Established 2010 - Moline Memories Blog Reached 300,000 Views Today

 This photo shows how tough the Moline teachers were. 

I started the Moline Memories blog in 2010. I thought some recollections might be interesting for our grandchildren in the distant future. Writing creates a need for research, so I learned a lot about our area: John Deere, the celebrities born or raised in Moline, the important leaders of the past.

I report on our the Moline High Class of 1966 - The Class the Stars Fell On. We have a growing list of Golden Wedding Anniversaries, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Views were very few at first, a few dozen a day. Now they average several thousand a month. I enjoy the shift in most seen for the week, which shows readers picking up on topics from the past and reading them.

It helps that my mother was one of the best teachers in an excellent school system and my father was a legendary baker. Classmates have asked me to re-start Melo-Cream and make more long johns and cinnamon fries for them.

A 2010 Moline Memories Post -

On February 3rd, 1959, a small plane took off in a winter storm and crashed immediately, killing Buddy Holly, J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), Ritchie Valens, and the pilot.

On a Winter Dance Tour, their last concert was at Clear Lake, Iowa, near Mason City, hometown of the Music Man, Meredith Wilson.

Holly's early death was especially tragic, because he was a musical pioneer with great talent and a young wife. She was expecting but lost the child.

Don McLean coined the term the day the music died in his song "American Pie." The song became a perennial hit, encouraging the fad of inexplicable lyrics. One attempt to decode the song is located here.

Holly's songs are classic pop, simple and evocative.

---

Dave Coopman has left a new comment on your post "February 3rd - The Day the Music Died":

The Winter Dance Tour played the Capitol Theater in Davenport on January 29, 1959. It was sponsored by KSTT, and for this appearance it was called the Concert of Stars, since it was the only venue where dancing could not take place. There was an ice storm in the Quint Cities that night, but the show was still sold out. 

Strangely, no pictures of that night have ever turned up. There must be some somewhere.

Winter Dance Party Dates:

January 23 - Milwaukee, WI
January 24 - Kenosha, WI
January 25 - Mankato, MN
January 26 - Eau Claire, WI
January 27 - Montevideo, MN
January 28 - St. Paul, MN
January 29 - Davenport, IA
January 30 - Ft. Dodge, IA
January 31 - Duluth, MN
February 1 - Green Bay,WI
February 2 - Clear Lake, IA

 Ken Berry, Moliner, recently celebrated his 85th birthday.
He was known for Mayberry RFD, F Troop, and guesting on the Carol Burnett Show.

I used to walk, bike, and drive by the Bartlett Insurance Agency, near my father's donut shop, little realizing that Bonnie Bartlett would team up with her husband William Daniels in St. Elsewhere, a show we watched all the time, many years later.

The shortest guy in gym class at Moline High earned the Medal of Honor in Viet Nam, John Baker.

 They named this bridge after Sgt. John Baker.

Happy 83rd Birthday - Moliner Ken Berry

--

Carol Burnett had the best variety show on TV,
and Ken Berry was a welcome guest.

Responses to “ACTOR KEN BERRY TURNED 78 TODAY”

http://pdxretro.com/2011/11/actor-ken-berry-turned-78-today/

1. Christopher Korman says:

   April 10, 2012 at 12:10 am

   I know Ken from his many years of his guest starring turns on Carol Burnett and Mama’s Family which my father Harvey Korman appeared on. Ken is a perfect example of an Artists getting type cast. Most people don’t know that Ken Started off as a dancer with the Billy Barnes revue along with Michelle Lee and Bert Convy. The fact is Ken Berry is one of the greatest song and dance men around and if he had been given the chance to prove that he would be mentioned with Astaire and Kelly Today.The only thing that supersedes his talents is his humility,grace,and integrity.Its been a privilege and honor to say I got to know the icon Ken Berry.

Video interviews with Ken Berry about the Carol Burnett Show, Mayberry RFD

In the Army, Spock got Berry to try Hollywood.

When I read about Ken Berry on his website, many details about Moline echoed what others have said and I have thought:

"Ken Berry was already five-eighths of the way to Mayberry when he was born in Moline, Ill., on November 3, 1933. Kenneth Ronald Berry was the second child (joining sister Dona Rae) of Bernice and Eugene Darrell Berry, who at the time of Ken’s birth was an accountant for John Deere Company."

Early career:
"When I got the job and it took me away from home, that must have been very hard for my parents," Ken says. "But they were very supportive and it was really a thrilling experience for me. After the Horace Heidt show, I came back and finished high school in Moline. I used to drive up to Chicago once a week and take a voice lesson and a tap lesson in the same studio. But that didn’t last very long. After graduation, I went back out to California to look for work. And I didn’t get much at all."

