00:00:03.000 - 00:00:38.549

No, we, we had bought a couple of knives, big knives but knives. And, uh, so we had them with us, man. You start scaring us. He said, uh, they are ghosts here and stuff. Is that one? Watch yourselves, watch yourselves because there goes here. So we

00:00:38.560 - 00:00:58.560

were in the room, she had a couple of beds and you gonna sleep in one and we were gonna sleep on the other one. So mayo, we said, ah, we went, went to bed, you know, if we got the, we put a bottle of so, but

00:00:58.869 - 00:01:26.760

may you put out the light? He grabbed one of his shoes and threw it to the hall of the, of the house. Oh, you started whooping out your name and started washing away at night. Now you came out scared. You know that was near El Paso

00:01:26.769 - 00:01:44.639

when you guys played and you had no place to stay so the women could stay with the promoter. He got scared. You give you, we had tonight. They'll shoot you crazy. Me, me, me put the light on, put the light on. I was wondering where you

00:01:44.650 - 00:01:59.639

would stay sometimes because I mean, they probably didn't, did you usually stay in people's houses? Yes. Uh, we used to have, I don't know, maybe, you know, more about it. There was a place where we used to go to, to Laredo. There was a house. I

00:01:59.650 - 00:02:22.570

don't remember what town it was and we stop and stay with that family but I don't know who it was, but probably many of them. Now, were you actually performing in Laredo or, um, the road? So sometimes you stayed where the road in the road, the

00:02:22.580 - 00:02:42.470

side of the road, just on the side of the road, where would you just kind of pull the cars over? And did you have blankets to sleep on or you brought some blankets along? Then my mother would cook in there. Rock and cook in the morning,

00:02:44.429 - 00:03:02.100

in the morning. You just kept going and uh she always was ready to make some food when you. Yeah. My mother didn't believe in going to a restaurant because I remember like I was telling you there was too much uh desegregation that they will sell you.

00:03:02.570 - 00:03:34.850

When you go to restaurant, they will serve you. So she would take everything. That's probably why they, they used to call her gypsy sometimes could be. Look in everything that we share with us, banks and mattresses, everything was on the car. You have a, you know,

00:03:35.380 - 00:03:52.940

when you step on them, they used to have a step in the old car. Yeah. Yeah. They have a running board. They, they used to put something on the side of the running board like that. Yeah. And they would put things like that. You had all

00:03:52.949 - 00:04:12.919

kinds of stuff stashed away there, bit of the fenders or everywhere. But, but you didn't pull a trailer. No, we didn't put a trailer. We had everything stashed away. He plays all the time in, uh, on a podium. You have Hilario Long here. Did you go

00:04:12.929 - 00:04:29.790

to Lubbock with him or he was? And, uh, we made, we made the show and then we got out and he said, I'm hungry. Let's buy something. Now, I said, yeah, we're all hungry. Let's go to a restaurant and, and buy us something or something. I

00:04:29.799 - 00:04:53.850

said, ok, so we went to this restaurant, see, were standing there and the waiter came over. He said, what you want. And I said, well, we did one about six hamburgers and she looked at me and she said, is he with you sooner? Who? Valeria? Valeria.

00:04:55.720 - 00:05:13.070

I said, and I said, yes, ma'am. He's with me. I said, well, I'll tell you, but I won't tell him. I said, well, ok, no matter serve me, well, you got to get out of there. Ok. So I said, ok, Valeria, she says, she don't want

00:05:13.079 - 00:05:27.459

you here. She says, for you to go out. Why? Well, I mean, because she don't wanna sell you. She's, this is the way it is here. So a little, went out to wait for me. So I got the hamburg, we got out there. But they said,

00:05:28.519 - 00:05:51.769

I'm, I'm not you. I'm not the darky wife. I'm not negro. I'm not dark that way. I'm at the dark. Well, you're heavy ways. I said, 00, she, she, she thought beer was, I don't know. I think she thought that either he was a negro or,

00:05:51.779 - 00:06:13.859

I don't know, but she didn't want him inside. She accept me, but she didn't accept me. It going, you're not in there? They were cooking. You were cooking there? I was in, in, in Lubbock, Texas. What was that in the fifties or something? Fifties? He said

00:06:14.470 - 00:06:36.649

I'm not alone. I, I thought you half way, I look half way you were, you were up on in Lubbock with your, with Maria and, and, and Juana. Uh, but Lydia wasn't with you. No, no, that was, was that after your mother passed or? No? She

00:06:36.660 - 00:06:57.929

was there too. I was before so funny that she was always there and she was the boss. Well, you were getting paid a dollar 50 a week, uh, weekend. Every, every weekend. This was during the time when you toured. Yeah. But no, when we were here

00:06:58.029 - 00:07:12.100

when you were here in San Antonio, I see, because we don't work. But I mean, we just staying here. Oh, I see. Because, uh, and I mean, she had saved the money so that she can pay you keep the money. How much did the others get?

00:07:12.670 - 00:07:34.019

Well, uh, like Maria would get, uh, like I say about 15, 1, about 1210, the mayor when he was married and then Charlie and my other, my nephew would get five. I would get to 50. How come you got so little one? 50? How come you

00:07:34.029 - 00:07:53.940

got so little? I don't know, I never, I, I never asked for a race you asked for. But, but, but when, when you were traveling and working, did she also pay you that I had better than anybody else? Hm. Because I, my wife would buy me

00:07:53.950 - 00:08:16.350

all the time. A bottle of tequila and beer. When, when this record? Oh, this was back in the time like the S 132 s where the IC 132. But this was like in the very early fifties or late forties when you were touring or when it

00:08:16.359 - 00:08:39.020

was 11 after the war. But before the war, no, it was after the war, after the war. That's when she bought the first house. I, what did I do? But when you went on tour, how did she pay you then? Like when you were out in

00:08:39.030 - 00:08:56.739

New Mexico or some place you, you didn't get paid at all? You mean she just took care of all the bills but, but you did, you guys didn't get any money at all? Juan and Maria would get some, and but you didn't get nothing. I had

00:08:57.000 - 00:09:22.250

room of more. What more do you want? And you got your tequila and beer? That's the one piece you weren't married then yet? Were you? I was, I was, I was in a house. Mm. Why do you think Juana got more than, than Maria. Maria. Maria

00:09:22.260 - 00:09:43.380

got more, or Maria? More than you? Oh, because she was older, I guess my figures I did, but none of them were married at that now. Neither of them. No, only me on Emanuel. Did he take his wife along or not? But, uh, only one time

00:09:43.390 - 00:10:04.859

he took, hm. What, what did you tell your mother? You said you said you were going up, do you know that I'm growing up, that I'm becoming a man but I only get $1.50 a week. Don't you think that I'm gonna have one girl one day?

00:10:04.869 - 00:10:23.020

And then how am I gonna take her to the movies or something? That's your problems? Are, is that what you said? She wouldn't give you no raise? Yes, that's the problem. I was curious about it. Did they, did they ever sing around the house or did

00:10:23.030 - 00:10:34.780

you just do it when it was a job to do? Huh? You in the house a lot, sing in the house a lot. Did, did they practice songs there or just for the fun of it? Sit down the three of them. Maria, Juan, Maria Lia? And

00:10:34.789 - 00:10:51.710

my mother, I'm gonna teach you how to play. You don't know that, uh, it was, it was beautiful. It was really beautiful music. Uh huh. Play guitars, playing the same time. I'm playing the same way. Uh, well, Maria played, and Lydia played guitar and your mother

00:10:51.719 - 00:11:09.119

played guitar too as well. Um, did they, would they do this often in the evening or, or, or, or the daytime or? No? Every, every other, every other birthday that daddy had and she had a lot of birthdays. I said every, every other week, every other

00:11:09.130 - 00:11:29.599

week, see they would play, they were pre playing in, uh, like, for instance, Arturo or Pulmo Bar or places. And she and Janie would say it's gonna be my birthday. I want you to go to my birthday. So, do, do you remember, did they ever, the

00:11:29.609 - 00:11:47.119

three of them all sing together, like voices or did the Elvis have two voices? No, they, they all sang together when we were in the house. Yeah. We were recording anything like that. We just, everything, all the family were fun. And, uh, Maria, long time I

00:11:47.179 - 00:12:02.919

would see the piano we start playing and then to be able to pick up the guitar and start singing. I juana and me and e Mayo and Charles. Uh huh. The singing funny guy. His wife. Yeah. She used to sing with Maria play the piano and

00:12:02.929 - 00:12:18.219

she would sing. Oh, she would come and sing. But they were living, she was living in San Antonio again. By that time they'd come back from Mexico, they had a bakery. Oh, that's right. They had the bakery here. Did you guys go there a lot to

00:12:18.229 - 00:12:49.710

the bakery and, yeah, we go to the bakery and get some good stuff and, uh, well, you could get it. Yeah. Now, how is, how is he related to you? Well, he's, he's a son of my niece, Monica's daughter. Monica's daughter is her son. He's his,

00:12:50.369 - 00:13:07.559

his, what is his name again? Monsanto? And his last name is Martinez. His name is Joe Martinez. Joe Martinez, but he calls himself Mons Monsanto in the orchestra. Yeah. Uh huh. And he plays in an orchestra. He has an orchestra. Oh, he's a leader? Oh, really?

