MARSHALL FLIPPO INTERVIEW
January 27,1997
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.
MF: Yeah. All those guys that first started that thing really. I was impressed with all those guys.
BB: Sure.
MF: I don’t know how I got in with that bunch, but, uh, there was just, just one of those things that happened, I guess, and, uh, in an activity that you’re in that only happens one time to get those
BB: Yeah.
MF: Uh, that kind of talent all together in, 00, uh, it probably hasn’t come out the way I envisioned it might come out, but, uh,
BB: Urn, hmmm.
MF: But at least we got them all together some way or the other.
BB: Yeah. Got everybody talking.
MF: I think it’s still got a good potential to do good things.
BB: What about Asilomar?
MF: Asilomar was, yeah, I guess, uh …
BB: Were you on staff there for a while?
MF: Uh, I’ve been on the staff there, I think, it’s since ’62.
BB: Is that right.
MF: And, 00, I’m still there with Frank, but Osgood had it nailed down.
BB: Sure.
MF: ( … ) Osgood, and, uh, I don’t – Bob and Becky were so good to me, and, uh, it’s remained my very favorite place to go.
BB: Dh, huh.
MF: Still is. We only have the weekend any more, we don’t have the week, but …
BB: Yeah.
MF: And Frank and I are still there, and the Bucks and the Browns.
BB: Yeah.
MF: But I work with some really good – you know we started out with Frank Hamilton, really good round dance folks, Willy, uh, and Bonnie, uh, Stotler, uh, then, of course, Charlie Proctor …
BB: Yeah.
MF: For years. And then the Bucks have been over the last few years. So, uh, we’ve been really fortunate to have really, really good round dance people.
BB: How about Jim and Ginny Brooks?
MF:. Uh, no I never did work with them.
BB: Yeah. They were there before you got there probably. Yeah. But. Well, that’s great. Uh, getting away from square dancing, how about other hobbies? Do you have any other hobbies?
MF: (Laughter.) Well, uh, you know, I played golf up until about 4 years ago, and then, I don’t know, do you know of any hobbies I got? (Laughter.) Oh yes, I was water skiing and boating.
BB: Yeah. Well, that’s good.
MF: Water sports.
BB: Yeah, well that’s great. I’ve been asking everybody, uh, Marshall, about what do you think is the appeal to
calling square dances? What do you find appealing about it?
MF: Golly, that’s a good question. I, I, uh, I really believe that the appeal I have is for me is to see people having a good time, and uh, I’m part of it. Uh, it’s just one of those joyful occasions where, uh, where you, uh, every night you go and, uh, you seem like, uh, if you can get people to have fun, you have fun …
BB: Yeah.
MF: And, uh, uh, it’s, uh, that’s the appeal of it to me. I don’t know, uh, uh, I could say getting them through difficult figures or something like that could be an appeal, but I believe it is just the …
BB: Just having fun.
MF: Fun of the whole thing.
BB:. That’s great. Okay. Uh, you mentioned Blue Star a little while ago, let’s go back and think about your recordings experiences.
MF: Yeah. Well, I got a couple of gold records from Blue Star. I spent 27 years with them.
BB: Did you really.
MF: Yeah ( … ). And, uh, the best one I had, the most, uh, I guess the biggest one I ever had was the (. .. ). That was the first one that was recorded.
BB: Yeah, yeah.
MF:. And those first 2 or 3 years starting in ’58, those first few years were all on 78 records.
BB: Yeah.
MF: I don’t how many singles we had. The last time that I (. .. ) was 180 on (. .. ) singles on Blue Star. And, I’m not too sure, but it seems like we got more than that, but I don’t, I never did, I should have kept track of them, or I wish I had kept one of each, but I didn’t.
BB: I know it. Al’s the same way, I’m the same way.
MF: Yeah.
BB: Yeah.
MF: Yeah, 20, uh, I think around 24 or 25 LPs.
