MM
OK, this is July, it's Tuesday, July 14th, 1998 and we are in Corrlitos, California the village of Corlitos, California. At the Royal Palace of Her Majesty Elaine Thomasen, Lady Elaine. First cousin to Lord Richard Merle Buckley. OK, thank you very much Elaine for being in our film here.
ET
Well, I'm certainly enjoying every minute of it.
MM
Well, me too.
ET
And then, also, it's Richard "Myrle". You said "Maryl."
MM
Oh, it's "Myrle".
ET
Yeah, Myrle, M-Y-R-L-E.
MM
Where does that come from do you know?
ET
I don't know where the Myrle - the last two children Nell and Dick it was Richard Myrle and Helen Byrle. Grandma was on - in the Byrle.
MM
OK, so, let's go over these questions. Let's see - Maybe you could describe Annie Laurie.
ET
Annie Laurie - Annie Laurie was so quick witted. And everyone that met her just loved her. And she had people come to see her from just miles and miles around. And she used to have, what I call "Annieisms", and she would say "And now you can stew in your own juice." I'd hear her talk to her children and say this. "You made a mistake, learn from it and never repeat it." "Don't be mislead by a pretty or handsome face." "Pretty is as pretty does." "Judge people by their actions and not their words." "I live in the far, far west where men are men and women are glad of it." And she - if they had a snow storm in Tuolumne or the weather was bad or - she would say, "It snowed like mischief you have never seen." And, oh, she just had a dear, dear way of talking.
MM
Now, that - she just thought of these things?
ET
They just popped off the top of her head. She was just so completely original. And that "A over tea kettle", you know, she wouldn't say "ass" in front of the children.
MM
Yeah.
ET
Of course, they might say it, but she wouldn't say it. And, but, she'd say "A over tea kettle" and - everything was A and it was "ass over tea kettle" but she'd always say "A over tea kettle" and it was just a cute little thing that she had.
MM
Now, where was - maybe we'll put this in the film, could you - could you say, "Annie Laurie was Lord Buckley's or Richard Buckley's mother."
ET
Lord - Annie Laurie was - Annie Laurie was Richard Lord Buckley's mother. And he just adored her and she just loved him.
ET
Annie Laurie was born in, up near Iowa Hill in Placer County, California.
MM
And do you know where her parents came from?
ET
They came from - oh, dear, I'm just going blank.
MM
Cornwall, was it?
ET
Cornwall, England. Her parents, Eliza Bone and Henery Bone came from Cornwall, England. And they came to Placer County and then Annie Laurie was born near Iowa Hill in Placer County.
MM
Do you know what year she was born?
ET
Yeah, I do but I have to look it up.
WS
1862
MM
She was born in 1862 then, right?
ET
Close enough. Yes, Richard [Buckley] was a menopausal baby. I think she was - she was forty-four when he was born.
MM
Now was that the last - he was the last child.
ET
The last child.
MM
And then Nell was born before him?
ET
Yes.
MM
And Nell is your mother.
ET
No, Nell is my Aunt Nell. Lord Buckley's sister. My mother was his half sister. Because my mother's father was John Liddell and not William Buckley.
MM
Ah, OK.
ET
So, Annie Laurie is -
MM
She's your grandmother.
ET
My grandmother and Lord Buckley's mother.
MM
Yeah, OK.
ET
Annie Laurie, my grandmother Annie Laurie Buckley, was born in May 24th in 1863 in Mt. Pleasant Flat in Iowa Hill, California. Her parents, her mother Eliza Bone was born May 1826 in Cornwall, England. Her father, Henry, H-E-N-E-R-Y Bone was born March 1819 in Cornwall, England.
MM
That's good.
ET
Now, you want to ask me some more questions? I have all her marriages, yeah. This has got to be for another time though.
MM
Yeah, yeah. I'm amazed at all the stuff you've collected though.
ET
Yeah.
MM
Why do you collect this stuff?
ET
Oh, I collect it because I'm interested in historical facts and people's lives and what's going on.
MM
Yeah, and I think it's beautiful that you do this.
ET
Well, I certainly enjoy doing it - I wish I had more time for it. And more time to paint and more time to write stories. But, I just don't seem to have enough time in a day.
MM
Well, you're a very busy person.
ET
Well, each room has a project as you will see throughout my house. I never get bored.
MM
Well, let's just talk about - maybe you could describe Annie Laurie.
