It seems to have happened so rarely. As far as the concession goes, even the person who owns it wound up generally not in such good straits at the end.
He wasn’t the greatest manager as such because he was basically geared to be just maintenance and stuff like that, but that guy could take two nickels and make ’em squeak. He was always talking about the money he was saving. He loved to do that. I think they saw that in him. He was just a very frugal man, anyway. That’s basically the way he ran it. He has a lot of stories. He goes back into the ‘fifties.
During the Smiths?
Yes.
He and John Maben, as far as caretakers go, seemed to be the most colorful people and told great stories.
Well, Maben could write. His stuff is documented.
I’ve seen his albums in Portland, and they are just tremendous. Some of the best shots anybody’s ever taken of various parts of the park (61).
Did you notice the way he named things? They were very sugary, real romantic. Most of his names never stuck except on paper. They weren’t too successful along that line. He captured the nation’s attention in those reports that he mailed out from the lodge. They would read them on the air, and they’d show up in newspaper accounts because he could write. People were enraptured by a man at the end of the earth with his cat, the caretaker (62).
I remember one of his pictures where he has his feet up on the table. It’s seven o’clock at night and you see a clock. It’s a great posed picture. You see by all this imagery that he had a creative mind.
Any film, negatives survive?