00:13:07.570 - 00:13:28.840

What does he play with instrument? You know, he plays all of it. Yeah. But he's a main instrument. No. Well, he, he plays the guitar sometimes he plays whatever he wants to play. He's a boss sometimes. He don't do nothing there. So, so that's one musical.

00:13:29.119 - 00:13:46.059

I see. You, you feel it sort of skips a generation sometimes. Uh huh. And then it, and then it comes back to my daughter. Don't, don't like it. We don't know. Maybe my grand, but your granddaughter likes to sing. She might be something. And, yeah. Yeah.

00:13:46.070 - 00:14:05.400

Do you know any of Lydia's grandchildren that like that? No, they're so pretty. But, yeah, they're still pretty young, they're young and the ones that are old, they don't like the, we never can tell. Yeah, blood is run very, very seriously. Is it, is it known

00:14:05.409 - 00:14:25.500

as Monsanto and his orchestra or what is it called? Monsanto? Monsanto Point? No, that's all, that's it. That's Monsanto. They know that's an o and that's known around here orchestras. Uh uh, we, we were coming from, uh, from Detroit, you know, see, my father was made

00:14:25.549 - 00:14:41.780

up from where he used to work. They, they, they were, they had rented a, a big house so they could, uh, they could, uh get some orders and they used to allow some, she was doing prohibition and they used to allow her to make beer. You

00:14:41.799 - 00:14:55.770

know, uh, how do you call that kind of being the treat to be, I guess. What do you call it? But just to set up with the, whenever they eat, they, they have to, to get that near beer or something. Yeah. Near beer. Yeah, that's right.

00:14:56.010 - 00:15:10.770

And then they, uh, when, when, when we made enough, my mother made enough money and my father made enough money. So we did it. So they decided to come back to Mexico. So, uh my, my father said, well, we go back to Monterey because he, he,

00:15:10.780 - 00:15:25.539

he didn't like to, he like the United States. So my mom, my mom didn't want to go back to Mexico. So we came to, we had a sister Monica live in Sugar. So when we got to, uh, when we left, we, we took a long time

00:15:25.549 - 00:15:40.799

to get from, uh from Detroit to, to Sugarland. It took us about a whole week. You know that because we were, we were traveling in a dodge and all the, uh when I was at that time, it was fairly new i in a new model T

00:15:40.809 - 00:15:59.479

truck. We put all the, all our belongings in there. When we came over, I rode with my father and my mother and, and was a baby. My sister live there, Juanita and Maria and Pita, they, they were all coming and they were right on the big

00:15:59.489 - 00:16:19.989

Dodge, big convertible Dodge. When we got to, uh, Saint Louis, we got, we got sidetracked and my father took the wrong, the wrong road and, and uh, my, my brother in law went to the street that would come down towards Texas. So when the, when the

00:16:20.099 - 00:16:32.770

father we met, my father was a cousin like me and he said, where the hell is my brother in law? He take the wrong, he was the one who we were on our way to Canada already, you know, going up towards, uh, in, uh, Missouri, going

00:16:32.780 - 00:16:49.169

towards uh Minnesota, I mean Iowa highway. So I guess they missed us. So my brother had to go to go back to San Luis and I tried to go pick, pick us up. Well, I was scared in here, man. And I thought it was, I wanted

00:16:49.200 - 00:17:02.340

them to go to my mother again, but I was a good kid during that early time. Were you already singing with the group or? Did you? Well, no, no, no, no, I was just, I was just a little, I was, let's say in 1928 I was

00:17:02.349 - 00:17:19.859

five years old. Yeah. So this, this was about four years later. When was this, when was it when we came back to Detroit? No, we came back to Detroit in 1930 1930. Was it 30? When were we born? 1930 to 39? It was probably 1930. When

00:17:19.869 - 00:17:40.310

we came back. It was, it must have been around, no, it was 1930. The, the, the end of 30 I think around December, something like that. Then we came to uh Children man. You know, I, one time I, I started writing memories, you know that when

00:17:40.319 - 00:17:52.660

that, when that, when that happened about all, all that it happened, you know, all that happened to me, you know, during my childhood, like when we used to live in Detroit and it, it all seemed like a dream but I, I used to, I used to

00:17:52.670 - 00:18:09.010

enjoy it. You know, it didn't because I uh I was, I was a young kid. We start being my mother put us in school in Detroit, you know, she did. Yeah, we uh we started going to school. I, I don't know. I was in the first

00:18:09.020 - 00:18:23.150

grade. My, my teacher's name was Mrs. Y, I don't know how to spell that name but it was you and via the teacher was Miss Mrs Brown. It used to be, I think in the second or 2nd, 3rd grade when she was a man. I was

00:18:23.160 - 00:18:34.270

in first grade. What did your father think about you going to school? Did you like it? No, I don't think. No, no, he used to complain about, you know, he used to always say that, you know, he, we didn't need any school and he didn't have

00:18:34.280 - 00:18:46.760

any school himself. So, and he had made a deal for himself. So he didn't, he didn't, he didn't care, he didn't care about us going to school. My mother was the one that was always, you know, trying to get us educated. And uh so we stayed

00:18:46.770 - 00:19:00.130

there for a while and I used to, I used to enjoy school. I used to really enjoy it. I remember that as a kid, you know, been so many years. I said, I still remember that the, I was the teacher sitting right in front and he

00:19:00.140 - 00:19:14.900

said a lot of questions and I, I was kinda, I was easy to learn. I don't know why, but I guess not. Did you, did you feel any qualms about speaking English or, or could you catch on pretty good? No, I did get pretty good because

00:19:14.910 - 00:19:27.140

I used to talk to my mother in English. Oh, really? When, when I was little, you know, the little English that I learned, you know, like I used to ask her it's tomorrow school and are we going to school tomorrow? We gonna take a lunch and

00:19:27.170 - 00:19:41.229

all that? Because the teacher probably didn't speak Spanish. No, no, they were all, they were all, there were no bilingual in those days. I don't think so. How about the kids in school? Were they pretty mixed or was it were no mo most of them were,

00:19:41.239 - 00:19:59.810

they were packs and uh packs and then there was uh why did you uh Anglo? But I mean not too many Mexicans. There was Mexican people in though. I remember though because you know, we used to live in a right off Michigan street. They uh we

00:19:59.819 - 00:20:14.329

used to live in an apartment, apartment complex. They, they, they was right off Mich Michigan Street. And I remember when I was about uh must have been about five or six years old. And so I was playing with this kid. We used to live right next

00:20:14.339 - 00:20:26.380

door to us and he, he asked me to go with him to Michigan Street to to go get some, his mother had sent me to go buy something and then my mother said, no, you're not going to do it because that kid is a, he's, he's

00:20:26.390 - 00:20:36.239

a mean kid. I don't want you to hang around here. So I said, then you went inside the house and she went to take a bath when you wanted to take a bath. The kid told me, oh, come on, let's go away. Oh, yeah, I remember

00:20:36.250 - 00:20:52.060

that story. I told that one you already told me that was a good story. Yeah, that's so that, that, that's when you decided was that. Did you, did you go to any, any more school after that? When you went to Sugar Land and stuff? No, no,

00:20:52.069 - 00:21:07.650

I, I uh when we came back in, in Texas, San Antonio, we moved from, from Houston to San Antonio. We, we came here in 1931 or 32. I don't remember exactly what day it was, what, what day it was. But then see we uh my mother

00:21:07.660 - 00:21:21.270

went into for, to get an interview over. So she, she went to, she didn't want to put us in a public school though. So she went to this uh Catholic school parochial school and then uh she enrolled us there. I think she used to pay only

00:21:21.280 - 00:21:33.810

a dollar a month or $2 a month. I don't remember how much it was, but then we pay for it. But then Janie, she didn't have to pay for Jenny because, you know, she was pretty talented. They used to use her in that and play, they

00:21:33.819 - 00:21:48.810

used to like singing and dancing. She was real cute, kind of chubby and she was really cute. You know, and she used to be very talented to, to sing a lot. So they didn't used to charge her for her tuition. Just mine. She was in the

00:21:48.819 - 00:22:03.750

first grade. I was in the second grade. Was this in S A Zona in San Antonio right here in my heart of Maine. Right. The church still there? The school still there? No, no, no, no, no, Maria would, would all the kids speak Spanish there or

00:22:03.760 - 00:22:19.239

was it also in English? No, most of them, most of those kids were, there was only about one or two Anglos in that place. But most of them were, my teacher was sister, sister Mildred. Did she speak Spanish? No, no, she wasn't. She was an Anglo.

