My Family & Me: For The Good Times Part 4
The very air pulsed with excitement! Signs sprang up everywhere, in the shops' front windows, plastered to every third or fourth telephone pole.
Although they were all the same, we stopped to read them over and over again.
“Coming June 15, Curly Olson's Western Band, daily performances beginning at 7 p.m. at the Clarion County Airport grounds. “Admissions free!” Although Gene Autry's films were fading from the silver screen, the Orpheum Theater in Clarion often featured Saturday matinees starring none other than the Singing Cowboy, Roy Rogers and his leading lady, Dale Evans. We never missed one.
What a wonderful time to be living in our Woodlawn neighborhood! We had less than a five-minute walk to the airport! We counted down the days while analyzing the posters' pictures and details.
Was it a coincidence that Annette Olson wore her hair the same way Dale did? Her western outfit could have belonged to Dale herself. As for those Bennett twins and Curly Olson, himself, their outfits were similar to those Roy wore, but that was about it. Curly might have had trouble mounting a horse in an emergency situation as he carried quite a few pounds more than Roy did.
Finally, it was opening night and Woodlawn turned out in force. So did people from uptown and neighboring Strattanville. We kids had been there all day, watching as the stage was assembled, getting our first view of that evening's performers, who were also the stage's assembly crew. Finally the lights went on and the show began.
Although there had been no admission charged, it soon became clear how the group supported their show. During the two intermissions, the Bennett twins and the bass player made their ways through the crowd, selling boxes, similar in size to Cracker Jack boxes containing candy.
Not only did the boxes contain “melt in your mouth taffy,” Curly's own words, but some boxes contained tickets for fabulous prizes. Uncle Bill once won a stuffed rabbit.
"But wait! There’s more!"
Each boxtop could be used as a ballot to vote for your favorite neighborhood girl as the fairest of them all. During the closing show, this girl would be called onstage and crowned. Billfolds opened and the competition began. I was pretty sure Uncle Bill would vote for me.
The third night of the Wild West Show, Curly announced a snag in the competition.
"Folks," he said, shaking his head. "There's just too many contestants and too many tied votes. We can't keep up with the counting and there is no way to be sure of one winner if this continues. We believe we've found a solution.
"Tomorrow night, we are asking contestants to give their ballots to the girl of their choice. Narrow the field to just a few competitors. Ideally just two." The fight was on. Our clan decided to back my sister Ginny. The Boyles family switched all its votes to Pickle Boyles. The tension mounted every night when Curly announced what the results of the previous evening's boxtop count had been.
One night Ginny was ahead; the next Pickle. Relatives and friends from neighboring towns showed up every night, ours and of Pickle's. Candy sales skyrocketed
That Thursday night, Curly announced Pickle had a significant lead. Rumors ran rife. One rumor stood out. After counting the boxtops after the show, the boxtops were discarded outside the trailers where the performers stayed. Someone had taken them and reused the boxtops to cast additional votes for Pickle.
Friday night Pickle sat proudly on the stage, her crown a little lopsided.
After the show, Curly sought out my dad. "It was such a close race," Curly said, "we are going to send a consolation prize to Ginny.
It never came.
Kathy Young Wonderling is a former Spirit reporter who wrote a weekly column, My Family & Me, starting in the early 2000s. An octogenarian, Kathy is a widow, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and aunt. With such a large family, she has too many memories not to share.