ET
Oh, Annie Laurie was a beautiful soul and one of the - I just loved her, even more than my own mother. I felt so close to Annie Laurie because she was so giving and so loving. And I loved her values in life. And she didn't value monetary things. She valued the gift of love and the gift of being kind to others and the gift of helping people. And she just was a wonderful, wonderful person.
MM
Do you think that it rubbed off on Lord Buckley?
ET
Yes I do. I definitely do. He's his mother's own child really. Very much alike.
MM
Do you think that he was her favorite?
ET
Yes, I do. She loved them all dearly. But, he entertained her just lavishly. And entertained the neighbors when they would come in. He started - he was entertaining, I think, from age two or three, just right from the very - almost the very beginning.
MM
What would - do you know what he would do to entertain people?
ET
Pantomimes. Oh, he'd imitate and mimic the neighbors when they'd come in. And Annie got a big kick out of it, but she told him he had to be careful, you know, she didn't want him to get into trouble.
MM
So, he was precocious. He showed a talent very early.
ET
He did what?
MM
He was precocious.
ET
Yes, very, very precocious. And very, very talented and gifted. And the seventh son of the seventh son. So, that has some bearing too they tell me. I was told.
MM
What do they say about the seventh son of the seventh son?
ET
That they are just extremely gifted. This is what I've been told. And they're bright and they're original and they're creative. And they have a natural wit that doesn't come out of books. It's right out of their own head.
MM
You're describing your uncle.
ET
Yes, I think so. That's just the way he is. He was just a charmer. Just a wonderful man.
MM
Do you remember - what's your earliest memory of him?
ET
Well, the earliest was - he just seemed unusual and different from other people I would met. He was handsome and he was very kind. But, I was not around him a lot when I was a child. Because they lived in Tuolumne and we lived in Roseville. And, so, I was not really close to him. He was seven years older than me anyway. But, I was not around him at that time.
MM
Do you remember - did you ever go out to Tuolumne?
ET
I never did. I've never been to the home in Tuolumne. And I would like to go there sometime. Because I remember the description of it through grandmother and through - it had a porch - it was up on a hill and had a porch around it - because Lord Buckley adored his father. And his father died with miner's consumption. And before the death, Lord Buckley clung very close to his father. He wanted to sleep right next to him on that porch. Because it was cooler there. He just wanted to be his father all the time. He just adored Bill Buckley his father.
MM
And his father died - his father was a miner.
ET
A miner. And he worked in the Carlata Mines near Tuolumne. When they were in Iowa Hill in Damascus he worked in the mines around there. There were quite a few mines around there.
MM
Did you ever met him?
ET
Never met him.
MM
Did you ever hear stories about him?
ET
Well, grandmother just adored him. They had a real love affair. She just really loved him. And her stories were always good. She said he was a kind man. And a good man. And - well, they just loved each other. But, he had to go away to work in the mines and then he'd send home so that Annie would have the money to take care of the children. He'd come home once a year for a month. And every year they had another child.
MM
Well, so there's definitely some love there.
ET
Oh, yes. But, he felt that he had to go away to earn the money to support this big family of - well - seven children lived - Annie had nine children, but seven lived. And they had a hotel in Damascus. I think it started with Eliza and Henery they started - I think they built and started the old hotel at Damascus and the school teachers all stayed there. There was three floors and I'm not sure what the bottom floor was, a basement. I have an idea what it was. In the old mining hotels you know. But, I , I'm not - it's not factual with me. I'm not sure.
MM
Well, what do you think it is.
ET
That it was a brothel.
MM
Oh.
ET
The bottom part. Then the main floor was the kitchen. And they had Chinese help and then roomers and boarders. And that was the main floor and then the second floor was were all the school teachers and the children slept on the second floor of this old hotel. And, by the way, the old hotel burned and I have a thimble that was - I showed you that this dress maker and Eliza Bone that did all the sewing for the children in the family. That thimble survived the fire at the old hotel.
MM
Now, you believe that William Buckley came from Manchester? Is that right?
ET
I think I have that written down - where he came from. He was born - yeah, he was born December 19th, 1862 in Manchester, England. That's for sure. And the others were Cornwall. People have that confused. They think that Annie was born or Henery and Eliza were from Manchester but they were from Cornwall.
MM
Yeah.
ET
That's a fact. I know that for a fact.
MM
Well, here's another one -
ET
In Annie's handwriting.
MM
Ah, which is a beautiful hand, yeah?
ET
Well.
MM
She has good handwriting?
