Ec's north island recreation league

[Eugene Church]

Monday, May 4, 1953

BOBCATS ON TOP AT MIDSEASON IN NIRL SECOND
The Theodore Bobcats busted up a three-way tie for the top spot in the North Island Recreational League Second Division this weekend by clipping the Union Heights Hackers 6-5 at Bobcat Field... Theodore also got the help of the Avalon Oldtimers, who nicked the Kofa Kings 3-2 and knocked them out of first place... in a clash of also-rans West Chester bashed the Kinston Firebirds 11-3.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, May 4, 1953

3-WAY TANGLE IN SOUTH ISLAND FIRST
Halfway through the season three clubs are tied for the top spot in the South Island First League standings... the Guedon Gators drilled the Opelousas Lions 7-2... the St. Dominic Saints drubbed the Des Allemands Eagles 8-4 and now the Gators, Lions and Saints are all jammed up in a three-way tangle with 7-3 records... in the other game played Sunday afternoon the Labadieville Pelicans slammed the Claiborne Cardinals 11-6.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

Monday, May 4, 1953

TIGERS, CUBS LOCKED UP IN TIE IN SISL AT MIDSEASON
It's May in the South Island Second League, the midpoint in the season and so far the Island baseball fans are having a proverbial ball... five of the six clubs are jammed up together in a delightful pennant race... halfway through the year Delacroix and Meraux are deadlocked for the top spot with 6-4 records, followed closely by three other teams at 5-5, Mystic, Bar Harbor and Bayou Bleu... only one club, Chitamaca, looks like it is out of the hunt for the pennant and will have to wait until the proverbial next year.

In rip-roaring action this past weekend all three games were decided by one run... the Mystic Mariners outlasted the Delacroix Cubs 10-9 in 10 innings... the Meraux Tigers nudged by the Bayou Bleu Blues 3-2 and the Bar Harbor Acadians nicked the Chitamaca Moccasins 4-3.

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1953
EC's Full of Glee in '53

"Full of Glee" just sounds good... at this time in my life it was not exactly true... but as they say, "life must go on" and it does... I am in the 7th grade in junior high in Sheffield, Alabama... the school year is winding down... EC is 13 years old... since I am clairvoyant and can see the future and the past... I'll let all you buckaroos and little darlin's, too, know that the next year will be a good one for EC.

It was a good weekend, this past weekend... went to the movies at the Colbert Theatre and saw a really scary movie in 3-D... "House of Wax" in three dimensions... it's a new way of making movies... the process makes it look like an object on the screen is coming out into the audience and is going to hit you right smack in the face... you have to wear those "magic glasses" to see the movie in 3-D... EC was never impressed with 3-D movies... nobody else was either... it was just a gimmick, just a fad that didn't last... sorta like "smell-o-vision" or "feel-o-vision"... those two didn't make it, either.

But let me tell you, pilgrim (in my best John Wayne impersonation), House of Wax with arch horror villian Vincent Price was a good 'un... it would have you shaking in sneakers, especially if you were on the front row like us... me and my cousin George... would you believe we both almost... yeah, we both almost got kicked in the face by the lovely Can Can Girls from the Moulin Rouge.

Check out the movie review taken from the New Orleans Times-Picayune edition Monday, May 4, 1953... it was at the beautiful Saenger Theatre in New Orleans.

[Eugene Church]

Don't know about you, but I always loved movie posters... below is one of the original movie posters for "House of Wax"... the second one is for the modern-day remake... sorry, EC never saw the second one... but it must have been a flop... Paris Hilton was in it.

Come to think of it... if EC had collected movie posters way back then, EC would be wealthy now... should have collected comic books, too... I was around in the early days... eons and eons ago I know I bought some classics funny books... some of them first editions and collectors' items.

The following is true, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me, Jesus... I kid thee not... you know I had another get rich quick opportunity and didn't even know it... in the early 1960's when I was in college at LSUNO, that's short for Louisiana State University in New Orleans, now proudly the University of New Orleans, the Privateers, and EC's glorious and beloved alma mater... EC managed a service station on the Airline Highway, a Bay service station... we had a soft drink machine... I would set the temperature setting on the refrigerated box to the point the Coca-Cola would get ice crystals in it... I had customers stop by every day on their way home to get one of EC's "icees"... true story.

Sho 'nuff, EC was making Icees even before Icees.

Lordy Mercy, EC could be sitting on the veranda, sipping ice cold RC Cola Icees, eating moon pies, playing OOTPB on my laptop... and counting my millions from the Icee royalties.

What the heck... ain't no use to cry over spilt milk... there ain't crying in baseball... you win some, you lose some... and some get rained out.

EC could have made a few shekels over the years... 300 million Icees are sold each year.