00:22:19.250 - 00:22:32.430

So all the teaching was done in, in English. The on the on. Yeah. The only, the only one that could speak man was sister Monica. She was a Mexican. None. She was a mother superior there. No, no, no. Sister Angela was a mother superior but sister

00:22:32.439 - 00:22:49.119

Monica used to speak good in good Spanish. She, I think she was a Mexican then. But my sister, my, my teacher was sister, mild sister Monica was Jamie's teacher. She's the one that gathering to, you know, start appearing on some play. They used to make in

00:22:49.140 - 00:23:05.949

school. So we didn't stay there too long because you know, we started to uh going out and singing and you know, my mother start making us some, some costumes or to appear in the shows, you know, like, uh, there used to be a theater by Co

00:23:06.439 - 00:23:23.780

Beos right there. De Mora and Guadalupe at the corner of Casa Morris in Guadalupe. Yeah. You know, there's a, the, so the Sotos Cafe now that it's, the building is still there. He turned into a, at the restaurant but, you know, the form, the theater form

00:23:23.790 - 00:23:38.829

is still there. It's right here on, on what street? And, and, and why did you do that? We, we, we put in some stage shows there. Oh, I see. We, we, who, who did me and Jamie and, uh, of course, Lydia, you know, we used to

00:23:38.839 - 00:23:52.569

sing with the group and then it was before she got pretty well known, you know, before it must have been, must have been a ironic in 1932 or 33. Then there was another theater across the street from the, you know, where the Gulu theater is now

00:23:52.959 - 00:24:11.380

right now in Brussels. And it used to be a pro, a progressive theater right across the, huh? Ok. You're right across the street from the progressive theater. That, that's what they used to have a great big stage. They didn't have no, no place to dress or

00:24:11.390 - 00:24:24.939

anything. But they, they used to have a great big stage on a big platform that everybody should have. We used to put on some shows in there and there was a, what, what part did you do in it. You remember what a comedian like with, with,

00:24:24.949 - 00:24:43.119

with, with Jamie. We used to make a, do it come, comedy, do it. And we used to sing and, and sing comedy songs. I mean funny songs like Las Pua Cars and uh in general, not in Finland we used to play there. And then we also

00:24:43.130 - 00:25:05.089

played some, some tents. Missing GPA Garcia is called it Garcia tent show. There was two, there was a Cuban and there was a Garcia and they, they were all here. They used to put in different places in the Cuban. The Garcia. Would you, would your father

00:25:05.099 - 00:25:19.165

go with you or was it just uh no, my father didn't. No, he just stayed home. But it was your, your mother and, and, and Lydia and you, and, and, and Juan, no, Juanita was too little and Maria and Pita Pita is the one that got

00:25:19.175 - 00:25:33.954

killed in coming from Houston. What, what, what part did she do in the, in the show for Juanita? Maria? Pita used to play the, the first, used to play the track. Then after she got the guitar and she used to play a good guitar. Uh Did

00:25:33.964 - 00:25:49.040

she also sing? Yeah, but she was very bashful though. She died in 1938 though she died on a, on a kind of uh actually they had coming from Houston. I remember that story. Did they tell you when you, when you were playing in Houston. We, we

00:25:49.050 - 00:26:02.300

came over and did they turn over a view on, on Lly and then she got hurt. So that's uh and, and, and then, so, so you said I quit school during this time or? Yeah, and I know we quit, we quit school so we can go

00:26:02.310 - 00:26:20.209

out traveling around or playing here playing there. Did Andrew tell me about that time when he, when he was a little kid, they baptized him. We used to have some friends and some friends of ours that we did this, this little guy. You know what, what

00:26:20.219 - 00:26:32.650

little guy was about my age. You know, my mother, you know, in those times it was hard to uh to make any parties of any kind. So she, my mother went and bought a 15 cents worth of cheese, the, the yellow cheese to make some enchiladas.

00:26:34.219 - 00:26:49.430

And you know, when, when they were already told this guy guy, a friend of ours, you know, the young guy came in, he older than cheese man. He ate all the cheese and the leopard tortillas and oh, my mother got so mad poor guy. That was

00:26:49.439 - 00:27:01.439

a funny part of it. You know, she, she ate all the cheese. They got, got them cheese and then my mother got up to me and give me a good whip. You thought I had done it? It wasn't, neither had no, it was the other guy

00:27:01.489 - 00:27:17.410

that did it. So that, that was a, you know, it's a funny thing that happens, you know, in your life, you know, you don't, you don't think about the, the, the words. Then when did this start? You know, then we start going to the, to the

00:27:17.420 - 00:27:32.709

plaza and we sing in the plaza in the market square used to be a, ok. So when the, when and then, uh we used to uh sing in there and then there used to be another Chili queens around there where we were singing. We used to

00:27:32.719 - 00:27:45.020

sing and pass on the p and so while we were singing that we, on winter time, we used to have a, one of those carro heaters in which you put it right there. We was see it right there. A lot of people used to congregate around

00:27:45.030 - 00:27:57.479

us. We would sing one or three songs and uh one of us, me or Maria would get up and pass the plate around and we, they, they drop it. I used to steal the, the little di, you know, when I used to go pick up so

00:27:57.489 - 00:28:11.430

I could go to the show the next morning and why I didn't think about it. You know, now, now I, I don't think it's funny now but it, it's, it was very serious and my things because, you know, I had, had the, the experience that I

00:28:11.439 - 00:28:25.810

have now, I mean, I know how I wouldn't have done it because, you know, I know that my mother was struggling to, you know, my father didn't work. So we used to, we used to get welfare and then, then the year I remember, did you, did

00:28:25.819 - 00:28:36.900

your father ever talk to you about how, how bad he felt about not being able to work in? No, he wanted to go back to Mexico. That's the reason he didn't want to work. He said as long as he's here in the United States, he wasn't

00:28:36.910 - 00:28:53.949

about to work and he kept his work. He, he started drinking a lot though. He, he still felt that Mexico was his home and he, right, he, he, you know, he was a smart man. He was a man. The man could take a disassemble an engine

00:28:53.959 - 00:29:09.260

and put it back together and he was very smart. He worked at the and in those engines, you know, in, in Monterey and then he worked at the C said, yeah, you know, the, the brewery carta bla and he, he, he, he was a smart man,

00:29:09.270 - 00:29:22.239

but he just got the drinking a lot. And that's what, in fact, that's what he died of, on account of the drinking. By the time you came, he came here, I guess that depression was on and I guess it was really hard to find work. Yeah,

00:29:22.250 - 00:29:36.319

it was, it was, it was hard. Like, you know, when we used to live in Houston, it was rough, very rough. Me and my brother you know, Beatrice is, you know, the girl, my other sister that you met, we used to live right there in Houston

00:29:36.329 - 00:29:48.189

and at night, you know, me and he used to get me in a little mo car. He had, we used to go steal some ties to, to build fires because it was so cold. It was very cold in the, in those days. And we didn't have

00:29:48.199 - 00:30:02.295

any, any, any coal or wood. So we used to go to and, you know, the fact that, you know, the man in the car that used to be there, he, he wouldn't bother us, pick them up, put them in the truck, I guess they, they realized

00:30:02.305 - 00:30:13.614

that, you know, where did, where did you get to put that? Some, some, uh, some railroad stations over there? You know, where, where they had, there was those tires, you know, those that they put on the railroad tracks. Oh, yeah, the, the, the big tires and

00:30:13.625 - 00:30:26.925

cut them up and then they used to have that to, to build the ra, I guess, and we just steal one window, take it home and cut it in pieces, put in the fire. So that, that, that's how we kept warm. So that, that was, uh,

00:30:28.119 - 00:30:44.390

it was, you had to leave some meine somehow. And then, uh, we used to, then we started one time we had that, I don't know, they got the money, but we, we bought a little car, a little old, old car. And we, we used to go

00:30:44.400 - 00:30:57.880

out, you know, and, and sing in, in places like this up in there. There was, uh, there was a hamburger place right there, right on the underest in Houston used to be a hamburger place and we used to get up there and sit there and sing

00:30:58.089 - 00:31:11.579

and all the people coming in and buying hamburgers. They all smell good, man. But then we couldn't afford to get them. We were just playing singing there to try to get some money. How long, how long would it take you to sing before you can buy

00:31:11.589 - 00:31:23.930

yourself? Oh, man, it takes a long time because, you know, not too many people who had, could afford to give money on the stage. You know, there used to be a lot of color guys hanging around buying hamburgers there. You know, that, that, that person need

00:31:23.939 - 00:31:36.569

to sing me. And what did you think of, of your music? But they just did. We just stay right there looking at or I guess, I don't know whether they enjoy it or not, but they, they were and just, I guess it kind of strike them

00:31:36.579 - 00:31:54.020

funny. And, uh, after we bought that little car and the car, then we had the, we had one of those on the side of the running board, we had the sort of like, uh, covered it, you know, the bow. You used to put the instrument in

00:31:54.160 - 00:32:08.540

there one time we were going and this guy come and brought here to broad side to up all the instruments. We then that, that really with a hardship on now to get some more instruments. So we finally, we finally got some more instruments. We uh we

00:32:08.550 - 00:32:22.760

decided to travel, we went to, uh we used to go to go new, go, you know, that, that place where they make the so, and we make good money there. I remember I was a big kid and then I, we used to sing in there, you

00:32:22.770 - 00:32:39.390

know, in places and back then and barber shops are outside. And what was the town's name? Golf? The new golf, right? That close to a, near Galveston? No, it's not near g, it's, it's a place where they make the soaper. Oh, over, over in Louisiana. No,

00:32:39.400 - 00:32:54.500

no, it's right here in, in, in Texas. Right close to, uh, what's the name of that place? And the name of the, is the go old golf and the new golf. And then they have a great big blocks of so, you know, where people used to

00:32:54.689 - 00:33:14.859

smell like it smells like. So, yeah, I mean, we used to work there. You need another beer. No, no, I still have one. I got you talking so I get a chance to drink your beer. Um, and, but they, they, they had a lot of Mexican

