Posts Tagged ‘Pensacola Airport’
Liberace and Friend … Updated ……
I posted this photo years ago and I did not know who the lady is. Someone had mentioned a name for her when I posted this on the first blog that I had on Blogger six or seven years ago. But I cannot what they said her name was and when I “googled” it nothing came up. So I did not pay that much attention to it. Recently, I have been reading a book by author Steve Fischer entitled ” When The Mob Ran Vegas “. On page 113, there is a photo of Ruth Gillis and it said that she was one of Liberace’s show girls when he played the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. I am not going to bother trying to get permission to see if I can post it here, you are just going to have to take my word for it. On the web there are several photos of her with various other entertainers, one being Ernie Kovacs and here is a link to the photo. I have tried ( not very heard though ) to find some other photos and information on Ms Gillis, but have not turned up much. I do not know a date for the above photo and if I had to guess I would say that it would be 1955 or 1956. In the book it says that she started as a show girl with Liberace on April 20, 1955 at the Riviera. I was hoping that someone might have remembered seeing Liberace in Pensacola when he came here, but I have not received any comments from anyone. I might have to go down to the PNJ and see what it takes to go through there microfilm files. If anyone has any thing to share, please let us hear from you. Thanks again for looking and please check back … Frank
Maureen O’Hara and Dan Dailey Arriving in Pensacola Florida …
Dan Dailey and Maureen O’Hara are shown arriving at the Pensacola Airport. They were here in Pensacola to film a movie with John Wayne, Wings of Eagles , in 1956. I had posted this image on the other blog site that I had of my father’s images five or six years ago and had hoped that some locals who were around when they were in town making the movie would have made a comment, but no one ever did. Maybe this time around it might jar someone’s memory and I will get a few comments. I have often wondered who the guy is that looks like he is directing everyone … maybe he is someone that the airport hired and dressed up to give a more “Hollywood” / “Los Angles” appeal to the movie stars. Also, the look on the little lady’s face watching all of this is priceless … you wonder what is running through her mind as she is watching this production.
The lady who runs Maureen O’Hara’s blog, Ms June Beck, saw my first post and graciously sent me a photo that some Navy photographer had made of John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and members of the movie out on the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Here is the photo along with Ms Beck’s notation of the crew members and their relationship to the actors …
“On the running board is stuntman “Good” Chuck Hayward (that was his nickname) and, of course Maureen and Duke…then just to our right of Duke’s cap is “Bad” Chuck Roberson (John Wayne’s stunt double for over 30 years and a good actor himself). Roberson has a great book he published in the 1980’s called “The Fall Guy” that is absolutely great if you can find it – all about the stuntman’s colorful life. To our left of Duke’s cap is Ken Curtis, who was in many of Ford’s movies. He was an excellent singer and musician as well. Don’t know the name of the guy in the uniform – but he’s a redhead I’ve also seen in a lot of Ford’s films as an extra, etc.” … June Beck
That was very nice of Ms Beck to send the photo to me and to take the time to write the copy identifying all of the individuals in the photo. The guy in uniform in the back is very familiar, but I could not put a name to him. I went on the IMDb site, but could not match a name to the face. For some unknown reason, I picture him playing a German in some of the old WW II movies. The man that Ms Beck mentioned named Ken Curtis played Festus in Gunsmoke – now I know that everyone knows Festus. If anyone has any memories of these actors or of Ms O’Hara being in Pensacola, please feel free to share them with us. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Several more things …. If the people out at the Pensacola International Airport decide to dress someone up a tux / dinner jacket as a greeter to all of the incoming flights at the airport, please give me credit for the idea and not to anyone down at City Hall. I can use all of the free publicity that I can get. Also, I went back and added a link to IMDb for Ken Curtis ” Festus ” after I read his bio. I am trying to give the readers some more information that what little I know or have on these photos in future posts. I do not know if it will get me any more viewers or readers, but at least you will be ready with some new trivia when Jeopardy comes on the tube, I mean TV. Thanks again for looking …
Southern Normal School …
I ran across this negative years ago and it did not do much for me, but when I ran across it the other day it looked more interesting. I think that it the old Eastern Airline prop plane in the photo got my attention this time around. The Southern Normal School is located in Brewton, AL, about 60 miles north of Pensacola. I googled the school and found some history about the school. I could not tell if it was still open, but I got the impression that it might be closed down. I have no idea who the people in the photo are or what their purpose for the photo is other than capturing a memory of a trip. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Leaving on a Jet Plane …
This was the “Main Gate” at the old terminal at Pensacola Airport back in the 1950’s through the 70’s. I can remember this very vividly. I wish I had some photos of the interior of the airport to share with everyone. If anyone has any, please feel free to email them to me and I would be happy to share them with you. This is a new post from this wedding … I posted a photo of this couple standing at the back of the plane on the old site, so I will find it and post it later. Thanks for looking …
By the way, I believe that the old airport was named ” Haigler Field ” after our state legislator, Jack Haigler. If I am wrong on this, please correct me. I did not think of it until after I had written the top part and was getting ready to post this.
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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