QUESTION: In the late 1950s, WXYZ ran a 30-minute TV program. I think it was called Crusade for Christ. They had quartets performing regularly on the show. Does anyone have video of those old shows, or would you know how to acquire it? I'm looking for audio or video performances of the Zioneers or Ambassadors from mid to late 1950s Detroit/Royal Oak area. I would appreciate any information you have.
Robyn Sheehy
Mesa AZ
ANSWER: From Chase (Chuck) Snead, former WXYZ executive:
Crusade for Christ was on Saturdays and Chaplain Dave Martin was the host. Since it was in the early '50s, it was done live. There wasn't any videotape yet; it hadn't been invented. No evidence of the performers exists. The show featured guests almost every week.
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QUESTION: Do you recall if the Ford Rotunda had a
restaurant or cafeteria? Someone is selling plates on
eBay. The write-up says:
"1962 Ford Corporate Dining Room Rotunda China
Plate. It has the older Ford logo on the top, a band on
the inner rim and the Rotunda building on the inside of
the plate well. It is marked with the 1954-1963 Indian
Shenango Backstamp and the date code of A-20 for
1962 according to the RWCN manufacturer date code
pages. It measures about 6-1/4" wide. It is in good
condition with no chips or cracks. It has only light wear.
Chris Delwiche
Phoenix AZ
ANSWER: From Bud Lusk, Belleville MI:
Actually, these plates were used at the Ford Pavilion at the World's Fair. As an aside, when Ford opened the new Rouge engine plant, the lunch room initially had tableware with the Ford logo on the handles. Within one week, all of it was missing. They switched to plastic.
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EMAIL INBOX
Occasionally I receive emails I feel would be of interest
to our Detroit Memories Newsletter subscribers.
With permission from the authors, I'll publish them.
~~~~~~~~
Eileen,
I ordered the “You Know You’re From Detroit …” poster to send to my sister who still lives in Michigan (Sterling Heights and Caseville). I just opened it and read it and it brought back many, many memories.
I was born in Detroit, graduated from Royal Oak High School. I was a Miss DSR when I was 19. Pat Tobin (Pat 'n' Johnny Show) was my idol growing up.
One more thing to share: Soupy Sales! Didn’t you just love him? When I was a student at Wayne State, I would get off the bus on Woodward Avenue and go into the Macabees Building coffee shop. Soupy would be in there, since that’s where he broadcast with another on-camera personality from WXYZ (I've forgotten his name). We would chat and Soupy even bought my coffee. Fast forward MANY years later,
I was in New York City walking past 30 Rockefeller Plaza when Soupy got out of a taxi at the curb. Passersby stopped to say hi to him and shake his hand (he was fabulous that way), he talked to everyone, and HE REMEMBERED ME from the coffee shop!
I thought that was so great! I tell everyone my Soupy Sales story.
First, let me say that your website is the best. It looks great and has some of the best information about Detroit's past.
I loved Detroit in the good old days and did many things. Here are a few of them:
I was a "spinner" record hops for radio DJs Clark Reid, Fred Weiss, Tom Clay and, later, I worked with Dick Purtan and Terry Knight on some projects.
I was a dancer for two weeks on Detroit Bandstand hosted by Dale Young. I went to see the Rolling Stones at Olympia Stadium the first time they came to Detroit in June 1964. Only about 400-500 people showed up to see them. I also saw both shows (2pm & 6pm) when The Beatles performed there in September of 1964, my tickets courtesy of Terry Knight for helping him.
While attending Cody H.S., I worked for wrestling promoters Johnny Doyle and
Jim Barnett. My job was to drive pro wrestlers from Metro Airport to CKLW-TV and back to the airport after they taped two shows on a Monday night. Some of my favorites were Dick the Bruiser (he was a great guy), Haystacks Calhoun (he weighted 601 lbs), Fritz Von Erich and The Masked Terror (Jay York) who would put his mask on just before we got to the TV station.
I had driven him to Cobo Arena the night he was unmasked and, after the show, I had to drive him back to the hotel. Well, he came running out of the Arena with about 200 people chasing him. We had a hard time getting away from that crowd.