00:33:14.869 - 00:33:37.260

workers there who were like, oh, yeah, but 75% or maybe 90% wasn't Mexicans in that place. They should treat them real, real good people that even my mother had some, uh, you know, it's close to her. I have the name of a thing. You had an

00:33:37.329 - 00:33:51.400

Me with Choy. Exactly. But it's not too far from Houston. It's not, it's close to the, close to the coast, you know, on, on, uh, on, on the way to the name is golf. No, no, not the way to go. It's over here, going through, uh,

00:33:51.760 - 00:34:06.680

you have to go through, uh, to Sugarland, sugar Land to uh Richmond R to uh Rosenberg, then to the left and Rosenberg and going to that towards the Gulf. And then there's this place called Golf Gul. And there's a new golf, new golf and old golf

00:34:08.260 - 00:34:30.649

and that's where we used to go. Uh, yeah, where would you sing there? Just on the street or you just on barber shops or, or some, some place, some restaurant outside the restaurant. We did it all right. And we stayed there for weeks. My mother has

00:34:30.659 - 00:34:52.050

had a, had a friend that had gone to school with her in Mexico and live in that place. And now they're here in San Antonio and I don't know what happened to them. It is worth the time. Um, when you were out in the street, like,

00:34:52.060 - 00:35:06.530

did, did you also get a chance to sing some songs or, or did you mostly, uh, just be the comedian or, well, you were still, when we were going on and we all had the state show. Well, this is still those early days. Noel, in the

00:35:06.540 - 00:35:23.360

early days we had, we had, I didn't use to sing, you know, saying no, that was until maybe just before I went to service. That is when I started, when, when that company came and made that record with you and, and uh and, and Juanita, uh

00:35:23.379 - 00:35:40.639

that was about the first time. Oh, yeah. When, when I'll be, I'll be sending you that night. I don't know. It was, was it Blue Bird or it was, it was here in San Antonio? Yeah, it was here in San Antonio. By, by that time you

00:35:40.649 - 00:35:55.600

were already singing a little bit. Well, not, not the, not the, that's what we used to do and singing in the theaters when we used to put the station, we used to make a comedy act and to make it to make the show larger longer. Me

00:35:55.610 - 00:36:09.449

and they, they, they put out a number that me and Juanita used to come out and sing after making the com comedy. Then that was before this guy took over, took over as comedian. Then I, when, when I, when, when did that happen? What's that? When

00:36:09.459 - 00:36:30.610

did, when did he take over as, oh, when I went the service? Was it before or after we went after you before or that was it after I back in the army? Yeah, he told me about it in Raton, New Mexico is when Andrew took over

00:36:30.620 - 00:36:47.770

as, as a, as a comedian. He, he pretty good though. He got a name chain. Uh, uh, uh, you know, when we went to New York did, they did it when we went to New York. No, I never really got a story. I never got rid

00:36:47.780 - 00:37:04.370

of it when we went to, we, we, when we were in there in a, in a tour, you know, we played in, uh then, then we went to uh Chicago Detroit in Detroit. We left, we got a contract to go work in there, New York at

00:37:04.379 - 00:37:18.669

the Hispano Theater. And then I was, I was doing the comedy act. This was in 1941 just, just before the war started. Right. There was when, uh when we were over there, you know, when we were over in New York, that's when me and my brother,

00:37:18.679 - 00:37:33.870

we see this fight between Joe Louis and Lou Nova. Uh that, that's uh we, we played there one week only but, you know, you know, in that, in that place, there's not too many Mexican people, there's only Spanish and Puerto Ricans and Cubans. So we, we

00:37:33.879 - 00:37:46.120

played one week at the theater. It, it, it went all right. There was a lot of people there and the numbers hit, right. Everybody seemed to enjoy the show then. That's all we did one week, then we had to uh rent a, a home by the

00:37:47.030 - 00:37:59.429

Epa Hispana Mea. When we went to put a show on 21st street. That's where most of the Mexican people in, in New York. Not too many of them. So we, we played there and then we came back, man, we had some hard times that we finished

00:37:59.439 - 00:38:14.669

on that on that week at the panel theater. How did, how did you get there? Did you drive? Yeah, we drove over there. You know, we, we thought we'd never get there. You know, we had an incident going on all over there when we were uh

00:38:15.310 - 00:38:26.739

when we were going, when we left Detroit to go to New York, we, we drove it a long time ago. It's a long damn way, man. I thought we never get there, you know, on the way over there we stopped in some place and I don't

00:38:26.750 - 00:38:43.010

remember what, what state it was, but it wasn't a town, little town that has some tourist courts. Oh, you told me about that? I tell you when we got gas in Pennsylvania, you almost got gassed there. That was a terrible uh uh but who else was

00:38:43.020 - 00:38:58.425

on that stage show? Was it just, just the Mendoza family or did you have some, some other, there was Montes, there was AAA master ceremony. Antonio Montes, he's dead now. Antonio Montes. And who else was on the show? That's all that's all, that's all there. The

00:38:58.435 - 00:39:22.969

rest of my family. Was it an orchestra or was that was an orchestra? Backing? No, Mary used to play the piano. Mary. She's the one that we just so, no, no, no, it's, it's all right. Don't, don't worry about it. No, I don't worry. You know,

00:39:22.979 - 00:39:41.939

my wife starts coughing whenever I smoke. I, I kind of hate about the background. Did you, uh, did, did we tell you about the, them in there that in Nebraska? Didn't you heard about that? Which the a in Nebraska, we know li almost got killed. Yeah,

00:39:41.989 - 00:39:57.489

I think you told me about that one when they were coming from Scott to Lyman. The, the car turned over and we saw that the not, you mean that is just where, where Panchita got killed? No, no, no, it was an accident that was later on,

00:39:57.500 - 00:40:16.770

later on. She was already dead and it happened. No, I don't really know what year it was but they, uh, they were coming from, it was in 19 3839. No, Pacino was there already. Uh, we were, we were playing in, in Lyman, Nebraska. We were staying

00:40:16.780 - 00:40:32.189

in, in Scottsburg and, and we went to, we were supposed to, we couldn't find a place in Lima because it was a small town. So we had to play there. So we stayed in Los Colo and via, used to leave before we did. See, we, we

00:40:32.199 - 00:40:57.540

didn't beat the afterwards. So Lydia and Maria, Maria, Maria and Lida. No. Panchita. No, no. And, and a Nebraska, Maria Prima Henry, Henry Hen Henry. And when they see they were coming from and then they left, they left about an hour or so before we did.

00:40:57.610 - 00:41:12.969

And at the, at the w we left, we were going down this dirt road. Then I saw a car and they said, oh, look at a bad accident. I was leaving this car all smashed up. They, they have not black, not, uh, broken up, uh, high

00:41:12.979 - 00:41:26.639

tension wire, uh, Juan Turon Post, they broke it in half and they, they, they knocked the word, they were losing. They said, lady, they come out and the baby would say, well, lady luck wasn't, wasn't on her side because she just got to cut her hand

00:41:27.709 - 00:41:42.229

still like that. She wouldn't even move and make that appearance at the Lyman Theater. And, uh, yeah, so we went, we got there, we had to, uh, they had to get another car and all that. There are so many things, you know, they, they, they come

00:41:42.239 - 00:42:01.310

slowly slowly. Um, did you, did, did you meet up with any discrimination on those trips that you remember? No, the only, the only, the only thing sort of this was that when we used to go rent the tourist court, you know, they see my mom, my

00:42:01.320 - 00:42:12.379

mom used to wear some great big earrings like, you know, like the gypsies were, they thought we were gypsies. So they, they wouldn't rent, they wouldn't give him the rent. They don't rent no place. So we had a hard time trying to find a place to

00:42:12.389 - 00:42:31.300

stay, man. We had a hard time. I used to dread going, you know, I was the one that was thrown in to go rent the damn place and it was there. He would, he would, he would, he would hide Andrew his own, his own count because

00:42:31.310 - 00:42:48.370

the con was, he was, he was a young kid. Can you remember any special incidents where, where they wouldn't be rendered to you? No, just, just the one when, when we, uh, when they, they wouldn't, they won't give us that they, they had a vacancy but

00:42:48.379 - 00:43:10.570

they, they said they wouldn't, they wouldn't have any vacancy and the sign said vacancy, but still said what happened? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was when we went to New York that was in Pennsylvania. Then the, let's see, you know, when we were, I remember when we

00:43:10.580 - 00:43:27.560

were in, when the war broke out, you know, in December the seventh, we were working in Wattenburg, Colorado the day we, we had, I remember as if it was yesterday we were staying in this tourist court and, uh, you know, Montes, you know, the guy, he

00:43:27.570 - 00:43:41.300

was, he was a very, very, very of all the war and all that. And he came and said, you know, what happened. They attacked Pearl Harbor. Nobody knew what, where Pearl Harbor was. Nobody knew what it was. I guess just like a lot of other people

00:43:41.310 - 00:43:57.010

didn't know what to Pearl Harbor. And I was listening on the, on the car radio about the news that they had attacked Pearl Harbor. I used to enjoy, you know, relative, we come, coming from giving a show and coming to go to bed and I used

00:43:57.020 - 00:44:10.360

to enjoy, stay in the car and listening to the radio to listen to music from, from, yeah, I used to get the wi I from San Antonio all the time right there in Colorado. Yeah. What kind of music did you play? Well, they play in the

