The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 136

TJ UggHUjlLCp Sunday, July 5, 1987 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Radio days rftML in lampa MJMWM tflivigU mrrr-' ispff 1 Tom Ward displays two vintage if fir Z- 1 ftp. ft I i Tribune photograph by BRUCE JOHNSON Majestic radios, one in a grandfather clock. Follow-ups and flashbacks The article and photo based on a meeting of Majestic radio distributors in Tampa in 1929 seemed to "turn on" a number of old-radio buffs, who responded to my request for more information. Tom Ward, who runs a surplus electronics shop on North Armenia Avenue, repairs antique radios and collects them, too. He had no problem finding several Majestic models to give readers an idea of what the upscale radio sets looked like.

Ward showed off an imposing console as well as a curiosity a Majestic radio housed in a grandfather clock. 1 Ed Klar, who works with him part time, said Majestic's slogan was "Mighty Monarch of the Air." Both Klar and Ward noted that the line of radios originally was known as the Grunow, named for its first manufacturer. And Philip Strong called with even more specific information: He had lived in Lake Geneva, home of the late William C. Grunow. In fact, Strong said Grunow's widow still lives there.

The radio factory was in Chicago, and the Grunow family had an estate in Lake Geneva, 45 miles northeast of Milwaukee. Strong said. A ski hill built there was dubbed "Majestic Hills." And Ed Wyspianski of Tampa, another collector of early radio receivers, sent background material on the Majestic line. It was the trade name of the Grigsby-Grunow Co. until it failed in 1934, during the Depression.

"The Majestic Radio and Television Corp. carried on the Majestic he added. Grigsby sent photo-copies of a 1928 eight-tube Grigsby-Grunow Majestic which sold for $138. Later models carried such interesting names as Majestic "Screen-Grid Su-perhet" with five tubes in 1932, and "Mighty Monarch of the Air" in 1939. Ed Klar said the name made the transition into the television era, and "They made TVs into the color years." He added: "Majestic was still going in 1975." As for the radios, "They put out a fine product," Klar said.

Referring to the one Ward has in a grandfather clock, he said, "It sounds as good as anything on the market today." Asked if Majestic mixed its radios with record-players as several other manufacturers did in the late 1920s, Klar said he thinks they stuck to radios in that period. Later on, in the 1940s, the successor firm "undoubtedly did." Klar, who worked at a station in Cleveland in the early days of radio, said there was real competition to see who could pick up faraway signals. The Cleveland station received cards from listeners in Australia and New Zealand. He also recalled a station in Louisiana which served as a soapbox for a man who hated chain stores such as groceries. "He screamed at the top of his voice," Klar said.

V. '-i SI 1 i I i Photographs provided by Allison Wainright Mr. and Mrs. F.J. Reynolds are the young performers.

Allison the little boy in the dark coat. A birthday celebration for radio station WMBR brought a group photo of participants in the Children's Hour on the roof of the Flori- Leland Hawes Mailbag man' in the photograph is my father, Charles Branas. He owned the Dade City Furniture Co. and attended many such meetings at the old Hillsboro Hotel. He would bring home a glossy print for us to keep, and I'm sure this same photo is in the cedar chest at the old home place!" Memories of WMBR's 'Children's Hour' The listing of Tampa radio stations I included from the Tribune with that article failed to include WMBR, an omission that brought two letters.

Harry J. Mills, who lives in Hen-dersonville, N.C., said he was chief engineer in 1929 at WMBR, a station then broadcasting from the Flori-dan Hotel. "The station was owned by F.J. Reynolds, who was the Zenith distributor for the area," he wrote. "The transmitter was on the hotel roof and the studio on a lower floor.

I remember we had a remote pickup from Las Novedades restaurant in Ybor City Subsequently, time not known, the station changed hands, and the license was moved to Jacksonville." Allison Wainright, security director at Jim Walter Corp. and formerly a deputy chief in the Tampa Police Department, also remembers Station WMBR at the Floridan Hotel. Now 60 years old, he recalls singing at the station on a "Children's Hour" talent program every Saturday morning at 11. He was about 3 years old at the time, so that would have been about 1930. He would sing popular songs such as "Painting the Clouds With Rainbows," standing on a stool to reach the box-like microphone.

"You'd tell your name, address and how old you were," Wainright said. "Usually I was the youngest." His sister Louise, now Mrs. Floyd Colbert of Fort Lauderdale, would take him down to the studio every Saturday morning for several years. She was a singer and tap-dancer, too. After the program, the Wainright youngsters would meet their father at his real estate office in the Hinson Building downtown.

In addition to the radio performances, Wainright was part of a children's troupe that sang regularly at movie theaters around town. The "Seminole Vanities," for instance, was the name of the variety show they put on at the Seminole Theater. He said the theaters were packed with relatives and onlookers, so the performances obviously helped business at the entertainment houses during those Depression years. Asked if singing on the radio and at theaters made him special in his home neighborhood, Wainright said, "I don't recall being a celebrity." Waldo's reception for the Rough Riders A Tampa woman who prefers not to see her name in the paper nevertheless called to contribute this anecdote about her mother, who lived in the North Florida town of Waldo during the Spanish-American War. Advance word reached the town that Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders would be arriving on the train, en route to Tampa.

So citizens dashed to prepare for a reception to honor the colorful cavalrymen headed for the war in Cuba. The woman's mother, an outgoing young matron in 1898, was designated to take charge of the food and festivities at the railroad station during a brief stop. The train, puffing cross-country from Texas, was to switch onto the track to Tampa at Waldo, and the statlonmaster tipped off the Tampa woman's mother where Lt. Col. Roosevelt's car was going to stop.

