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Leo Marcott
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Alex W: This is Alex Wakeman––

Luis:––Luis Mendoza––

Alex M.:––Alex McClure––

Sean:––Sean O’Connell––

Neil:––and Neil Vaine from Anderson Valley High School’s Voices of the Valley project.

Alex W.: We are here today to talk to Yorkville’s own Leo Marcott. Thank you for coming and talking with us.

Mr. Marcott: Hey, believe me, it’s a pleasure, guys. You’re a great group, I’ll tell you. And would you do me a favor and everyone say ‘bananas.’ (Everyone says ‘bananas’).

Mr. Marcott: Wow, you’re a good bunch! (Everyone laughs). Sorry about that!

Luis: So, Leo, what was your childhood like?

Mr. Marcott: My childhood, well, first thing, I was born awful young. And my mother had nine children. And all in order, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, and than I was supposed to be a girl and then there was another boy and a girl. And I was named Ann (everyone laughs), I must have been an awfully cute kid. I shoulda been twins.

Alex W.: Umm.

Mr. Marcott: Anyway, I had a wonderful life with my great family; a big family is wonderful, never was able to fight, wasn’t allowed to. And my father passed away at 99.

Alex M.: Wow, old.

Mr. Marcott: He just went to sleep one night and just as peaceful as heck, and to me he was ten feet tall, I just loved him, it was great. I’m so fortunate to have such a great family; been married for 61 years to the same woman, can you imagine that––and there has never been another one in all that time. I’m really proud of that. So anyway, on with the show, guys.

Luis: So, were you funny as a little kid?

Mr. Marcott: Well, they say so––the only award I’ve got––I’ve been in 11 theatre plays, besides three of ’em up in Oregon, we did television shows––the only award I got was class clown and I think there are four of five of them sitting with me right now. (Everyone laughs).

Alex W.: Hey, thank you! Were you in sports?

Mr. Marcott: Sports, I love basketball. I was very accurate in the quarter line on long shots. In those days you only got two points for it, you get three now. When I was playing ball, I jumped up in the air, knocked my feet from under me, landed on the small of my back, and chipped a bone in my back. That way I couldn’t get in the Coast Guard, Air Force, Marines or anything because of my back. And they stuck me in the Army infantry. Would you believe that? I figured I was Pentagon material at least, but not infantry. I was always glad that I played sports, and you guys look like you’re good at it.

Neil: All right!

Alex M.: So, could you tell us about World War II?

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, like I just said I tried to get in all those other––couldn’t make it, my buddy made it and he never left the city of Portland all the time I was overseas gettin’ shot at––he got a trip to Astoria and back once; he was in charge of officers’ linen supplies, rough job, (laughter). But anyway, they put me in the infantry back at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and I was buck private; I didn’t know what hand to salute with, left or right, but I soon found out, and I ended up in the kitchen for five days, peeling potatoes, cleaning the stove and all that good stuff, and then I started soldiering and I went right up the ranks––I was 23 years old when I went in ’cause I couldn’t get in before, and the rest of the guys were 17 or 18 years old, so naturally I was a buck sergeant in less than two months.

Alex W.: Wow––

Mr. Marcott: And we went to Texas and Louisiana on maneuvers, and when I come back I was a staff sergeant, and that’s three up and one down. So then we got overseas and on our first attack we lost 32 brave young guys and the next day I was platoon sergeant, that was three up and two down roughish. That’s about as far as you can go in the infantry, and for the rest of the war I only lost one guy, and his name was Romackavitch, sounds Irish, but it ain’t. A great kid, but that’s the way it went.
Well, after the war they started getting us ready to go fight the Japanese, and of course the atomic bomb came; you’ve all read this in history, I hope, and I stayed there for six more months and got the first sergeant’s job which––I don’t like paper work––you wouldn’t believe it, me being a postmaster all that time. And after that I was provost sergeant at the prison camp, which was where two hundred German prisoners would come to me everyday and I would put them to work at the dump, cleaning the area, or cooking, and some of those guys spoke better English than I did.
This one POW was named Slim Pferman, P-f-e-r, or something like that, and he taught me to say, stufufmen auf gehen which I don’t know what it meant, but when I’d say that all those guys would fall to attention (laughter). Then I’d go down in the ranks talking like a duck. Which I could do very good then, now it’s––with these false teeth, (points to teeth) coupla of ‘em. They used to laugh, they used to think I was the funniest guy in the world, but I’d walk up––oh, here’s these guys who’ve been fightin’ all these years before and I’m a clown. They all call me Mr. Marcott, not Sergeant Marcott. I wanna be out of the army so bad, they couldn’t stand it. So we sent some of them home once in a while in truckloads. They’d say, ‘Auf weidersehen, Mr. Marcott.’ And I thought ‘auf weidersehen’, that means ‘...till we meet again.’ I said, ‘ I don’t wanna come back over here again’ (laughter). It was great. Then I got out of the army and came home. Course I’d been married before I got in. Had this wonderful wife waiting for me; she’s still my best friend.

Luis: So could you tell us about the Battle of the Bulge?