00:44:10.370 - 00:44:28.429

Anglo music, I mean to the music, music. Yeah. And you would sit in the car by yourself. Yeah, I used to listen. Well, you know, in uh I don't remember what year it was one time we went in Denver and uh we had some, a little

00:44:28.439 - 00:44:38.860

time off. I don't remember why we had time, time off. I had a little time off. So I went to, I used to like to dance a lot. I always have liked to dance. I'm considered a pretty good dancer, you know, I'm a ballroom dancer. So

00:44:38.870 - 00:44:52.580

I, I went to this uh this place they called the Rich Gardens right there in Denver. And you know who was playing there, Glenn Miller and he was playing there and we, of course, at that time, I didn't realize who he was until after, you know,

00:44:52.590 - 00:45:04.155

during the war when he got famous and all that, but that's who he was. And you, you, you went to dance. I went to that game. I remember with this uh this Anglo lady, you know, this young lady told me what, what a good dancer I

00:45:04.165 - 00:45:16.875

was II, I don't remember what happened. Oh II, I was supposed to go, go with her, take her out with me. But then, then my, my mother was wanting to go and go take her someplace. So I had to go back and, and then I lost

00:45:16.885 - 00:45:31.320

out on that and I, I have a lot of fun and sometimes I usually enjoy myself. We used to play with movie star too. They, they, they even leave the only ones where with movie stars right there in Denver. We played with Juan Jose Martinez Casa.

00:45:31.520 - 00:45:46.159

It was AAA lead in many Mexican movies. What was, what was the star's name? Juan Jose Martinez Casado. He, he used to, he came out in a lot of movies and we were right there in Denver. We were put on another show and he came over

00:45:46.169 - 00:45:57.010

to our president rooms, you know, he came on, you know, and there was these two young girls then they, they started asking me to give me my, give him my autograph and I was writing my autograph on the head and this man comes to and say

00:45:57.639 - 00:46:11.729

he told who he was. The, the girl didn't share. They just, they want to give them my autograph. So, and then he went and told told, look, I'm the movie star running. Why, why, why the girl, why, why is he getting in there? He tell me

00:46:15.929 - 00:46:42.419

what happened when we play Pedro S Oh, that wasn't 39. That was 1939. Oh man, that's the 39. I don't remember if I said that far back. I know that was the first time we went to California. We played with Chaplan. Carlos Lopez Chaplan. What was

00:46:42.429 - 00:46:56.709

this man's name? Carlos Lopez Chap. He was a Mexican Mexican movie star, a comedian. I see he was a comedian and you, you, you be on the same show with him. Yeah, we played in the same theater with Indiana right there. The California theater, you know

00:46:56.719 - 00:47:13.919

where the California theater, right? You know, when they come together on, on, on main street, was that, was that the year you uh when Lydia was making records in, in Hollywood, the time would there was one, do you recall when Lydia made her very first record

00:47:13.929 - 00:47:30.020

of Malore? Oh, you mean of him right here at the Gun to Hotel? Yeah. Oh, yeah. OK. I have a big question about that. Do you think the whole family went or did Lydia just go by herself? No, no. My father and my mother and I

00:47:30.030 - 00:47:52.870

did go too. I remember, I remember they, they used to record, they had a big, big wax record. Yeah. Yeah. Ok. The whole family went up. But I was, I'm specifically thinking about the very first time she recorded Malore because the, the boy, they are no

00:47:53.179 - 00:48:04.439

point by herself. She really, I didn't think so. No. No, she didn't know. My mother wouldn't let her go out on her, on her side every place we went to. And a lot of li was very bashful and she was very bashful. She wouldn't have gone

00:48:04.449 - 00:48:22.959

by herself. Well, on the other end, however, that Maria also says that the first time she recorded, she only made those two songs. But, but you don't have any actual remembrances of the very first time you recorded for, for Bluebird. The, the only thing I remember

00:48:22.969 - 00:48:37.739

about the recording of Blue Bird was when they moved my father back. So, so, so he wouldn't, so the boy would come out, he had a very strong voice. So they, they, they used to put him away in the back about, oh, maybe about 1015 ft

00:48:37.750 - 00:48:53.469

away from away from the rest of it. They were making the record. Uh I don't know, I, I mean, I'm coming back to me when we made the idea when we were recording me. Why not recording again? But I guess I was, you, you were pretty

00:48:53.479 - 00:49:13.969

young and I was very young. Yeah, I remember to have a, they have a uh at dinner, you know, to commemorate the year the, the, the, the, the, the newspaper de La Prea. And they have that right there at the Casablanca Casablanca restaurant right there on

00:49:13.979 - 00:49:34.030

the corner of Santa Rosa in Houston. And they used to have the, they used to put a lot of tables on the, on the second floor and, and they used to hire me to go sing. She would sing then and it was afterwards. But during that

00:49:34.040 - 00:49:51.729

time, the first time, I don't think it was because it was, they were, they had started singing together yet. Oh, yeah. But that was later on. It was years later on what we're talking about the first time when, when, when, when we were young it was

00:49:51.739 - 00:50:14.659

back in 1937 38. And then they, they, they were not together in 1937 38. Now they, uh, there was something later on, like just before I went to serve the, they start seeing together I should. What, what year did, did you get married? Did I get

00:50:14.669 - 00:50:35.239

married? 1947? 47. After you came out of it came out in 45. And, and, and, and how many Children do you have? I have three of them, two girls and a boy. Could you give me their names? Yeah. Manuel Junior and Pearl and Roberta Manu is

00:50:35.250 - 00:50:52.219

an architect. Burrow is a interior designer and Bobby is a school teacher. They all, they all have degrees but none of them took into music and stuff. No, no, no, no. Uh, bel likes to play a little piano but not, not, not professional. Just, just when

00:50:52.229 - 00:51:03.455

we get together. And, uh, uh, but, you know, they, they're all very smart though. They, they, I don't know who they take up. I don't think they take after him. Especially my boy, you know, he's going on his own now. He's been working with, with some

00:51:04.245 - 00:51:21.500

and he's gonna open his OPI and he's making contact with people. He's been living for, uh, for Greece in July. He's going to go with his wife, going to Greece. You know, my youngest daughter, Roberta, she's in Pakistan right now is, she's married to this, uh,

00:51:21.510 - 00:51:37.429

major army and he was sent over there. So she went with him and she's teaching some, uh, Pakistanians how to speak, you know, basic English so they can come over here to study or something. I don't know what. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, they, she, she's over

00:51:37.439 - 00:51:57.040

there with him. That's, that's interesting. I, I asked you different members about religion. Does, does religion play an important part in, in your life or do you, do you feel your, your parents were very religious or? Well, see, they, they are, our religious Catholic was, I

00:51:57.050 - 00:52:11.419

mean, it was mine and it's not anymore though. I'm not a Catholic anymore. Iii, I, uh, I made my, my vows on, on a, on a protestant religion. But, but all, all my family, they all, they all considered Catholic. But I don't know whether he goes

00:52:11.429 - 00:52:25.310

to church or not. I think I go to church more now than I'm a protest more than I used to go. Even though I went to a Catholic school, I wasn't, I wasn't put in my head to be a, a devoted Catholic. So when I married

00:52:25.320 - 00:52:42.500

my wife, she was a Presbyterian. So I got married by my new church. Now. II, I in church, I sing in weddings and singing all the funerals and I even singing the Root Taylors Hall. You know, you know, that, that, that like the Lord's prayer and,

00:52:42.510 - 00:53:03.459

uh, you know, on, on Easter Sunday and all those days II, I usually sing in church and the name they say not that I'm not ashamed that I, that I was a Catholic dog. I'm not ashamed believe that now that the way that I believe now

00:53:03.469 - 00:53:23.919

III I devote myself more to the church than I used to when I used to be a Catholic. Is this Pre Presbyterian? And, uh, did, what did you think when, when, when, when you were little, did you ever hear of Jaramillo or, I mean, that was

00:53:24.320 - 00:53:42.560

where, you know, it's, uh, those things are for people that, you know, that, uh, it's just up to an indi individual to believe on them, you know, just like uh Nino, Mino Perdido, nio vide el el el uh Lato de Milagro right here. My mother used

00:53:42.570 - 00:53:55.620

to be very, very, very, she used to believe in this, in this uh Milagros. I used to go with her. Even when, you know, when I came back in the service, we went to San Juan de Los Lagos. That's, that's a big shrine in Mexico. She,

00:53:55.629 - 00:54:07.639

she, she, she had promised to take me if I come back. And I, so I went there but, you know, it deep inside of me and my belief was different, different, my belief and I don't know, I don't know, you know, I never have read the

00:54:07.649 - 00:54:22.540

Bible and I think I read the Bible a lot more than I used to. So, you know, in, in those days and the Catholic religion, they used to put out and encourage you to read the Bible. They do it now. I think they do now. They,

00:54:22.550 - 00:54:42.659

they, they haven't had, uh they encourage you now. They, they even sing in churches now. They didn't used to sing in church. And I enjoyed singing those games that they really hit me right here when I, when I, when I sing sing, like, and, but so