ET
The handwriting was gorgeous when she was young. But, she did so much writing about her life that she would have her own style of shorthand. And I can understand it but a lot of people can't when they read it.
MM
The one photograph that you showed me that there's Annie Laurie and five of the children. She - you pointed out to me that she looks very sad in that photograph.
ET
That's because Bill Buckley had passed on and she loved him so much. She was very lonely for him. And, it's the only time I ever saw Annie Laurie look sad. She was always a very happy woman. But, in this picture it really comes out her great sadness.
MM
And how about when you look at that picture do you - nobody else looks very happy either, huh?
ET
They all look kind of sad. Well, they all loved him, Bill Buckley.
MM
Do you think it affected Richard a lot? That his dad died?
ET
Well, I think that he was trying to seek a deep meaning in life as a young child. And he was trying to seek a deeper meaning that - he always read - he was just a prolific reader, always reading everything he could get a hold of. And he loved his two cousins Matt and Ann Thomas. He'd rather be with them then with the younger people or go to all the parties. This was after the death of William. And they had big picnics during that time and - where everyone would come and bring a lot of food. But, he would say, "No, I want to be with Ann and Matt." And Ann and Matt Thomas were studying Christian Science at the time. And to him that was something that was a deeper meaning, you know. But, I think from that he went religions of - the other religions. Is it Buddhism? What is India?
MM
Hinduism
ET
Uh?
MM
Hinduism
ET
Hindu. I think he was seeking, trying to find the meaning through many different religions. And I think Buddhism enters in there somewhere. But, he still had that basic stuff from Ann and Matt Thomas as a Christian Science that he just loved.
MM
Now, it's interesting to me that - here's a man that hilariously funny, on one side. And then on the other side he's profoundly serious about finding a meaning in life. And he seemed to combine them I think.
ET
And that comes from experiences we have in life. We all have things that happen that make us want to seek what path we want to go.
MM
Well, let's see if this is a good time to describe - maybe, sometimes William would go off - well, he would go off a lot to go work. And could you talk about him and Lester and the younger childs?
ET
Well, when the father would go to the mines to work. Before he would leave he would tell Lester to be the man of the family. And he had to discipline the younger boys. Because the younger boys were quite mischievous and into things all the time, Dick and Ben and Jim. But Lester was more serious and, of course, he was the oldest and he'd tell him, "Now you just have to be the father in the family and you have to discipline these boys." Because Annie Laurie took care of the discipline of the girls. And so - then when Jim and Ben would play terrible tricks on Lester and get him into all kind of trouble. And then when the father came home he would punish Lester severely for not disciplining the younger boys enough. And he'd say, "You should have been more of a father to them and looked into that and not let them do these things." And he'd punish Lester terribly but he didn't punish the other boys. And so, Lester said that even at his father's funeral he was afraid to walk in front of his casket. Even at that - that fear was so, so much a part of his life, of his father. Because the discipline of the English is very severe I think. Because I noticed it with my mother too.
MM
All up and down the class structure too. It isn't just anyone class structure. You told me a story - oh, now, Lester eventually left home right?
ET
Lester left home and eventually went to Texas and worked in the oil fields. Mabel got married. And my mother got married. And the older children were all gone. So, in Tuolumne, Annie Laurie had just Ben and Dick and Nell and Jim. The four were with her in Tuolumne.
MM
And they eventually moved to Stockton yes? Now this was after she married Al Harlan?
ET
No, this was before she married. She met Al Harlan in Stockton. He was the ice man.
MM
Ah. Can you talk a little bit about that?
ET
During that time, the icebox was not in the house. It was outside. So, she didn't see the ice man. You know, he'd go by and leave the ice and leave the bill. And she'd put the money out on the - so, she hadn't really met the ice man. But, the boys got acquainted with him and joked around with him. And they said, "Why don't you marry our mother? She's very lonely." And the ice man said, "Well, I'd like to meet her." And so, the boys introduced Annie to - and she didn't know what was going on. They were always pulling tricks on her. And they always had a lot of fun over at - but, when she met Al Harlan, she looked at him and she said, "Why -". He said, "Why, Annie." And she said, "Why Al Harlan." They finally met after nine years. And she had this big family. But, she did say that when he rode through Iowa Hill, I guess it was, or Damacus - or through Damacus that the women would all put their daughters in their closets because Al Harlan had a bad reputation when he' d take a drink - caution would go to the winds. And Liza didn't want Annie to just have anything to do with this handsome, part Indian, on a big white horse. He was just very striking. And so -
MM
They met.
