NotGivinUp

FilioScotia,

I came here because I was looking for facts about Houston in the mid 20th century. I'm sorry you think this thread is stupid. I might be inclined to agree with you if it were about a 90 year old man's World War II fantasy. For me, even that would depend on whether his fantasy distorts the truth about the real WW2 heroes. Where the old man is telling his story and to whom would make a difference too.

P.J. Proby is a lot younger than 90. Ever since the mid sixties he's been telling his tales about Houston and the music scene there. Considering the number of interviews he's done in the UK in the last 10 years alone, he has quite an audience of ill-informed Brits.
 

Thanks Dave W, that's just the kind of details I'm looking for! It's great to find someone who was in the S. Main/OST area in 1954 and can describe what was there at that time.

Surely no one else believes a main thoroughfare in mid 20th century Houston was a dirt road. Or that popular 'drive-in' restaurants were located on a road that hadn't been paved, as described in Mr. Proby's latest story posted by Tinker.
 

Some additional information from P.J. Proby has turned up on the internet in the last month. He was interviewed for the Classic Bands website (www.classicbands.com) by Gary James, a prolific celebrity interviewer and contributor to the website. Here's the interview link:

http://www.classicba...yInterview.html

In the interview Mr. Proby (Houstonian James/Jimmy Smith) says that during his summer breaks from school he had his own radio show in Houston with Tommy Sands. He says they were working for Biff Collie singing at various places in Houston including the Hitching Post, and that Elvis was in Houston in 1953 and 1954 singing with them. He said too that Col. Parker was with Elvis at that time. Can anyone confirm any of this?

Off topic, but I found another part of the interview amusing. He was talking about his close association with the famous lyricist, Ray Gilbert. He claims in the interview to be the godfather of Gilbert's daughter, Melissa Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie fame. Ray Gilbert's daughter was a different actress, Joanne not Melissa, and she's six years older than Proby. Hardly in need of his services as her godfather.

It might be time for the OP to change his username.

Perhaps NoHitch would be fitting?

Here is a video of a 2008 or 2009 interview with P.J. Proby talking about the Hitching Post, Elvis and Tommy Sands.

I finally got the page together, a lot you'll find familiar already but this covers The Paladium, Cook's Hoedown, Eagles' Hall and Magnolia Gardens.

http://scottymoore.net/houston.html

Thanks for all the input

Jim

You've gathered a lot of interesting and important facts and it's great you've put them all together for convenient reference. It doesn't look like your research turned up anything about the Hitching Post bar unless I overlooked it. Incidentally, I haven't found the HP mentioned in any books about George Jones either, although P.J. Proby said he was a regular there.

I asked Tinker whether Elvis was performing solo at the Hitching Post or with Scotty, Bill and D.J. because of this British TV interview I found on YouTube:

PJ Proby: Interview on Elvis Presley

P.J. Proby says in the interview that he had known Elvis since he was 14 when he, Elvis and Tommy Sands all sang at the hillbilly clubs in Houston, the Hitching Post. P.J. Proby (James Marcus Smith) was born November 6, 1938, making him 16 in late November 1954. So at least in that video, he's put Elvis in Houston in 1952 or 1953.

Hi, Notgivingup,

I’ve just read this discussion with great interest. I’m in contact with P.J. Proby and I’ve asked him what he remembers about the Hitchin Post. His memories are quite vivid::

“The Hitchin Post was at the end of Main, near the Drive-In and the Old Spanish Trail. It was at the crossing of South Main and the Old Spanish Trail. The place has been gone for over fifty years now! It was located on the spot where they later built an hotel, just before Playland Park. In those days it was the end of the city of Houston. It was the first place where Elvis performed in Texas, when he was still unknown. It was the place where Biff Collie hosted his radio show Billie’s Cracker Barrel Corner.”

Hi, tinker,

As you are in contact with P.J. Proby, can you ask him whether Elvis was performing solo at the bar called the Hitching Post or if he had Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D.J. Fontana backing him?

