. Mass in the church. I pleaded, ‘But Sister, I’m not Catholic!’ to no avail.
“Once inside the church I would drop down on all fours and crawl out the back door.”
(Ben, I hope you mentioned this at your next confession.)Â
Dry holiday
“A few days ago you included my submission of the Napoleonville fire of 1894,” says Tony Falterman.
“While reading through some old writing of O.W. Stevens of St. Amant, I found this quote from the Daily Picayune of Dec. 22, 1894:
“’A fire in Napoleonville night before last destroyed more property than either of the terrible fires of 1874 or 1884. Before it could be extinguished 63 important buildings comprising dwellings, hotel, stores, lawyers offices, lodges, livery stables, and barber shops were destroyed. The loss is estimated at about $200,000.00. Not a single store, hotel, livery stable, or SALOON is left in town.’
“From the capitalization of ‘saloon,’ I would assume it was difficult to have a little nip for Christmas!”
News flight
Nick Champion recalls the coronation of Elizabeth II:
“In 1953, before satellites or video tape, NBC and CBS were in a frantic race to be first with film of the young queen’s coronation.
“Both hired planes to cross the pond, but one (I think CBS) rigged their plane with a film processor and edit suite, beating the competition by several hours. Times have changed.”
Proper names
Marlene Pedesclaux, of Marrero, says, “As a kid I was fascinated when people’s professions and names matched.
“Our veterinarian, Dr. Katz, sold his practice to…wait for it…Dr. Barcan!
“When I find a doctor named ‘Killemquick’ my journey will be complete.”
Special People Dept.
— Eddie Mayard, of Prairieville, celebrates his 90th birthday Friday, May 12. On that day, he and his wife Beverly will also celebrate their 67th anniversary.
— John and Barbera Hanks, of Plaquemine, will celebrate 73 years of marriage Saturday, May 13.
— Jerry and Mary Rose Shaw, of Mandeville, celebrate their 63rd anniversary Sunday, May 14. They are “from the Irish Channel of New Orleans, graduated from Redemptorist High and were married at St. Alphonsus. Everybody in New Orleans will know what you are talking about.”
Everybody’s a critic!
Seems our nit-picking readers feel some Advocate people are carrying this “do it yourself” thing a bit far:
— “T.W.” says, Andy Maverick’s comment on making us newspaper readers do all the work made me think about your byline, listing you as a ‘columnist.’
“Shouldn’t you really be listed as an ‘editor?’
“That being said, I recommend that all contributors to this column should include numerous writing errors so that you actually have to do some work.”
(Both are bad ideas, T.W. I’ve known a lot of editors, and their jobs are much tougher than mine. And as for errors, I make enough on my own, so I don’t need any help from readers.)Â
— Glenn Balentine, of Prairieville, tells this DIY story: “Andy Maverick’s thoughts about readers ‘helping’ The Advocate’s cartoonist Walt Handelsman reminded me about my local restaurant.
“I ordered a sandwich named ‘The Smiley.’ They gave me a loaf of bread, mayo, and baloney, and said, ‘Enjoy!'”
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