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VOLUME 53, NUMBER 3the prettiest girlsaround Grapevine prairie, a few years back, were the Schramm sisters.And the most romantic young men were those in show business. . .Medicine show business, to zc exact.What happened to the old-time traveling troupe is one of die theater’s secrets.But what happened to the biack-face comedian who married the Grapevine girl is not. The two have lived happily ever after. They spent more than 20 years in vaudeville, with stage rr'p}C bands, on Missis- [ nY\*o sippi show boats.They played for Billy Rose at the Fort Worth, Texas Centennial and staged a 19-week performance at his New York Diamond Horseshoe,They are the T.L. Simmonses, who with their son and his wife, Dick and Doris Simmons, own Dracor, a firm specializing in custom-made, draperies, located in downtown I rving.* * *Blackie Simmons was his name back then. It still is, ifyou get him to talking about show days.When I was a school boy I found out that I could make people laugh by blacking my face and telling a joke.My brother and I teamed up as 'Blackie and Brownie, Two Bits of Color* and hit the trail.I was wearing flap-toed shoes and full makeup when I first met the prettiest girl 1 ever saw. That was the Grapevine girl. Old Dr. Walker introduced us, 1 made quite a hit. But next day when I tried to shine up to her without show black, she wouldn't speak tome.ftSimmons also had an ear for music and was the master of 14 different instruments.When vaudeville began to slow he organized his own band, Blackie's Blue Jackets, and played all over North Texas under the sponsorship of KRLD.A lot of musicians went to work for Uncle Sam during the WPA Thirties, said Simmons, But we didn’t. A band with bounce would always attract at leasts few customers. My wife ran the business part.Ail 1 had to do was make the joint jump.I1c\sidcC£b£thtrrePithtocaesJeclrfrofwisaBrcaPrharacathetheis:iicafnstYlt;UGiweGifNr* * *it22People in show business tojalways do something In-be- pbtween*, continued Blackie. prWe had our share. Out on thethe West Coast, my wife got printerested in draperies. Our an.son was an electronics engi- jncneer with IBM when the Kor- felean War broke out. Later he married, and when the war thewas over, instead of coming er;back to California, he went to be:work for Bell Helicopter at HiHurst. attWe came down, and before prlt;I knew what was happening my 0fwife and her new daughter, coiDoris, had one room filled (with curtain samples. Then, fvtwo rooms. A few months later priwe moved to bigger quarters, ’Three moves in two years brought us up to managing Itasca Draperies, which we moved from Dallas to Irving. Sixteen months ago we bought the firm and changed the name to Dracor (Drapery Corner).* * *The new firru had rough sledding at first, but now has about 20 girl employes.Forty-five days ago, we had lo close the doors on new orders, Dracor has given us our finest Curtain’ call.**
Newspaper Details
Grand Prairie Daily News Texan
Grand Prairie, Texas, US
Thu, Aug 09, 1962
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
GB 26 Apr 2020
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