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Sept/Oct 2017 Newsletter
Updated On: Aug 31, 2017

Brothers and Sisters,

9/11/17 is the 16th anniversary of that horrific event.

Due to a prior commitment, I had to miss the summer party. I understand that it was a huge success. A special thanks to all of the volunteers and a real special thanks goes out to Larry Schwartz, who won the 50/50 and made a generous donation back to the club.

Labor Day is Monday, Sept 4th.

Labor Daze: Pride, Chaos and Kegs on Labor's First 'Day' 
   On the morning of September 5, 1882, a crowd of spectators filled the sidewalks of lower Manhattan near city hall and along Broadway. They had come early, well before the Labor Day Parade marchers, to claim the best vantage points from which to view the first Labor Day Parade.
   A newspaper account of the day described "...men on horseback, men wearing regalia, men with society aprons, and men with flags, musical instruments, badges, and all the other paraphernalia of a procession."
   The police, wary that a riot would break out, were out in force that morning as well. By 9 a.m., columns of police and club-wielding officers on horseback surrounded city hall. By 10 a.m., the Grand Marshall of the parade, William McCabe, his aides and their police escort were all in place for the start of the parade. There was only one problem: none of the men had moved. The few marchers that had shown up had no music. 
   
According to McCabe, the spectators began to suggest that he give up the idea of parading, but he was determined to start on time with the few marchers that had shown up.
   Suddenly, Mathew Maguire of the Central Labor Union of New York (and probably the father of Labor Day) ran across the lawn and told McCabe that two hundred marchers from the Jewelers Union of Newark Two had just crossed the ferry — and they had a band!
   Just after 10 a.m., the marching jewelers turned onto lower Broadway — they were playing "When I First Put This Uniform On," from Patience, an opera by Gilbert and Sullivan. The police escort then took its place in the street. When the jewelers marched past McCabe and his aides, they followed in behind. Then, spectators began to join the march.
   Eventually there were 700 men in line in the first of three divisions of Labor Day marchers. Final reports of the total number of marchers ranged from 10,000 to 20,000 men and women. With all of the pieces in place, the parade marched through lower Manhattan.
   The New York Tribune reported that, "The windows and roofs and even the lamp posts and awning frames were occupied by persons anxious to get a good view of the first parade in New York of workingmen of all trades united in one organization."
   At noon, the marchers arrived at Reservoir Park, the termination point of the parade. While some returned to work, most continued on to the post-parade party at Wendel's Elm Park at 92nd Street and Ninth Avenue; even some unions that had not participated in the parade showed up to join in the post-parade festivities that included speeches, a picnic, an abundance of cigars and, "Lager beer kegs... mounted in every conceivable place."
   From 1p.m. until 9 p.m. that night, nearly 25,000 union members and their families filled the park and celebrated the very first, and almost entirely disastrous, Labor Day.

Cowboy Western Nostalgia
  For some reason, the other day I started thinking about old cowboy westerns. So I decided to do some research about TV and movie westerns. I know that a lot of you younger retirees don't remember the hay days of TV westerns in the fifties and sixties. We had it rough in those days when we had to walk ten feet through shag carpet to turn the channel on the black and white TV's. We had to adjust the rabbit ears and sometimes put aluminum foil on them. But some of these cowboy shows were great.
  You might remember Gun Smoke; Have Gun Will Travel (one of my favorites); Wagon Train; The Rifleman; Rawhide; Maverick; Bonanza (the first TV show that I saw in color); Wanted Dead or Alive; The Lone Ranger; Bat Masterson; Zorro; The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp; Death Valley Days; Lawman; Tales of Wells Fargo; The Cisco Kid; The Roy Rogers Show; The Gun of Will Sonnett; Lash LaRue; Sugarfoot; The Wild, Wild West; and the western comedy, F Troop.
   I am sure you can remember many, many others. That brings us to Western movies. We had John Wayne who starred in 84 westerns. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; True Grit (won the Oscar); Rooster Cogburn; The Shootist; Rio Bravo; Sons of Katie Elder; and Stagecoach were just a few of them.
   Other western movies had great stars like Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, and Henry Fonda. 
  
They really don't have great movie stars like that anymore. Some of the really great movies were Shane; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; High Noon; The Ox-Bow Incident; The Magnificent Seven; and the hilarious Blazing Saddles. From The Treasure of Sierra Madre starring Humphrey Bogart, came this famous but often misquoted line: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"
   We can't forget the newer westerns with Clint Eastwood. Movies such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; A Fistful of Dollars; The Outlaw Josey Wales; High Plains Drifter; and many others.
   Thanks to The Duke (John Wayne), Clint Eastwood and other cowboys for allowing us to spend many enjoyable hours watching them.

The Fall Golf Outing will be September 23rd at the Eisenhower Golf Course in Crownville, Md., with an 8 a.m. modified shotgun start. Call the Union Hall for details.

Remember to "Buy Union" and "Buy American."

New Members: Richard Thorn (ABF), Noah Rhodes (ABF).
Sick Members: Joe Gardner, Tyrone Howard, Jesse R. Taylor, Ernest Boritz, Perry Conway, Gary Rausch, George Booker, John Braxton and Francis “Buzzy” Stilling.
Deceased Members: Charlie Stevens (Mountainside)

Please keep these members and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

The next meetings will be on September 21 and October 19 in the Sullivan Hall at Teamsters Local 355, 1030 S. Dukeland St., Baltimore, MD. Coffee and donuts are served at 9:30 a.m. The Executive Board meets at 10 a.m., and the general meeting begins at 11 a.m. A light lunch is served following the general meeting. Hope to see you there. Remember to bring another retiree with you.

Fraternally, 
Bob Eney
President


 
 
Teamsters Local 355
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