OLD NEWS

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles featuring memories of former Hannibal Jaycees who helped with Tom Sawyer Days many years ago. Tom Sawyer Days is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Charles Glascock had a busy day planned on the Fourth of July in 1963, serving as fireworks chairman with the Hannibal Jaycees. And by the time the first rocket exploded in the sky over the Mississippi River, he had a special reason to celebrate - his wife, Marjorie gave birth to twin sons at 8:15 that morning at Levering Hospital.

"We were blessed with twin boys on the Fourth of July," Charles said. "We had a couple of firecrackers."

Ryan and Steven Glascock were not quite due, Marjorie said, adding that, "for several years thereafter nobody wanted that duty (fireworks chairman). ...They were afraid they would have babies in litters."

The twins' Fourth of July birthdays have given them some special parties through the years, she said. "We have had some spectacular cakes, and until they were grown they thought fireworks were part of their birthday celebration."

The Glascocks moved to Minnesota many years ago, where they lived for 40 years before retiring and returning to Hannibal. But they always came back for the Fourth of July, Marjorie said, adding that they had watched Tom Sawyer Days grow. This year their daughter, Carole Carr, will return for the celebration.

When Charles was in the Jaycees, the wives had their own organization, Hannibal Jaycee Wives. Marjorie was president in 1962, and that year she dressed as Mark Twain for the parade. She powdered her hair white, borrowed a white dinner jacket, "and made me a little mustache," she said. Her son, Chuck, and daughter, Carole, dressed as Tom and Becky for the parade float.

Additional officers with her were Garland Carter, Judy Munger, Beverly Pierceall, Donna Rush, Jean Chapman and Evelyn Williamson.

The Jaycee Wives hosted conventions and once had a banquet on the Delta Queen riverboat. She also recalled the year the Jaycees hosted a concert by the U.S. Marine Band at the high school.

Charles vividly recalls the year he helped bring a barge upriver for the fireworks. (They were fired from a barge for many years, until 1970, when there was a fire on the barge.)

"We had to go down the river and get a barge," he said. The grain terminal manager lined up a towboat company to bring the barge from the dam south of Hannibal. "One Sunday afternoon he called and said the towboat was on its way, and we had to meet them at 11 at night to pick up the barge down below the dam."

Charles said John Yancey, the late Bill Heimer and he went down the river in a jon boat, and crossed to the Illinois side, where they took their boat out of the water and pulled it across the earthen dam, then got back in the river on the south side to connect the barge with the towboat. They did not have time to wait to be locked through the dam, he explained.

"Once we got across the dam, I am guessing we had to go down the river at least a mile to get this empty barge. We pulled it out in the river and met the towboat. They had the searchlight on, and we hooked it on the towboat that was coming up the river, and they pushed it up here for us and let it off at the old grain terminal."

When he helped with the fireworks, Charles said, "we did them just like they are doing now. We had to go around and ask businesses for donations."

But there was one difference. "It seemed like the cost of fireworks was in the $600 range," he added, and the display lasted about half an hour.

"It has gotten huge, huge nowadays," he said about the size of the crowd, however, "we had good turn-outs for the fireworks - anytime it is free."

He believes the publicity has helped National Tom Sawyer Days become a national celebration. "People have devised ways and gotten more cooperation from the city and the public. Like anything else, the more you promote it, the bigger it is going to get. That is why it has done so well over the years.

"We were just scratching the surface," Charles said about his years as a Jaycee. "A lot of times back then, you didn't know what you were doing. People had an idea, and it worked. And 45 years later, people have put things together they did back then and expanded on it. And it has gotten a tremendous amount of publicity."

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of articles featuring memories of former Hannibal Jaycees who helped with Tom Sawyer Days many years ago. Tom Sawyer Days is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain is pictured at the Mark Twain Boyhood Home in 1957, when he came to present his show, Mark Twain Tonight, during Tom Sawyer Days. (Photo provided by Kathy Threlkeld)

Bob Welch and Bill Dillingham, charter members of the Hannibal Jaycees Club that was re-organized in the mid-1950s, both credit the late Frank Russell with the idea of Tom Sawyer Days. At the time, Russell was executive secretary of the Hannibal Chamber of Commerce.

