A Look Back

Jerry Person

It started out bleak, but turned out to be a merry Christmas for young

oil worker Jimmy James in 1950.

He received word that one of his two white terriers, Pancho, was stuck

in an oil-soaked sump hole out in the Huntington Beach oil fields. When

he arrived he found Poncho covered from head to paw in the thick black

goo and that it was slowly closing the year-old pup’s pores.

Poncho was rushed to an out-of-town vet hospital where after several

hours the oil was removed. Then came a 14-hour vigil to see if little

Poncho would live or die.

But in the end, Poncho recovered and James came away with a few more

gray hairs.

For this, the last column before Christmas, we will look at Jimmy

James Christmas of 1950 and how the rest of Huntington Beach celebrated

it.

To kick off the Yuletide season, Huntington Beach staged its famous

Santa Claus parade down Main Street.

That year Margaret Shepard was crowned Miss Merri Christmas and she

rode in the Excelsior Creamery Company’s flying saucer float. Just behind

her came the old man himself -- Santa Claus, a.k.a V.B. “Whitey” Walker.

There were 38 bands, majorette groups and marching units in the

parade.

Our local Lions Club held a three week fare that included a talk by

the Lions’ district governor Esper Keiser and a talk on the past, present

and future of television by Burt Dorris of the Hoffman Radio Corp.

Their Christmas dinner would be catered by Elsie Bakre of the Golden

Bear Cafe and afterward a puppet show for the kids before Santa appeared

with presents.

Edna Gillis and the Blue Star Mothers exchanged 50 gift packages

before having their potluck dinner.

John and Mamie Seltzer received their gift early in December, an

8-pound baby boy.

May Bannister, Cora Cook, Mary Graves and the ladies of the Daughters

of the Union Vets -- Bessie Lincoln Tent #81 -- celebrated their club’s

first Christmas together by sending the money raised and selling gifts to

disabled soldiers at Sawtelle for their Christmas dinner.

The Woman’s Clubhouse on 10th Street was aglow as the ladies decorated

the clubhouse and fixed the turkey for their Christmas dinner. There was

even a visit from Santa -- Mildred Ridenour.

Millicent Nitzkowski helped Ms. Claus exchange gifts.

The Five-O-Club’s Christmas party included decorations of silvered

evergreens and poinsettias. Edith Henderson, Sarah Groves, Eva Spillers

and Edith Nichols helped with the turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Louise Huff and members of the HEO class from the Christian Church had

a Christmas luncheon and on hand for the meal were Gertrude Catching,

Martha Pickering, Hortense Payon, Grace Dalany and Pearl Worthy.

The Elks Lodge chose to hold its party at the Surf Theatre on 5th

Street that year.

Assisting in the Elks’ event were Bob Jurkovich, Remeo Brown, Ray

Dolan, Virgil Brewster and Grover Pound.

The Girl Scouts contribution to the holidays included Donny Mapels

singing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and there was dancing by the

Holliday sisters and afterward a cartoon show.

The children of the First Christian Church presented a pageant called

“The Christmas Angels.” In the cast were Jerry Worthy, Carol Lee Taylor,

Sharon Carl, Frances Gentry and Caroline, Wendel, Julia and Jerry Megli.

The Baptist Church presented a collection of songs for the Christmas

season under the direction of J. Eber Flaws.

The Methodist Church’s A Song of Christmas sermon by the Rev. Robert

Blume was followed by “O Holy Night” sung by Phyllis Fairey. The choir

sang “Praise Ye the Lord” under the direction of Edna Conrad.

The Chamber of Commerce’s community Christmas home decoration contest

was won by Jack Robertson of 931 10th St. with Dr. Whittaker’s home at

306 3rd St. taking second.

In 1950 you could rent a furnished house for $45.00 a month.

As for Jimmy James and Poncho their Christmas was made even happier.

And so we leave that Christmas of so long ago and those wonderful people

of Huntington Beach.

And as Red Skelton would say at the end of his TV show, Merry

Christmas and God Bless.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.