00:54:42.669 - 00:54:58.320

many open the gates of the temple, the holy city and they made, do you think, do you think that's maybe one reason why some of these Pentecostal churches are making pretty good headway amongst Mexican Americans over there, they are. They, they, they are, but they, they're

00:54:58.330 - 00:55:16.719

different. They, they, they, they, uh, they operate different than, than a pret church. You know, the predator and the Methodists all about the same, similar to each other. They, uh, you know, when I joined this, this Presbyterian Church, when I married my wife, I, uh, I

00:55:16.729 - 00:55:29.000

got involved in the women. So I was made an elder. I was there in person. Uh, uh, at first I was a deacon, then I was married an elder. Then we joined a, we opened up a church over on 36th street and I was, I was

00:55:29.010 - 00:55:46.090

a ruling elder or the one of the maybe an elder. So, so now, now I'm not a, I'm just an elder. Once an elder. You're old, an elder then, then that's religion. It's, it's nice, you know. You know, I, now I go to church more than

00:55:46.100 - 00:56:03.330

my wife does. I mean, she's the one that brought me to the church but she sometimes she gets the lazy to it. So you, during the, during the depression, did you, were you ever tempted to find work outside of, you know, when you were growing up

00:56:03.340 - 00:56:16.909

outside of the family, singing business or, or did you? Well, you know, I'll tell you what, the only time that I went without singing was my dad when the war started, when the war broke out and we couldn't get no more tires or gasoline or food

00:56:17.699 - 00:56:33.469

anymore. So I decided to go out and look for a job by myself. So I went, I went, we, I started looking at the, this, uh, foremost dairy, you know, the milk for deer area. The foremost dairy. He used to be called Dairy Lane. So I

00:56:33.479 - 00:56:47.909

went and had a job there. It was unloading those, those little big cans and milk and on loading them in a truck. I, I started real good and I thought it was real strong. I show him how much I loan about 100. On the next day,

00:56:47.919 - 00:57:02.110

I didn't go to work, broke my arm, my back, my, my legs, everything I couldn't get up out of bed. So I thought I'm not going back and I didn't even go collect what I had for one day, one day's work. So I uh I quit,

00:57:02.120 - 00:57:20.159

I didn't go back. So then I, I decided to try something else. So then I went in, got me a job with uh Brent and Ironworks hitting rivets. Man. It was hard work. Was those hard rivets? I was, uh I was, um, he put him, throw

00:57:20.189 - 00:57:38.500

him into another guy so he can r something. They were building. I, I worked there until I uh I was calling to the service team, not join it, but I got, I was draft. So they, uh and when I was dress and then my mother, we

00:57:38.510 - 00:57:53.350

had a party before I left with it. Do you, do you, do you feel that during the war? Did you? I've, I've, I've heard people say that it, it developed a lot of their pride, like, especially if you're a Mexican American or something, figuring that the

00:57:53.360 - 00:58:04.520

Anglo wasn't any better than anybody else was. Well, did you, did you get sort of that kind of education in the army? Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you what I, what I found out in the, when I was in the army, you know, when I

00:58:04.530 - 00:58:18.360

went there, I've never been out of my house and I never been away from my family at all when, when, before I went in the service. So when I went to the service, II, I had to live again and start living again, different, different kind of

00:58:18.370 - 00:58:34.739

life, you know, II, I was very embarrassing but a lot of times in the army by, by angles like in the, in the, when I was in basic training, me and this other guy, you know, we, this other guy from Arizona, his name was MLA. When

00:58:34.750 - 00:58:47.350

we got there, we had gotten a haircut right here in ports. So when we got over there, this is Harge says, look, you guys, you guys don't get a haircut. I'm not gonna let you give you a pass to go to through Aniston, Alabama to go

00:58:47.360 - 00:59:02.399

out and pass from basic training. So this mean, this guy got so mad ruining. Took all, all the hair out of our heads, bald headed, bald headed. No, your hair, all the hair. We, we came to the, to the surgery and he liked it. Go that.

00:59:02.419 - 00:59:16.669

So again, we start laughing at us. You know what? You guys didn't? You guys think you're right? Well, you're not going to give you girl some damn hair and now he never heard of the name Campbell because we didn't have any hair so well. So when

00:59:16.689 - 00:59:32.129

they start growing up at the end, we find, but we were supposed to stay 13 weeks, but he only stayed 10 weeks. So and then on the fifth week, we are heads of Ari. So we went to uh we went on past and there was another

00:59:32.139 - 00:59:44.929

guy from here from San Antonio. His name is Henry Rodriguez. He used to play the guitar and I got together with him and, you know, we, we, we used to get together right there in the barracks, you know, and then the sergeant, you know, our platoon,

00:59:44.959 - 00:59:57.360

Serge used to, you know, I right after the nights were out, he used to invite us to his, to his bar to, to, to sing and then we sing right there. All, all ours and not on Friday night. Then when one time we went to town

00:59:57.370 - 01:00:11.979

and they asked her on a US O that they have at Aniston and we sang there at right there at the US O in this guy, I don't know what happened because, you know, he uh after we finished basic training, we were sent to K Shenango,

01:00:12.389 - 01:00:25.030

Pennsylvania. And over there he told me, hey, you know what, let's get out the service. Why do we get out and go with me? And we have the one we put down when they start ching out right there when she was out. And sure enough, you

01:00:25.060 - 01:00:38.350

know, I, I didn't wanna go, I wanna stay with the guy. The rest of the guys had take training with me. So that guy with the time and the next morning happy there. If they didn't put him on the side and discharge him, I don't know

01:00:38.360 - 01:00:52.360

what he did, but he, he just got out, he got out, he got out and I, I stayed and III, I played the music, whatever there was gonna go be that whatever they sent me. So II I stayed and then stayed with the time that I,

01:00:52.530 - 01:01:07.510

where did they send you find, where did she from? Chino? I went down to all the way across to Seattle, Washington. That's a Poe, that's part of my location. And from there they sent us to uh to the Aleutian islands to take an island. There was

01:01:07.520 - 01:01:22.139

supposed to have Japanese, but they didn't have any Japanese there. That's the uh Kisa. I, I don't know what you heard about it. There was supposed to have some Japanese. They, they bombarded the hell out of the child and the jab left overnight and then we,

01:01:22.790 - 01:01:34.860

we, we landed there, we stayed there. They, they left a whole bunch of us guys there to, to map up the, the place. I mean, there were no look for jabs that we couldn't find. No jabs. So uh much of us, uh a whole platoon of

01:01:34.870 - 01:01:46.550

us stayed there and we've been looking around, all we could find was some Japanese dog, a couple of Japanese dogs in there. And I mean, was this really in the army was really the first time when you had to, when you sort of met up with

01:01:46.560 - 01:02:03.879

all different nationalities, wasn't it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, there were no negroes. No, no. Negroes. Just white, white and Mexicans. In fact, when we stay there, you know, they start bring, sends more troops in, in that place. Then they moved to another island was a

01:02:04.040 - 01:02:19.300

E, oh, that's what I guess the army was segregated. At least it was segregated at the time. They were not, they were not there gringos or just gringos and Mexicans. But, but did you have any trouble with the, with the gringos? Well, uh sometimes, sometimes they,

01:02:19.310 - 01:02:37.219

they used to, they used to treat us time period, you know, because they, some of them had like when we were in basic training, you know, there was this guy from uh what's the name of that? With this college station? Some Brian. Brian. Brian. Well, there

01:02:37.229 - 01:02:50.600

was this guy. His name is, no, I remember him to believe he was mean as he to us, he used to call us Mexican. Hey Mexican me, you know, and then II I been in the, I used to make it been inferior, you know, because he

01:02:50.610 - 01:03:06.189

was uh he, he was a, a, an ex ROTC man. He used to be in ROTC. He knows a lot, he knew a lot about the song. So they used to get more, uh more right than we did. You know, because, you know, he, he was

01:03:06.199 - 01:03:22.340

smart but I guess he was smarter than me. You thought he may, maybe may, maybe that's what he, what happened. So we even though some, one time they, they be up a friend of mine, you know, I was a beer garden. This guy, I guess he

01:03:22.350 - 01:03:46.570

was in Arizona. I wasn't there. But when, when I saw them, they hadn't beaten him. I beat them. I be some, some white character. They get, get drunk right there, the beer garden and get into a fight, you know. Oh boy, there are something we came

01:03:46.580 - 01:04:03.590

to, uh to Seattle again. Then the, the car company come in and made a mistake. Instead of sending me board, sent, he sent me to uh Fort B Blazing El Paso. So, uh I had had some money saving on it. So I had it money orders.

01:04:03.649 - 01:04:17.449

So I, I exchanged everything to money, put it in a wall and then I went to Boris, I only left me more about an hour. Iii I, somebody put a mickey on it and they took their money with me. So when I came I had, it's

01:04:17.459 - 01:04:33.679

a good thing. I had my, my tickets right here for my jack for the train to come home to get my per how much money did you owe them? How much had about $450? And you know, in those times there was money. Uh So III, I

01:04:33.689 - 01:04:56.729

traveled all the way from El Paso to San Antonio without even a dying thing. But II I uh and when I, when I got home, I the girls were already singing at, at what, what are you doing that? And they were saying when you, when you

01:04:56.739 - 01:05:10.659

came out of the army, is that the first place he finally went to when you came back to San Antonio and when that came, when I go back in for Yeah. Iii, I knew what they were thinking at, at uh at Arturo. What was the name

01:05:10.679 - 01:05:30.610

of that? What was the name? His name is the place that was actually the name of the people was El Bueno de la Bohemia. The name of that was the name of the place El Bom Bohemio, El Bohemia. El Bui. So it was called El Boim.

