I am 54, graduate of Poly High Class of 1968 and lived at the corner of Crenshaw and Wallace. My parents stayed there until their deaths...dad in 1984, mom in 1985. I know Vogt. Wow! Creator of all that is Puppetdom Holy just around the corner from me and I was always trying to my mom to build those puppets for me! Against all hope, have you been able to keep those puppets? What a family heirloom they would be! I made a poor copy of Mickey with a plastic helmet and a green sock. It was lost over the years.

I did see Dick Clayton's entry and I have read the LATV piece. In fact, one of the accompanying photos...M & A, Boris, Scotty, and Mary Jo, is my wall paper on my PC! I have also corresponded with Clayton; he's a very nice man and was gracious enough to answer my questions such as the Binky Beaver and Belinda Bunny quandary. I was afraid that they would take over from the Turtle and Possum at the time. He said they were simply vacation replacements, operated by Bill Camfield (Gorgon, Icky Twerp, and the operator of Hoover Hound of "Million Dollar Matinee" fame--a 1 p.m. movie following the noon version of Cartoon Clubhouse) and the previously-mentioned Anne Harper ( the "Million Dollar..." human hostess). Channel 11 also had a short-lived "JoJo's Funhouse" on Saturday afternoon with Jingles the Dragon puppet which spewed smoke from its nose...a great source of wonder to me as to how that happened, and of course, JoJo, a woman clown. Ch. 5's "Pleasure Island," also on Saturday, had Sammy Skunk and Priscilla Packrat, operated by the same woman. A substitute teacher in elementary school (I was just inside the D. McRae boundary; you of, course, were a Dillowite) told us that she designed the skunk. I couldn't get her to give me the pattern, no matter how much I whined and begged. The charcoal sketch artist Johnny Hay was the adult semblance of order on that show. Mickey and Amanda, of course, had no adult in charge...for the time, it was pure child anarchy!

It's amazing to remember those simple days and what joy a few yards of terrycloth could bring an 8- or 9-year old. I suppose all generations marvel at the simplicity of their childhoods but when comparing those magic days with what 8-year-olds have today, I can't believe today's kids have as much fun. Besides, those Warner Bros. cartoons were classic violence! :)

My memories of Panther Hall date back to its opening as a bowling tournament venue. The vision was for a pro bowlers' league in several cities...something like a blue-collar NBA, I guess. Seems as though there were about 8 or 10 lanes and grandstands and we paid admission to watch the pros. There was also a historical display of the evolution of bowling in the lobby. I didn't go to any of the shows once it became a music venue, but I did watch the live TV broadcasts...and heard the Loretta Lynn reply to a crowd request for "Let's Go All the Way" with "The last time I said that I had twins." I'm sure she used that line wherever she was....And a senior at Poly when I was a sophomore was a go-go girl on the Panther Hall a-Go Go. She was the tall, leggy type that made sophomore boys drool and otherwise leak when she walked by, but we were afraid to speak to her. Ah, older women!

Your web page indicated that your family operated the Varsity Theater for a while. I was also enamored/enraptured/obsessed with movies back then. Drop me off at the Poly Theater on Saturday for 3:45:00 of cinema and I was a happy kid. I wanted to be there when it opened...at noon, I think...so I would walk from home or get my folks to take me there so I could be first in line. My parents knew the Milligans from back in the 1930s when the Milligans lived on Avenue J and my dad had lived across the street before he married. That didn't count for free admission or amicable treatment as far as Imogene Milligan was concerned. Seems she hated all kids...so we would all go to the drug store across the street and change our money into pennies and pay admission that way...25 cents under 12, 35 cents with a discount card for ages 12-18, 50 cents for adults. How they made enough money to move to Tanglewood was a mystery to me until I learned they also owned the Seventh Street. I discovered that as an adult when I went to see something that I missed in first run. Walked up to the box office and there she was! I couldn't verbalize the statement and she snapped, "Yes, we owned the Poly!" I paid, went in, and there was Boyd behind the concession stand. And glancing inside the office, I saw their son who was very big back then...probably stood over 6'7" or 6'8" and was known to us kids as The Giant.

Anyway, it was at the Varsity that I first saw "Psycho," probably during your folks' tenure there. As a very young child, I remember seeing "Long Long Trailer" with Ricky and Lucy and "The Glen Miller Story" and Disney's "The Living Desert" and "Davy Crockett" there. There were several years when the theater was dark before you parents operated it. My dad was a commercial artist and told me that the Varsity box office was in a club on the west side of Fort Worth in the 1970s after the building was torn down. It was used for couples as an intimate seating area (he did murals for the club). Old timers from the 1930s and 1940s refer to the place as the Poly Theater....And I do know the Milligans opened their theater in 1950...the year I was born. I guess the Varsity took on that name then, in reference to its proximity to Texas Wesleyan. Maybe the Milligans owned it, also? There is some evidence that they also owned a theater off East Rosedale, the Grand, in t he black section of town. Perhaps they owned many of the independents in town...the Gateway on East Lancaster and Oakland, the Tower in Riverside on Belknap and Riverside Drive, the Bowie on Camp Bowie, the Berry on Hemphill and Berry, the Parkway on 8th Avenue and Park Hill. If that were the case, then I could understand their living in Tanglewood!

Well, this is much more than you asked for; sorry for the long-winded prattle. Good to share memories with you.