Dillingham was the first president of the Jaycees. He served as chairman of the first Tom Sawyer Days in 1956, when Welch was Jaycees president.

They remember how it began and also that Mark Twain impersonator Hal Holbrook participated in the celebration the next year, in 1957.

"It was Frank Russell's idea to do this (celebration)," said Welch. "He was a very good idea person. Frank came and talked to us about it. He said the chamber didn't want anything to do with it. But it sounded good to me, so I called a meeting of (Jaycees) directors and officers. ...Frank presented what he told me to the other officers."

The Jaycees, "thought it was a wonderful promotion for Hannibal," Welch said. "It would give us more publicity for the tourism business and more people coming in and out of the town."

A fence painting contest was planned for the first year, he said, but "we didn't have a lot of time to get ready. We contacted quite a few towns located on the river and told them to get somebody to come. Quite a few responded and had contests of their own and brought a boy." In the beginning there were two fence painting contests, the local and national, he recalled.

"We were feeling our way and were lucky to get together what we did that first year. The chamber got the parade together, and somebody got Miss Missouri to come."

Welch was given a special task regarding Miss Missouri. "Since I was president of the Jaycees, I was I supposed to ride in the convertible," he said. "What they didn't tell me was I had to hold her by the legs, so she didn't flip over back of the convertible. ...I'm sure there would have been a lot of volunteers for the job."

The fireworks were fired from a barge in the Mississippi River for several years, and the Jaycees used a barge anchored across the river. The first year, "we didn't know anything about shooting fireworks," Welch said. "Since we didn't know, we contracted with Quincy Supply, a large supplier of that commercial type of fireworks, contingent upon them furnishing the supplies and shooter."

Dillingham was among the Jaycee members who went to order the first fireworks display. "Their pyrotechnics people taught us what to do, and we didn't have a problem," he recalled.

From the beginning, Tom Sawyer Days was intended to be more than a local event, Dillingham said, and the fence painting invitations were issued. "We started out locally, and we thought we would get all the states along the Mississippi, then it was anybody."

While being a busy Jaycee, Dillingham said he also enjoyed some of the events. "One of the most fun things I did was play mud volleyball."

Both Dillingham and Welch made friends with Hal Holbrook when he came to Hannibal to present his Mark Twain Tonight program during the second Tom Sawyer Days.

Looking back, both still regret that Hannibalians were not interested in attending Holbrook's performance, although the actor later gained international recognition for this one-man show.

"We took him under our wing," Dillingham said. "He got on the old Zephyr and arrived at Hannibal's old Union Station. He stayed at Mark Twain Hotel, and it took him four hours to put on his makeup."

But when he presented his Mark Twain Tonight show at the Star Theater, "It didn't draw anything." Only Jaycees and their families attended, he said.

At the time, Holbrook was cast member Grayling Dennis in a daytime soap called The Brighter Day. This led to an amusing event, Dillingham said. When he was driving Holbrook to the Quincy airport for his return home, they took a backroads route and stopped at a farmhouse to seek directions. "Hal walked up there with me, and she (the resident) opened the door and said 'Grayling!' "

Holbrook ate at the Dillingham home, and the first time Dillingham brought him home unannounced, someone went to Jimmy Link's grocery store and bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner. When it was served, Holbrook told them, "that's the best home-cooked chicken" he had ever eaten.

Welch also shared how he felt when Holbrook performed at the Star Theater. "The poor guy was like talking to himself, and it was really embarrassing. I don't know why people didn't come. ...It was almost an empty theater.

"We paid him a fee, and he certainly earned it, whether there were 100 people or no people. He took it well and was willing to come back later, but we were too chicken to try again."

Welch added that several years later, "Bill (Dillingham) talked to him in Iowa, and he still remembered that, but he didn't have any hard feelings."

Welch is pleased with the way Tom Sawyer Days has expanded and become a national event that attracts people internationally.

"Once it got its footing, it really blossomed, and I'm glad to see them doing so well."Wednesday: Former members John Yancey and John Niehoff explain how the celebration became National Tom Sawyer Days and continued to grow.

Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of articles featuring memories of former Hannibal Jaycees who helped with Tom Sawyer Days many years ago. Tom Sawyer Days is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The Hannibal Jaycees worked with the Trades and Labor Union in the early 1960s to plan the first National Tom Sawyer Days events, according to John Yancey.

Hannibal had street fairs, Yancey said, and "we struck a deal with them (the union). "We asked them about it, and they said they would be glad to cooperate with us, and we could put it on jointly and split the profits.

"They had a connection with people who put on carnivals," Yancey explained. "The people who run the carnival pay the sponsors a percentage. We realized several hundred for our portion, and that was when we got enough money to offer transportation to any Jaycees chapter that bordered the Mississippi to send a kid here for the national fence painting.

"Four or five came the first year, and later everybody that could came. ...It graduated into more coming and participating and greater acceptance."

Each city sending a contestant first had a fence painting contest to select its winner, he said. "They patterned it after our competition." The first boy registered from each state was provided transportation, he said, but if more than one town wanted to be represented, later they let anyone come.

Yancey recalled the street fairs with their rides on Main and Broadway. "They had a double Ferris Wheel, and it was the biggest thing I'd ever seen. They set it at Fifth Street on Broadway, and you could see a great distance. You could see the river, trees and cattle."

Yancey held Jaycees offices, "from president on down, and it was a lot of fun," he said.

Prior to the first national fence painting contest, a trophy was ordered. It was called a traveling trophy, and was to be taken to the governor of the winner's state, a practice that has continued through the years.

The winner returns the trophy on the Fourth of July, to be taken home by the next winner.

The original traveling trophy was shipped to his home, and it almost was accidentally destroyed before ever reaching the winner.

Yancey tells the story: "It was shipped to my home, and about that time my family and I were moving into a new house and unpacking boxes. Then, if you had paper and cardboard you burned it. I had a large fire going outside and I saw the box. ...I was burning up the traveling trophy. I dragged it out and brushed it off and cleaned it up the best I could. It looked somewhat worn, but we presented it."

About Tom Sawyer Days, he said, "parents started coming with the children, and it grew and expanded and got to be the kind of thing it is." He is not surprised, because, "as you get older you realize how important Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer are."

When he moved to Hannibal, he said, "I probably had never read Tom Sawyer. I was from Kentucky and read more about Daniel Boone."

When he was a Jaycee, the age limit was 35, and they let you become an "exhausted rooster," he said. "Some were referred to a 'pooped pullet'. I was a 'pooped pullet.'"

More clubs help with NTSD

John Niehoff moved to Hannibal in 1960 and joined the Jaycees. During his years with the club, he watched National Tom Sawyer Days (NTSD) add events and gain popularity. He believes it is a great advertisement for Hannibal.

"It's more than at that time we ever dreamed it would be," Niehoff said. "Just like what Life magazine is giving us this year (announcing a survey showing Hannibal is the top recreation spot in the nation to spend a weekend), you just can't pay for that advertising. I tell people Hannibal is a crossroads of America, and it makes you proud."

Niehoff believes that one thing that helped NTSD was delegating some events to other organizations and getting them involved. "In the late '60s and early '70s we didn't have so many different organizations getting involved. It has made it a community event, not just a Jaycees event. I think that has been part of the success of it.

"To me it's the thing that brings people that used to live here back to town," Niehoff added. "The fireworks, fence painting, Tom and Becky - all these things have been a big part of the event, and people recognize it. I think sometimes we hear people who have lived here a long time think it's gotten too big. I don't think that. I think it's right."

In his early years, there was not a lot of financial backing, Niehoff recalled. Once the paint for the fence painting was donated by Sears, and Sears used it in their ad.

When Niehoff was president, the barge used for the fireworks had a fire, and that was the end of using a barge, he said. "We had to have people well-trained to shoot off fireworks. We had a barge in the river shooting off fireworks," when some caught fire.

"It was a malfunction on the fireworks," Niehoff said. "Bill Tate was second vice president, and he went overboard. I think we completed most of the fireworks. It sure scared me, even though I wasn't on the barge."

