Here's the story: I was contracted by Guich Koock to build a *GIANT CHICKEN SUIT* for the 2nd Annual Luckenbach World's Fair which took place at the Gillespie County Fairgrounds. This is in Fredericksburg, TX.
Well, since chickens have orange legs, I wore orange pantyhose with big old foam feet that I stepped into. Since it was near 102F, it was pretty dang hot in the chicken suit (which was constructed of bamboo, chicken wire, duck tape and paper mache'; shingled with scalloped white sheet-pieces with a foam comb, and painted approp- riately. I didn't want to do a Dominicker or other dark chicken since I know how hot such colors get in the sweltering Texas sun.) Well, I could only take one day of this and had to go back to Austin to rehydrate myself and recover from all of the salacious propositions that were made to me by ladies of all ages. Imagine, such lines as "chickie, wanna lay an aig?". Harrumph! But the next day some good ole boy took my place inside the suit. He forwent the panty hose, though. As luck would have it, some nasty little kid came up a kicked the chicken raht on the shin and Mr. Bubba kicked back. Junior went screaming to his cedar chopper daddy who was, of course, drunk, who then grabbed his axe and commenced to chase the chicken around the fairgrounds. The cedar chopper was apprehended and the chicken suit was put into one of the stalls inside the exhibition barn. The next day, the suit was gone. Stolen! And an APB was issued by the Texas DPS for a chicken suit. On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 2:17 PM, Ted Samsel <t.b.sam...@gmail.com> wrote: > Here's a side view. I have the story somewhere and shall find it. > > > > On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 7:48 AM, Ted Samsel <t.b.sam...@gmail.com> wrote: >> I was there too, with my chicken suit that I was commissioned to >> fabricate by Guich, via Igor Loving. I'll tell the story after other >> folks recall it. Here's a photo of yon suit. There's another one. >> Somewhere. >> >> Ted >> >> >> >> On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 3:59 PM, Mixon Bill <bmixon...@austin.rr.com> wrote: >>> Posted by permission of the author by Mixon: >>> >>> A long time ago in Fredericksburg, Texas, they held the Luckenbach World’s >>> Fair, the brainchild of Hondo Crouch and Guich Koock, who bought the little >>> town in the Texas Hill Country. They made it a favorite hangout for Waylon >>> and Willie and the boys, and lots of lawng-hurred country folks from Austin >>> and other parts. Later they sold the whole thang again. Why was the fair >>> held in Fredericksburg? Well, Luckenbach was charmin’ to visit, but not big >>> enough to hold a couple of thousand beer drunks all at once, and >>> Fredericksburg had a stadium for rent >>> >>> I thank it wuz June 1975. I went thur from Lubbock on the weekend out of >>> boredom, just to git away from my grad stoodent studies at Texas Tech. I >>> mean, how many millipede gonopods can you measure while staring through a >>> microscope? I was goin’ cross-eyed, and my wife wasn’t much interested in >>> going, so I went. Had I a friend who hadda been interested I woulda taken >>> him along. That reminds me of this example of Texanese that my Dad used to >>> quote, “Well, if I’d a knowd you’d a goed, I’d a let you a’rode, leastwise >>> I’d seen you had a way to went.” That was how I felt about it too. >>> >>> So, I drove my old Chevy 4x4 down there and when I arrived I immediately >>> bumped into cavers from Austin—Charlie Loving, Gil Ediger, Don Broussard, >>> and lots of others. We wandered around, drank beer, and sampled the food at >>> the booths on the grounds. Eventually I moseyed up into the bleachers, which >>> wuz shady. >>> >>> They wuz hostin’ various events, and pretty soon they announced a Laughing >>> Contest. A no-holds-barred-make-it-up-as-you-go Laughing Contest, with some >>> vague trophy being offered. By this time I was half full of beer and feelin’ >>> pretty jovial, so I joined up. I went down front to the stage, where they >>> had notables like Slim Pickens, Hondo, Guich, and Frank X. Tolbert as >>> judges. Also Sarah somebody, a famous Texas politician whose last name I >>> can’t recall, but she was good-lookin’. >>> >>> I asked about rules, and they didn’t have any. So, the first man gets up to >>> the mike and he tells some cornball joke and slaps his thigh and laughs. The >>> crowd sort of laughs, and we’re off to a start. Then the