by Bill Cook

I can't remember when I first met Larry. I think it may have been in 8th period band. He played the drums.

But I remember when I last saw him. It was in 1978 at my dad's funeral. Larry was in town for the Class of 58's 20th Year week-end. I didn't go because of my family commitments, but Larry and a few other alumni took the time to come over to Olthof's to pay their respects.

Larry Naylor was a good friend and during our years at Southside, he and I and three others made up a fivesome that graced the Elmira landscape in his pink 1949 Chevy convertible. There was Larry, Bruce Silvers, Jim Orsillo, and Mike Murtaugh and me. We'd go joy riding around Chemung County, smoking, carousing, and in our own naive way, looking for the girls like 17 year-old boys did back in the fifties.

For a reason that none of the rest of us could ever figure out, Larry always got the girls, and we got, well, we got to go home early when Larry would drop us off so he could take his latest fem fatale out for the evening. Larry's triumphs were a mystery then. But now, many years later, Bruce, Jim, Mike and I look back on those triumphs and we all understand. Larry was that guy that those fifties kids in Happy Days were so in awe of.

He could touch a jukebox in the right place and the music would start playing. He could smile a certain way at our moms and they'd believe those made-up tales we had told them about being out late. If he was with us, we could order a beer and not need proof-of-age. He just had that way. He was lucky. He was charming. We called him Ace. But he was really the original Fonzi.

It had been a long time since I'd seen or heard from Ace but after searching for him for a year or more, I found his E-Mail address. And I sent him a note. We've corresponded a few times since then and recently, I decided it was time to get caught up on what he's been doing.

Here's hoping you have as much fun hearing about him again as I did in writing this story.

