BBQ July 17, 1950:
Notice for our 1950 BBQ.
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Arrangements at Wieland's Gardens (0.8 MB pdf)
July 16, 1950 newspaper article:
Now then, about the menu...
"We will not eat a brother HAM" Harry Engwitcht W6HC and Bob Davis W6HAN tells
Matt Kovich W6RUO. We'll have the steak instead.
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Publicity was sent to several newspapers . . .
And it worked! Many local papers had articles They included Call Bulletin, Oakland Tribune, Palo Alto Times, Santa Cruz Sentinel News, San Mateo Times, San Jose Mercury News, Los Gatos Daily Times, Salinas Californian, Moutain View Daily Register, Monterey Peninsula Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Jose News. (Local papers were common then. Over the years most of these have merged or been bought out.)
Ideas for the next BBQ (0.7 MB pdf)
We pulled out all the stops for our BBQ of July 7, 1951. We even invited our favorite film actress Janet Leigh!
The 1950 BBQ at Wieland's Gardens worked out well, so it's there again for our bigger and better 1951 BBQ.
Arrangements at Wieland's Gardens (1.5 MB pdf)
We thought BIG of Janet and sent her a postcard to match!
Except... just one slight problem with the mailbox.
Walter "Pop" Nelson W6AVJ, SCCARA President Revlow Paul Tibbs W6WGO, and SCCARA Secretary Harold. E. Leigh W6QBO (no relation to Janet).
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Janet got our postcard! Thanks to MGM for showing us.
(9.6 MB jpg) (10.1 MB jpg)Surprisingly, we have the negatives! They're probably contact copies, not the originals. They're 4x5 format. The date stamp on them is May 17, 1951. If you'd like the full unadjusted scans (including the negative borders), click here for the first one, and click here for the second one. They're jpg files, about 15 MB each.
The postcard says:
Dear Janet, We have voted you the girl we would like to make sparks with at the Central California radio amateurs' barbecue here July 7. 88's, Santa Clara County Amateur Radio Assn.Of course "make sparks with" is a double entendre. Back before the days of tube oscillators, RF energy was generated with spark gap transmitters.
SCCARA member Dick Barrett W6CFK was a colmnist at the San Jose Mercury News, so it's no wonder we got newspaper publicity, (probably how we got the above photo and negatives too). This pdf (2.6 MB) is 9 of the original copy pages by Dick Barrett for the Mercury and for other newspapers.
This pdf (1.2 MB) is 3 more copy pages dated June 6, after we learned that Janet Leigh had just got married to actor Tony Curtis, plus a telegram to Janet saying she's still invited and she can bring Tony along too. Just imagine... Two big movie stars showing up at our BBQ. Well, we can dream can't we? At first we signed with 88 (love and kisses). After we learned of her marriage to Tony, it became 73 (best wishes).
Behind the scenes: Correspondence from MGM to Dick Barrett regarding the above photos (1.2 MB pdf)
And of course the San Jose Mercury News couldn't resist this whole thing:
Article in the May 21 Mercury about our postcard to Janet
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Article in the June 17 Mercury -- Janet received it.
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See what can happen when your publicity guy is an "inside man" working at the San Jose Mercury News!
Thanks Dick Barrett W6CFK, 73 OM!
And that's not all. Before the movie stars got the paper's attention, here's some of the normal publicity...
The publicity list. And
this pdf (2.6 MB pdf) are some of the notices to newspapers.And a few of the resuls...
Notice in the June 25 Monterey Peninsula Herald
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Notice in the June 10 San Jose Mercury
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Notice in the June 28 San Jose Evening News
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Notice in the July 6 San Jose News
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They even covered our talk-in activity.(0.2 MB jpg)(1.1 MB jpg)Some of the BBQ flyers...
Flyer
Flyer
Flyer for Quements (w/comments).(0.5 MB jpg)(0.3 MB jpg)(0.9 MB jpg)Thank you notes. (2.4 MB pdf)
List of attendees -- it was a good turn-out. (1.4 MB pdf)
Third Annual BBQ August 9, 1952:Notices (0.1 MB pdf)
Forth Annual BBQ 1953:
Notes and statistics of our 1953 BBQ.
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Sixth Annual BBQ July 23, 1955:Arrangements, held at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds (1.0 MB pdf)
Notices and ticket (0.9 MB pdf)
Statistics and finacial results (0.4 MB pdf)
Ticket sales list (0.5 MB pdf)
Many local newspapers had articles on the event. They included Los Gatos Times - Saratoga Observer, San Jose Mercury News, Salinas Californian, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune, Stockton Record, Palo Alto Times, San Francisco Examiner, and San Jose Evening News. (Local papers were common then. Over the years most of these have merged or been bought out.)