"Miss Annie, you'll get to speak to him there," he assured her. And so it happened. The Rough Riders found hospitality, refreshment and cheers awaiting them in Waldo. tin in either 1931 or 1932. A number of prominent businessmen put together an effigy they dubbed "D.E.

Pression" and marched to the Hillsborough River, dumping the effigy into the water, Williams said. At that point, the false impression prevailed that if everyone "looked for the sunny side," economic problems would subside. Unfortunately, the Depression of the 1930s hung on virtually until the start of World War II and took more than stunts and bright outlooks to overcome. Williams said he and a brother started a dry-cleaning establishment at Florida Avenue and Fern Street in the early '30s, and "We stayed in business about six months. We had to sell out because business wasn't that good." Two brothers from Alabama bought the firm and within days got caught with a competitive price-cut.

While Williams had charged 25 cents to clean a suit, his successors found themselves forced to clean two suits for 26 cents. "They had to go along with the price," he said. "We got out just in time." Williams recalled that the repeal of Prohibition in 1934 enabled the Tropical Brewery to reopen, and it "took a lot of young men off the street." He remembered seeing a number who hung around, killing time because they were without jobs, at the Seminole Playground in his neighborhood. "The brewery hired a lot of young men, and it cleared out the playground." Williams himself had been laid off by Tampa Electric when things slowed down in 1930, and he didn't regain his job there until 1937. "I had done everything under the sun along the way," he said.

As late as 1935, jobs were scarce in Tampa, he said. "I heard things were pretty good in Miami, so I went down there and found a job the next day with a showcase and fixture company on Miami Beach. The tourist business seemed to have helped out down there. Things were booming pretty well in Miami." After a hurricane damaged the shop where he was working in November 1935, Williams knew that Florida Power and Light Co. could dan Hotel.

shown with Wainright is The young singer, Allison Wainright, sported bangs in this portrait. ticipants are encouraged to take brown-bag lunches. The evening course will start at 7:30 in Room 220 of Plant Hall. Refreshments will be served at both events. Sulphur Springs party and old-timers' reunion Sulphur Springs Action League Inc.

will celebrate the centennial with a block party and old-timers' reunion Saturday at the Springs Pool park. The event will begin at 11 a.m. and last "until dark." For more information, call 935-3115. If you have photos or recollections of Florida's past, write to Leland Hawes at the Tribune, P.O. Box 191, Tampa 33601.

I i I ii stv. "I was raised up hearing about the Tampa woman related, saying the future president told her mother his name was pronounced with a long "0." After the Rough Riders' relatively brief expedition to Cuba and the end of the war, the Tampa woman's mother received a package from New York. T.R. expressed thanks for the reception by sending a Japanese-made ginger jar. It has been treasured in the family ever since.

Mrs. Brightwell served buttermilk and biscuits I also came across a Rough Rider anecdote in D.B. McKay's column for Dec. 21, 1958. He used a letter from Leslie S.

Bray, relating an incident involving his in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. B.U. Brightwell. It seems the Brightwell family lived on a farm near today's Drew Park in Tampa, and in 1898 they had a visit from some Rough Rider horsemen exercising their steeds.

They were intrigued by some watermelons in Brightwell's watermelon patch and asked if he would sell some. "Help yourself," Brightwell said, refusing pay for the melons. The troopers gave coins to the Brightwell youngsters. On another occasion, Rough Riders came and found Lillie Brightwell churning, and they asked if she would sell them some buttermilk. Initially, she told them to "come back tomorrow," but their looks changed her mind.

Mrs. Brightwell served the horsemen not only buttermilk but also hot, buttered biscuits. "Their cheers were equal to those that later went up from San Juan Hill," Bray related. Pression' was dumped in the river The recent photos and article on how Tampa tried to cope with the early days of the Depression evoked memories for Ensley Williams. Seeing the elephant figure on the post office steps where gifts for the needy were dropped off brought to mind another stunt that occurred Photograph provided by Florida State Archives One of the few photos of the Rough Riders in Tampa shows them aboard ship at Port Tampa.

Relatives recognized at Majestic meeting As for the sales meeting of Majestic radio distributors in Tampa, it, too, brought informative calls. I mentioned that Stanley K. Wallace was listed in the city directory as sales manager for Majestic Distributing Corp. at 307 Florida and his granddaughter, Betty Suy-dam, called. She said Wallace was sitting third from left on the front row in the picture.

Originally from Marion County, Wallace had lived in Ballast Point before moving his family to Lutz In the early 1920s, she said. In addition to distributing radios, he was a manufacturer's representative for various electronic and auto parts places. This tied in with a recollection of Syd Lenfestey's that the G. Nor-man Baughman Co. owned the Majestic distributorship.

The Baughman firm also dealt in automobile parts and was one of the largest in lhe country, he said. "It was across from the old police station on Florida Avenue," Lenfestey said. Getting back to the photo of the assembled distributors, I called attention to the intense look of a man smoking a cigar on the front row. This brought a note from Marilyn Branas Keen: "The 'cigar-smoking, dark-suited use his experience in helping to clean up the storm damage. "They were tickled to see me," he said.

"I stayed on five months." Centennial mini-course offers Tampa lectures Monday the University of Tampa will present a mini-course on the history of Tampa as part of its observance of the centennial. There'll be noon and evening lectures In Plant Hall, presented by Dr. James W. Covington, history professor at the university and author of numerous articles on Tampa's past. Both mini-courses are free.

The noon one starts at 12:10 p.m. in Room 231, the "Rough Riders Room," and will end at 12:50. Par.