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, the Battle of the Bulge. Hitler’s army was shoved out of Sicily, out of Africa, which my brother was in that with General Patton. Would you believe that? Then of course we go to Omaha Beach, that’s out of England over to the––across the Channel––the invasion, you’ve seen movies of all the thousands of guys that got clobbered. He was the first Armored on the beach. Second day, second or third day they brought the Armored on and he went clear to Austria. Well, then––meantime Hitler’s getting pushed right back into it. They stopped us up at––my outfit, I was the 75th infantry division. I was platoon sergeant. I had about thirty young men like you guys. Fifty miles before we got to Berlin, they stopped us because the Russian army was coming in. And you know what they did; they really took over. Hitler’s hometown. From there is when I started getting the biggest break I ever had. The captain called me up, he says, ‘Marcott, you are the luckiest guy in this company,’ and I says, ‘I am?’ He says, ‘You’ve got a pass over to London.’ Now the war is still on, but it was––it’s just about over. So I got to go to London. And while I’m over there, the war ends. Now isn’t that beautiful? (Laughter).

Luis: Lucky!

Mr. Marcott: So when I came back my company is playing in a softball tournament. The war is over and I got to relax. I think that couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, you know? So from then on we––stayed there for eight months and I was a provost sergeant at the prison then. That’s when I got that job. And uh––it was pleasant. I had a jeep with my wife’s name on the side of it. And then we’d go to football games and it was real great.

Luis: Could you give us some detail about the Battle of the Bulge?

Mr. Marcott: Yeah. That’s when von Rundstedt––that was the big German commander––the last push that Hitler had––the last chance he had. He had not only Panzer division––those are tanks with––oh they’re huge, and boy they’ll scare you when they come. They made a big push in Belgium––a big push that looked like a bulge. That’s where the name came from. That’s when they committed my outfit. We’re right up in the front line and two men in a slit trench. You dig a slit trench and get down, put a bunch of fir boughs in there so––the snow was all over and we were freezin’ and then you get two guys together and you put your backs together and it radiates heat, keeps you warm. Other guys were shot in the shoulder and died from exposure, just from a shoulder wound, because they froze. It was a bugger, I’ll tell ya.
But uh––anyways it’s a good thing we stopped them right there. Christmas day there must’ve been––every B–17 bomber in the world up giving Christmas presents to Adolph Hitler (laughter). We were just yellin’ and cheering. They had brought the kitchen truck up––I’ll never forget. Me and my platoon guide––that was Johnny Mace, we’re right near the kitchen truck––we hadn’t had fresh food or something for––months. Just eating K-rations. And here was turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits––man! It was something. Everybody went up to the kitchen truck. After later it was leaving and he says, ‘If you guys want any more of this, you better come get it.’ Nobody came but me and Mace. I had my mess kit filled with slices of white turkey and a couple of legs in my pack. (Laughter). We had green towels that never ever got dirty. (Laughter). It’d look––anyway for three or four weeks after that it was freezing out and everything kept quiet and I’m the only guy that had anything to eat that was any good except for K-rations and canned pork and egg yolk. Try and eat that cold sometime––but we made it, we survived.
But anyway it’s a good thing we stopped that bum, because that turned the whole war over right there. And the rest of the war––just––we walked right into Berlin and Hitler was supposed to have committed suicide, which I still to this day don’t think he did. He wasn’t that dumb to get caught in his last––he was no dummy, but he was a nut. But that’s a good thing we stopped him. Then we didn’t have to go to Japan because they dropped the bomb and I got to come home from the service. It was wonderful!

Alex: So you got frostbite while you were in the Army?

Mr. Marcott: Yep. The day we lost the thirty-two men making this attack in the snow. And there was barbed wire fences here and there you can’t see and you run into them. ‘Cause the snow in drifts was two or three feet deep. And all of a sudden we got out into the middle of this big area and the first shot––I’ll never forget––my first scout, Crawford––they got him and he just fell over forwards and lay there. So we all played dead for seven hours. We lost all these guys. And nobody near me got killed except––I mean right beside me––there was Tom on one side and Williams on the other and myself––the only ones that got out of there without being wounded or killed––it was––it was a terrible thing. War is bad, and I hope to God that none of you guys ever have to witness any of that stuff I did. But I don’t have any bad dreams about that it’s just something had happened. And I know I got a few of them krauts myself, ‘cause I was a hell of a good shot. And it didn’t bother me a bit. You know, you see your buddy get killed why, hey, you gotta get even. Maybe it’s wrong, but you had to do it. If we didn’t do it, they would be over here telling you what to do; so I’m glad the war ended like it did.

Sean: After the war you did some work in radio, right?

