Jim's Jottings (part 8 #11)

By Jim Griffith, Jr.

Costlow Collection, Lusk Family, Part 8 #11

DEAR FOLKS AND GENTLE PEOPLE:

Please don't pay any attention to the blank space above, it took me just that long to think of something to write about.

Any way, since "Jotting Jim" got it into his head to go into the show "biz" along with Art Linkletter, Ed Sullivan and some of those other fellers, he and his entire entourage took off for Seattle a few days ago. A few minutes before he left Jim came by and spread this whole proposition in my lap and said, "Now you go ahead and produce something while I'm gone. Most anything, just so you don't have too much to say about the politicians and the Kennedy administration."

The wide spread popularity of our "Meller Drammers," of which Jimmie is one of the directors, had reached the Board of Managers of the Seattle World's Fair and they, at once, made arrangements for the appearance of this famous troupe at their great festival on June 3rd, "Wyoming Day" at the Fair. The entire cast, fourteen members strong, departed from Lusk on May 28th, equipped with eight carloads of paraphernalia of various kinds. This feature at the Fair by these local people has no small significance. It not only speaks on a high level for their talent but also is a lot of valuable advertising for our town and county and the big State of Wyoming as well. Their showing at the Fair was expanded enormously by presentations while enroute, at Newcastle, Gillette and many other towns, but regardless of the Wall Street frenzy of last week, "Meller Drammer" stock went sky-high after the outfit horned in on the Barnum & Bailey show and put on one of their best showings. Now let's have "a tremendous hand" for these ambitious entertainers from Lusk.

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This business of trying to write a column for a newspaper as favor for someone else brings to this writer's mind a little happenstance which involved this writer with this same guy named Jim, but quite a different sort of situation. You see several of us including Jim had migrated to a certain lake in northern Saskatchewan in the summer of 1955. Personally I had accumulated too much fish "stuff" on my trousers during the day's fishing and came into camp rather damp and soggy. I pulled off the wet pants and stuck them into a roaring hot fire. Turning to my duffel bag for a clean pair I suddenly learned that the bag had been left at Lak LaRonge some 50 air miles away.

My naked appeals to borrow a pair fell upon deaf and unsympathetic ears. Nobody had a pair to spare. Another local guy generally answering to the name of "Blondie" also figured in this nefarious piece of devilment.

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A certain professor was lecturing and demonstrating to his class the evils of the use of alcohol. He had a glass of water on one side and a glass of alcohol on the other. He picked up a big fishworm and dropped it into the water, which had no ill effect on the worm. He then dropped the worm into the alcohol and in an instant the worm was frizzled up into nothing. Now, says the professor, just what do you young students get from this demonstration? One smart aleck back in the last row spoke up and says, "Well Prof it just goes to show that if you drink plenty of alcohol you'll never have worms".

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A couple of weeks ago our old-time friend Horace Baca was here in town. Seeing brought to mind some old history. During the big Boom of 1918 someone called the poolhall and asked, "Is Horace Baca in there?" The reply was, "Hell no, if you want someone on horseback, call the livery barn".

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Okay folks! And as Walter Cronkrite, would say, "That's the way it is here in Lusk, Wyoming on June 7th, 1962.

GEORGE EARL PEET

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