Here is a link to an article on Johnnie's military background and talks of his musical background and the club too.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/voces/no-search/template-stories-indiv-print.html?work_urn=urn%3Autlol%3Awwlatin.274&work_title=Martinez%2C+John+Anastacio

Nice article about big band leader, John Martinez. Thanks for this link. Noticed that it refers to the Palladium as a "nightclub" in downtown Houston.

As for Don's post regarding Johnny Martinez' ownership, I would love to hear more about him/that.

Several weeks ago I saw a lengthy obituary for Johnny Martinez on dignitymemorial.com but the link now says the obit is no longer available. This is the only part I can find in my notes:

Perhaps someone else here has all of it. Below is the Martinez death notice that was published in the Houston Chronicle on June 21, 2010:

The Paladium Club was never called The Hitching Post. It wasn't a "cowboy bar," but a huge ballroom that could seat over 2,000 people.

Then it sounds like the Paladium Club is ruled out as a possibility. The other well known venues in the early/mid 1950's either don't fit the description or their location is wrong.

I still haven't found any info that disc jockey Biff Collie broadcast a live talent show from a bar in Houston. It's strange that if this Hitching Post cowboy bar was famous for giving country singers and musicians their start, no one seems to remember it.

I found this in Billboard about the live broadcast from the Texas Corral on radio station KLEE in 1950.

Billboard Nov 18, 1950

I've found no further mention of broadcasts from the Texas Corral or the Paladium/Palladium Club after 1950.

PJ Proby describes the Hitching Post of 1954 as a cowboy bar. It's odd they would change the name of a cowboy bar to a swanky sounding name like the Palladium Club unless they also changed the decor and provided entertainment besides C&W.

tinker said Biff Collie had a radio show - “Collie’s Corner” (named “Biff Collie’s Cracker Barrel Corner” by Proby) - broadcast from the Hitching Post (or Texas Corral / Palladium Club). Does anyone else know anything about that show and the location of broadcasting?

So far I've only found that Biff DJ'd a show on KNUZ starting in 1948 that was a remote broadcast from the Glad Music Company's record store on 11th Street. He later MC'd the "The Houston Hometown Jamboree" (possibly aka the "Grand Prize Jamboree") as a remote broadcast beginning in 1954. The location apparently alternated between the City Auditorium and the Eagle's Hall depending on the season:

Billboard - Mar 6, 1954

Billboard - Jul 10, 1954

Billboard - Nov 13, 1954

The Houston Chronicle only says that Tony Sepolio wasn't the operator of the Paladium after 1957. I haven't found the date the club closed. In the book Lone Star Swing by Duncan McLean (1998) there is a picture of a dance ticket with this information...

Admit One Couple Free

Corn A Poppin' Dance

At Texas Corral - 8100 S.Main At O.S.T.

Tune in KLEE 5:00 p.m. Week Days Corn a Poppin Show

Saturday 3 o'clock With Sleepy Bob

Also Texas Corral Show 8:00 and 10:30 Nightly

Benny Leaders - The Western Rangers

Jerry Irby - Texas Ranchers

Ride the 9300 South Main or Playland Park Bus

Madison 6526

Thursday JUL 14 '49

tinker, I don't know what "the old days" means to you but according to the Houston Chronicle Archives 04/08/2004 the Texas Corral club didn't exist until after the end of World War II...

The Paladium was closed when Houston Astrodome construction plans would have put the club in its stadium parking lot. According to Ballparks of Baseball concerning the Houston Astrodome...

A helpful forum member suggested I contact a Houston businessman he thought might remember the Hitching Post, so I took his advice. The man said he didn't but was kind enough to contact someone he has known for many years who knew both Tommy Sands and Elvis back then. That person said the only place Elvis performed on South Main in the early days was his one stint at the Texas Corral (renamed the Palladium Club). This contradicts singer PJ Proby's story that Elvis performed regularly at a famous bar on South Main called the Hitching Post but I'm still trying to keep an open mind about it for now in case someone else has more information.

