Bob Brundage:  Well, hi again, this is Bob Brundage continuing our little oral history project. Uh, the date today is January 27, 1997. Our first interview of '97, and we are pleased today to be meeting with Marshall Flippo from down Texas way, and, uh, he's here to call a dance tonight at the hall next door. And so, Flip, why don't you tell us what, 00, life was like before square dancing and where you were born and brought up, and so forth. Go right ahead.

 

Marshall Flippo: I was born in Tuscula, Texas, that's 17 miles south of Abilene.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  I moved to Abilene when I was two. And, uh, grew up there. I went to Wiley, Texas school to grammar and to high school. And, uh, entered the Navy when I was 17.

 

BB:  Vh, huh.

 

MF:  Spent 4 years there during World War II, and, uh, I got out of the Navy, I started running a ( ... ) and made (. .. ) in Abilene ...

 

BB:  All right.

 

MF:  And, uh, started, uh, classes with Betty Casey ...

 

BB:  Ohyeah.

 

MF: In 1951.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  And, uh, in fact, I just heard from Betty just, uh, yesterday ...

 

BB:  Uh,huh.

 

MF:  I said, did you know she's 81 years old now.

 

BB~  Oh, is she?

 

MF:  And, uh, she's down in Curvail.

 

BB~  Somebody told me she's one that I want to interview, so I'll ask you about that later.

 

MF:  Okay. And, uh, we had 10 lessons. You know in '51 square dancing was really flourishing.

We had doctors and lawyers and everybody else seemed like were square dancing at that time. Uh, we belonged toa club in Abilene that had about 25 squares in it. And we also, uh, joined a club out at Wily, Texas, uh, and we danced in, 00, a chicken coop out there.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  Uh, Ed Maze farm had a chicken coop, and he cleaned it all up. It had a concrete floor. It only hold three squares.

 

BB:  Dh, huh.

 

MF:  And we danced to called records, and at that time, there was not too many called records, you know ...

 

BB:  Sure.

 

MF:  Uh, Joe Lewis, and, uh, someLes Gotcher, and some Jonesy. And, uh, so there's us - we had three squares of

members, and, uh, so we kind of got tired of dancing to canned records, so us 12 guys decided we'd learn one call a piece ...

 

BB:  There you go.

 

MF:  And that's the way I kind of got started calling (laughter). A lot of '51, and; 00, 1 remember the first call I, I learned was Dip and Dive.

 

-BB: All right.

 

MF:  And it was-just all strictly memory. If they went down, I had no way of getting them back, you know (laughter).

 

BB:  Right.

 

MF:  But, uh, and then I caned, uh, 1 kind of quit square dancing through the summer time. I played baseball, and, uh, then back in the winter time, we'd start square dancing again.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF: Then we rented a hall down in Abilene called the Hay Loft. It was upstairs above a garage and hold about 13 squares. We had live music at that time. At that time, we, uh, Melton Luttrell had moved from the East land to Fort Worth, and he had a real good band out of Cisco. And so we took the band after he had moved to Fort Worth, and we used it over at Abilene. And, uh, so we usually called to live music in those days and, you know, in the mid and late '50s.

 

BB:  Sure.

 

MF:  In '57, I went on a vacation, we went on a vacation to Kirkwood Lodge. Uh, Greyhound bus driver told us about the place. He used to take, uh, high school seniors over there for a, for a, their, uh, senior trips, and, uh, he knew they had square dancing there, and he was a square dancer out of Wichita Falls, and he drove a Greyhound bus, and, uh, he talked us into going to Kirkwood Lodge, and that was in '57.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  Also in '57, I started recording for Blue Star Records. Norman Berbock was producer.

 

BB:  Urn, hmmm.

 

MF:  And, uh, we went 3 years to Kirkwood; In 1960, Bill Hagerdorn, the original owner of Kirkwood asked me if r d come back as a staff caller, and, uh, he's probably one of the best bosses I ever had.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  Uh, and one of the best friends I ever had, and, uh, I would say him, and, uh, uh, Bill Hagerdorn and Norman Merback, any success I ever got or ever have had, well, they, uh, started it all for me . . .