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, I was a radio announcer for a short time in Pendleton, Oregon. And I was only getting about $67.00 a week. I’m used to makin’ some money and I had two children at home and a wife and a house payment, so I didn’t stay that long. But it was kinda nice; I had––one radio show that played at night, played old records from the dusty––from the Melody Inn Motel, sponsored this program and I’d spin these records, you know, and tell a couple jokes. And this one record I played, it was Poor Butterfly was the name of the song. And I used the expression, ‘Lord, that takes me way back.’ Boy, the phone rings and the guy that owns the station called up and said, ‘Don’t say that over the radio!’ I said, ‘What’d I say?’ ‘You used the word ‘Lord’.’ Boy, look what they say over the radio nowadays. (Everyone laughs).
Isn’t it amazing? Nowadays you just push a button and you got a commercial. So, I still remember three or four of them. This one here is––I was working at the bar here in Boonville one time, and a couple ladies there, and I used the remote control on the TV and I couldn’t quite do it. I got it goin’, but you could see a guy’s mouth movin’ but he wasn’t sayin’ anything. So I rattled off this commercial to these guys––like he was mouthing it––‘…for the pains of headaches, neuritis, or neuralgia, try Anacin tablets. Anacin is like a doctor’s prescription, that is Anacin contains not just one but a combination of medically proven active ingredients in this easy-to-take tablet form. Many people have received Anacin from their own doctor or physician, and in this way found the incredibly fast relief that Anacin gives. So the next time you have pains of headaches, neuritis, or neuralgia, try Anacin tablets. And tell them Leo sent ya. (Everyone laughs).
We used to have to read them off and then you read ’em so many times––you know how many times you hear the same commercial now.

Alex: Yeah.

Mr. Marcott: So we had to learn it. But it was––it was–– it was enjoyable. Let’s see that’s all I can think of as far as radio goes.

Neil: Well, can you tell us about your family?

Mr. Marcott: Oh, yeah. I’ve got––well, Barbara, my wife of 61 years, a little sweetheart. She’s not doin’ too well sometimes. But she has had a problem, she’s lost the sight in one eye now. And––which is very important. Boy, that’s bad. Once in awhile I’ll leave and she’ll say, ‘I’ll keep an eye out for you.’ (Everybody laughs).
Now I think that’s a little bit corny but––that’s like Kansas in August.
I have two daughters, Kris is my oldest daughter and Sue, my youngest, she’s a professional piano player, plays in a band, lives in Manteca, where it’s hotter than heck. Kris has her own business in Monterey––Seaside. Both of ’em went to school here for awhile. I have Terry and Joey, two granddaughters. And I have Joey’s son, that’s my first great-grandson, Anthony’s seventeen now. And I have another grandson, Nathan, that’s two years old––great-grandson. But––there’s a lot of love in the family whenever you’re on the phone when they hang up, they always say ‘Love you, Grandpa.’ Makes you feel like, you know, hey, it’s all worth it. Well, I guess I’m rattlin’ on too much about the family, but they are a great bunch. Tell you, I’d do it again. They named my grandson after me. They call him Grandpa!

Alex: Well, how did you end up in Anderson Valley?

Mr. Marcott: I was workin’ for the Navy in Vallejo after we left Portland, came down here. And a friend of mine that owns the restaurant up in Philo. It’s in shambles now, it’s across from the grocery store. It’s a real mess there. That was a beautiful building, and they built a big cocktail lounge there. And the guy says he wanted to buy the––what they called the Valley Inn, what is the Buckhorn Saloon now. And they had me come up and look at it, and he bought it, so I moved up here and managed that for a couple––three years. And we had the only liquor in town, we had a grocery section, we had a big restaurant, we had a barber shop, we had a freight room, a little bit of everything for a small town. And I had a ’29 model A Ford sedan which we put in the parade––you could see a picture I suppose––and we won a trophy for that old Ford. It was the only old Ford in the parade, so next year there was all kinds of old cars. (Everybody laughs).
But the reason we stayed up here, is the people care and, you know, if you’re working on your house or out stacking the woodpile, they come over to help you. And they don’t say, hey, that’ll be so much. If you’re digging a well, I’ve had ’em come help me do that. People care. But you live in the city and they don’t––like I said the other day, they don’t want to get involved. But this a wonderful place and I hope you guys appreciate living up here because ––(laughs)––you get––you know what I’m tryin’ to say is––it’s just––they’re just wonderful people, they care.
Alex W: And you had Leo’s––Leo’s Yorkvilla?
Mr. Marcott: Oh, my restaurant I had out there yes, that’s right. We bought an old grocery store that belonged to Claude Rose for years, and payments were forty bucks a month.

Alex W: (Laughs).

Mr. Marcott: For the property and all. And we built a restaurant up there; we had Mexican food mostly; we had steaks, prawns, chicken, hamburgers, and all that good stuff, too. But all the time I had that place I’d never had a fight. Nobody ever had an argument or a fight and there was never any graffiti in the men’s room either, usually someone does that.

Alex W.: (Laughs).

Mr. Marcott: But all those years––the people must have respected us because we were there fourteen years; and we didn’t get rich, but we made a nice living. And the kids went to school here and they both graduated, Kris and Sue. They were both pep––cheerleaders, you know. Give a yell, give a yell, give a good extensive yell, hip! (Everybody laughs).
We love it up here, it’s great and we’re gonna stay. And our house is paid for. It’s way too big, there’s twelve rooms, there’s only the wife and I. (Everybody laughs). Can you believe it? (Laughs). But she’s comfortable, we got a nice fireplace.

Neil: What kind of firewood do you burn?

Mr. Marcott: Oh, that’s a good one. I burn free firewood. I haven’t bought wood in––three years. All my neighbors bring wood and pile it up there. Yesterday they brought a load and stacked it, even stacked it in front. Charlie Hiatt, bless his heart, one of my dearest friends. He even sent out a load of wood. Now everybody here knows Charlie Hiatt?

Everybody: Yeah!