ET
They met and then - in Stockton, nine years later, after - maybe it was more years than that. And then they married. And that's how that story - I'm not telling it good. Am I OK?
MM
Yes, you're fine.
ET
Wow.
MM
Let's see - a good story would be talking about the kids and the still.
ET
Oh, the bear and the still? Oh, I heard that story from way back.
MM
Who told you that story?
ET
Hmm?
MM
Who told you that story?
ET
Dick - Jim Buckley told me the storyatf the time that he and Dick were asked to watch the still while the owner went into town. And they started sipping away and they just got so drunk and he would never, ever drink after that because he came so close to death. But, he said that - what the imagined that they saw - they just wandered all over the mountain and they saw this and saw that. And they thought they saw a bear and it was - but, he said he just about died. But, it didn't affect Dick as much as it affected Jim. But, Jim was a man of small stature and he would be easily affected. Where Dick could take more, you know, the booze and all that. Because Dick drank later where Jim did not.
MM
And that's kind of where that story the "God's Own Drunk" came from.
ET
I'm sure it did. Because I heard that story when I was a kid. And then I heard it later on - I can't remember the name of the young man that - well, Dick I have a tape now that Dick did but I just acquired it recently. I didn't have it when I was young.
MM
Is this a professional tape or a recording tape or -
ET
I can't remember who sent it to me of the bear and still as Dick tells it.
MM
Yeah, yeah. Let's see. What should be the next thing we talk about? Oh, maybe you could talk about when you, during the depression, when you to get - to try to get a job.
ET
I was working at the J.C. Penny's store in San Jose. This was at the end of the depression. And Raymond Burr was working there at the time. And he just a young man, maybe, oh, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. And very happy to have a job because jobs were so hard to get then. And he was working as the janitor. And he was the one, that when I was going to turn around and not go up the stairs and asked for the job, because the signs were all over "No Help Wanted." And he was the one that said, "Now, go ahead, go up and see. Just go right on up." He encouraged me. He was just a very encouraging type of a person. So, I went up the stairs and talked to the manager, Mr. Swanson I think his name was. And Mr. Balliwho was the assistant manager. Anyway, the two of them were up there and so I approached them and told me I needed work. And so, Mr. Swanson said, "Elaine, you have the job." And I said, "Well, why do - why did you do that when you had signs all over "No Help Wanted"? And he said, "Because you had the courage to walk by the sign." But, I was encouraged by Raymond Burr. And then we became friends. And then he - Lord Buckley came down from San Francisco in a car that he borrowed from his girlfriend. A model A Ford, an old rattle trap of a car. And he came to the J.C. Penny store, He heard I was working there. So, he came to the J.C. Penny store and he, he said, "Elaine, I'd like to take you out to lunch and where would you like to go?" And I said, instead of going around the corner or down the street, I said, "Well, the Hawaiian Gardens is a nice place. That's where Tux took me and - And so I asked for a little bit more time off for the lunch hour and so - and I got it. So, he took me out to the Hawaiian Gardens to lunch. And, oh, we had a fabulous lunch. We just had everything that we wanted on the menu. And then he said, "Now, Elaine, let's dance around the floor." The music was playing. And so, I said, "Fine." And we danced around the floor and he danced me right out the door and into the car. And then he took me back to work. And I knew the bill wasn't paid. And I thought, "Oh, he's broke. That poor soul is broke." But he didn't ask me for money or anything. And we got back to the store and - but, he - I went up to the mezzanine, where we could look out over the floor of the store. And he lingered on and talked to so many on the floor - so many of the clerks and was entertaining them. And he talked to Raymond Burr for a long, long time. They had a long conversation. And then it was. I kind of forgotten about Raymond Burr and then I heard that he was actor, you know, and I watched him on - in the movies. And I wondered if Lord Buckley had been instrumental in his getting into the show business as he did. Because I think he took the same - I read something about him where he did the circuit, the Vaudeville circuit. Just like Lord Buckley did when he started out. He did the whole thing that way.
MM
Lord Buckley was doing Vaudeville when he was around eighteen or something, yeah? Do you remember his act when he was eighteen?
ET
Well, he played a uke, I know that. And sang. And I didn't see any of his acts because, like I told you in Roseville, when he performed my mother wouldn't let me go because she was so fearful that I might hear something that I shouldn't hear. But, I think his act was - I imagine as he would entertain as if he would be in the living room entertaining people just with the uke and the funny stories and his charm.