Bill: I remember your Mom. And I remember your house. What was it like growing up on Dubois Street. Was it the Beaver Cleaver's, the Bart Simpson's or the Little Rascals?
Larry: I guess all the guys remember Fearless Fran. She was my mom and called "Mom" by all the guys I hung around with. A little lady but no one messed with her. I can't say my childhood was like any of those. I'm not sure how I would characterize it. The house was frequently filled with my friends or my sister's. Mother worked, had a stepfather for a while, but he died of too much alcohol.
Bill: Is grammar school where you started playing the drums?
Larry: I attended grammar school in Corning. We moved to Elmira as I entered junior high. I started my drums in Corning, playing in a drum and bugle corps, and simply continued with it in junior high and then at SHS with old Mr. Biery - God Love Him! My interests turned more to Big Band sounds and jazz in junior.high. It was later in high school we put together our little group if you remember. Practice was at your house cuz you were the only one to have a piano.
Bill: Yes, I remember our little combo. But we did do some jam sessions at your house because your sister, or somebody, had an organ which I also was known to attempt to play. I still have that piano, by the way, in my living room in Chicago. And it still has that cigarette burn of yours on it.
Larry: As I recall, it was from the jam sessions that we decided to form the group. About the only thing I remember well about those times were when we played for high school dances. Oh, I do remember having a slight to do with the trumpet player (forget his name) and busted his lip the day before we were to play.
Bill: I don't remember that but we'll probably hear from him now these many years later. Do you remember any of the musicals that we played in?
Larry: Yes, particularly the one in which we played Slaughter on Tenth Avenue - that's the point at which people started to think of me as The Drummer. Many thought I would go on with that, but I went off to become a teacher instead. I played in a jazz group throughout college which provided me food money and almost everything else. We played a lot of weddings. Three Rivers Inn - Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo. And had a regular gig in Batavia, New York. Once I left Geneseo, I really didn't play very much. There was no opportunity for that while I was in the Army.
Bill: What were the best times for you at Southside?
Larry: I guess the best of times were spent with Bruce, Bill, Mike and Jim - and of course the girlfriends - we sort of represented the five who were always together - even trading off girlfriends - remember Connie, Joyce...
Bill: That's odd - none of us remembers the trading off part, Larry. Those girlfriends of yours were too loyal.
Larry: I never did share Jackie Reel (Class of 59)- she was my high school love.
Bill: They were the best times, though, weren't they?
Larry:I remember the plays. I even played the Devil in one of them.
Bill:We always did think it was strange they picked you of all people for that part.
Larry: Driving around in the cars - first the 46' Chevy Convertible, then the Cadillac Pink 49' Chevy convertible. Playing in dance band ranks high, as did playing the drums for the high school marching band. I also remember fondly dancing with two or three gals that could really get with it, and the many trips to the drive-in theater.
Bill: I have to ask about the 49 Chevy convertible - where did you get it - and how did it get to be pink. What was it like driving it around in Elmira.
Larry: The car was already Cadillac Pink when I bought it. Got it off a used car lot as I remember. But you should remember driving around in it, we did it a lot. The biggest problem was that I couldn't get away with anything - not even a drive up to the lover's hill. Hell, everyone knew it was me!!
Bill: The sounds of Bruce and the rest of us yelling from inside your trunk because you had forgotten to let us out at the Drive-in didn't give you away?.
Larry: Probably the best story you would remember. Bruce, Jim, Mike, you and I skipped school one day and went off in the pink Chevy. We pulled up to a light as we headed away from the school. A car pulled up beside us and it contained vice-principal Bill Miller who simply said hello to all of us and told us to see him in his office in the morning. We all got detention for that one.
Bill: There was a lot of Class of 58 history made in that car.
Larry: Right. And when I blew the engine drag-racing, it broke my heart - although it was a good excuse to paint it black. Didn't keep it long after that, however.
Bill: Who do you remember most from Southside?
Larry: Mostly those four guys I ran around with, and the girls we tended to associate with. I remember ice skating in Connie Nelson's back yard while in junior. high.
Bill: I remember Connie's little skating rink, too. She was my first date. I think I was twelve or thirteen. We went to one of those YWCA dances where you learn how to do the foxtrot. Remember, Children! Square Your Steps! They had more chaperones than dancers at those things. I think my mom and Connie's mom both went. My grandmother may have even been there. Remember any of the teachers at Southside?
Larry:. I remember the very small lady who taught second year Latin - she was a tyrant. Of course Mr. Lynough. I was the only one that he predicted would not amount to anything. When I came back for the 25 year reunion, I took some delight in seeing him again and telling him I was a professor of anthropology. Felt good.
Bill: The New York State drinking age was 18. Do you remember your first drink?
Larry: Sure do and I wasn't 18 either. It was with Bruce. We took some terrible whiskey from my stepfather. Rotgut Fleishman's as I recall, and went off in the car to drink it. Got sick as hell, almost as bad as the second time following a drive-in visit, after which we drank up a bottle of gin - thought it tasted like perfume.
Bill: I forgot to tell you. This is the "family values version" of our story about you. We'll be doing the unexpurgated version at the reunion in July. Do you remember Mustico's?
Larry: Mustico's had the best damned whiskey sours in Elmira. Became quite a tradition to take girls out to dinner there just for those whiskey sours. I also remember the Hilltop where we all drank before we got to 18. And I remember one night coming down off that hill with no brakes and flashing up Main Street or Walnut, using the curb to slow down. Damnedest ride I every took - thought we were sure to buy it. There was another place we used to go after we were 18 where there was some dancing.. Don't remember the name of it.
Bill: This may be a difficult question for you to answer these many years later, but what was it about each of us four who were your friends in the 50s that is a lasting memory for you? And yes, we will accept your praise and adoration.
Larry: Well, Bruce was probably the most popular of the group - everyone considered him to be the best prospect among us to be successful. He and I used to walk down the street singing all the time. Of the group, probably my best friend. Mike was always the most aloof of the group. Difficult to really get close to Mike, but he did have a hell of a sense of humor. Jim was the most serious, was very interested in Science - even wrote a letter about the Fifth Dimension to Von Braun after we saw the movie, The Fly. Bill was a piano player, played in a dance band together, father cut my hair for years.Lived the closest to my house. Has become somewhat annoying of late with all these questions.
Bill: Hmm. What's it like being at North Texas? Can you tell us about the University. Do you like it there?
Larry: I came to the University of North Texas in 1978, after spending four years at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. In Alaska, besides teaching, I did a lot of research on the impacts of the Alyeska Pipeline, proposed gas pipelines (Alaska and Canada), D-2 Land Legislation to complete the Alaskan Statehood Act, etc. Before that, acting as an anthropologist, chasing naked savages in New Guinea, in Ecuador. Having had all the cold I could stand, I came south to Texas to begin a degree program in anthropology. Chaired the program for about 15 of the 20 years I have been here. North Texas is located at the top of the triangle with Ft. Worth and Dallas some 35 miles south. The university has about 25,000 students and represents the largest university in the north Texas. Used to be known as a party school and for its music program. Still known for its music, but no longer a party school. It's a first rate university with some great programs.
Bill: Tell us about your books. The ones you have authored.
Larry: I am not very good at this kind of thing, sounds too much like bragging. I am just surprised someone would want to publish anything of mine. How about if I just send you a list with some descriptions and you can hide them somewhere in the article.
Bill: We'll put it at the end, but we won't hide them, that's for sure. What is Larry Naylor like these days. Would we recognize him?
Larry: I think you probably would. I haven't changed all that much. I still have the gray hair that appeared while in high school, wear glasses. Not so skinny - have a belly to work off. The apple of my eye is my daughter, who is a model and actor, and a rare beauty. Just married her off. I guess if I were to characterize me now, I would say I am boring. Having been so many places and done so many things I would consider neat, I don't have much of an urge to travel or do things I have already done. Makes me a bore in my private life. As a teacher, I am anything but that. Hell my students don't know what to expect next.

