fpfundstein

Sorry that you were unable to continue your guitar playing. Sounds like you took that cowboy stuff a little too seriously.

Yes, I'd say Utah Carl was 6'6'. Aunt Willa was quite tall, too.

Don't recall ever meeting Carl Jr., nor do I know anything about his whereabouts. I knew Utah Carl's and Aunt Willa's brother George and his sons, Jimmy, Johnny, and George Jr., as they lived in Aunt Willa's Avenue Q neighborhood in Galveston.

I guess a lot of TV stations had TV cowboys in the 50s. Remember Roger Miller's song, "Kansas City Star"? It was the advent of TV and stations were in need of filling time slots. Those country singer/entertainers of the day were naturals for the opportunity. After-school kids shows here featured; Buck Barry, Deputy Don (who didn't even sing), and Kenny Roberts, a Starday recording artist who somehow ended up here in northern Michigan.

Yes, those were different times.

Denny - It has been quite a while since I have been on this site so I am just getting around to seeing your message. It is great to hear from you about the influence that my grandfather and Uncle Herb had on you musically. I too remember many a Saturday nights hanging out at Aunt Willa (we called her Aunt Wauve) and Uncle Herb(ie)'s house on Ave Q with my grandfather and the rest of my family listening to them play until the wee hours of the morning. It is really sad that after my grandfather passed away, our families lost that cohesiveness. I don't recall us all getting together on many occasions after his death. Those truly were the good ole days.

Unfortunately, none of the grandkids on our side picked up music. I played piano for a little while, but ended up dropping it and concentrated more on sports. My brother Troy and my Uncle Carl Jr.'s kids, CJ and Tracy don't play either. I really wish I would have stuck with it. My mom still has my grandfather's guitar. Fortunately, my oldest son loves playing the guitar, so I really look forward to the day that I can hand down the guitar to him.

I remember all of the clothes. They were quite impressive. Aunt Willa was definitely a huge fan. I understand your sentiments regarding Willa and Herb not being mentioned in Bill Cherry's article. I am really not sure why that was. I know Bill gathered facts from many sources including my grandmother and Carl Jr.'s wife, Pat, so I am sure that they would have mentioned them during the process.

As for Carl Jr., he lives in Texas City on the same street as my parents. I was just down there in July to visit. Carl is doing very well and it was great seeing him.

I'm not sure if you have moved the 8mm films to any other media format, but I'd be interested in paying for copies if you still have them.

Thanks again for the message. It was great to hear about the common threads in our lives.

Frank

You all may have already seen this, but someone created a MySpace page for my grandfather. There are a few of his songs on there for your listening pleasure and several good photos.

www.myspace.com/utahcarl

It's a genuine pleasure to meet someone related to one of my favorite entertainers. Carl was "top of the line" in local country music and I never missed his TV show.

Thank you for the kind words. I will pass this along to my family as I am sure they will really appreciate it.

Yes, I did. Bill Cherry was writing that article while I was still in Texas just before my grandmother passed away. It was first published in the Galveston Daily News and then Rockabilly picked it up.

I was searching on Google for my grandfather, Utah Carl Beach and came across your posts. It is great to see that he still has fans that are talking about him. Unfortunately, I was a bit young to remember his performances, but I remember many great nights sitting around his house or my great aunt and uncle's house listening to them play and telling great stories. My mom, Sandra and uncle, Carl Jr. have many great stories of their own.

I wish I could find more information about him, but I'm afraid most of it is probably in the film and article archives of the local tv stations and newspapers. I have seen some of his outfits, boots, his guitar and some of his vinyl 45s, but would really like to see some footage of him on tv.

Anyway, thanks for posting. I enjoyed reading your comments.

Frank