second man takes >>> the mike and tells some long windy joke and they sort of laugh, but not too >>> much. I’m thinkin’, “Man, this is pretty lame. I can do better than this.” I >>> think I was third, or maybe fifth—I didn’t really care at this point. So, I >>> decided to do something unusual. There I was already sort of lookin’ weird. >>> I had lawng hurr stickin’ out all around from my dark blue denim engineer’s >>> cap, a big mustash, jeans, cowboy boots, and a t-shirt that said, “Lucky Me! >>> I live in Lubbock!” with a cartoon of a dood clingin’ to a road sign while a >>> tornado has him blowed out sideways with his pants comin’ off. >>> >>> I stepped up to the mike, which was on a stand and connected to a big sound >>> system. I said real low, “lucky me…I live in Lubbock.” Then I started to >>> laugh in a real low register, then I went up the scale gradually in a >>> sustained crescendo, culminating in a foghorn, hootin’, exhalin’, inhalin’ >>> drug-crazed ape virtuoso hollerin’ extravaganza, while I staggered about the >>> stage draggin’ the mike stand with me. It was almost scary. I didn’t know >>> where it came from. I didn’t know I had it in me. Gawd, the crowd went wild! >>> >>> OK, so maybe one or two more performed, but they were a mere shadow to my >>> virtuoso hootin’ performance. The judges huddled together, then they said >>> the crowd wanted me to do it again. So, I did it all again, but even longer >>> and better this time. I thank the laugh I did reached mebbe 100 decibels, >>> and that’s just at the mike. In the bleachers all them beer drunks musta >>> heard it louder, and they all went apeshit at my apeshit laugh. They cheered >>> and stomped and jumped up and down, and I was awarded the grand prize. It >>> was a trophy made by Charlie Loving out of a copper toilet float, glued to a >>> little basket with sticks and strings and mounted on a 2x4 to look like a >>> hot-air balloon. And on top it had a plastic Indian chief holdin’ a >>> tomahawk, but his other arm was bad, missin’ a hand. It was colorful, just >>> like I felt and everyone felt that day. >>> >>> Later on Charlie came lookin’ for me, said that CBS News wanted to talk to >>> me. I never did see them. I camped out with my caver friends that night, and >>> next day I drove fast back to Lubbock, which we called Buttock, the Hub, the >>> new metro city of the south plains. >>> >>> I have a Kodachrome slide of this event, showing Slim Pickens awarding me my >>> trophy. That’s for all you naysayers out there! >>> >>> I had such fond memories of this event that I put it in my resumé, or CV. >>> There it remains today. The only trouble I ever had over that was when I was >>> testifying as an expert witness in a lawsuit in Austin. I was recounting in >>> court some technical work I did while employed at the Texas Department of >>> Health, sort of on behalf of the plaintiff, who was injured working in the >>> gas sterilizer area of a hospital. I used to troubleshoot gas sterilizers >>> and anesthesia equipment for the health department using a special gas >>> detector, a large infrared spectrometer. The defendant’s lawyer, >>> representing a big manufacturer of hospital equipment, thought he had found >>> a way to discredit me as an expert witness. He said, “Well, MISTER Elliott,” >>> (ignoring my Ph.D. and my accomplishments), “I see here that you were the >>> World Champion Laugher at the 1975 Luckenbach World’s Fair! Would you like >>> to tell us about that?!” I just looked at the jury, and said, “Yes, Slim >>> Pickens awarded me that trophy. I am very proud of that!” I grinned, and the >>> jury all laughed—they loved it! And the big company lost the lawsuit, I >>> think based more on my technical work than my laughing contest story. But >>> who knows? >>> William R. “Bill” Elliott >>> Jefferson City, Missouri >>> 13 June 2013 >>> ---------------------------------------- >>> Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more. >>> ---------------------------------------- >>> You may "reply" to the address this message >>> came from, but for long-term use, save: >>> Personal: bmi...@alumni.uchicago.edu >>> AMCS: a...@amcs-pubs.org or sa...@amcs-pubs.org >>> >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> Visit our website: http://texascavers.com >>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com >>> For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com >>>
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