I must say, we could have said that about the teachers back in the 50s because they didn't know what to expect next from the five of us either. For those of you who wanted to hear the unexpurgated version of this story and can't wait until the reunion, this is what Larry says about himself. Maybe this will tide you over until we meet in July.

I have changed considerably over the years. From a totally irresponsible person, I became the MOST responsible. This was a function of my administrative role for so long where I had to be a role model for my faculty colleagues. as Chair of the Faculty Senate here at UNT.

There was more and this all had an effect on me. I was clearly a workaholic - cost me some - wife - divorced some 5 years ago, health - had open heart surgery. Now I rarely take things home with me and I certainly do not sweat things as I used to. I worry about things I can change, don't worry about things I cannot. I guess I would say that I am doing what I should be doing in this world - I am good at it. I have had one helluva great time.

Larry graduated from Southern Illinois University with a PhD in 1974, Masters from State University of New York, Geneseo (1968), BS from Geneseo (1962). Click here on Larry's picture to send him E-Mail



Books Larry has authored and co-authored:

1980: Eskimos, Reindeer and Land. Book on the reindeer industry of the Eskimos in Alaska. Did this one with three other people.

1996: Culture and Change: An Introduction. Bergin & Garvey. This one focuses on change, particularly directed cultural change.

1997: Diversity in the United States. Also with Bergin & Garvey. This one focuses on the real cultural diversity of America that provides us with so much difficulty.

1998 American Culture: Myth and Reality of a Culture of Diversity. Greenwood Publishing Group. This one deals with American Culture and why it is so difficult to understand given the diversity of the constituent cultural groups that come together to make for American culture.

Under Contract:
Problems and Issues of Diversity in the United States.

In Progress:
The Hidden Diversity of American Culture.
When Things Got Complicated: Culture Revisited.

Note: You can get a sample of Larry's writings by looking at the Science and the Future Yearbooks for Encyclopedia Britannica. He did the Anthropology Updates from 1992 to 1998.

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