Cape Breton's Magazine

going to try and make a little program. And she asked me who I was. I said, "We just got out of the service, and I play with Winston Fitzgerald." And she said, "Who is he?" "Oh," I said, "he was born up at White Point, Victoria County, in Cape North." Said, "Can he play?" I said. "Oh, yes, he can play all right--you needn't worry about that." She said, "Well, can you play?" I said, "In a sense." I said, "I'm no expert, but I try it." But she said, "Well, I'll come over." She said, "I've got to come over anyway." She said, "We'll meet, and we'll go up to the Lyceum and try it. See what we can do." Oh, she was an awful nice person, you know, Beattie. One of the finest. So anyway, up to the Lyceum we went. Holy jumping, old Winston came down on her, and he whistled down on some of those wild, hard. B-flat tunes. But Beattie was quite high up in music, you know. She took a lot of music. And a versatile player, boy. And she said, "I never heard the like of that since I'm born. I never heard a violin played like that," she said, "or probably I never will again." I said. "Probably you won't." So, anyway, we took at the playing, Satur? day nights. We went on (radio)--"MacDonald TAYLOR'S ' DENTURE CLINIC Specialist in Denture Construction Relines & Repairs J. B. TAYLOR - LiCENSED DENTURiST DENTAL PLANS and D.V.A. ACCEPTED * DISCOUNT FOR SENIORS * 92 Charlotte Street (corner of Charlotte & York) 564-9111 Keddy's Sydney Hotel 600 King's Rd., Sydney, N.S. KEDDY'S 218 ROOMS Air Conditioned Colour Cable TV Licensed Dining Daily Features Restaurant Hours: 7 A.M. - 2 P.M. / 5 P.M. -10 P.M. Coffee Shop Hours: 7 A.M.-10 P.M. Featuring Our Indoor Recreation Facility • ?Pool ? Sauna ? Whirlpool Bath ENTERTRINMENT & DANCING NIGHTLY RT lUORV'S LOUNGE For Reservations Phone 539-1140 Toll Free Reservations Phone 1-800-561-7666 Tobacco Company (Show)"--5 bucks apiece we got for that! Big deal. But it was money. So we played, probably a couple of weeks. And holy jumping, the letters! It was un? believable, the letters that came into that station. Wanting us to play here, wanting us to play there. Well, if there had of been 24 nights in a week, we could have played them. We started to play at the Navy League in Sydney--that was up on George Street--it's torn down now. And Carpenters Hall, and Venetian Gardens. That was our three jobs for the winter. And holy jumping, we packed them every time. And then the let? ters started coming in from Judique and Inverness and Cape North--every place. Even from Newfoundland and the Madeleine Islands, wanting us to go and play. The first job out of town, we waited till next spring--that's 1947. And we said, "By jumping, we're going to try Inverness." So we went up and got Willard Foug6re--he was driving taxi at the Isle Royale. And there was no pavement then, no roads. So Willard came up, and we started for Inverness. Beattie and I and Winston. At 11 o'clock we left Sydney. We got in Strathlorne at 10 that night. Didn't even get into Inverness. Plowing through mud, and through fields--it was ridiculous. So they had to send a big, dual-wheel-drive truck out. But an3rway, they got us in to the dance hall. We were the first to play on amplifiers, see. So we went in and got hooked up--the old Labour Temple in Inverness. And boy, we put on an exhibition of playing there-- the best we could, anyway. They got some surprise, boy, when old Winston played. All the old-time players were there, like W nrkirif'/ UJorii UJeoriiou/e SYDNEY SHOPPiNG CENtRE - PRINCE STREET - SYDNEY More than Just Great Workwear We carry a complete line to fit your needs. e farmers G)-operative Dairy Limited A Complete Line of Dairy & Juice Products ?? Milk ?? Spreads ?? Ice Cream ?? Juices ?? Yogourt ?? Long Life ?? Cheese Fanners Co-operative Dairy Limited Sydport, Sydney 562-2434 Owned t>y Nova Scotian Farmers