MM
And you said that your parents didn't like you to hang around him because he was a show business kind of person?
ET
They just figured that he was so far ahead of me, in life and experience, and they felt very protective toward me.
MM
But, you liked him?
ET
Oh, I thought he was wonderful. I felt so bad that my folks wouldn't let me go see him at the theater when he performed. Because the next day at school so many of my classmates saw him and said he so fabulous and " why weren't you there, Elaine?" And, of course, I couldn't tell them why. But I felt so bad. He stayed at our home in Roseville overnight. And then the next day he went on up to another small town above Roseville to perform. But, I felt really sad that our family didn't back him.He needed backing and love.
MM
Was he a sensitive kind of soul?
ET
Very sensitive.
MM
And handsome, I think, from the pictures that you've showed me.
ET
He was extremely handsome, very handsome.
MM
And charismatic too would you say?
ET
Charismatic, right. Oh, and then you said that when the kids, the young boys, were young they would play a lot of tricks, yeah?
ET
Hmm hmm.
MM
On neighbors and things like that?
ET
Hmm hmm. Yes. This is what I heard. I was told this. I wasn't there. But they had the personalities. When the neighbors would come to complain to Annie Laurie she'd meet them at the door - and the boys would be standing behind her giggling and being silly. And so, the neighbors would complain and Annie Laurie would say, "That's not my son that would do that." [laughs] "Well, I'm sure Ben didn't do that. Why, Jim wouldn't do anything." But she was so supportive of her children. Just in everyway. But she never wanted anyone to ever tell a lie. She thought the lie was the worst sin. She didn't like lies.
MM
She was a great storyteller, yes?
ET
Wonderful storyteller. Just - she could spin so many yarns. It's kind of a lost art today. I think people just don't talk enough.
MM
Yeah.
ET
I loved to have her around. Tux just loved her too. I remember one time she was with us and she said, "Elaine, you have a lot of company, you have a lot of company that comes into your house and you wait on them. Now, what you should do is just hand them an apron. Put them to work. If they come into your home, let them help you. Don't you be a servant to them. Just all work together for the good." And she said, "And I've noticed that you don't pay enough attention to your husband, to Tux." And she said, "Now, he should be king in his castle." She said, "I noticed that you give the other guests more attention then you give Tux and you shouldn't to that. You should be more loving to Tux and give him more attention. Let him be the star." And that was really interesting the way that she felt that - about a man should be king in his palace. He should be just - he should be the one that you should make a fuss over - your husband not, not all the neighbors or somebody else.
MM
Do you think Lord Buckley learned his idea about that - being king from that?
ET
I think so. King in your own home.
MM
But he also felt that everybody should be royal.
ET
Hmm hmm.
MM
Yeah. Oh, also, could you tell the story about when you went to see him perform?
ET
Oh, at Sausalito?
MM
Well, wherever it was.
ET
Yeah, it was Sausalito.
MM
1956 or '57 maybe?
ET
A long, a long in there, right. My daughter Sheryl and I were going to Roseville to see my folks and I heard that Lord Buckley was performing in Sausalito. And so, so I made reservations at a motel near my Aunt Nell's home in Oakland for Sheryl and me. And, so that we'd have a place to stay for sure on the way up. And we'd go to Aunt Nell's home. Which we did. And Aunt Nell was with Lord Buckley down at the club in Sausalito and - Lady Buckley was at the house and so she phoned them and told them that we were there. And they said, "Well, have them come right down ." And then they gave us directions to get there. And when we got there it was in a club that was packed with people. And they were all standing. And it was dark. It was just almost dark. But, when we entered the lights flashed on us and he said, "And now I want to introduce Lady Elaine and Sheryl." And so, then the lights went off from us and then back on him and then he went back to about the flowers and the garden and went on with his performance. And after the show we went down to a houseboat in Sausalito that had the two big amplifiers and a big place where you could dance. And it was rather a large area. And he danced the tango with me. And I hadn't danced the tango in just years and years. And I just really loved it and enjoyed it very much. And while we there a very well dressed man came in with a tie - he was the only one that had a business suit on in the whole place. And he sat at the bar and had a drink and just took in the place. And then left very quietly. And then Lord Buckley - and I said, "Who in the world was that man? He just seemed so out of place here." And Lord Buckley said, "He's probably a fed." Because they had to check in on him, you know. But, they never bothered him because he gave them, the police, ten percent of his earnings and the widows and orphans ten percent of his earnings in each city where he performed.
