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Now to return to the crew. The master of ceremonies was Jimmie Thompson, a small, middle-aged man resembling Harry Craig of GE Locomotive Test who was with us in New Haven on the 1934 diesel tests. Jimmie who'd been in vaudeville, was an expert magician and his rope and card tricks were almost unbelievable. I thought he was a bit proud and often on the defensive, perhaps because he'd seen more glorious days on the stage. A girl asked him one day, "How about some lessons at a dollar apiece?" Jimmie's answer: "If you think I'd give any lessons for less than $25 for a half-hour, you're mistaken." There was a handsome young, gray-haired hostess named Elizabeth Munro who ran the social events and tried to get people to mix and become acquainted in the good old cruise tradition whether it be one from Buffalo to Chicago or around the world. And there was a girl name Ronnie who was spending the summer on the SOUTH AMERICAN collecting material for "human interest" stories for the newspapers. Ronnie was also an expert photographer and was taking pictures for the rotogravure sections of the papers. She was a beautifully-built, dark-haired young woman and it would have made a lot of sense for people to be taking her picture in many cases instead of vice versa. I think she may have taken the shots of Bab and Rog with the sailors. The four-piece orchestra was an important part of the staff. It was composed of Little Joe (a la "Tiny" on the MONTERAY in 1964), the traps man; Roy, the curly-haired trumpeter and sax man who gave Rog a kazoo; Frank, the tall, thin, pale violinist who was quite a cut-up but had marks of tragedy on his young face; and Keats, the English pianist, tall, lanky and rosy-nosed. Each morning there was a one-mile hike around the ship led by Little Joe beating his drum. Little Joe's health was despaired of although he weighed 225 and was the huskiest individual on the ship. He always wore a blue beret while leading the morning hike. He was a very talented guy. How he could play the xylophone! And his "one-man-band" was not only a scream but also a masterpiece. There was another crew member whom I don't think I patronized but he took a great shine to Rog (as did most of the people on the ship); he was the stocky barber and he resembled Manlis, the then-current villian in the Dick Tracy comic strip. I don't recall the appearance of either the barber or Manlis but the barber must have been an unusual-looking guy because the Dick Tracy villians were famed for their inhumanly sinister faces. I've mentioned Captain Anderson, who was over seventy but very much on the ball with quiet competence. The other officers were much younger men but, as I recall them, a very clean-looking group, and we felt in good hands although I think we were quite amazed to find that this voyage of ours over the Lakes, was far more like a trip at sea than we'd expected. I was particularly impressed with the navigational savvy they had to have to sail the Lakes, not to mention the navigational equipment. And the sailors, of course, were a good bunch of swarthy, friendly, but not familiar, Sicilians.

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