The Pecan Park Eagle

The World Famous Platters Sang Our Birthday Message ...

"WE LOVE YOU, JIMMIE!" ...

"...AND WE LOVE RUTH ANN TOO!"

If you were among the 300 plus people who gathered with us at the Petroleum Club In Lafayette, Louisiana last Saturday night, September 3rd, to honor the lifetime of love for family, service to country, creative and bold leadership in the world of entertainment and business, and benevolent loyalty to friends that has been, and continues to be, the life of 87-year old Jimmie Menutis, then I’m probably not telling you anything that you don’t already know about this gentle, humble icon of true American greatness.

The birthday party was great. If you there for this once-in-a-lifetime experience (unless the family decides to make it a regular event), I don’t need to tell you anything. The company was great, the World Famous Platters were terrifically entertaining, and the dancing was superb. We got to meet all the available Menutis family members and we heard some marvelous and funny stories about Jimmie Menutis the Man from his good friend, the Honorable Paul Valteau, the former Sheriff of New Orleans.

Along the way, we also got to see that many of the old Whip-Dancing crowd is still not “to old to stroll or too pooped to pop.” Steve Schifani and Mary Pat Schifani of Houston won the dance contest over sixteen other couples, earning a prize from Jimmie and Ruth Ann that you won’t see at every birthday party. The Schifanis earned an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas for still being able to do “The Whip” like it was 1958.

Steve and Mary Pat Schifani (foreground) show off their winning dance style.

Jimmie and Ruth Ann Menutis also cut a mean rug the night before at a public performance on Friday night by The Platters.

Jimmie and Ruth Ann reprised the look of love on the dance floor Saturday.

As Master of Ceremonies for the evening, I was far too busy working the pace of things to gather names and facts for a pure coverage of the party as an event, but some things happened to deepen my appreciation for my already positive feelings about Jimmie Menutis. Please remember that I’ve known Jimmie Menutis (with the “y” spelling of his first name) for over a half century, but that I only met him in person for the first time last Friday night, when my son Neal and I arrived in Lafayette early enough to take in a public performance by the Platters with the Menutises.

Folks, I have to tell you some things you may not know about Jimmie Menutis, unless you’ve met him and paid attention to the kind and quiet company of this gentle man – as to who he really is – and is not:

(1) Jimmie Menutis is no ordinary 87-year old human being. The man thinks, and moves, and reacts like a man half his age – I’ll put him at age 55 tops. You should have seen him dance. He and Ruth Ann were super partners out there on the floor.

(2) Jimmie Menutis is not merely a successful entrepreneur and businessman with a big reputation for same in the entertainment world.. He is a solid family man and a loyal friend, with a modest view of his rather considerable accomplishments in life as a war hero, and as a true vanguard defender of civil rights for performers and fans in the entertainment world. He just did what he did so quietly that most people don’t even know the whole story. I don’t pretend to know the whole story on short notice either, but I picked up enough from my access to scrapbooks and tidbit-talk with and about Jimmie Menutis this past weekend to be convinced of the man’s basic goodness.

(3) As a young man, Jimmie did a long tour of duty in World War II as a war correspondent in the Pacific Theatre. He was injured in combat three times, if memory serves, but always went back to get the job done he had been assigned to do.

(4) When Jimmie opened the Jimmy Menutis Club back in 1958, he opened the door in racially segregated Houston that gave minority stars a first class mainstream place to perform before local audiences.  The problem, of course, was that segregation was designed to keep the races apart. An entertainment vendor wasn’t supposed to sell tickets to blacks for shows performed by other blacks, if the show was intended for whites.

Well, Jimmie had not opened his club to get caught up in this mess as a civil rights movement strategy, but it didn’t take him very long to see the dilemma he faced. Some black performers didn’t want to play Houston because other blacks could not come see the shows too. Who could blame them? Houston was loaded at that time with racists who still wanted help from Fats Domino to “find their thrills on Blueberry Hill,” as long as they didn’t have to sit next  to black people when they got there.

Jimmie took a practical approach to the problem. He got the word out through minority media people that blacks could buy tickets. Then he quietly seated black patrons together. If some indignant white customer raised a question with Jimmie, he just told the complainants that, “those people are family and they have a right to be here.” Fortunately for Jimmie, that explanation settled things in the short term. Segregation of venues in every area was on the way out – and people like Jimmie Menutis just helped it get out of the way faster,

(5) Bottom Line: In establishing a landing field for rock and roll in Houston, Jimmie Menutis also leaned into the cultural and legal change arena that first came down upon Houston and the rest of America in the 1960s. All the battles for equity and justice weren’t won by the so-called civil rights leaders. More often than not, positive change came from the actions of quiet folks – people who simply had the courage to get out there, however imperfectly, and just do the right thing,  Jimmie Menutis was, and is – such a man.