MM
Do you know, was Lord Buckley afraid of the police? Or -
ET
Was he afraid?
MM
Was he ever afraid of the police? Or did he like them?
ET
You know, I've been told stories about - I don't remember being told any very bad encounter with them. I think he tried to cooperate in a way that would work, you know.
MM
Yeah, yeah.
ET
He had to work out his life the very best way that he could.
WS
This performance you attended, on the houseboat. Did he perform then too?
ET
Yes, oh, he did. And after we did the tango, why then he told the audience - the people that he wanted each one to - to act out an animal of - of, well, one would be a monkey, and one would be a lion and one would be an elephant and one would be a - he'd tell them what to do and all the people in the audience they participated just beautifully acting out like they were an animal with hoots and hollering and what not. Sheryl and I joined in and it was just a lot of fun. It was just great the -
MM
It sounds as if - it's almost like he never leaves the stage.
ET
That's right. I think from the time when he was born he was that he was onstage, just always.
MM
Do you remember when you heard about his passing?
ET
I do. I was up in Sacramento and I heard it on the radio. And I thought, "Now, there is a man that lived seven lives in this one experience. There was a magnificent man that had an aura about him of elegance and beauty." And I thought, "It's a great loss to humanity and to the arts." I felt real bad about it.
MM
Yeah. I feel bad about thirty-eight years later. I'm so sorry I didn't get to meet him, you know.
ET
Well, you are carrying on his spirit by what you are doing. And that is so important. And I love you both for it. I just think it's wonderful.
MM
Well, we love you too. Because you are carrying the torch. What do you think people missed by not seeing him?
ET
The meaning of laughter.
MM
Well, what does laughter mean? What is the significance of laughter do you think?
ET
It enriches the soul. To be able to laugh a person becomes extremely - that's a bad word - in the case of laughter people become very - much more healthy than they would be if they didn't laugh. Laughter is so important to your well being and your health. And he promoted that all the time.
MM
He had a big laugh didn't he? And why do you think it is - I mean he was very successful in Vaudeville. And he was somewhat successful like on the Ed Sullivan Show and things like that. But he never made it really big. He didn't make it like Louis Armstrong or Bing Crosby.
ET
Although they were all his friends. And that's true. I thought about that too. And I wonder if it was that money was not that - money was not important to him. It might be because money was not important to Annie Laurie. She could have married one of the wealthiest man in San Francisco and she turned him down. But, that was a blessing because if she'd married this man, who was so wealthy, there wouldn't have been any Buckleys. So, that was a good thing too that happened. That was for a good reason. Because life was so much more beautiful with the Buckley's around. They were just a wonderful family.
MM
So, do you think that maybe Lord Buckley didn't make it to be a superstar because he didn't care enough about money.
ET
You know, I really think that might be part of it. There's probably more - I hadn't thought too much about it.
MM
You know, other people have said to me too that they felt like there was in him a little bit of self destructiveness.
ET
Well, I wonder too.
MM
I mean, I've heard a number of stories where he was this close to being really successful and he would blow it, you know, some how. He would mess up somehow. And it's - you know, I keep looking to find the clue, you know. Was this because he didn't really care about or he was afraid of it or you never know, you know.
ET
Well, I don't know too much about self destructiveness, but I do know that we have a lot of it in our society. I think that may be part of the answer - that he didn't really want to have that top notch success or he'd just knock himself - he'd be up there and he'd knock himself down maybe.
MM
Yeah, how do we know what's in a person's mind. I don't know.
ET
Isn't that the truth?
MM
Yeah. You said that, also, that he - you believe that he was a DJ in Portland for a while, yeah? How do you know about that?
ET
Well, I never heard him on the radio but I think that's the way - part of the way he started his career was being a disc jockey in Portland. And he'd give Grandma - Annie Laurie would be the whole story she'd be with me that - people loved him so much and they were all - so many letters would come to her about her different recipes for the Buckley Beans, you know, that he would give out over the radio. And she had more people come to her home and she'd cook Buckley beans for them and warm apple sauce. And - but through Annie Laurie - I never heard him on - I never heard it on the radio.
WS
Do you know how long he did that?
ET
You know I don't really - how long.
WS
I was just wondering if you could also guess the years about when he did that?
ET
I'll make a note of that and - how long he did that and the name of the station you wanted too.
WS
And the years if possible.
ET
And I'll get that and I'll make a note of that and later, you know - I'll send it to you.
MM
Huh. Ah. Well, I think we are going to run out of - [end of tape] |
