I got a phone call from an old citizen of Morgan City, Johnny Gorshia. He said that he read my column “Recollections” and enjoyed it so much. He said he remembers some of the old silent movie stars that I mentioned.
I met Larry Bergeron, city manager of Morgan City, going into St. Stephen Catholic Church in Berwick. He told me how much he enjoyed my column in The Daily Review and how he looks forward to reading it every week. He said it brought back a lot of memories.
I was talking to Mrs. Zelda Fromenthal the other afternoon and she was telling me about the black cook, called Snookums, who worked on the tug-boat “Ideal.” The tug was owned by the Oyster Shell Product and was captained by Murphy Gilmore. The “Ideal” would come in every evening, and Capt. Gilmore would blow the whistle at 5 o’clock, religiously, loud and clear.
Snookums was having a little trouble at home it seems, because every time he came home in the evening, his house would smell of smoke, like cigar smoke. Snookums did not smoke and his wife didn’t smoke so he became suspicious that something was going on behind his back. Snookums asked Capt. Gilmore that the next time they came into the dock that “just don’t blow the whistle!” Capt. Gilmore acquiesced. So upon arriving, Snookums sneaked into his house and caught the man “red-handed” with his wife. A terrific fight commenced, with the other man, who was robust, large and strong, beating up Snookums’ he blackened both of Snookums eyes.
The next time the “Ideal” came in, Snookums told Capt. Gilmore, “You blow that whistle loud and clear so that the man fooling with my wife can hear it and be gone before I get home!”
I met Lloyd Aucoin on the Berwick Walking Trail during the unveiling of the plaque in dedication and honoring Aubrey Lasseigne. There was a strong wind blowing that day and everybody’s hair was blown all over. My three strands stood straight up. I knew that Mutt LeBlanc and Lloyd Aucoin were good friends, so I told Mutt that Lloyd’s hair stayed combed in that heavy wind – not a strand blew out of place. Mutt told me that Lloyd uses so much hair spray that Hurricane Andrew couldn’t blow his hair up.
There’s so many eating places going up in our area that there is a shortage of help. I notice every restaurant and store has signs posted “Help Wanted – Now Hiring.” But there was one place I couldn’t help from noticing – a sign was posted which read “Customers Wanted.”
Do you know that some places in our area, coffee is $1 a cup? I told my wife that the next time we go to a cafe for breakfast, we are going to get one cup of coffee and two straws.
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