Mayberry as Brigadoon
About Mayberry, Ken says, "It’s a wonderful place to visit and people would fantasize about living there. It’s a place like Brigadoon that shows up every hundred years. It’s a place you dream about living, but you know it’s fantasy and you don’t care."

Mayberry Like Moline
He adds, "I grew up among people very much like that -- a bigger town, but not much bigger -- and the neighborhood was very much like that and the people were very much like those characters. And it was fun for me to visit, too. It was one of my favorite half hours ever on television and that was long before I met Andy."

---

GJ - My wife Chris and I talk about how much we enjoyed the 40th reunion of the MHS 66 class. She has always felt a part of my class, even though she met them after graduation, when we were at Augustana.

We have had a number of discussions with people on Facebook. The common theme is how pleasant people were to each other in Moline. It is no surprise that Ken Berry had the same experience earlier.

My father knew many people from work and from graduating from MHS. We had a lapboard where all his classmates inscribed their names with a woodburner. All his classmates seemed to be named Eric Johnson, John Ericson, Eric Ericson, John Johnson, Sven Svenson, Sven Ericson, Eric Svenson, John Svenson, etc.

Once we were discussing a local politician, and dad said, "I cannot believe he would be like that. His father was one of my teachers. His word was his bond."

With my mother in the Moline school system and my father in business, I was connected to everyone - one way or another. The kindly attitude was expressed in many different ways. When I went to Augustana College, a bike ride away, my mother's classmates were there.

The daughter of Dr. Andreen taught education at Augustana. "Are you going to be a teacher, too?" she asked. I said, "No, never."

Later I learned that Dr. Andreen left his position as a noted professor at Yale to become president of a threadbare college on the banks of the Mississippi. The little portable college, which barely survived, has become one of the best liberal arts colleges in America. Looking back, we can see how much people sacrificed to create a better life for future generations. I wonder if the same will be said about us Boomers.

I can imagine Ken Berry recognizing the fictional characters of Mayberry being so much like Moliners. I will have to write about them too.

Ken Berry had a hit show in Mayberry RFD in the late 1960s. He said Mayberry was just like the town he grew up in - Moline.
In Hollywood he is still known as the nicest guy in show business.

Andy Griffith launched the pilot of Mayberry RFD with Ken Berry.

Leonard Nimoy Encouraged Moliner Ken Berry to Try Hollywood

"Go West, young man." Yes - that is my Photoshop.

When his hitch was up in 1955, Ken was looking for the logical next move. "My sergeant in Atlanta was Leonard Nimoy, from ‘Star Trek,’" Ken recalls. "Leonard said, ‘You really ought to contact some people on the coast since you’re going back out there.’ He set it up and I got a screen test. I didn’t get the job but it got me to California." (The film was Francis in the Haunted House and at the last minute Mickey Rooney got the job of essentially succeeding Donald O’Connor in what turned out to be the last of the "Francis the Talking Mule" films.)

Ken Berry Official Website

Moliner Stars in Small Town America TV Series - Small Town, Big Deal

Jann Carl is a Moline High graduate, TV star. 

HAVE YOU HEARD!?!?!? (Had to use this mule shot for this post...tallest mule in North America!) I'm producing and co-hosting a show called "Small Town Big Deal".

CHECK IT OUT...it leaves you feeling good and THAT my friends is a very good thing! You can get all the info on it and how to watch it at www.smalltownbigdeal.com

Here's my small request...I have 1,373 Facebook Friends.....more than 525 of you have liked our show page. 

I'D LOVE IT IF NEARLY ALL of my FB friends would go to Small Town Big Deals FB page and "LIKE" us! Thank you all so very much. xoxo-Jann Feel free with share to your friends!

After I shared Jann's post - 

• Jann Carl SO right you are Greg!!!!! Loved doing those stories!!! Thanks for sharing...Hope your family and friends will tune in and will also 'like' us on facebook. Family Friendly television needs grass roots support to make it!!!
  

  21 minutes ago · Like
• 

  Gregory L. Jackson Hi Jann. I will put this on the blog and suggest that.

  18 minutes ago · Like
• 

  Jann Carl Thanks so much! We are on a mission .... we just got the Seal of Approval from the Parents Television Council and we intend to find a way to keep telling the great American stories that inspire, uplift, engage, entertain, inform and enlighten! We might even do a stock offering similar to the Green Bay Packers...giving everyone the opportunity to own a share of stock in the show so that we can keep the show on the air and 'the people' can take back at least a little bit of control on what gets on TV and their children and grandchildren see. 
• 
  

Click here for Jann Carl's Facebook page.

Click here to like her TV show - Small Town Big Deal.

Missou is proud of their graduate in journalism:

JANN CARL
Jann Carl was born on May 19, 1960 in Carthage, Mo. She attended the Missouri School of Journalism and graduated in 1982. While at Mizzou, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, ODK, the Mizzou Alumni Association Student Board and was a Tiger mascot.