Mr. Marcott: He’s a great guy. And he worked for me when I had the Valley Inn. He kept track of the bottles and everything in the room where all those supplies was––that’s what he did for me. But he’s been a good friend all these years.

Luis: I heard you were a bartender. Could you tell us some of your bartending stories?

Mr. Marcott: Oh yeah! Oh––three of my friends are all gone that are great stories, and then there’s Digger; he’s still here. Now Digger did something––I think is classic, and I’m gonna do it myself sometime. He wanted to borrow twenty dollars and Jeff York, he was my buddy then, says, ‘He’d pay you back.’ So, I got an IOU––got a paper out, put an IOU. Says, ‘I owe you twenty dollars,’ here sign it. So he started to sign his name and he stopped and looked up and then he turned down and erased part of it ‘cause he couldn’t remember how to spell his name right. (Everyone laughs). Then he finished––he ran out of paper and he finished his name on the counter. (Everyone laughs). Nobody in the world could have done that except Digger.

Alex: No!

Mr. Marcott: Now someday I’m gonna go just for the heck of it to get a loan at the bank, and do that, and you watch the expression on that guy that’s gonna loan me the money. (More laughter). But, ah Buck Morgan, he’s gone; he lost a leg here, several years ago. But he was funny; he used to s-s-st-st- stut-stut-stutter when he talked (everyone laughs). And I can always remember this one little story he told about this one little Mexican kid who was late for school. And the teacher asked him why he was late. He said, ‘I had to make my own damn lunch.’ (Everyone laughs)! She says ‘Ya’ don’t talk like that,’ and puts him in the corner. Pretty soon, ‘You come back to your desk now, we’re going to have geography class.’ And she says, ‘Where’s the Mexican border?’ And the kid says, ‘He’s home in bed with my mother; that’s why I had to make my own damn lunch!’ (Everyone laughs).
But that was Buck, and Buck Morgan used to come out to eat at least once a week. We had great tacos, enchiladas, chili rellenos and whatever. And he’d come out, and he’d eat a big dinner. And when he’d get done, he’d say, I-i-i-i-i-if I was––was g-gonna––gonna p-pay ya’, h-how much would I owe ya?’ He never would ever pay for the dinner; then when he’d get paid at the end of the month he’d come up. But I thought that’s a great way to charge somethin’.
Now Chili Bates––this is a little longer story, but it’s a cherry. He was a great logger here. His son works for the real estate here and his mother was postmaster for a long time. Well, a bunch of guys were in the bar there at the Valley Inn. That’s where the Buckhorn Saloon is now, but it burned down back in ’63. Prior to that, several of the guys sitting at the bar, and we seen Chili park his car across the street. And I says, ‘Hey, you guys, we’re goin’ to play a joke on Chili. And I’m going to tell a joke, and when I say ‘railroad track,’ you all laugh to beat the dickens.’ Ok. So Chili comes in, and we’re telling stories back and forth. So somebody says, ‘You got a good joke, Leo?’ And I say, ‘Oh, yeah, these people live next door to each other, always fighting. All the time. One of the neighbors says, ‘Why don’t you get a bunch of brick and build a fence right down the middle of the property? And you stay on your side, and you stay on yours, and we’ll have peace in the neighborhood.’ ‘Well, ok, they said, ‘fine.’ And they did. When they got done, they had one brick left. The guy picked it up and says, ‘You’re not going to argue over this.’ And he threw it and it landed on the railroad tracks. (Everyone laughs). Well, everyone just laughed to beat the devil. Chili says, ‘I don’t get that.’ (Everyone laughs). Come on. So okay, I tell him the whole story, all over again. And I say, ‘It landed on the railroad tracks,’ and Chili just laughed to beat the dickens (everyone laughs). And for about a week, he kept askin’ guys, ‘Hey, what was about that––what was that?’ And the guy would be dopey, you know.
So then, another day, comes in, and he says––we’re telling jokes, and I says, ‘Hey, you hear the one about the guy that lived in the country? And he was commuting, on the train, to his job. And he started eating his lunch. And he picked up the dill pickle, and started to take a bite out of it. And the lady next to him had a Pekinese dog on her lap, and he started to bark. And he said, ‘What’s the matter with your dog?’ She says, ‘He loves dill pickles, give him some of the pickle!’ He says, ‘Ahh, it’s my lunch! I ain’t givin’ him my pickle!’ ‘Come on, don’t be a tightwad!’ Then they start arguin’. And she reached over and grabbed the pickle out of his mouth, and threw it out the window. He says, ‘Well, darn you,’ and he grabbed the dog up, and threw the dog off the train (everyone laughs). The woman started screaming, they stopped the train, and the conductor says, ‘What’s going on? What’s the matter?’ And she says, ‘He threw my dog off!’ So they got out there, and here comes the dog walkin’ up.’ And Chili’s still listenin’. And I says, ’Course, you know what he had in his mouth?’ And Chili says, ‘The pickle?’ I says, ‘No, he had the brick from that joke we told you last week!’ (Everyone laughs)! And I never saw a guy get so upset! He started slammin’ his hands on the counter! But I just love that story!

Alex W: Oh, yeah.

Mr. Marcott: It’s true, it’s actually true; it’s a true story.

Alex M: So you were a postmaster after the Leo’s Yorkvilla?