BB: Now are they mostly with, 00, Sets in Order, or …
MF:. No, they were
BB: I know you did some …
MF: With Blue Star, and then I had some with Sets in Order, too.
BB: Yeah, the promotion records.
MF: Yeah, right. And then I don’t know how many I recorded on the Chaparral since we ( … )
BB: Chaparral, yeah. You haven’t gotten into the business yourself though.
MF: No, no.
BB: No.
MF: I wouldn’t know what to do ifI got (laughter).
BB: Yeah. So. All right, how about, urn, other forms of square dancing like contras and country western.
MF: I like contras. I don’t ever call them, but I like to dance them, uh, …
BB: Yeah.
MF: Very much. And also round dances. I like round dances.
BB: Did you ever teach rounds?
MF: No. I taught a couple way back in the ’50s. Couple, what we call couple dances at that time.
BB: Yeah, right. Well, you had to at that time.
MF: Right.
BB: There weren’t any round dance cuers.
MF: Right.
BB: Yeah.
MF: And, uh, 00, I haven’t – quadrilles I enjoy.
BB: Yeah.
MF: I don’t call any, but, uh, I’ve danced them, and I love the way you dance them to music.
BB: Right, right. Okay. Never got into country western, line dances, or anything like that.
MF: Uh, not so much. We started teaching, uh, when we first went to Kirkwood. We have, uh, at that time, we had 10 weeks of regular tourists . . .
BB: Oh, yeah.
MF: Who didn’t know anything about square dancing and, uh, …
BB: Different group every week?
MF:. Uh, different group every week ( … ). And they’d come in for 7 nights, and 4 of those nights they danced at
Kirkwood. And, uh, we’d do real easy squares for them.
BB: Yeah.
MF: And, uh, we’d also play ballroom dancing, and uh, western, country western dancing. And we’d teach line dances like, 00, uh, ( … ), Amos Moses, and …
BB: Yeah.
MF: Uh, Hully Gully ..
BB: Yeah, right.
MF: And, uh, those type of …
BB: Yeah.
MF: Line dances.
BB: That was before the Macarania.
MF: Yeah, yeah. Laughter.
BB: Yeah. Never got into clogging now, did you?
MF: Never did, no.
BB: I like to watch it.
MF: Yeah, but I don’t, I, I couldn’t handle it though.
BB: My knees aren’t that good (laughter). But, uh. Okay. A lot of people are talking about, uh, costuming, Marshall. Uh, some people are thinking these elaborate costumes that people wear are keeping people away from square dancing. How do you • have any thoughts along that line?
MF: I really don’t. Uh, I think, I think the costumes, as long as they got, you know, good taste …
BB: Yeah.
MF: You know, prairie skirts and longer dresses are fine. Also, I like the, uh, regular square dance attire.
BB: Yeah.
MF: I don’t, I don’t see that as, uh, uh, I see a lot of people, and I’ve been with a lot of people, and go to a restaurant after or something …
BB: Yeah.
MF: And, uh, they’re a little intimidated about people looking at their costumes.
BB: Yeah.
MF: Or laughing about them or whatever.
BB: Yeah, right. So.
MF: I don’t think it has anything to do with …
BB: What, uh, what’s your home – well, you really don’t have a home program per se.
MF: No, no .
BB: You don’t have a home club any more. Do you have any ideas for, uh, what we should do for recruiting these days? As you know, recruiting is gone down the tubes along with everything else. But, uh, …
MF: I just don’t know. It seems like a lot of people that I’ve talked to have tried everything in the world, uh, uh.
BB: Yeah.
MF: I think if we could get some national publicity like the line dances or …
BB:. Yeah.
MF: The country western has gotten, I think that would help. It would be very hard to, uh, if we could, uh, it would be very hard to, uh, present a program – people are going to look at it and say, that, that, I can’t, I can’t learn that stuff.
BB: Yeah, yeah.