01:05:31.280 - 01:05:47.080

My, my, my mother was there with Juanita and Maria. They were singing there. So one time I was in uniforms. So I went over there and this guy, you know, started, you know, they wanted to give Jamie some drinks. So I got into an argument with

01:05:47.090 - 01:06:02.590

him and I, I saw one of them put a damn razor blade on one of those, uh, Barbara Barber's race switch knives, switched them on r one of the race, you know, pull out those, he put it in his family, got it on his pocket. And

01:06:02.600 - 01:06:15.219

I said, uh oh, so I got out of there and then played right quick. It was about five or six guys in and I, and I went by myself. So what 10 would I would, I would that thing there. I just told him my mother, I

01:06:15.229 - 01:06:28.020

better get out of here because, you know, I, I, no one miss too long on this. Damn, it was, it was, it was probably hard for women to be singers in there, wasn't it? Oh, yeah, it was, it was because all these guys would come and

01:06:28.040 - 01:06:46.379

flirt with that. That was it. There were some fresh guys that come in. One. Yeah. To Detroit. This is the first time you went to Detroit when we, we went to uh Saginaw, I mean, Flint, we went to Flint and then we went to a bar

01:06:46.449 - 01:07:02.179

to, uh we, we left from San Antonio on a, on a, they used to call him and used to be a, you know, sort of they, they take people over there to work in the, in the beat fields. So when we got there on a Saturday,

01:07:02.189 - 01:07:14.090

we used to go singing, you know, right there on the hill town. And then this man, this man told my father, he, you people are not really good to work in the beach. Why don't you go out singing some place? So he, he, he let us

01:07:14.100 - 01:07:28.590

go, you know, we had to sign a contract with him. But my, my father has that. So we let him go. So, so they went and left me and the threes and uh Juanita and wasn't born yet. So we uh we stayed right there and play

01:07:28.600 - 01:07:45.939

a little in a little farm. It was a one room house where we used to stay and they went to uh they went to a Pontiac seen over there. So we stayed in that place, Rama three or four days. I think I it seemed to me

01:07:45.949 - 01:07:58.689

like it was months because, you know, my, I was, I was little, I was a young kid. They left you back in a, in a, in a little farm with, with my sister. She was only 13 years old herself. And then we had a dog and

01:07:58.699 - 01:08:19.959

the night she used to bringing the dog to sleep with us in bed. I remember that much. They called it fifi, fifi, fifi. And uh you know what, what, what we used to eat to those kinds of pumpkin, you know, canned pumpkin. That's what you used

01:08:19.970 - 01:08:38.209

to feed, canned pumpkin can, can, can canned pumpkin, pumpkin. You know, they, they can the can with great big cans of pumpkins. We used to open it up and feed it with all things. That, that's all, that's all, that's all, that's all. We used to eat

01:08:38.220 - 01:08:51.959

it. And we survived though. Then when they, when they went to Pontiac, then when they can make a big decent, I remember they, they brought a little, they brought a little truck, a little model T and pick up all this, all our belongings. And we went

01:08:51.970 - 01:09:06.165

to the Pontiac. We were turning right by the Michigan, the lake because I could, I thought we were in the, in the, in the sea. Some because I could, I could smell the water, you know, you know how it smells like fish. And that guy, I

01:09:06.174 - 01:09:19.214

used to kind of want to look out to, we had a camp on the top of the truck and my mother wouldn't let me look out to you. I want to see what, where when he we were because we were, there was this, uh, the smell

01:09:19.225 - 01:09:34.029

of uh water, you know, water with fish. And when we got to uh Pontiac, we, we went to this house and there was these people, they let us stay in their house and then they, they start making plans of renting a house to pick up borders.

01:09:34.810 - 01:09:51.779

We didn't stay in Pontiac too long. So then we moved to Detroit and when we got to Detroit, then my mother probably rent a big house. So I think I told you about that. Yeah, I think we got that part of the, yeah, Beatrice's future husband.

01:09:51.790 - 01:10:06.200

He was one of the boarders. Yeah, that we had the house. Why, why was he up there? I mean, when he had, he had gone to work over there, he had, he was in Chihuahua. He was, he had left Chihuahua. Go, I, I don't know whether

01:10:06.209 - 01:10:18.120

it was a wet bag or not. I don't know how he got the cross but he was over there working with the pork factory. You know, when they lay off everybody and then this, when we came back, they, they la off a lot of people. I

01:10:18.290 - 01:10:33.709

haven't done that. People may have my word but, but then he went, he's the one who went back to Mexico to Chihuahua then and became the Pistolero. Uh Did you know that? I didn't know that he had, he, yeah, they killed him when he went back

01:10:33.720 - 01:10:45.779

to Chihuahua. He wasn't supposed to go to Chihuahua because he was involved with politics. And I, I heard that he had killed a girl or a woman over there in Chihuahua. So he came to Laredo, you know, here in Laredo and he went back to see

01:10:45.790 - 01:10:58.359

his folks over there something and he got shot with that. He got killed. That's what the art was telling me the other night. I didn't even know he had been killed. You know, he, he, he was used to be pretty good when you were coming from

01:10:58.370 - 01:11:13.830

Detroit. He helps a lot. He helps a lot to get to Houston because, you know, he used to be, uh, all around, man. You used to one time before we got to, uh, chug man. We, we had missed him for about 23 hours. And we, we,

01:11:13.839 - 01:11:28.810

we saw these people on the side of the road and he was there making tortillas, you know, the great big right on the side of the road. I don't know how he, he makes up the dough and all that, but he made the flour tortillas. We

01:11:28.819 - 01:11:44.950

stopped and then pick him up and, and we continue to use to the Children land where my sisters, Madison and my sister used to give him to do house and they had a, they have that uh Children was a company company. Be long to that. Uh

01:11:45.950 - 01:11:59.990

my brother in law, you Monica's husband, my older sister, she used to work at the, at a big factory and all these kids used to go to school right there and then they had me in a beautiful school. I used to like this school and this

01:12:00.000 - 01:12:14.390

kid used to look at us, you know, I don't know, like they resented or something like that our own cousins, they're here now. They're all grown up and married and all this and look at us. We were and I don't know why we used to, we

01:12:14.399 - 01:12:32.770

used to fight a lot with them. My mother had bought me, you know, when we were in the, in Houston, she bought me a, a little truck and, uh, my, my nephew, he liked it. So my mother owed my sister some money. So she said when

01:12:32.779 - 01:12:50.759

I take this drug boy, I felt so bad about it. They think you better do Mexico with him. I don't know whether we become a little pickup truck there. You know, play, play little toy. We used to ride so many things that come back to my

01:12:50.770 - 01:13:08.890

mind is sometimes that I'm, I'm driving around or laying in bed at home and they start kicking back because when we start acting in the, in the theater, you know, when we played at the plaza, we used to sing at the, at the Market Plaza before

01:13:08.950 - 01:13:30.250

did, was disclosed as a singer. It seemed like a long time. I remember you used to run around barefooted. It was apparently, I mean, was it from about 19? You came back to San Antonio? About 31 1935 34 34 34 34. She started recording, ok. Then,

01:13:30.259 - 01:13:51.270

then she marriages at 35 1. That's when she started making red. And then you made this guy, she move about 67 blocks. I used to go and visit her. We used to work in a shoe shop and Common Labor Temple used to right there by the

01:13:51.290 - 01:14:08.060

Joy Theater. Then after she made some breakfast, she put, she bought him a shoe shop, you know, big shoe shops, but he, he didn't attend it because he used to photo work about 12 o'clock. Let all his cousin run the place. I used to shine shoes

01:14:08.109 - 01:14:21.250

right there in the place. And he used to pay me a dollar a week. I used to get up early in the morning to go to work over there and stop with the Japanese having cupcake for a night. A cup of coffee have eight for a

01:14:21.259 - 01:14:34.509

night. It wasn't those days, everything was very cheap. And when we used to go sing at night with her at first, when, before liia started, before she got married, she used to sing with us right in the, but then after that we just went by ourselves.

