Lions - November 1, 2012

From:   The White River Current - Thursday November 1, 2012

It was a Thursday morning in early June, the latter part of the 1950’s.  I had just unlocked the front door of the store when I heard the amplified voice of Oran (Ding-Dong) Bell coming from the twin speakers that he had mounted on the roof of his pickup truck.  “They’re already gathering in” he shouted; “cowboys and cowgirls from all walks of life.”  Oran was busy driving up and down the city streets, announcing that the first performance of  The Calico Rock Lions Club Rodeo would be held at the local arena that evening.  The arena was packed for all three nights and has become an annual event in Calico Rock, held each year on the second weekend of June.  After over fifty years, the enthusiasm for the event has diminished some and even though performances have been reduced from three to two nights, the show draws large crowds of “cowboys and cowgirls from all walks of life.”  It was Oran, or as I should say, Lion Bell, that invited me to join the local club in the summer of 1951.  As a member for over sixty years now, I am the senior member of the club; Rayvon is close behind.  The local club was organized in 1947 and they are no surviving charter members.  Lion Bell was the sponsor for over seventy five members before  moving back to Yellville (his home town) after retiring from his position with Arkansas Power and Light Company (now Entergy).  Lions International was organized in about 1917 by a Chicago businessman, Melvin Jones.  Now worldwide, there are over 45,000 clubs with some 1.3 million members.  Most famous for the ongoing campaign to save the eyesight of people throughout the world, their motto is “We Serve.”  The local club pays for the exams and eyeglasses for several needy persons each year.  They also assist in many other civic projects.  Meanwhile, back to the Rodeo.  Rayvon and I were on the car-parking detail for that first night.  Big mistake!  As close as I have ever come to being run over, plus having to endure several “cussings,” I decided I was better suited for the concession stand or the ticket booth.  I have enjoyed working in the Lions projects which have included selling light bulbs and brooms from door-to-door to selling hamburgers and cold drinks at various events.  When I was more active, I attended the mid-winter conferences and state conventions.  It was at one of these that the speaker was Chet Lauck who played Lum on the old-time radio program “Lum and Abner.”  I used to listen to this program when I was a boy.  Chet told the story about “the preacher that they had in Pine Ridge who had absconded with the church funds. They caught up with him in Fort Smith but they found out that he had spent half of the money on some woman and the rest he had ‘just wasted.’  But they got their money back,” Chet said.  “They brought the scoundrel back and made him preach it out.”   You can google “Lum and Abner” and listen to some of the episodes of this great program.  I will have more on other old-time radio shows in a few weeks.

However, in this issue, I want to give a big tip-of-the-hat to the Lions Club and the other volunteer organizations and the members who generously give their time, and often, their resources, to make our town a more enjoyable place to live.  Well, I hesitate to do this, but I can’t leave the memories of the Lions Club of the past without recalling the minstrel show that some of the guys presented to packed audiences in Melbourne, Oxford, Norfork and Calico Rock.  The show consisted of the interlocutor (Lion A.B.), and six other Lions club members.  Picture this:  Seven chairs on the stage, A.B. in the middle chair with three Lions in chairs on each side.  I know this is unheard of in today’s culture, but that was then and this is now.  Anyway, there were some snappy lines like this:  Interlocutor:  “Rastus, how come you can grow such big watermelons?”  Rastus:  “I plants ‘em by the moon signs.”  Interlocutor:  “Ha!  Sounds like you are full of moon-shine.”  We all had a solo to sing.  Mine was “Mandy, let yo’ Andy in” but the show stopper was “Bones, you done me wrong” delivered in the proper tear-jerker fashion by Lion Harold Ray.  Hilarious!!  Just remembering the late Oran Bell, one of the characters I have known.  So long from the Queen City of the Ozarks.  This is Reed saying Bye for now.