MF:. Uh, I think they look at country western dancing and line dancing, well, maybe I can do that, you know.
BB: Yeah. It looks like if s …
MF: But, uh, …
BB: Plus, you don’t need a partner.
MF: Right, that’s true.
BB: Yeah.
MF: So, I, we just need some, we need, uh, some PR or some way or other, and, uh …
BB: Yeah. Do you think Callerlab might be able to help us with that, or …
MF: Well, I would hope so. I’ve always thought that if they put as much energy into, uh, uh, recruiting as they did into the, uh, uh, new material, or …
BB: Yeah, choreography.
MF: The list that we’ve got now …
BB: Yeah.
MF: Maybe they’d, maybe they’d put that much energy into recruiting, we’d be a little better off.
Who knows.
BB: I, uh, I was listening to an interview on the TV the other night, and I came up with another question I haven’t asked anybody else yet. Do you have an regrets. Is there anything in your past career experience that you, you wish you had done differently, or …
MF: Uh, yeah, there is. I, I, if! – it seemed like square dance calling didn’t come easy. It was hard for me. But, uh, I feel like if I had worked on it a lot more than I worked on it, uh, I’d been better off But, uh, who knows.
BB: Yeah.
MF: I, uh, just really enjoy the fun of it, and, uh, probably haven’t worked on new material as much as I should, and, uh …
BB: Yeah.
MF: Uh, I don’t, uh, I just really been so pleased that I’ve been able to work with some of the guys that were, uh,
BB: Yeah.
MF: Really top notch, and I’ve stolen material from them …
BB: Laughter.
MF: And didn’t work on it myself, you know.
BB: Yeah, right. Well, that’s okay. That’s legal. Urn, which reminds me, did you come from a musical background?
MF: No.
BB: No? Not your family or anything like that?
MF: No .
BB: Well, you said you couldn’t …
MF: Thai’s right. I couldn’t, I couldn’t …
BB: Stay on the beat when you first started, but, uh, well, I’ll tell you, you sure stay on the beat now, Marshall.
MF:. Well, sometimes when I set that needle back, I have to hunt around for that beat.
BB: Is that right? Yeah. Well. Of course, the new CD type of a player ..
MF: Oh, yeah.
BB: That’s coming out now, you’re never going to have to set the needle back.
MF: Set that needle back, right.
BB: Or use a tape. A lot of callers are using tape these days. You’re not.
MF: Yeah.
BB: But, uh, well, let’s get to the big question. Uh, give us sort of an overview, Marshall, uh, where do you think square dancing’s been, and where are we now, and where do you think it might be going.
MF: I really, at one time, thought it was just in a, in a down period, but I, I don’t know. The crowds are basically over the last 10 years, I’ve seen about the same amount of dancers on tour …
BB: Have you really. Good.
MF: But the last couple of years haven’t been that good. So I don’t know whether that’s my age, or, uh, or whether the appeal or whatever. But, the last, uh, well we have found that some of them were up and some of them were down.
BB: Yeah.
MF: Some of them were complaining, and some of them say we’ve got some pretty good classes.
So, I’m just hoping that it’s just in a, in a – we went through a thing back in the early ’50s, uh, when bowling came in.
BB: Yeah.
MF: Uh, and when bowling came in, everybody seemed like they were bowling.
BB: Yeah.
MF: (. .. ). There goes square dancing out the door. And it’s kind of the same way line dances this time around. And, uh, I just have, I really feel like it’s, it’s going to start back up. Maybe it’s going to take, uh, something for the economy to do, you know, go down or whatever. We’re in a …
MF: But I believe it’s just a – at one time, I thought, there’s no way for square dancing to falter because there are so many businesses that are making their living on it.
BB: Right.
MF.:. So many guys, and they’re not going to let it die, but now those businesses that I thought would never go under, some of them have retired and, uh,
BB: Yeah.
MF: I’ve seen like when, like when Osgood quit, uh, Sets in Order, I think, uh, that, uh, it left a void, uh, you know . . .