He had fond memories of his Jaycees days. "We were the young men who took the challenges, and that is basic," Niehoff said. "When you got to be 35 you were called an exhausted rooster, and they said get out. I think they have extended it a little bit now."

This year Niehoff is looking forward to NTSD because he has 10 grandchildren, and all except two live close to him.

A full-size replica of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, displayed with 10-foot tablets of the Ten Commandments, will be in Hannibal's Fourth of July parade at 10 a.m. Monday.

Hannibal native David Hall is pictured with his Liberty Bell and Ten Commandments, which he is bringing to Hannibal for the National Tom Sawyer Days events. (Hall photo)

The Liberty Bell and Ten Commandments are being brought to Hannibal by native Hannibalian David Hall of Fort Worth, who owns them.

The bell will be used during two services Sunday at Clover Road Christian Church, which was Hall's church at one time.

Later the bell will be displayed at Fifth Street Baptist Church during the patriotic "In God We Trust" concerts at 6 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Pastor Richard Hurtgen of Fifth Street said the concert is a reinstatement of the church's traditional July 4 event.

For the parade on Monday, members of the Hall family will dress in period clothing to ride with the bell and Ten Commandments. David Hall takes the bell to many military funerals and other events honoring soldiers in Texas and other states.

His family group coming to Hannibal includes his aunt, Perva Lou Smith Windmiller, who was the city's first Becky Thatcher, serving in 1956. She is coming for the Tom and Becky 50-year reunion.

Hall's family moved from Hannibal to Springfield, Mo., in 1966, and he returned for a year in 1974, when his wife, Phyllis, worked as a speech therapist at three local schools. They lived at 921 Center St., next door to the house where he was reared. This was 923 Center, where his father operated his Farmers' Insurance agency. The Halls have lived in Fort Worth for many years.

He explained the history of his Liberty Bell, which he said is the nation's only full-size, working, traveling bell. It was among 70 replicas of the Liberty Bell that were commissioned by the DAR during the country's bicentennial in 1976. They were sold by the DAR. More were sold in Texas than other states, he said.

It rings loudly enough to be heard for about five city blocks, he said.

His bell, "was to be in Fort Worth to be used for the war memorial for Vietnam veterans, but after it arrived the city fathers became nervous about a ringing bell being near the convention center," Hall said. "They said it would have to be mute.

"After a period of years I bought it from the Fort Worth Vietnam veterans," he said. "I have been using the bell with their permission for about 10 years to honor fallen solders and still use it for this purpose. I take it to funerals, Veterans Day and Memorial Day services - wherever a veteran needs to be honored."

Hall is sure he is the only person who owns a traveling bell of this size because he went to Philadelphia and researched where all 70 bells are now located. "I am the only person crazy enough to take a bell of this size," he said. "It is an exact replica, a 2,080 pound bell, set in the center of a trailer built especially to display it.

"I work with veterans on a regular basis as a patriotic American," he said. "It is a privilege to do so, and I enjoy giving this honor to the people who give me the freedom. I work in coordination with anybody who wants to honor the troops and have a liberty bell."

National Tom Sawyer Days in Hannibal was the only special event being taped by a national television station in Kosovo during its two-week trip across the United States.

As he waited to see who was named Tom and Becky at noon Monday, Genc Gobroshi, the English-speaking member of the film crew, explained they were visiting several states but this was the only event they planned to record for future shows.

They were in Washington, Buffalo and upstate New York, Gobroshi said, and after visiting Hannibal, they were heading to Colorado and Minnesota.

Except for NTSD, they were expecting to see no special events, he said, "just talking to people on philanthropy in America. This is the first special event. It's very nice. You have a beautiful town here.

"We have been in town for all the events," he added. "We are following all the festivities from morning to night. The people have been really nice, and it is a good thing the rain didn't discourage them. They are all here."

They were staying to see the fireworks Monday night. In Kosovo, they have fireworks, he said, "but not as big as here."

During their two-week visit, the American people have made them welcome, "especially in Hannibal," he said. "Everywhere we go, people open their door to us. It's really nice to be in the States."