From Columbia, Carl moved to Chicago to begin her broadcast news career at ABC affiliate WLS-TV. She later took an offer in Los Angeles to work as a news reporter and later accepted a position as co-host of KABC’s magazine show Eye on L.A. She won three Los Angeles Emmy Awards during her time in the city. In 1996, Carl joinedEntertainment Tonight and worked as a correspondent until 2008.

Today, Carl is developing several projects as head of her own production company. She also serves as a national board member for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for which she has co-hosted an annual Labor Day Telethon for 18 years.

Jann Carl's TV show reminded me of another Moliner, Ken Berry, who starred in F Tropp and Mayberry RFD, besides appearing with Carol Burnett on the Mama's Family skits.

Happy 80th Birthday - Ken Berry - Moliner

Carol Burnett had the best variety show on TV,
and Ken Berry was a welcome guest.

Responses to “ACTOR KEN BERRY TURNED 78 TODAY”

http://pdxretro.com/2011/11/actor-ken-berry-turned-78-today/

1. Christopher Korman says:

   April 10, 2012 at 12:10 am

   I know Ken from his many years of his guest starring turns on Carol Burnett and Mama’s Family which my father Harvey Korman appeared on. Ken is a perfect example of an Artists getting type cast.Most people don’t know that Ken Started off as a dancer with the Billy Barnes revue along with Michelle Lee and Bert Convy.The fact is Ken Berry is one of the greatest song and dance men around and if he had been given the chance to prove that he would be mentioned with Astaire and Kelly Today.The only thing that supersedes his talents is his humility,grace,and integrity.Its been a privilege and honor to say I got to know the icon Ken Berry.

Video interviews with Ken Berry about the Carol Burnett Show, Mayberry RFD

When I read about Ken Berry on his website, many details about Moline echoed what others have said and I have thought:

"Ken Berry was already five-eighths of the way to Mayberry when he was born in Moline, Ill., on November 3, 1933. Kenneth Ronald Berry was the second child (joining sister Dona Rae) of Bernice and Eugene Darrell Berry, who at the time of Ken’s birth was an accountant for John Deere Company."

Early career:
"When I got the job and it took me away from home, that must have been very hard for my parents," Ken says. "But they were very supportive and it was really a thrilling experience for me. After the Horace Heidt show, I came back and finished high school in Moline. I used to drive up to Chicago once a week and take a voice lesson and a tap lesson in the same studio. But that didn’t last very long. After graduation, I went back out to California to look for work. And I didn’t get much at all."

Mayberry as Brigadoon
About Mayberry, Ken says, "It’s a wonderful place to visit and people would fantasize about living there. It’s a place like Brigadoon that shows up every hundred years. It’s a place you dream about living, but you know it’s fantasy and you don’t care."

Mayberry Like Moline
He adds, "I grew up among people very much like that -- a bigger town, but not much bigger -- and the neighborhood was very much like that and the people were very much like those characters. And it was fun for me to visit, too. It was one of my favorite half hours ever on television and that was long before I met Andy."

---

GJ - My wife Chris and I talk about how much we enjoyed the 40th reunion of the MHS 66 class. She has always felt a part of my class, even though she met them after graduation, when we were at Augustana.

We have had a number of discussions with people on Facebook. The common theme is how pleasant people were to each other in Moline. It is no surprise that Ken Berry had the same experience earlier.

My father knew many people from work and from graduating from MHS. We had a lapboard where all his classmates inscribed their names with a woodburner. All his classmates seemed to be named Eric Johnson, John Ericson, Eric Ericson, John Johnson, Sven Svenson, Sven Ericson, Eric Svenson, John Svenson, etc.

Once we were discussing a local politician, and dad said, "I cannot believe he would be like that. His father was one of my teachers. His word was his bond."

With my mother in the Moline school system and my father in business, I was connected to everyone - one way or another. The kindly attitude was expressed in many different ways. When I went to Augustana College, a bike ride away, my mother's classmates were there.

The daughter of Dr. Andreen taught education at Augustana. "Are you going to be a teacher, too?" she asked. I said, "No, never."

Later I learned that Dr. Andreen left his position as a noted professor at Yale to become president of a threadbare college on the banks of the Mississippi. The little portable college, which barely survived, has become one of the best liberal arts colleges in America. Looking back, we can see how much people sacrificed to create a better life for future generations. I wonder if the same will be said about us Boomers.

I can imagine Ken Berry recognizing the fictional characters of Mayberry being so much like Moliners. I will have to write about them too.

Ken Berry had a hit show in Mayberry RFD in the late 1960s. He said Mayberry was just like the town he grew up in - Moline.
In Hollywood he is still known as the nicest guy in show business.

Andy Griffith launched the pilot of Mayberry RFD with Ken Berry.