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, I was postmaster in 1974, sold the place in ’76. In 1974 I was postmaster, yeah. And we had the restaurant and the post office. And on weekends we’d close the post office, but that’s when I made my money––made my bucks across the street––directly across the street. And on Monday and Tuesday we’d close the restaurant, but I had to be at the post office. So it went on for a couple of years, with no days off. And you get where you’re smiling at the people, and then you go home and kick your dog, and that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was great; it was a good thing. I––I think, what, twelve years, something like that? I retired; it’s a pretty good retirement. And they got great hospitalization from the post office. That means a lot nowadays, believe me. But I met a lot of good people. And it was a fourth-class office when I got it. And in less’n a year and a half, it was a third class, which darn near doubled my salary.

Alex M.: Wow.

Mr. Marcott: It was from sales––stamp sales, money orders. What you take in is what they account you for. But no, I’m glad I did. It was a very dull job, sitting there––

Alex M.:––I’ll bet.

Mr. Marcott: Oh, man! That little bitty room, you know, and oh, here comes somebody! Maybe I’ll sell a stamp! (Everyone laughs). It was great. But we had a lot of fun, and Claude Rose––the guy I bought the store from––he was in there one day, and a friend of mine, Abby. And I says, ‘Hey Claude, how’d you like that parrot I sent you?’ And he says, ‘He was delicious.’ And I says, ‘What, you ate him? For cryin’ out loud, he could talk.’ And Claude says, ‘Why didn’t he say something?’ (Laughs). I think this old guy was so good. He used to tell stories, about––he says this train was going through Arkansas, and––did I tell this one before? Anyway, he says, ‘That train stop.’ And I say, ‘How come the train stop? And he says, ‘Well there’s a cow in the track.’ Pretty soon, they got going. About an hour later, the train stopped again, and he said, ‘How come we stopped now?’ And he says, ‘We just caught up with that cow.’ (Laughter). Now that is a slow train!
Now this guy was––we used to tell him stories. That’s the only thing I liked about the post office is these people would come in, you know, like Bill Lawson. He’s 99 years old. That Bob’s dad, the Christmas Tree King. And he come in one day and he says he thinks he’s lost his mind here awhile back. And I says, ‘Why?’ And he says, ‘I bought a Cadillac.’ This guy could have one in every garage.
When I first got the Valley Inn––I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Shorty Rawls, he owned half the property around here. He was a wonderful old gentleman. And as a matter of fact, when I moved, he even loaned me his truck. But the first day I met him, everybody came to town to see the new bartender for this Valley Inn. And Shorty Rawls come in and he says––(he looked like part-time hod carrier for a bricklayer), I’ll tell you, that old crummy old hat––and he says, ‘Give everybody a drink.’ And there’s about twelve, fourteen guys at the bar. So Jeff Short gives me a nod, so it’s ok, so I did, and when he got done he said, ‘You got a blank check back there?’ Which we used to keep for––and I says, ‘Yeah, which bank?’ And he says, ‘Don’t make no difference.’ Now, talk about being impressed; did you ever meet anybody like that? (Laughs). It’s great. And Jeff Short, he’s gone too, anybody remember Jeff Short? He had the service station up here.

Neil: Yeah, I think so.

Mr. Marcott: Well, he was so funny. Everyone kidded him ’cause he had these great big ears that stuck out like a taxicab door, you know. And he used to tell the greatest stories. He was sitting out there at my restaurant one time, and he always sat at that middle table for some reason or other. And I was the waiter and my wife did the cookin’ and puttin’ the dishes out. And we had a little pup, little Bingo, and he always stayed underneath the dishwasher because it was warm. And for some reason or other he came out and he went over to Jeff’s table and he just sat up like this––and this is the best line I’ve ever come up with in my life––he says, ‘Hey, what’s the matter with your dog?’ And I says, ‘I don’t know, I guess that’s the first time he’s ever seen anyone eat off of his dish.’ (Everyone laughs).
And I don’t know why I said that, but it just came out perfect. But we used to do the old vaudeville jokes, and I wish they’d bring vaudeville back. Do y’all know what vaudeville is? That’s live entertainment on stage. Not just plays, but live entertainment. It’s so much better than these dang movies nowadays. But Jeff used to come out and I’d be behind the counter and I’d say, ‘I saw a friend of yours yesterday,’ and Jeff would say, ‘Who was it?’ And I’d say, ‘O’Reilly,’ and he said, ‘Oh really?’ And I’d say, ‘No, O’Reilly.’ And you know, these old vaudeville jokes like––’I drove by your house yesterday.’ ‘Why didn’t you stop?’ ‘I don’t know where you live.’
And this one time, he comes out one afternoon and I says, ‘Jeff, the next time you come out I’ll say I hear you got a new dog, and you say, ‘Yeah.’ And I say what did you name him? You say, ‘I named him Ink.’ And I say, ‘Why did you name him Ink?’ And you say, ‘He keeps leaking out of the pen.’ So he says, ‘Oh great! Ok, we’ll do that.’ So next time they’re out for dinner and we’re doing these back and forth jokes, you know, and I says, ‘Hey Jeff, I hear you got a new dog.’ And he goes––thinking a minute––‘Oh yeah, yeah, I got a new dog.’ And I says, ‘What did you name him?’ ‘I named him Ink.’ And I says, ‘Why did you name him Ink?’ ‘He keeps leaking on Homer’s lawn.’ (Everyone laughs).
Where Homer came from, I don’t know! It was beautiful. But I just loved these people; they’re all gone now, except Digger, he’s here. But, we’ve had some great friends here. And if I can make anybody laugh, that’s one thing I want to do. Or even just smile, that means a lot.