Worked as a club D.J. from 1967-1975 at Iron Hinge (on Woodward Ave., next to Lelli's), Morey's (on Michigan Ave), Bookies Club 870 (on 6 Mile Rd.), Cafe Gi Gi's (on Warren Ave) and, in 1974, I was the first DJ for Disco Mondays at the Palm River Club on top of the Roostertail. I remember some of the Ford kids came every week.
Disco Mondays had replaced Motown Mondays where artists like the Four Tops, Diana Ross & The Supremes, etc. would perform. My DJ name was Russ Knight (Russ, from Russ Gibb) and (Knight, from Terry Knight). I had a day job and didn't want to use my real name.
Also, I knew a couple of the guys in my neighborhood who were in The Royaltones band.
The last time I was in the Detroit area was for my 30th class reunion in 1994. I'm now 64 and am writing a book about the many things I've done over the years.
I really do love your website. When I'm a little down, it puts a smile on my face to think about all the fun years I had in Detroit.
Ray Cooper
Houston TX
Cody '64
PS: Dennis Cole lived in my neighborhood. When I was a
teen, I worked at a drug store and Dennis often came in.
That was before he left Detroit and became famous. Just the
fact that he was married to actress Jaclyn Smith at one time
November's WHO AM I contest, it reminded me that my late
cousin, Jim Bajor, a pianist who played in restaurants and
other venues in the Detroit area, especially in the northern
suburbs, knew Casey.
Jim recorded piano music, wrote some of his own compositions
and was somewhat well known in the area. His music, which
some compare to George Winston, was used in a PBS special
about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and, many years
ago, he was interviewed by J.P. McCarthy on WJR's "Focus."
Jim's parents lived on Cyman Street in Warren — just north
of 8 Mile Road and about 3/4 of mile south of me — on the same
street. Jim and I both attended Warren Fitzgerald High School.
I graduated in 1959, and he, I believe, in 1971.
Jim began his piano lessons at an early age, paid for by his father who was very proud of his son's musical talents.
He was in the school band and played either the obo or the bassoon. He attended
Blue Lake Music Camp in Northern Michigan and then one semester at Church of Christ Bible College in Missouri before dropping out to pursue his dream. Jim's last steady gig was at Boodle's Restaurant on 11 Mile Road.
Jim died three years ago on December 21, 2006 at age 53 due to complications from a car accident. Fortunately for those of us who loved him, he lives on through his music.
Eileen, keep up the good work on behalf of our beloved city, Detroit.
Ron Kabacinski
Bronson, MI
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EILEEN'S NOTE:
Jim Bajor was a New Age music pianist with some jazz influences. His self-released debut album "Awakening" received a Grammy nomination. In 1995, he performed on the "Somewhere In Time" album, a cover version of Erroll Garner's 1954 Jazz standard "Misty." He also worked with PBS on a special about the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
Read about Jim's accomplishments and career highlights:
I love it when the newsletter arrives! It's like having a great present to unwrap...not sure what's inside...but you know it will be wonderful!
Mary Alice Smith
Regina '66
St. Clair Shores MI
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THIS ISSUE IS DEDICATED TO
DAVE DILES ~ 1931-2009
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(AP) — Former ABC-TV sports broadcaster and longtime "Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show" host Dave Diles has died at his home in Athens, Ohio. He was 78.
Detroit's WXYZ-TV said Monday he'd been in failing health since a stroke in
April and died Saturday night. Diles was the ABC affiliate's sports director in
1961-72 and 1979-82.
Diles was a familiar figure in Detroit sports in the 1960s through the 1980s when
he worked for WXYZ-AM and WXYZ-TV. He hosted "Dial Dave Diles,"
the first radio sports talk show in Detroit.
Diles also worked for several newspapers and reported for The Associated Press
in Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit in 1951-61.
In two decades with ABC Sports, Diles covered the Olympics, the Indy 500
and hosted "Wide World of Sports" and the
"Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show."
The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 2006.
Diles grew up in Middleport, Ohio, and attended Ohio University.