[Eugene Church]

Thought you buckaroos and little darlin's, too, would enjoy this bit of history taken from the wonderful pages of Wikepedia, which I use often... and yes, EC donates to Wiki and to the Baseball-Reference database... they both richly deserve it.

(From Wikipedia)

History

The Icee was invented in 1958 by Omar Knedlik, a Dairy Queen owner in Coffeyville, Kansas. The beverage was the result of faulty equipment in the Dairy Queen owned by Knedlik. His soda machine broke and he began placing bottles of soda in the freezer to keep them cold. Knedlik began selling bottles of the soda which would instantly turn to slush once opened. The frozen soda became popular with the customers of the establishment.

The name Icee as well as the original company logo were developed by Ruth E. Taylor, a local artist and friend of Knedlik. She developed the name "Icee", as well as the idea of the logo's icicles hanging from the block letters, which has remained unchanged. She thought of the Polar Bear, but the actual bear mascot had already been created by the Norsworthy-Mercer ad agency. The "Icee" word with the snow on it was designed by a Mitchell Company staff artist, Lonnie Williams, as part of a cup he designed.

Knedlik partnered with the John E Mitchell Company in Dallas to develop the machine, for which Knedlik received a patent in 1960. The first machine was made from a car air conditioning unit. It worked by combining and freezing water, carbon dioxide, and a flavor mix. After 5 years Knedlik's idea had become the iconic Icee Machine after drawing the attention of 7-Eleven. The convenience store chain purchased several machines and later changed the product name to Slurpee based on the slurping sound people make when drinking the beverage.

Darn it!... CURSES, FOILED AGAIN!... Omar beat me to it... he was two years ahead of EC.

[StLee]

Ah, the Saenger Theatre. Every time I have ever walked into that place, it has felt like a magical journey into a whole new world. It was one of those places where I first fell in love with theater and eventually started acting.

I bet watching the House of Wax was a terrifying trip into possibility.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by StLee

Ah, the Saenger Theatre. Every time I have ever walked into that place, it has felt like a magical journey into a whole new world. It was one of those places where I first fell in love with theater and eventually started acting.

I bet watching the House of Wax was a terrifying trip into possibility.

Wow!
A thespian that play OOTPB... you must lead a very interesting life.

The original Saenger was beautiful for its time... the Saenger family built quite a few of them around the South... there is also a Saenger Theatre in Mobile... I spent a many of hours watching movies in both of them in the 50s as a kid... New Orleans and Mobile are considered home to me.

Yeah, most definitely "House of Wax" was a scare even at the ripe old age of 13.

The scariest horror monsters to me were Bela Lugosi (Dracula)... saying to a beautiful little darlin', "Look into my eyes" with his arm and black cloak shielding his face, all but his piercing and intense eyes... Lon Chaney, Jr. (Wolfman)... believe it or not as a kid, EC used to worry about a full moon... that's when Chaney changed to Wolfman... I remember one night about 8 o'clock, I was walking home from a movie... it was quite dark and I looked up at the sky and saw a full moon and began to worry... I was about 10 years old... I heard something coming up behind me and was afraid to turn and confront it... afraid it was you know who... and suddenly the culprit ran past me... it was the wind blowing a paper bag by me... I was glad to get home that night... Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, The Mummy and other classic horror roles) was another very scary guy.

[Eugene Church]

The Saenger Brothers also built The Strand Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Scroll down a little and you'll find a video on the left side.

Here is a wonderful video showing how glorious and majestic the Saenger Theatres were.

https://thestrandtheatre.com/about/

[Eugene Church]

It's midseason in the North Island and South Island Leagues... Part 2 is on the way.

[Eugene Church]

Tuesday, May 5, 1953

NIRL, SIRL RECAPS AT HALFWAY POINT IN SEASON
10 games down, 10 more to go... it's midseason in the North Island Recreational League and the South Island Recreational League and nobody is running away with any of the leagues... the NI First Division is a good race... all six clubs could still win it... the NI Second Division looks like a three-team race... ditto for the SI First League... and it's still a wide-open 5-team affair in the SI Second League.

YANKS HAVE HALFWAY LEAD IN NIRL FIRST
It's quite a shebang in the NI First Divison... all the six teams are evenly matched... last place Joliet (4-6), Dutton (4-6) and Jackson (4-6) could easily replace the first place New Yerby Yankees (7-3), the second place Stockdale Mustangs (6-4) and the third place Wafford Eagles (5-5) with a short 3 or 4-game winning streak... who will win league is still up in the air.

Defending league champion Joliet leads with a .279 BA and 52 runs, Wafford has 13 homers, New Yerby is tops with a 2.60 team ERA and Wafford sports the best defense with a .976 fielding average.

Fine pitching and solid defense are helping New Yerby at the halfway point in the season... and it gives the Yanks the best chance to take the title.