Excuse me for slacking but it’s raining and thundering outside. All of that in itself is pretty great as we have been kind of short on rain, says someone who lives where the rain averages 55 inches of precip annually.
Of course, I like to keep up with what the weather is doing. Not so much because I worry about it. I just find weather interesting. It is sort of the last bastion, the final frontier in areas in which man has found itself unable to totally mess things up. That isn’t for a lack of trying though.
When I wanted to be like Cowboy John the Weatherman all these great tools like radars that one can pull up from a computer weren’t around for the common folk. As for Cowboy John, he was the weatherman for what was then KPAC TV, then later KJAC TV in Port Arthur. Garner was also the host of “The Circle Four Club” where he was and is best remembered for being “Cowboy John”
Cowboy John would interview groups of kids who came from far and wide, groups such as Cub Scouts and Brownies, etc. In between talking to kids and asking them questions like what they wanted to be when they grew up, various short comedies such as “The Little Rascals” and “The Three Stooges” would be played. For me as a kid, there really wasn’t any better time of the day.
I must tell the all-time, most-repeated story of any kid who grew up somewhere near my age watching television in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of Southeast Texas. Whether it’s true? Who knows. Some people swear they saw it all unfold.
Cowboy John was interviewing a group of little black children. I mention the race only because this was still during time of segregation. As John moved down the line one child would start giggling and pretty soon the whole mass of the kids were, of course, all giggling. Cowboy John asked one of the children what was so funny.
“Leroy farted,” the kid said, bringing down the house.
Now this was in the mid-1960s down in Southeast Texas and you have to try to put time into context. The story goes, and I never have found out if it’s true, that later that night or perhaps the night after, the incident went somewhat “viral” as they say in today’s terms. Perhaps this publicity wasn’t much considering today’s media reach. But the tale did reportedly find its way to Walter Cronkite’s news broadcast where the acclaimed newsman supposedly ended his show saying: “This is Walter Cronkite, CBS News reporting, saying good night, and a good night to you Leroy, wherever you are.”
Everyone remembers a big storm they’ve experienced. Some of us also remember the weather forecasters. And who could ever forget Leroy? Whether he existed or not. If you are still alive down here among us in Southeast Texas, or even elsewhere, I too say, goodnight Leroy wherever you are.
Note: Here is a story I found about Cowboy John and his TV nemesis Black Bart and the “Leroy” affair. The source of the incident is left out — why can’t newspapers use a quote with “farted” in it? — but it was supposedly David Brinkley who told Leroy goodnight on national TV. That seems right. Brinkley always had a mischievous sense of humor.
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