01:14:34.950 - 01:14:50.870

She didn't go out there anymore. She just got married. Her husband was working through. How long, how long was it? I mean, did you keep working in the plaza for quite a few years when she was starting recording? Oh, yeah. Yeah. It must have been about

01:14:50.879 - 01:15:07.899

three or four years until the jobs start coming around. When, then, then when they start, uh, we start acting, you know, like, like we could dance and we could sing and we could put on some stage shows. Then did they start getting, you know, well known,

01:15:08.509 - 01:15:23.924

she started making record and they started writing to her. And then we got together with this Antonio Monte. He was the master ceremony. So we started traveling around all over the window in the valley over there. Then we went to California, we went to Colorado and

01:15:23.935 - 01:15:43.680

all those things. At first, we didn't go far. We just traveled around Texas, we traveled around the Rio Grande Valley for quite a while. Quite a few towns we used to play in mcallen Mission, Westlake, Donna Harding. We met, we met quite a few people there

01:15:43.689 - 01:16:00.279

like, you know, this guy that the guy that composed that Noche Sita. This is uh mercy, what's his name? What was his name? The guy that composed notes. Remember we went to his house and he gave it to this. Did, did you know, have you ever

01:16:00.290 - 01:16:19.779

had some Flores, Negras, Flores, Negras. They, they, they translated in English to uh you the moment of a lifetime. They, they give good words in English to that to that Rodes Negros. When it was written by a guy, the name of Sergio de Carlo. He's from

01:16:19.810 - 01:16:33.120

L A. You know, when we went in 39 we went to play over there. This guy came and give that song to Lydia so she could record it. Then Chick is recording and then afterwards uh Pedro Vares and all the guys start singing and recording that

01:16:33.129 - 01:16:49.569

song. But it was the first one that recorded that Lodes Negras. And I was, I was curious, did people sometimes come up to her and give her songs and stuff like that like that? Like I did. And then this guy from the Valley that they're not

01:16:49.700 - 01:17:04.819

chea, you see, this is a very, very well known song. It's been recorded by many of them many. But, but, but, but Lydia was the first one to record that Noche Sita and, and, and the, and the Los Negros too. But, but I guess not. Yeah,

01:17:04.830 - 01:17:19.279

none of them were copy written unfortunately. But in those days, no, no, no, no, no, no. She never did get any royalties. Did she tell you about the time that the hire is coming and looking for trying to collect money from her for royalties that she

01:17:19.290 - 01:17:43.169

never did get? I see they were trying to collect money from, from thousands of dollars. Somebody collected those orders. I don't know who did you know she was very exploited very much, very much. Do you, do you remember any instances down the Valley when you guys

01:17:43.180 - 01:18:01.009

were playing after she had? No, you, you, you, you didn't sell the, the records from the stage? Do, no, no, no, we never did do that. They were always just on the story. They just ST the story story. I remember when, when, when, uh, when she

01:18:01.020 - 01:18:19.319

first started, uh, recording it, you know, that she was in a lot of those, uh, conclusions that they call it. You know, they have some, those, uh, what's the conclusion in English contest contest? Yeah. Contest. It was some contest, like with the pearl. They put out

01:18:19.330 - 01:18:37.720

the, she won first prize for, uh, and the singing contest. And then she got a big living room set, not a living room but a bedroom bedroom set. Did she want, she, she always wanna watch a lot of stuff. She used to get it out of

01:18:37.729 - 01:18:55.450

there. A lot of stuff. We, we, we do, then we used to go singing there. Some, look at like the Monterey, some lounge, you know, like Cantina, they call it Cantina in those days they used to pay payers money to, to, to, to go, go sing.

01:18:55.459 - 01:19:14.740

They, we go sing right here on Roy Street and on Santa Rosa. And then they, they used to have some coupons, you know that, that they would, they were, they were used as a votes for the vote for your favorite artist or something. And then she

01:19:14.750 - 01:19:29.270

collected a lot of those, you know, every time they, they used to buy a beer, they used to give you some votes so you can vote for your favorite artist and all. And that's how she and a lot of you were sold in those cupid that

01:19:29.279 - 01:19:54.270

was back in 1935 36. See, what they have. Well, then we, we start traveling around and working in theaters. Houston. Yeah, I was Austin. We, we went to Dallas and Fort Worth. We went up to, oh, for what? We've made some, some great big auditorium in

01:19:55.359 - 01:20:15.189

the Pan American pe, but it is not there anymore. Would they, would, they usually just have one microphone on the stage or did you want one microphone? But it was quiet, I guess, you know, you know, uh Lydia's husband was, wasn't, he wasn't a entertainer or

01:20:15.200 - 01:20:27.509

he, he didn't know nothing about it. He told me anything like one time, you know, when we, this man that used to be our mass. So he didn't decide not to go out with us anymore. So we went out by ourselves and this man trying to,

01:20:27.640 - 01:20:44.450

trying to be the master. So her husband, but he, he was trying to, you know, announce everything to be behind the curtains, behind the screen. You get the micro research. Now here comes with them and those from behind the scene without nobody watching them. Then we

01:20:44.459 - 01:20:59.740

went to uh we went to uh El Paso, we worked at the Colon theater, so he didn't wanna do that. So what we did, we went in and got a guy that used to be in a radio announcer right then in uh in Juarez, his name

01:20:59.750 - 01:21:17.009

was Herman Valdez. And later on, he was known as Tin. So he, he was the one that came in. We used, we used massage, he would do the announcing uh Ma Sanremo. He used to Mamon. We, I think we paid him $5 for, for doing that

01:21:18.399 - 01:21:32.589

because you know, we didn't have a radio. Then afterwards we, we, when we couldn't get Anton to go out with us, we, we got somebody else as a, as a manager. I mean, I said Mr gentleman to go with us, this guy used to, he's died,

01:21:32.600 - 01:21:47.069

he died already. He used to be this, you know, go on Tamas be some, some Costa used to be a Martinez was his last name. He went with us to another guy that, you know, you know how to announce to the front. He had to go

01:21:47.080 - 01:22:00.939

to the, to the site to announce because he was ashamed of the fact, too much to, to meet up with the people, you know, the public. So he, he, he wouldn't an answer to the bank. Would you, would your mother take care of all the money

01:22:00.950 - 01:22:17.910

on these jobs when you? No, no, no, no. Lydia Olivia took care of that. And then, and then how, how would you get paid, for example, for your share? Did you ever get paid? No, no one chair was for Lida would take uh one chair when

01:22:18.000 - 01:22:37.060

she split it three ways, one chair for the family, one chair for Lida and one chair for the or the master and ones that's what they, they used to travel. It was too, too good. But that's the way they have their radio. Uh, all good. Did

01:22:37.069 - 01:22:50.549

you, did you, did you ever hear of any amounts that were made of some of the performances? Do you, can you give us any figures? No, I'm afraid not because I don't, I don't understand. But we, you know, we used to make some good, good money

01:22:50.560 - 01:23:09.220

on his own, uh, in Lubbock to meet a lot of people over here in Jackson, those tents and Jackson tents, thousands of people going to the store. So, I don't know. They, they stop, Jack used to make a lot of money on it. But exactly what,

01:23:09.229 - 01:23:24.200

how much money, I don't know. I couldn't tell you how much it is have, you know, but then when you, when you came back to rest here in San Antonio, would they pay you so much a week or something or? No? No, no, no. They were

01:23:24.240 - 01:23:39.819

saying everybody took, it, took care of his own, everybody to take care of their own, I guess. Andrew was the only one who got, who got a dollar and a half a week allowance. I, yeah. Yeah, I remember when I, before, you know, when we couldn't

01:23:39.830 - 01:23:50.500

travel anymore that I started working. I used to give my mother all the money. I didn't used to get paid too much. I think it was $19 a week. And we had this rent. I, I used to give my mother all the money. I used to

01:23:50.509 - 01:24:03.649

keep a dollar. So, so I could go out some place and have a, go to a dance someplace. I used to, I always have like to dance. I used to go to the major hotel. It's another way. I mean, how would you, how would you live

01:24:03.660 - 01:24:19.759

when you came back to San Antonio? And the group didn't work well, just what, whatever we had earned. And my mother used to be the head head man in our family, we used to be her in her head and then her husband used to be. And

01:24:20.120 - 01:24:40.209

now in our family, my mother used to be the one that used to take care of all. We pay the rent, pay, buy his clothes, buy food whenever we need it. Choose that. Uh you know, my mother, you know, used to have a big jar and

01:24:40.220 - 01:24:56.720

she used to put money in there and sometimes she used to say I wanted to view a down payment on a car. That's, that's the way. And she just took that jar to make a down payment and she would put quarters and ankles and dimes and

01:24:56.819 - 01:25:11.560

in and then, then she would, she would uh save enough money for a down payment on a car. That's how we used to work together for, to travel in. There was some time when Lydia didn't go out with us anymore, you know, because she, she was

01:25:11.569 - 01:25:26.640

pregnant or she was, uh, she was, uh, she didn't go out with, her husband, didn't never buy it anymore. So we start running our, on our own. Like Juan Maria would be the headliners. We used to make programs in right here at the southern pre. This

01:25:26.649 - 01:25:40.660

was after the war. Yeah. After the war. See, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't stay there. I didn't stay there too long with him because, you know, after the war, my wife, she didn't get invite for me to be traveling around. So, so I, I decided

01:25:40.669 - 01:26:01.919

to call it quits and start working. I started working in 5151. But I had worked already in a, in a furniture store in a, in a, in a, in a place. V trailers and making trailers. What's the name of it? V trailers? I was making trailers

01:26:03.379 - 01:26:19.080

and, you know, putting them together. Then I start working at this furniture store, bought the furniture store from there. Then I decided to drive a bus, uh, in 1951 in February. So then since then, that's the only job I have right now. Yeah. And then my

01:26:19.089 - 01:26:36.370

wife started working, she worked at Kelly's and all that. My kids are going to school and so they got educated. That's right. You know, my boy just bought a, he bought a home when he came back from k, he's been living in Texas. So we bought

01:26:36.379 - 01:26:50.229

a house over here in, uh, in Park, an old, an old house and he's rebuilding the darn thing, but he has a swimming pool and everything and he's gonna put his office in there too. He's been working.