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THE BIG BOPPER
by Archie P. McDonald, PhD
"We
knew that Buddy Holly and Bill Haley and some kid named Presley were upsetting
the musical world, but we knew not that in another, secret life, J.P. Richardson
metamorphized into The Big Bopper, a rock-n-roller more interested in Chantilly
Lace and pony tails hanging down than in listening easy about anything."
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Early
in the 1950s, when I still worried about acne and wondered how and where I would
get the courage to ask Julianne what's-her-name to like me, Beaumont's Radio Station
KTRM aired a balm for the baffled beginning at 9:00 p.m. each evening. The programıs
format of "easy listening" music for those in love and those who wanted to be
continued until midnight, but my mother never let me stay up that late to find
out what went on then.
This program starkly contrasted with the remainder
of the stationıs fare, which was "hillbilly" followed by "country" followed by
more "hillbilly" followed by more.... This was punctuated with Tommy O'Brien "on
sports" and another now forgotten fellow reporting news off the wires every few
hours.
Then, at 9:00 p.m., this frenzy ceased. The mellow voice of disk
jockey J.P. Richardson wafted through the mysteries of broadcast radio to the
little brown, plastic, all-AM receiver in my room. A slow instrumental piece provided
background while our old friend greeted us and gently eased into the evening's
program of equally slow, soothing, almost pacifying, "easy listening" music.
Were we fooled. We knew that Buddy Holly and Bill Haley and some kid named
Presley were upsetting the musical world, but we knew not that in another, secret
life, J.P. Richardson metamorphized into The Big Bopper, a rock-n-roller more
interested in Chantilly Lace and pony tails hanging down than in listening easy
about anything.
For a while the masquerade continued. Richardson continued
his "day job" -- or more rightly his "night job" -- with KTRM while he developed
this schizoid character. We worried over his well being when he set a then-record
of broadcasting for over 96 consecutive hours from the lobby of the Jefferson
Theatre. He even had the prop of an ambulance to whisk him to the hospital in
case of collapse, and did get to ride in it when the ordeal was over.
But the "Mr. Hyde" side won out when The Big Bopper and "Chantilly Lace" hit the
big time. Only then, did we -- or at least I -- learn of his dual personality.
I followed his short if spectacular career in rock-n-roll avidly until he boarded
that ill-fated airplane with Holly and Richie Valance on a snowy night to make
the next gig.
For a much better known person who wrote a song that said
such, the music died that night when Buddy Holly's plane went down. For Beaumonters,
the silencing of J.P. Richardson's, or The Big Bopper's, music was a personal
tragedy. The listening wasn't so easy anymore.
I hear "Chantilly Lace"
less infrequently now, most often as background in a movie such as "Pretty Woman."
I wonder, if Buddy and Richie and The Big Bopper had survived that flight, what
might we think now of J.P. Richardson? A boy grows up and becomes a man, but he
still listens easy, and he still wonders. And Mother, I confess that I still stay
up too late, sometimes, listening.
İ Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical
June 23-29, 2002 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
(Archie McDonald is author of Pioneers, Poke Sallet and Politics with Bob
Bowman. It is available through the East Texas Historical Association, Nacogdoches)
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