| |
| | When
we say Granger has Character,
90% of it is Saint Dan
Dan Martinets
today
TE Photo |
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While on a trip from Taylor
to Waco
we passed by the town of Granger.
We had heard Granger's streets were the first to be paved in Texas and we went
to check it out. Our inquires at the city hall resulted in a mysterious look between
the two clerks. "You need to talk to Dan Martinets" was what we were told. It
turned out to be the best advice we've been given by city employees to date.
We called Mr.
Martinets and received an invitation to visit and have all our questions about
Granger answered. We got much more. We got to meet the man who has been known
as "Saint Dan" and "The Reluctant Psychic." Since he has become our only source
for Granger stories, we asked if we could call him the "Lone Granger." He graciously
accepted and is now included in our staff as our Granger Historian. |
| Baby
Dan Martinets with father c. 1923 |
| The
J.F. Martinets Family c. 1915 |
How
Jane Russell nearly broke my Collarbone on the Neiman Marcus Escalator.
By Dan (The Lone Granger) Martinets as told to The Editor
Dan Martinets, had left Williamson County after guaduating from Southwestern
University in Georgetown. Having seen all of Williamson County, he decided to
take a job in Dallas at the Neiman Marcus store there.
The Elevator
Grapevine
He headed a group of advertising people who were also responsible
for the printing of the famous catalogs. Since they were on the fifth floor and
were sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Floor Stepchildren," they depended on
the kindness of visitors and elevator operators to have some contact with the
outside world. Since celebrities often shopped at Neimans, perhaps the
first people to see them would be the elevator operators. This may be a surprise
to our younger readers (as if we had younger readers) to know that there were
people who actually made a living punching numbers for people, but such was the
case. If a movie star was let out on the 2nd floor, the elevator operator
would tell the other floors, so that they might be better prepared for an encounter
with a celebrity.
One day word came up that Jane Russell was visiting
a department several floors below. Dan had missed several previous celebrities,
so he was determined to see this one. Such was his hurry that he and a woman collided
at the escalator. As they both turned picked themselves off the floor, and Dan
started to apologize, he found himself looking into the face he was rushing to
see. This story is not nearly as good as the time he used the urinal next to Rock
Hudson, but it'll have to do until we include that one.
September 2000
© John Troesser |
More
about Dan Martinets:
Granger
Through The Years by Clay Coppedge
Dan Martinets used to walk
along the railroad tracks running through the heart of his hometown, Granger,
and dream of getting on one of those trains and never coming back.
That
was in the 1920s, when both Granger and Martinets were young and in their prime.
Now Granger would seem to be yet another small town with a great future behind
it and Martinets has passed on; he died two days before Christmas last year...
more |
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