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THE PRODUCER by
George Lester |  |
After
several visits to the The Louisiana Hayride I got the itch to produce a show of
my own. I knew I would have to begin with unknown talent and then hope for the
best. A local theater manager was receptive to the idea of letting us use his
facility for the production. Considering the fact that our radio station had a
license for daytime only broadcasting that meant if we wanted to put the show
on the air it had to be in the afternoon. To get our singers and musicians we
put out a call on the station. It didn't take long until we were flooded with
eager participants. After selecting the best of the bunch we were ready.
The show was named after our Louisiana parish, The De Soto Jamboree. I was the
master of ceremonies, putting to practice all I had learned from Horace Logan
from the Louisiana Hayride. Things were really looking up and I couldn't have
been happier. After a couple of weeks people started to pack the theater and we
had more and more people wanting to get on the show. We made room for some of
them by culling out some of the weaker acts. This made some of them a bit upset
but, "that's showbiz".
When one of the regulars on the show told me he
brought a 15 year old guitar player from Shreveport to perform I was a bit reluctant
but I took a chance and let him go on. The kid really brought the house down.
His name was Jimmy Burton. He later went to perform on the Louisiana Hayride and
then his career really took off. He played lead guitar for Ricky Nelson, The Everly
Brothers, and The Beach boys among others and he also appeared on the Sonny and
Cher TV show. The real jewel in his crown was when Elvis Presley asked him to
join his touring band. They stayed together for years. I never got the chance
to see him again after he left our little show. I really would like to know if
he would remember us. With everything going so great it would be reasonable to
assume that I stayed there in De Soto Parish for a long time. Such is not the
case.
Everyone at the station worked in sales in addition to our regular
duties. At the end of each month we would turn in our vouchers to collect our
commissions. As I gave mine to the bookkeeper she told me there was something
I should see. My boss had already submitted vouchers to collect on several of
my clients. When I confronted him about it he mumbled something about my not taking
care of my clients properly so he was taking over on some of them.
The
station was owned by a corporation and the manager was a minor stock holder. I
later found out that the principle stock holder in the company had been on his
case for his dropping sales and this was his way of making up for it. It seems
he had been doing the same thing to all of our sales people. I had always thought
of him as more than just a boss. I considered him my best friend and I thought
the world of him. It really hurt me deeply.
On my first opportunity I
slipped off to Texarkana, Texas and easily landed another job at a radio station
there. It just happened to be the same station where I had my singing debut many
years before I became an announcer and they welcomed me back home. For years I
had worked at nearby Red River Arsenal and lived in New Boston just 20 miles west
of Texarkana.
When I returned to De Soto Parrish to give my boss notice
he took it hard. We had worked together from the beginning to breath life into
the new radio station. In spite of the unfortunate ending we had a lot of wonderful
memories. There were tears in his eyes as he apologized for his failings and asked
if there was anything he could do to get me to stay. For a moment I was tempted
to relent and give in. After a lengthy pause I politely told him I just thought
that it was time for me to move on.
What I really wanted to say was,"that's
showbiz". | | |