Alex W: Mr. Marcott, you made world-famous burritos, can you tell me the recipe to these?

Mr. Marcott: Well, I can sell you the recipe. (Everyone laughs).

Alex W: Oh, come on, come on.

Mr. Marcott: More people that used to out come out the restaurant and wanted the recipes. We had prawns, for instance, with this batter, special batter we made. These people, they wanted it. I can’t remember their names. They’re both gone, too. We didn’t give it to them, so they boycotted us. They didn’t come in anymore for a couple of months, because we wouldn’t give them the recipe. But I’ll give it to you now; there is no real recipe. You got a flour tortilla in pretty good size; now if you got your meat cooked already, pork or beef or hamburger whatever it is, seasoned right say with oregano, cumino, and a little bit of salt, not much, and pepper, tomato––and you don’t use tomato sauce––you use tomato puree, that’s thick, that make a chili relleno sauce, you put that in, and then you just roll it up and ’course you heat the tortilla first. We had one guy come in; he’s crazy about burritos, but he’s a vegetarian, so we fixed him a couple with all meat and everything and ‘Oh, man they’re great, let’s have a couple more.’ (Everybody laughs)––There is no––there is all kinda ways to fix burritos. You don’t make them too thin, we sold maybe fifty tacos to one burrito, but they were good and I still make them, maybe I’ll have you out for dinner sometime.

Alex M: So, we hear you drove the bus here for awhile.

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, one of my friends here, Reno Redding, he’s gone too, gee––everybody’s gone but me––he had his tonsils out. Like I said before, a kid can eat peanut brittle two days after they have their tonsils out, but a grown-up, it takes a while to heal. So they give me my test for driving, so pulls out of the lot here, and this big old 1960 Cornbinder International–– man, you could hardly shift the gears––and this little bridge before you get to 128 right there, I was driving, the highway patrol was sitting in the back, and he says, ‘Leo, that bridge is a railroad track, whaddaya gonna do?’ So I stopped, opened the door, put my signals on, listen close, everything’s right, turn the signals off, shut the door, started out, shifted gears, and he said, ‘Whoops, you don’t shift gears in the middle of the railroad tracks,’ so, I got a mark against me for that, would you believe it? But anyway I got past it, but you leave it in gear until you get clear over that thing, ‘cause something could lock right there, and then the train coming––that makes sense, right?

Luis: Yeah, it does.

Mr. Marcott: Then the highway patrol––I got a kick––Mr. Burl Evans––he was in Ukiah. Now he is retired, he was a highway patrolman. I was going down over Burke Hill, Ukiah, we’re going over to rehearse Oklahoma we’re in the play then, and then all of the sudden, Oooooooooh, (makes siren sound) Burl pulls me over, he opens the door, ‘Goin’ right along, aren’t ya, Leo?’ But bless his heart––he didn’t––no ticket, no nothin’, he is just a nice guy.
But another time ago my son-in-law was going through Cloverdale, and a cop stops him, walks up with his ticket book, and my son-in-law says, ‘I’ll have a big Mac and an order of fries,’ and the cop started to laugh and he says, ‘That’s a new one,’ and he saw the two babies in the seat and lets the guy go.
Then twice both my daughters have been stopped––’Oh, you’re Leo’s kid––oh, great––I’m going to let you go now, say hello to your dad.’ Ain’t that great? That’s wonderful. What you are is who you are sometimes. I’m no big thing, I’m just a broken-down hod carrier which I did when I was a kid.

Neil: What did you do?

Mr. Marcott: My dad was in the plastering business and so was I––fourteen years we were together, spreading mud, until I got my arm screwed up here, I don’t do it anymore. Yeah, I was in a plastering business, now that’s a forgotten trade now, except they do stucco. I used to feel like a million bucks; I came home full of cement and everything, and take a shower and we’d go to a dance, but you sit in that post office for seven hours, eight hours, and come home, you don’t feel like doing nothing, you get mentally tired, and it is just for the birds, like making a love in a tree, you know. (Laughter).

Neil: Did you say hod carrier?

Mr. Marcott: I have a picture in here for you guys. My dad was a plastering contractor, so you got to pack hod first, that’s a big thing you put on your shoulders and fill it full of mud, and go up ladders. I used to go up ladders with that on my shoulder with no hands, well, I had them with me, but I didn’t use them, you know, and put this on a mortar board like this here, I’ll show you a picture of it in here later.
But yeah, fourteen years I worked with my father, of course, then I learned to spread plaster and I was good. I was very good. I don’t know how––the last three years I worked for a guy named Frank Dye, and all I did was ornamental work. I didn’t have to slug that heavy stuff and step in all that stuff and all that. It was a good trade, but a forgotten trade now, everything is sheetrock, but you can’t blame ‘em. A big deal when we left Portland, that would be 1960, I was getting $4.50 an hour, which was big bucks them days––hey, go to buy a loaf of bread for fifteen cents, and a show cost you about half a buck at the most for the theatre. Now what does it cost now? Five dollars or somethin’.

