Arizona Memories recalls days
that are gone but not forgotten

Before television, air conditioning and backyard pools, Phoenix was a small town surrounded by farmlands and desert. On hot summer days, families picnicked along the banks of tree-lined canals and youngsters reveled in the cool water. A fiercely competitive women's softball league gave sports fans plenty to cheer about, and when the weekend rolled around, young people headed for the Riverside Ballroom, where many a romance blossomed to the sweet sounds of the big bands.

By artfully blending old photographs, vintage home movies and personal reminiscences, Channel 8 has created Arizona Memories, a video scrapbook of life in a small town, of simple pleasures and homemade entertainment.

Focus on Fun

The assignment to produce Arizona Memories was a real change of pace for Channel 8 staffer David Majure, who usually produces features for Horizon, Channel 8's nightly public affairs program. Though Majure has lived in Phoenix for 22 of his 29 years, he needed help since the period in question -- the 1920s to the 1950s -- was obviously before his time. He started out by contacting a few long-time residents who put him in touch with other people. Next, two community advisory committees were formed. "After a lot of input, we narrowed the subject to five main topics from more than 100," says Majure. "We decided to focus on what people did to have fun."

Then the real work began. After an inventory of libraries, archives and old newspapers, Majure started calling long-time residents to talk about their experiences and to find scrapbooks, articles, photographs and old movies. At first he says people were a little hesitant and guarded but they soon jumped on the bandwagon.

"I heard wonderful stories about how people met, had their first date, became engaged and got married. And at the end of the conversation they always said 'This was such fun . . . I haven't thought about these things in years . . I'm so glad you called.'"

Play Ball!

Majure discovered that taking pictures wasn't so much a part of life back then. Many of the people he talked to either didn't have photographs or couldn't find them. "I had people going through closets, looking under beds and searching garages all over the state." When he visited with Dottie Wilkinson, one of the star players for the Ramblers softball team, she showed him a little stack of old snapshots and said that was all she had. After some wheedling and cajoling he persuaded her to take another look. "We went out to her garage and climbed to the rafters looking through box after box of memorabilia." That effort paid off when he struck the mother lode: a pile of wonderful old publicity photos of the Queens and Ramblers in uniform. "Stuff like that just isn't available in libraries or archives," he says.

Like Wilkinson, former Arizona Governor Rose Mofford was eager to share her memories of playing first base for the Queens. "It was a terrific experience," she says. "I learned a lot about winning and losing."

When Majure noted that the players were publicized as "America's Most Beautiful Athletes," Mofford smiled. "Well, we wore shorts and looked good in the clothes and we brought the crowds out." But the Queens and the Ramblers were fierce rivals she says. "We were tough on the field and we played hard. We would fight to win."

Making a splash

One of Majure's finds was some rare movie footage of Riverside Park. The huge freshwater pool had a 30-foot diving platform but the main attraction was a tall cement slide where a future United States senator showed early signs of his competitive spirit. "I had the record for going down the slide and how far you could go out over the water," said the late Barry Goldwater, who confided his technique to Majure. "We'd roll our bathing suits up . . . get our rear ends exposed and get a little soap on it."

It's illegal to swim in the canals today, but in the 1930s they were a favorite summer hangout. And if you had a board, a rope and a car to pull you, the canal was an excellent place to surf.

Strike up the band

Riverside Ballroom was where the big name bands played when they came to Phoenix. For five cents a dance -- fifty cents for the whole evening -- you could dance to the music of Benny Goodman, the Dorseys, Artie Shaw or local favorites like Bob Fite and his Western Playboys and Pete Bugarin and his orchestra. "People would gather around the bandshell just to see them up close," recalls long-time resident Lou Ella Kleinz. "Young people came from far away. I'd meet people from Safford, Tucson and Yuma."

Bugarin recalls that the festive atmosphere led to many lasting romances. "A lot of people said 'I proposed to my wife at Riverside.' They went there, they met and they got married."

Masque of the Yellow Moon

"We couldn't do a program like this without including The Masque of the Yellow Moon. It was part of Phoenix history for three decades," says Majure. It was an outdoor extravaganza that he calls "the Super Bowl halftime show of its day." The name comes from an Indian legend about the yellow moon of springtime, and it featured hundreds of costumes and enormous sets. What is most remarkable is that it was produced almost entirely by students by Phoenix Union High School. By the mid-1930s critics were calling it one of the most outstanding theatrical events in America, and as many as 12,000 people from all over Arizona packed Montgomery Stadium.

Shared memories

Researching the program has given Majure a new perspective on his home town, one that he hopes newcomers and young people will also discover. "Now when I drive around the city I think about what used to be there. Like the downtown bus terminal -- that's where the Fox Theatre used to be. And I'm so pleased that the city restored the Orpheum Theatre at Second Avenue and Adams. Built in 1929, the Orpheum was the city's first grand movie palace and the only historic theater that still exists.

Majure believes everyone will enjoy Arizona Memories. "It's filled with the good times we all remember, no matter where we grew up. As narrator Pat McMahon says at the close of the program: What's gone isn't necessarily forgotten . . . the crack of the bat and the cheers of the crowd . . dancing cheek to cheek . . . swimming in the icy water on a hot July day . . . these are the feelings we get from our Arizona Memories."

Funding for this KAET Production was made possible by the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation and the KAET Program Partners. The program is broadcast in stereo and closed captioned for the hearing impaired.

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