TexasEscapes.comWe Take Texas Personally
A Texas Travel, History & Architecture Magazine
SITE MAP : : NEW : : RESERVATIONS : : TEXAS TOWNS A-Z : : FEATURES : : COLUMNS : ::ARCHITECTURE : : IMAGES
HOME
SEARCH SITE
RESERVATIONS
Hotels
Cars
Air
USA
World
Cruises
TEXAS TRAVEL
TOWNS A to Z
Towns by Region
Ghost Towns
TRIPS :
State Parks
Rivers
Lakes
Drives
Maps
LODGING
TEXAS
FORUM
FEATURES :
Ghosts
People
Historic Trees
Cemeteries
ARCHITECTURE :
Courthouses
Jails
Bridges
Theaters
Churches
Gas Stations
Water Towers
Monuments/Statues
Schoolhouses
Post Offices
Depots
IMAGES :
Old Neon
Murals
Signs
BOOKS
COLUMNS
TE Site
Site Information
Recommend Us
Newsletter
About Us
Contact TE
 
 Texas : Features : Columns : Spunky Flat and Beyond :
Spunky Flat and Beyond - A Memoir


Radio Days in Spunky Flat
by George Lester

Leapin’ Lizards and Doughboys in the Cotton Patch
George Lester
During the somewhat mundane years we lived in Spunky Flat the few bright spots we had seemed to be all the more glorious. Our family had the only radio for miles and on Saturday nights people would come from all over to listen to the National Barn Dance broadcast from Chicago.

When a championship fight was broadcast the house overflowed with humanity and neighbors spilled out onto the porch and the front yard to listen.

When we came in from the cotton fields to lunch (we called it dinner) we all listened to The Light Crust Doughboys. Other programs we savored were Jack Benny, The Bing Crosby Program, Fred Allen, Fibber McGee and Mollie and Burns and Allen.

My brother and I preferred - above all others - the Little Orphan Annie serial each day after school. Considering the fact that we had a three and a-half mile walk home we knew we had to hustle to make it in time. No matter how much we scurried, or how fast we walked, we could never quite make it for the opening theme. Even while taking the shortest route with a final sprint through a cotton patch, the strains of "Who's the little chatter box - the one with pretty auburn locks?” … etc. would waft faintly across the field before we reached the house. However, we arrived in time to hear the episode of the day.

Sam and I joined some kind of radio club and we had loads of fun with Annie’s secret decoder ring. Each day they would read out the names of new members. When the announcer said "Sammy and Eddie Lester" we almost swooned.

The next day at school we expected to be treated as celebrities – but it was a day like every other, since we were the only ones who had a radio.

Young people ask, “What did you look at while you listened to the radio?” Actually, we didn’t look at anything. The room disappeared entirely and we dissolved into the scene described on the radio.
© George Lester

6-26-2004
HOME
Privacy Statement | Disclaimer
Website Content Copyright ©1998-2004. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved
This page last modified: June 26, 2004