by Ronald Brantley
the Coffee Breaker
Do you remember when each jar of bought pickles had a piece of cauliflower and a small onion about the size of a marble in with the pickles? I remember this well, because it was the only way I liked cauliflower.
Maybe you’ll remember this. What happened to “Ole Diz” Charcoal? It was an enterprise involving Dizzy Dean, the great baseball pitcher and later, a sportscaster. His sponsor was Falstaff Beer. Ole Diz Charcoal was the most famous charcoal in the South and came out of Mississippi. No one seems to know what happened to the company that at one time worked over 200 people. It was a black and white bag with a picture of Dizzy on the front in his familiar cowboy hat.
Some years back, I wrote a story about the Salem Shotwell Covered Bridge in Salem, Al, being destroyed. A storm blew a tree down and it crushed through the middle of the bridge. Lee County knew that there were only a few covered bridges left in Alabama, so they saved as much of the wood as possible. Another Salem Shotwell Bridge has been erected in a city park in Opelika. The timbers and lumber look original, but the location has changed; maybe 15 miles from where the original bridge was located.
Do you remember when margarine first came out and it was a square white block with a yellow pill that came with it? The instructions told you to leave the margarine at room temperature until it softened then mix the yellow pill with the margarine until it turned yellow. Eventually, things changed. Today, when you go into a grocery store, you will probably see fifteen kinds of margarine and maybe two brands of butter.
Do you remember when all girls got a doll for Christmas? The only two things these dolls would do were when they were laid on their back they would close their eyes and when they sat upright would open their eyes. In their back was a device that sounded kind of like “mama” when the doll was laid back. Today, dolls wet, eat, suck a bottle, and probably poop to boot. I kind of like the open-and-close-their-eyes type dolls of yesteryear best of all.
Ray Price died recently.
The thing I remember most about Ray Price was not Ray Price, but a man named Dovard Taunton.
His favorite singer was Ray Price, and his favorite song was “For the Good Times.”
Dovard’s schedule was “when he wanted to”; he painted beautiful pictures and was a pretty good taxidermist. He worked when the mood hit him.
In addition to sign painting and barbering, Jack Mitchell and I had a morning radio show; it was our first “Coffee Break” show. Dovard would call and request his favorite song.
The only trouble was he called when the mood struck him, which may have been at 2:00 AM in the morning.
“Don’t do that,” I would say, “I have to get up early in the morning.”
He would argue with me, and that is what I will always remember when I hear “For the Good Times.”
Do you remember when all Christmas trees were live? I remember our first artificial tree; it was silver aluminum. It wasn’t a full tree, I guess they thought people would put lots of lights, roping, and ornaments on the tree and that would fill in the blank spaces and empty spots.
It was new and we just had to try it. Since then, we have had all kinds of artificial trees. I’m a little too old now but I am going through the woods over and near Rose Hill Cemetery looking and finding a Cedar tree. Just right for Christmas! Do you remember these things?
Ronald Brantley