Luis: $6.00 for the theatre.

Mr. Marcott: The last show I seen was Grease, and that was in Santa Rosa when it first came out. How many years ago was that?

Sean: We weren’t born.

Mr. Marcott: I don’t go to movies anymore, we just stay home and watch movies.

Neil: Then they charge you for those rip-off drinks.

Mr. Marcott: Oh yeah, that popcorn, they make more money on popcorn than anything else.

Alex M: Like $4.00 for some popcorn.

Mr. Marcott: Really?

Alex W: And they won’t let you get into any rated R movies (everyone laughs).

Neil: And they won’t let you bring your own food.

Mr. Marcott: The last time, I did go to a drive-in movie. Now we went to a Ukiah movie once and some kid had spilled orange juice, and I swear it was sticking to the bottom of my feet, popcorn and paper cups, well, that’s too bad, dog gonnit’. I worked at a theatre, too, when I was a young man, Grenada Theatre in Montavilla. We used to peddle the handbills out on the porches, and I had kids that worked with me, that put the handbills out to show you what happened all month long, and then I would help cart the film in, great big heavy things, haul them up the stairs to the projection room. Now you can carry them up in one hand.
We used to do janitor work. We used to find one woman’s shoe every once in awhile––now how can you leave a theatre with one shoe? We’d find a billfold, but there was always no money in it. It was a lot of fun and my whole family could go to the theatre for free. I got fifteen dollars a month, but that was something them days, Depression days, you know, that was fifty cents a day for thirty days. I got to go to all the movies free with my family, come on. I was the only kid that had any money those days, spending, you could buy a big bottle of pop for about five cents, no kidding. The dollar isn’t worth a darn anymore.

Sean: We heard that you also did some work with plays and that kind of theatre. Could you tell us about your experience with those?

Mr. Marcott: Oh yeah, I got a list here that’s twelve different plays we were in. Started off with Thurber’s Carnival, and Don’t Drink the Water, that was Jackie Gleason, Woody Allen wrote that play, and then You Can’t Take it With You, I played––blowing up a basement with a bunch of firecrackers I was makin’ in that show, and then we had the Wizard of Oz; I was Leo the Lion. And then we did Bits and Pieces, another one. And then Oklahoma, we did Oklahoma up in Portland, Oregon, and that was on television, put it on T.V. And then we did Li’l Abner up there, and then when it came down here we did Oklahoma for the Mendocino College, then a couple years later I did Oklahoma for Gloriana Opera Company up in Fort Bragg. Same role, Andrew Carnes, that was Addo Annie’s Paw in that show. Then we did Fiddler on the Roof which I was, oh boy, the old butcher. In My Fair Lady I had songs and dances I did in that one, I played Eliza’s father, Dolittle, you don’t say DO-little you say, Da-LIDDLE. You got to leave that off. That song went (sings):
I’m getting married in the morning!
Ding dong the bells are gonna chime!

That was one of my big songs, and had coupla dances we did. And then we were in The Fantastics, I was one of the fathers; we did that at the outside theatre in Ukiah. And then we did the Daisyflower’s Saga, that’s Black Bart, the bandit, I was a horse in that one, front end and back end, and we had a lot of fun with that. Oh boy, Romeo and Juliet, that was one that I didn’t know what I was even saying, like I mentioned to–– what was the line? Oh yeah, ‘What further woe conspires against mine age.’ That is when this kid’s dying out there with Juliet. I often wondered if they go out to dinner, if Romeo has to pay for what Julie et? Do you think so? I had to throw that in there, I should have quit when I was behind!
So that’s about all the shows I was in. The best thing about being in the theatre is the curtain call. When you come out and take your last bow, that’s always a big thrill. My wife was in all these plays with me, too, and my daughter, Sue, she was musician for the College, she played all the music for all the plays. She is just beautiful, I don’t know how she does it, she can play the song and sing harmony at the same time playing the song. How anybody does that, I don’t know. My other daughter plays the piano, Kris, she has to read the music, she still plays. Sue has either five or seven pianos, we got them all over heck, everywhere she is. We got one at our house. We have an electric organ at the house, and then the small one that I practice on, I play a little bit, just boogie-woogie and stuff. But, it’s been a lot of fun.
Talk about tending bar, I used to, whenever you’d pour a drink you’d go (makes sound of liquid pouring from bottle). I would get a tip every time I did that damn trick, from a tourist. That’s the one’s who wants the martini, where you get to put your little fingers up in the air, twist the lime. I was a good bartender, you would come in for one drink, and I would keep you there for six, ‘til they cut you off.

Neil: Did you cut people off so they wouldn’t get drunk?

Mr. Marcott: Oh yeah, darn right!

Neil: Did they ever get mad?

