The year was 1948. Laurence Olivier’s movie Hamlet opened in America. President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, which ended racial segregation in the military. Orville Wright died. Samuel L. Jackson was born. And readers of the Fort Worth Press read these ads with familiar names and faces:
J. Frank Norris had been in the pulpit of First Baptist Church since 1909. Norris was to be the guest preacher at a church on White Settlement Road. His topic: “Is the end of the world approaching?”
“Call for Philip Morris.” “No cigarette hangover.”
Robert Hall would suit you to a T (T for “Tropic-Hall”).
Porter Randall’s 7:30 a.m. newscast on KFJZ radio was sponsored by Renfro Rexall Drugs.
Reddy Kilowatt was the high-voltage spokesbolt for Texas Electric Service Company and other electric companies.
I always remember that Frank Norris said he would stop gambling at the Top of the Hill Terrace Casino in Arlington…and he did. And it is now the Arlington Bible College. But Frank never lived to see that.