 

BB:  Okay.

 

 

MF:  They were very kind to me.

 

BB:  That's great.

 

MF:  Then, I don't know, I stayed at Kirkwood. I've been there 37 years now, and, uh, ...

 

BB:  Is that right.

 

MF:  Yeah. Pat ( ... ) we started in '73, and we owned it until '93. When Bill Hagerdorn had it, uh, I worked for him

for 13 years, and then Pat and I had it for 20. And a fella by the name of Bob Link has it now. I've been working for him for 4 years.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  So, it's a great square dance resort. We, uh, have really enjoyed it.

 

BB:  You still spend all summer there?

 

MF:  All summer there, and Sharon, my wife, now she's working in the office there, so we're ...

 

BB:  Okay. Got to put ...

 

MF:  Go there in the summer time, yeah.

 

BB:  Got to put you to work, Sharon.

 

MF:  Yeah (laughter).

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  So, we stay there 6 months, and then we travel the other 6.

 

BB: Oh; is it 6 months, okay.

 

MF:  Yeah, umhmmm.

 

BB:·  All· right.

 

MF:  So, it's, uh, it's probably more home than Texas is to us.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF:  We live in Canyon, which is up in north Texas by Amarillo. And, uh, we go by and see the furniture once in a while.

 

BB:  Yeah. (Laughter.) Well, that's because you travel all winter then, don't you.

 

MF:  Db, yeah, most the time. We take off from Kirkwood when it closes in the middle of October, and we go up north, up to Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and, uh, go into Illinois, and, uh, back into Wisconsin and over into, uh, Illinois again, and then up into Michigan, and, uh, kind of an all states, uh, from there on to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Pennsylvania, all up into, uh, uh, New Jersey, and, uh, Maryland.

 

BB:  You don't get into New England very much?

 

MF:  No. I used to go there. A long time, I went there for years and years, and then I haven't been there. Uh, at one time, we'd stay in Michigan one winter, and I'd kind of skip New England.

 

BB:  Uh, huh.

 

MF:  And, uh, and then, the next year, I'd go to New England and kind of skip, uh ...

 

BB:  Michigan.

 

MF:  Michigan.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  So, we got it figured out where I wouldn't have to travel so far if! just went to Michigan every year, so ...

 

BB:  Right.

 

MF: That's what I did.

 

BB:  Okay.

 

MF   And, uh, but I enjoyed it up there. I met some really super folks up there, Earl Johnston, Al Brundage, and, uh, old John, uh ...

 

BB:  Hendron

 

MF:  Hendron is up in there now.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  And I knew him before he even moved up in there, but he's been there a long time.

 

BB:  Well, he came from out this way somewhere, didn't he?

 

MF:  He came from Illinois.

 

BB:  Illinois, yeah. Not this far, not in Albuquerque, but, right. No, I talked to him back a few months ago.

 

MF:  Did you?

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  I, I haven't seen him, I'll bet I haven't seen him in 10 or 12 years.

 

BB:  He's the same John.

 

MF:  Yeah.

 

BB:  Yeah. He really is. He's, uh, he's one of the guys that, uh, is using quite a limited, uh, tempo with his calling. He tells me he calls everything at 119 beats a minute.

 

MF:  Somebody told me that. That's hard for me to believe because the last time I danced to John, he was going like 130 ...

 

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  132, I mean, moving on.

 

BB:  Well, when he and I were together at Grand Lake Lodge, uh, I, I got some tapes, and then we all thought they must, they must have stretched or something, because they're ...

 

MF:  ( ... )

 

BB:  Yeah, they're tough. They're 142 ( ... )

 

MF:  Oh, man, I mean fast.

 

BB:  Yeah. But, but I've, I've always been slow tempo, of course, and I'm, I'm the same way on the damn tapes. Of course, it's a weekend situation ...

 

MF:  Right.

 

BB:  But that as it may. But, John is really a great caller. Well, tell us about, uh, how about some of the national conventions. You've been to several of them probably.

 

MF:  Yeah, I've been to several of them. I've probably - maybe 12 ( ... ).