Diles has authored or co-authored eight books: Up Close and Personal: The Inside Story of Network Television Sports, From Ashes to Glory: Conflicts and Victories on and Beyond the Football Field , What Makes a Man?: 12 Promises That Will Change Your Life, Twelfth Man in the Huddle, Terry Bradshaw: Man of Steel, Duffy: An Autobiography, Archie: The Archie Griffin Story, and Nobody's Perfect.
DAVE DILES, who was Channel 7's sportscaster from 1961-
1972 and again between 1979-1982, was among the last local
television broadcasters to train in the world of print journalism.
Before being hired by Channel 7 in 1961, he had never been on
television, except as a guest. Diles had just finished emceeing
an event at the Redford's Western Golf and Country Club
one evening when a man in sunglasses approached him. "I'd
like to hire you," said the man. The man in the sunglasses was
Channel 7 General Manager John Pival. "Television was an
accident," Diles recalled.
Pival initially tried to hire Diles as a late-night talk show host. Diles' friends, Sonny Eliot and Seymour Kapetansky, dissuaded him. "They asked: 'If you had a choice between watching Steve All, Jack Paar or you, who would you watch?"' Diles recalled. Instead, he settled for a job as a sportscaster, replacing Don Wattrick.
The transition went quite nicely. Not only did he appear on Channel 7's airwaves, he worked Saturdays as a sportscaster for ABC Sports. His first Channel 7 gig ended in 1972. He quit after Channel 7 hired Al Ackerman. However, Diles was hired back in 1979 to replace Ackerman, who returned to Channel 4. "It was less fun," he recalled.
Along the way, Diles wrote eight books, including co-authorships of books with former Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain and former Michigan State University coach Duffy Daugherty. The Diles style was more journalistic, less hyper than the style popular at the beginning of the 21st century.
Diles left TV, saying "I wanted to get out before my boredom showed." He moved to a rural area outside of Athens, Ohio.
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DAVE DILES: WAYNE STATE AMBASSADOR
by Raymond Rolak
Past President, Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association
In the spring of 1934, Ford Motor Company opened the doors on a new pavilion
at the Chicago World's Fair. Called the Ford Exposition Building, it sat on
12 acres along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Near the center of the 900 foot long building stood a 12 story "rotunda." Essentially a hollow cylinder, the rotunda had at its center an open courtyard featuring a 20 foot-diameter, 12-ton, rotating globe called the "Ford World."
Late in 1934, it was announced that following the Fair, the Rotunda would be re-located to Dearborn to act as a visitor center and starting point for public tours of the Rouge. The original architect, Albert Kahn, was called upon to update the design for its new purpose. One thousand tons of structural steel as well as many of the interior displays were shipped from Chicago and reassembled on a 13.5 acre site across Schaefer Rd. from the Ford Administration Building.
Nearly 1.5 million people visited the Rotunda to see the displays, ride the cars, and tour the Rouge in the first 12 months after re-opening. Visitors saw how a car was designed, how steel was made, and how an assembly plant worked. Flower shows and custom car shows were also held within the Rotunda's walls.
But among the most memorable displays was the annual Christmas Fantasy.
Opening just after Thanksgiving, there were typically 60,000 or more guests on the opening Sunday. Children could visit with Santa or look at his workshop, while the
My friend's father, Jack Pearce, was one of the contractors working on the roof. The infrared heater he knocked over was a sold by a division of company
in Dearborn I worked for in the '60s. Jack ended up working for Ford
land development, his wife Margaret was a secretary at Ford, and his sons
John and Jeff worked at the dynamometer labs on Oakwood. John later went
to the steel division. Their grandfather was captain of the Henry Ford ship.
I was told Mr. Pearce was sent a bill for more than $1,000,000,
EILEEN'S NOTE: Detroiters loved this structure. So much so that the image of it burning is still disturbing for many of us. Considering it was the 5th most popular tourist destination in the U.S. at that time, the question we've all wondered is: Why didn't Ford rebuild? Anyone know? Email Eileen
On this guided tour, you'll learn about the shared history of General Motors and Detroit, explore the highlights of the 5.5 million square foot building and learn interesting facts about the building, which has its own zip code.
at age 69 of renal failure.