Sorry, I missed that before. Thanks.

Thanks. Is there a listing that gives an address for the Paladium Club (originally the Texas Corral?) on S. Main or on O.S.T.? I've also seen it spelled with two l's - Palladium. BTW where was the Eagle's Hall?

sevfiv,

Looks like that address for the Trading Post is over 2 miles from S. Main @ O.S.T. so I don't think it's the location that Proby's talking about.

Is your source a 1955 phone book or a city directory? So it doesn't have anything on S. Main for The Hitching Post, Hitching Post or maybe even for Post, Hitching?

That motel sign beats Burma Shave's hands down :-)

Yes, there's a reference to O.S.T. on Proby's website too. I found the following on another bio page on the same site...

"Jim met and worked with Tommy Sands and Elvis Presley, George Jones, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Collins Kids and many others while growing up in Houston at places like The Hitching Post, The Eagles Hall, The South Maine Olde Spanish Trail for the leading D.J.s at the time, Cliffie Stone & Biff Collie."

Taken literally he's saying The South Maine Olde Spanish Trail is a venue but I doubt that's what he means. Proby has talked about a Hitching Post bar in various print, radio and on camera interviews within the last 10 years with references to both South Main and O.S.T. Therefore I'm guessing the HP bar was supposed have been at or near the intersection of O.S.T. and Main St.

Thanks for the links and I'm following up on them. Some great pictures there.

Proby is a native of Houston and used his real name - Jim or Jimmy Smith - when he was performing there as a teenager. He wasn't singing as a member of a group either. This is from a bio page on his website describing his performances 1954-1956...

"The first place where Jim performed was the Hitching Post, a cowboy bar at the end of South Main Street in Houston, where the two-years-older Tommy Sands was singing"....."Also George Jones and Elvis Presley (who was almost four years older than Jim) played there sometimes."

...Smith/Proby left Houston in 1957 after high school and moved to California. He started using the name PJ Proby several years later in California and when he moved to England in 1964.

Thanks for all the suggestions. If this 1950's Hitching Post bar played as big a role in Houston history as PJ Proby claims, it seems like people here would have heard of it. I'm beginning to think it's part of a yarn somebody dreamed up to place Proby on the same "stage" as Elvis and Tommy Sands. But I'm keeping an open mind. I hope someone who was around back then will remember whether this bar actually existed - or didn't.

Thanks for your replies and suggestions. I have several books about Elvis including both Elvis Day By Day and Last Train to Memphis. I've also been to numerous sites (including Scotty Moore's and several about Biff Collie) that list his appearances in Texas. So far I'm reaching a dead-end on the Hitching Post bar but I will keep looking.

P.J. Proby's staff say it's definite that Proby sang at the Hitching Post in 1954 and so did Elvis and Tommy Sands. Proby also claims that Elvis was in Houston off and on for several months during the summer and fall of 1954 and he was driving a pink Cadillac. I've had no luck verifying that Elvis was in Houston before late November 1954 or finding anything about a him owning a Cadillac before March 1955.

I'm willing to give anybody the benefit of the doubt but like a lot of other people I take history very seriously. If I were anywhere near Houston now I would be at the public library looking for the Hitching Post in microfilmed city directories. If all else fails I may have to do that but I thought I would try here first. Thanks again.

Does anyone have firsthand knowledge of a Houston bar named the Hitching Post that existed in 1954-55? There's a singer living in England who goes under the name P.J. Proby (real name James Marcus Smith) who claims to have sung there with Elvis and Tommy Sands in 1954. His publicity people say it was a "cowboy bar" famous for giving country singers and musicians their start. Proby's website says Biff Collie broadcast his radio show from the bar and it was located at the end of South Main.

I can't find any references to this Hitching Post bar in Houston other than on websites that are talking about P.J. Proby's life and career. Nor can I find anything that corroborates Proby's story about singing with Elvis and Tommy Sands anywhere at all. Any help would be greatly appreciated.