 

BB:  Uh, huh. Do you remember any big ones?

 

MF:  I remember, probably, one of the best ones I went to was, uh, first time in, uh, in, uh, New Orleans. I mean San Antonio.

 

BB:  In San Antonio.

 

MF:  I thought that was the best one I've ever been to.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  And that was the first time. I don't remember what year that was, but, uh. Then I thought New Orleans had a good one, 00, the time I went over there. But, uh, uh, there's been - missed so dam many, of course, the ones I think that are all under one roof is, uh ...

 

BB:  Oh yeah, yeah.

 

MF:.         ( ... ) I remember a couple at Cobalt Hall in, uh, Detroit were great.

 

BB:  Oh yeah. Yeah, they, they claim had, what, 700 squares they say.

 

MF:  Yeah, yeah.

 

BB:  ( ... ) And they opened up the whole thing.

 

MF:  Absolutely. It was just unbelievable. All those people dancing.

 

BB:  Yeah. Do you remember the cartoon that Frank (. .. ) put on the back of Sets in Order just after Cobalt Hall? And down at the - see a guy standing on a chair way down at the end of the hall, and the little figures up on the stage were about this big, and the guy's saying, I think it's either Les Gotcher or Ed Gilmore (laughter).

 

MF:  Couldn't seeing that far. I was trying. That's right. That's, that's - you know, if they couldn't tell by those two voices, they were in deep trouble.

 

BB:  You've got that right. But, uh, well, getting back for a minute, uh, who were some of the people that had an influence on your, on your career, outside of Merback and ...

 

MF:  And, uh.

 

BB:  Hagerdorn.

 

MF:  Hagerdorn.

 

BB:  I mean, how about some of the other callers and like that.

 

MF:  Frank Lane.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  I' d have to say, uh, Frank Lane, Bob Osgood ...

 

BB:  Sure.

 

MF:  Al Brundage.

 

BB:  I will say Al who?

 

MF:  Yeah, Al who? Uh, worked quite a few years with Al in Atlantic City and also West Point.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:.         And just enjoyed everyone of those years.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  Just super.

 

BB:  Yeah. Well, that West Point was quite an experience.

 

MF:  And then Washington Spring Festival in, uh, Washington, DC, meant quite a bit to me because I, I was surprised how many dates I picked up just, uh, ...

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  The first year I was there.

 

BB:  Yeah. Well, they had a big staff there, didn't they?

 

MF:  Absolutely. Yeah, they had - I think nine to 12.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  A bunch of guys. Uh, of course, Kirkwood's meant so much to me, and, uh, uh, see, I don't want to leave anybody out here - oh golly, of course, Betty Casey. She kind of got me, and Melton Luttrell, better get him in there. Uh, and Betty Casey and Melton Luttrell, they, uh ...

 

BB:  Well, they were the early days.

 

MF:  Yeah, early days. In fact, Melton, the first time he heard me call, I couldn't call on beat to save a ...

 

BB:  Is that right.

 

MF:  He said, he said it felt like when he was dancing he was just, uh, dancing on a railroad track skipping every

other tire, or something.

 

BB:  Right.

 

MF:.         But then I, I - Joel Wilson and, uh, in Abilene, a great caller, still calling 20 basics, never has, went any higher than that.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  And still busy.

 

BB:. Yeah.

 

MF:  He's up in his 80s now.

 

BB:  Yeah.

 

MF:  And what terrific rhythm the guy's got.

 

BB:  Is that right.

 

MF:  (. .. ).

 

BB:  Well, I talked with Jerry Helt, and, of course, he, he works a very limited program all the time.

 

MF;.         Right, right.

 

BB:  He's busy as anybody. The last I talked to him in Cincinnati, I think he said he was currently averaging about, uh, 12 dances a week.

 

MF:  Uh, huh. Yeah, you know, morning, afternoon, and night.

 

BB:  Yeah, right.

 

MF:  I called in that hall that he uses. Once a year I call there.

 

BB:  Is that right.

 

MF   ( ... )

 

BB:  Yeah. So. Well, how about Callerlab now. You've been associated with that.