Mr. Marcott: All those years, I didn’t have any fights. ‘You don’t need anymore, I don’t like your mouth, go on home,’ or ‘Come in tomorrow.’ No problem, never had a problem. Had a guy want to bend elbows one night, he was a big one. I says, ‘I am going to surprise you, pal.’ I says, ‘Get on here, hold on to this,’ He says, ‘You,’ and I says, ‘Yeah!’ He got on and I says, ‘You ready?’ and he says, ‘Yeah,’ and I reached over and kissed his hand, and he let go and he backed up clear back to the jukebox! I’m wasn’t about to get my arm broke, but you meet those kind of people, but you just calm them down.
Remember years ago when an Indian tribe took over Alcatraz? Did you ever read it in the news? They actually did––took over Alcatraz. This guy that did it came into my bar, and he wandered over, ‘Do you want to see my I.D.?’ This guy is thirty-five years old. I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ He just wanted to impress me, that it was him. No big deal, he’s the guy that took over Alcatraz, and he wanted to brag about it. I asked him why he did it, and he gave me a dumb excuse, (the take-over) didn’t last long. Who would want to take over Alcatraz? Maybe Clint Eastwood, something like that.

Sean: Going back to when you were working in theatre, we heard that you could sing the song, “If I Were the King of the Forest.”

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, that’s when I was the Lion in the Wizard of Oz, I could do a little of it for you, I don’t have any music, I’ll do it a cappella. That’s the fanciest word I’ve used all week. It went something like this, guys, now be patient––(sings):
If I were king of the forest,
Not queen, not duke, not prince,
My regal robes of the forest
Would be satin, not cotton, not tin.
I would command each thing be it fish or fowl
With a ruff and a ruff,
And a royal growl.
As I click my heels, all the trees would kneel
And the mountains bow and the bulls kow-tow
And a sparrow would take wing
If I, if I were king!
Each rabbit would show respect to me,
The chipmunk genuflects to me,
If my tail would lash I would show compash
For every under thing.
If I, if I were king, just king!

(Much applause and cheering from all).
You never forget those things, I’ll tell you I’ve got poems that are forty verses long, I lay in bed at night, if I can’t go sleep, I’ll say it, “Face on the Bar Room Floor.” You guys know the Gettysburg address?

Alex W.: Yeah, a little bit.

Mr. Marcott: No?
Alex W.: Did you have to learn it?

Mr. Marcott: I still know every bit of it (giggles). You will ask me my phone number sometime, and I couldn’t––it’s funny isn’t it?

Alex W.: Yeah, it is.

Mr. Marcott: But––how I can remember. And I got a million stories. And jokes and all that come right to me. But, if somebody says tell me a joke, I’ll draw a blank right now duhh (giggles), and I can’t do it. But I’ve lived a wonderful life, and hope to keep on going for awhile. I’m 82 now and I’m looking forward––I don’t feel a day over 81 (laughs). So hope you guys all live to a ripe old age like I am.

Neil: Yeah, me too.

Mr. Marcott: And, have an outlook like I do. I just love life and I just wake up singing.

Neil: That’s the way to be.

Mr. Marcott: Yep.

Neil: Boy, it’s been really nice, do you have any last words?

Mr. Marcott: Yeah, what is it they say, the last thing I want to hear at my funeral is––‘He moved!’ (Everyone laughs).

Mr. Marcott: (Drinks water). Hey, is this straight water?

Alex W.: That’s water.

Mr. Marcott: Never tried it that way.

Neil: Well, personally, I really enjoyed this interview.

Alex W.: Yeah, we all did.

Luis: Yeah, I did too.

Alex M.: Yes, thank you for coming.

Mr. Marcott: Hey, you guys are great. You know all the plays I’ve been in, I been with people your age––if I have to spend an afternoon with people my age, I’m bored to death! Really, it’s a fact. Maybe you guys kept me young all these years, I don’t know. There’s gotta be something to that. ’Cause I always played of course the father, the grandfather, and in most plays I lost the girl (laughs), but my wife was there, and she didn’t mind. But, it’s great, I got a great family, and I got a lotta good friends, and I hope to get more, and I just made seven new ones right here––see how it goes? (Much laughter). I did that without takin’ one shoe off. Well, I dunno.

Alex M.: Well, thanks for coming, it was an honor to interview you.

Mr. Marcott: Well, it’s a honor to be here, I tell ya.

Sean: Yeah, thanks for coming.

Mr. Marcott: Sean is it?

Sean: Yeah.

Mr. Marcott: Sean, you live in Yorkville?

Sean: Yeah.

Mr. Marcott: Where ’bouts?

Sean: About six miles when you’re going towards Yorkville past the Market, six miles past there. You know when you’re going to Ukiah to Yorkville, you take the…

Mr. Marcott: Hopland Road.

Sean: Yeah, it’s about a mile before that. So, pretty far out.

Neil: Yeah.

Mr. Marcott: Wow.

Sean: Pomo Tierra.

Mr. Marcott: Oh, you’re Pomo Tierra? Which one are you?

Sean: O’Connell.

Mr. Marcott: You––for crying out loud! Sheez, I’ve known your dad––I think the world of your dad. He’s a good friend of mine! I’ll be darned! Jim Cramer, all those guys still up there––Bernstein?

Sean: Yup.

Mr. Marcott: Kay Jablonski sold her property next to me there, and now we gotta Indian guy––great guy (slams fist on the table). Built like a brick outhouse! He was in the post office yesterday and I come in and he was buying something, and I asked the postmaster if this guy’s bothering you? (Laughter). As if I was gonna do anything about it!…Well, hey, guys, I sure enjoyed this, it’s an honor, I tell ya.

Neil: It was our pleasure.