Archive for the ‘Town House Motor Lodge’ Category
One More of Doc and Kitty …
This is one more of Doc ( Milburn Stone ) and Kitty ( Amanda Blake ) at the TownHouse Motor Lodge in downtown Pensacola with some young admirers. I have had this one sitting around for thirty or forty years and I kept saying that I was going to do something with it … so I finally did. I really don’t have any comment about the photo other it is a very nice photo of Amanda Blake, the lady in the center of the group. If anyone remembers meeting them when they were here for the Fiesta of Five Flags back in the 1950’s, I would love hearing from you. I have posted other photos and I do not recall anyone ever mentioning every seeing them or meeting them on their trip to Pensacola. I have a photo of them holding me up that I am going to finally post … it is really goofy of me, but what else is new?? Thanks for looking and do not forget that I mentioned that I have been putting a lot of photos up over on my Instagram account – frankphardy . I seem to receive more responses there than I ever had on my blogs, so that is why I have been neglecting my blogs the past few months. I will get back going on these eventually, because I still have a lot images that I plan on posting…Thanks again – Frank
Doc and Kitty in Front of The Town House Motor Lodge …
This is “Doc” and “Kitty” from the tv show Gunsmoke. They were in town back in the middle 1950’s for the Fiesta. I have posted some other photos of them in earlier posts, but I never could find this image until recently. It was in terrible shape and I had already cleaned it up once before, but I never could find it. So when I ran across this image, I went ahead and cleaned it up … again. This is the only photograph that I can find of the exterior front of the Town House Motor Lodge. The two men in the photo are Lynn Toney on the far right and the man helping Amanda Blake is the owner of the Town House and his last name was Head, but I do not know his first name. The front of the Town House was on Cervantes … you should could not do something like this now on Cervates without risking getting hit or run-over. If anyone had any contact with “Doc” or “Kitty” when they were in town, please share your story with us … I would be interested in hearing them. I have a photo of the two of them holding me up that I will post for a laugh … I cannot remember off the top of my head if I already have, so I will check. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Update (1/7/14) : Some people say that the man helping Amanda Blake out of the wagon is John R Jones, who at one time was a local politician … I want to say Property Appraiser, but I could be wrong there. I had said that the man was Mr. Head, who owned the Town House Motel with his wife. Personally, I do not care who it is, that is not the reason why I posted the photo. Please remember, this is a blog for photography, not for identifying correctly the individuals shown in the images. If we do, fine, if we do not, fine. Thanks for looking … Frank
Denise Darnell …
The only things that I could find on Denise Darnell was two movies that she was in … The Strip Tease Murder Case in 1950, in which, surprise, she played the star … the Stripper. The other movie she played in was one fifteen years later called Mickey One. Again, she played … drum roll please … a stripper. Not the staring stripper roll, just one of the line-up girl strippers. I am sorry to say that I have never seen either movie and I seriously doubt that they are DVD, but hey, one never knows. If anyone has seen either of these movies or knows where I view a copy, please let me hear from you because I am really interested. She was in Pensacola with the group of ” Doc, Kitty and Cochise ” for the Fiesta of Five Flags in the 1950’s. Anyone that remembers anything about her and remembers her at the Fiesta, please share your experience with her. She looks like a very nice lady and she looks out of character to be a stripper, but what do I know? I always thought that Trader Jon’s was a high class ” club “. Thanks for looking … Frank
Doc, Kitty and Friends …
Here is Doc ( Milburn Stone ) and Kitty ( Amanda Blake ) from the tv show ” Gunsmoke ” with some friends from Pensacola down at the Town-House Motor Lodge on Cervantes. I do not know who the couple is in the middle, but both the man and the lady pop-up in different photos that I have run across. The man could have something to do with the Chamber, since he always seems to be in the welcoming committee at the airport when these celebrities arrive. The lady is in a photo I posted a while back with John Wayne and I think she is in several photos made at Son Motors. However, it is a nice group photo showing what a good time these celebrities are shown when they come to Pensacola. Thanks for looking … Frank
A Few More Celebrities …
Here is one that I have never posted before … Cochise ( Michael Ansara ) and his date / lady friend, Denise Darnell, Miss Kitty ( Amanda Blake ) and Doc ( I cannot remember his name right now ) from Gunsmoke. They are standing outside a room down at the Town House Motor Lodge on Cervantes. We all know Cochise, Kitty and Doc, but I Googled Denise Darnell and the only thing I came up with was a movie she made back in 1950 called ” The Striptease Murder Case ” or something to that effect. Maybe some of you out there have heard something about her and could fill us in. Whatever, she sure dresses nice … she looks as if she has Hollywood written all over her … the white gloves and white framed sun glasses … I doubt she picked those up down town at Woolworth’s on Palafox Street.
Now on a serious note, I want to thank Troy Moon at the Pensacola News Journal for writing the article and for Ginny Graybiel, the managing editor of the Pensacola News Journal, for publishing the article. It was a very nicely written and factual piece on my father’s photography and this blog. I also want to thank Katie King on the nice photo that she made of me with some of the photographs … that should earn her newspaper award somewhere!! Thanks again for the great piece … Frank
One more thing … to all the people who have been so kind to write comments here on this blog, I appreciate everything that everybody has written and I respond to all comments that that have been written so far. And I plan on writing a response to everyone that has written today, but because there have been so many of them, it is going to take me some time, however I want to do it to show my appreciation, so please bear with me. Thanks again for looking … Frank
Ted Weems …
Ted Weems was a big band leader from Dallas Texas back in the 1950’s and 60’s. This photo was made in the stairwell at the Town House Motor Lodge that I have mentioned in earlier posts. You can see other photos of John Wayne, “Doc and Kitty” from the tv show Gunsmoke and others on the wall in back of him. The photo above had been on the old site … the photo below is one that I have just recently come across and worked up. It was made in the dining room of the Town House.
I do not know any of the details of why he was here at this time. If anyone remembers anything about his visit to Pensacola or the exact time, please let us know. Thanks for looking …
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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