Columnist Joe Delaney: Flipping through cherished memories over the years

Joe Delaney's column appears Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4066.

Some memorable moments: On my high school career day in January 1939, the morning was spent with Joseph Mears, general manager of the Walt Whitman Hotel in Camden, N.J., and the afternoon touring the Camden Courier Post newspaper. ... In January 2000, I'm in my 33rd year writing about entertainment in hotels for the Sun.

Twenty-five years ago I created a course in hotel entertainment at UNLV that I taught until it was taken over by a former student of mine in January 1999. ... On Jan. 18, this year, I shall substitute for my former student, teaching the course for UNLV's spring semester.

Music, particularly jazz music, became part of my life at a very early age. ... As a teenager, working with recordings, I was torn between studying trumpet or clarinet, inspired by two recordings, "Dusky Stevedore" by Louis Armstrong, and Barney Bigard's clarinet on Duke Ellington's "Delta Serenade."

In the 1930s

Working part time as a "gofer" backstage in Philadelphia's Earle Theatre, I got to see and meet Louis Armstrong, Milton Berle, Duke Ellington and Louis Prima, among others. ... Met Berle again in 1944 and gave him a joke that he used onstage that night. ... We continued our correspondence through the years and in the 1970s, he taped a three-part interview with me for KLVX Channel 10 locally.

Ellington and I became close friends during the 1940s and 1950s, my days in the recording industry. ... This continued until his passing in 1974 when I produced an Ellington tribute in UNLV's Ham Hall using top local musicians, singer Ruth Brown, guitarist Kenny Burrell and singer Herb Jeffries.

Prima had a number of previous lives before taking what the Mary Kaye Trio had started and creating the lounge era, 1954-1970. ... Recorded Sam Butera for RCA before Sam and the Witnesses joined Louis and Keely in 1954.

1940s through the 1960s

Louis Armstrong, his manager, Joe Glaser, and I were close friends from the 1940s until Glaser's death in 1970 and Louis' passing a year later. ... In 1952, after emceeing a "Louis Armstrong Homecoming Concert" in New Orleans, Satchmo promised to someday record with the Dukes of Dixieland. ... We actually recorded two albums, in 1959 and 1960.

And then there was meeting Al Jolson while I was in the service in 1944, then in 1949, with Decca Records, spending a day with Jolson promoting his album for the picture, "Jolson Sings Again," a follow-up to the highly successful "Jolson Story." ... Jolson did 15 minutes each in 13 New York City RKO Theatres, on the hour, starting at 10 a.m.

In the RKO 86th Street Theatre, 10 p.m., the last stop, Jolson asked the crowd if they wanted to watch this "cockamamy" picture or hear him sing. ... Jolson sang for two solid hours and the full house yelled for more.

Earlier highlights

While with Decca in the late 1940s, magic moments included watching Irving Berlin singing the score of "Annie, Get Your Gun" in a Decca office, going to Cole Porter's penthouse suite at the Waldorf Astoria while he revealed the songs for "Kiss Me Kate" and an afternoon in Rodgers and Hammerstein's offices for the score of "South Pacific."

As a child, I promised my grandfather two things: I would attend law school and go to Ireland. ... Carried away at the moment, I even promised to climb Croagh Patrick, St. Patrick's mountain, in his honor. ... This year will be my 47th as a member of the Louisiana Bar and, in 1980, at age 58, I did climb St. Patrick's mountain.

The climb was captured on film as part of "Ireland of the Festivals," one of six documentaries that have been shown on KLVX and PBS stations, nationally. ... He would have been pleased.

And today

When daughter Kathleen announced that she was going to study law and really practice law, "not do as her father did," it was a special moment. ... Roberta and I were there when she graduated law school, when she was admitted to the California Bar and, later, the Nevada Bar. ... Today, she is vice president and general counsel at Treasure Island.

There are a lot more memories but these came first as I sat contemplating another milestone, my 78th birthday, this Sunday.

See you next Thursday.

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