THE GHOST OF PLATTERSTEIN! - The close flash caught me in a big glare as the Platters began their performance,

The Platters were awesome. Starting with “Only You” and going all the way through their greatest hits, “My Prayer,” “Twilight Time,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and “The Great Pretender,”  along with so many others, they faithfully rendered the versions we best remember. Even if they all are only the newest generation of this wonderful old group, they have kept alive “The Magic Touch”  of the group that started back in 1953. Between 1955 and 1968, the Platters had 4 songs reach the #1 ranking and they saw 35 individual songs hit the top ten list in popular music. Overall, 43 Platters songs achieved some kind of national ranking during that same era. They were the group that helped America fall in love. And they did a beautiful job on our special night for Jimmie Menutis.

Lawrence "Rooster" Lockard of The Platters and Fan.

I shall  be forever grateful to Jimmie and Ruth Ann Menutis for the small part they gave me in this great day of celebration. Back home at The Pecan Park Eagle, I just had to share this now enlarged sketch I now hold of Jimmie after this past weekend.  As survivors on this long roller coaster ride of life, I think that we live better with ourselves as we get better at doing the right thing, when the right thing comes up, as it does every day. And I’m simply swept up in awe of a man who has been doing the next right thing in life longer than most of us can even remember being here.

Neal McCurdy shows off the entry way photo display.

And Elvis Presley mans the guest sign-in table.

Thank you! …. Thank you very much!

Now have a safe and peaceful Labor Day!

Houston's Cradle of Rock 'n Roll on Telephone Road near Wayside.

OK, Houston! We asked for it! Now we’ve got it and we can’t drop the ball!

Back on August 5, 2010, I wrote a column on the old Jimmie Menutis Club on Telephone Road near Wayside back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. It truly was Houston’s “Cradle of Rock ‘n Roll” for so many of us who were coming of age in that era. Everybody played Jimmie Menutis’s place, from Chuck Berry to Sam Cooke to the Platters. You name them. – Jimmie booked them. And Houston fans had a 3-D, front row seat to the most dramatic era of change in American music history.

That article twanged a memory string that vibrated all over the place. Old JM fans came pouring from all those cracks in the walls of history to express their joy of that moment. And just when we thought it could not possibly get any better, out of the blue, we heard from Jimmie Menutis himself! The chords of happy celebration had somehow traveled all the way to the man himself – and suddenly we were all about direct contact with a talking, writing, expressive version of our years ago icon, There was even talk then of a reunion party.

Well, guess what, friends? There is going to be Jimmie Menutis Birthday and Anniversary Reunion Party after all. I just got the preliminary, settled news about it yesterday from Ruth Ann Menutis, Jimmie’s dear wife of 52 years, and we are all invited to attend.

The party is set for August 6, 2011 in New Orleans – a full year and one day from the date of our original discussion here on The Pecan Park Eagle. 87-year old Jimmie Menutis will be turning 88 around that time and he wants to share this moment with his friends and fans – and in a way that is befitting his memory and reputation.

Ruth Ann tells me that her husband may be 87, but that he looks 65 and enjoys excellent health. Jimmie loves people and the shared joy of good music danced and sung together. Our Houston fan base needs to show up for Jimmie this summer – and we can help best now by giving Jimmie and Ruth Ann our early show of hands on the personal commitment to be there.

Based upon the e-mail I received yesterday from Ruth Ann Menutis, here’s what I can tell you about the plan and the arrangements, so far:

Date: August 6, 2011, for sure.

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana. The actual venue is still under review. It’s site depends upon a better firm estimate on the number of people actually coming. I understand that an 80th birthday party for Jimmie drew 300 people. This one is expected to be even larger.

Entertainment: The world-famous Platters will be there, for certain, along with an Elvis Band that is a Vegas favorite. There is another who may also be there, but I am not at liberty to say anything. All I can say is, if this “other” performer also comes, they had better rent a hall with expandable walls. – The family is also trying to contact former Houston disk jockey Paul Berlin to serve as master of ceremonies.

Cost: There is no charge for attending the party. People coming will have to pay their own travel and hotel bills, but the Menutis family is getting a block of rooms at a better rate for those who request first interest in making reservations.

Arrangements: If you wish to reserve a room through the Menutis family, or if you could simply let them know soon that you are committed to coming, please contact Ruth Ann Menutis at a reasonable time of day and communicate your hotel room needs and information on the numbers of people you expect to bring.

Contact information:

US MAIL: Ruth Ann Menutis, 110 Travis St., Lafayette, LA 70503;

Phone: 337-289-3000:

E-Mail:  rmenutis@brandedworksinc.com

This is a big deal, folks, and we who loved Jimmie Menutis need to do our part to make this whole bash a night for Jimmie forever. That starts with making it as easy on the Menutis family as we can with our arrangement needs. I will continue to update new developments here on The Pecan Park Eagle and to fine tune or change things as the Menutis family needs to change them, if necessary, as time goes by. For now, I would say their biggest need is getting the best read possible on how many of us are coming.

So, please spread the word to others who may not ordinarily see The Pecan Park Eagle. We can’t make a big deal out of Jimmie Menutis over the Internet and then miss his summer party in New Orleans. – Hey! This thing could be like Woodstock for Old Rockers, if enough of us show up.

You know what? I like the line I found earlier. It will be A Night for Jimmie Forever.