BB: Yeah.
MF: I’m not going to say that, uh, it, it hurt or anything, but it left a void, I think, that was one of the real good magazines.
BB: Oh, sure. Right.
MF: To ever hit the market. Of course Osgood, to me, Bob Osgood was my, uh, what’s his name,
my Pappy Shaw.
BB: Oh, I see.
MF: Was Osgood.
BB: All right.
MF: I just come in on the end of Pappy Shaw, and then, of course, I just, I think Bob Osgood meant so much. If we’d listen to him the first part of Callerlab, I think we’d been a lot better off.
BB: Yeah.
MF: A iot of guys didn’t want to listen to him.
BB: Did you ever get to Shaw’s school?
MF: Never did, no.
BB: Caller out at Springs
MF: Betty Casey’s the gal that taught us.
BB: Did you really.
MF: She, she …
BB: Do you remember when she went, 00.
MF: No, I don’t.
BB: Yeah.
MF: But it was before ’51, I think.
BB: Oh, was it.
MF: Yeah.
BB: Oh, okay. Well. And you say she’s 80 something now?
MF: I think she’s 81. That old boy told me yesterday, so that’s about right I would say.
BB: Yeah, I guess. Right.
MF: Yeah. About 7 years older than me.
BB: Okay. Well. Wen, okay. (Cough). Marshail, I know you’ve got to go to work here pretty quick, and, uh, …
MF:: We’re pretty close.
BB: os, yeah.
MF: Just walk right over there.
BB: Yeah. If you don’t have 14 boxes of records with you or something like that.
MF: I remember when they built that building out here. There’s nothing else out here. That was it.
BB: Is that right.
MF: A square dance building.
BB: Yeah.
MF: And boy, has it grown up. And I’ll bet that property is worth some kind of money.
BB: Yeah. Well. Of course, it, uh, you were a big contributor to that. I see your name on the wall there as a …
MF: Oh, yeah.
BB: As a hundred dollar contributor more than once. And, uh.
MF: Well, they, uh, seemed like they ( … ), and they finally got going pretty good.
BB: Yeah.
MF: ( … ) in Tucson. They made paid that building off with bingo, I think:, uh (. .. )
BB: Is that right. Well. They’re gradually getting into, uh, other things. I understand there’s an Argentine tango group that meets there now.
MF: Oh, is that right.
BB: And there’s a country western group that meets there …
MF: Uh, huh.
BB: Uh, twice a month.
MF: I see.
BB: And, 00, so they’re starting to use it for other things.
MF: Now have you’ve ever been there when they’re using both halves?
BB: Oh, yeah.
MF: Have you?
BB: Yeah, yeah.
MF: No sound coming from the other half that you … I mean
BB: No, not very much.
MF: Don’t bother …
BB: Once in a while, uh, because I dance on the small side, round dancing.
MF: Uh, huh.
BB: A couple of nights a week, and there’s always a square dance going on next door, and once in a while the caller next door will jack the volume up on his side …
MF: I see.
BB: And you’ll hear. But once the music comes on in the small side, you don’t hear it.
MF: Oh.
BB: Yeah, yeah. So, but that’s a great, uh, it’s a great place. So. Well, Marshall, I think, 00, looks like we pretty well corne down to the end of the, our little interview here. And I appreciate your taking the time to sit and chat with us for a while. I know you’re …
MF: My pleasure, Bob, and I know that, you know, this runs into your, your life, too, you know.
You probably had a golf game, or whatever today, and …
BB: I already played golf, sure.
MF: I even appreciate your thinking about, thinking about us to interview. I appreciate it.
BB: Well, golly, you’re a Hall of Famer, you know, and a Milestone Award winner, uh, all kinds of other things.
MF: (. .. ) and all that came too. That’s, uh, it just seemed like, uh, I don’t what it seemed like, but it
End of Tape