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Education: high school, 1/2 semester of college business
education
Spouse:
divorced 42 years. She was stripper on Bourbon Street. I
was a barker in a strip joint.
Career
history: three years in the Marine Corps, honorably
discharged, PFC, 31 years working at Fina refinery in Port
Arthur, Texas.
Name of
parents Charles E. Mason and Hattie Mason both deceased
Personal
interests & Leisure activities: Sunbathing, golf when
free.
Current
Activities: None (while locked up). I am not working
now.
Personal
information: Children 1, grandchildren 2, son died in
1995,
Major
events after BHS: I met Sally Rand, Jimmy Durante, Blaze
Star, Candy Bar, Redd Flame, a stripper on Bourbon Street,
who was run out of New Orleans.
Accomplishments, which you are proud of: My son and
grandchildren.
What are
some other things, you recall about BHS in the fifties?
The fun we had -- how everything was so much easier -- no
drugs.
My hopes
for the future: to find a job when I get out of prison
-- to renew my health and burial insurances. I don't want
to be a ward of the state; I want to pay my own way. Any
help from the class on finding a place to live and a job
would be appreciated. You can reach me through Johnny
Haydel.
Other
pertinent information, your classmates would enjoy
knowing about you: I enjoyed the three years on the
trampoline with Ed Barone, and Don Fletcher, plus all the
good times and the bad.
A summary
of the last fifty years: At one time, I lived in Jean
Lafitte Hotel, above the famous (Show Bar). It was
one-room, but it led to a balcony overlooking Bourbon
Street. After graduation, I went to Port Arthur, TX where
my brother L.C. was living. He was working for Jefferson
Chemical Co. But, the Korean conflict was on, and everyone
was afraid to hire since they would have to hold the job for
a drafted employee. I hitchhiked back to New Orleans, where
my mother moved while I was in Texas. The first ride I got
was a young couple and their three-year-old daughter. They
were going to Alexandria. I went with them to Alex. He
dropped me off at the main post office, where I enlisted
(June 17, 1954) in the US Marines. I was put on a bus to
New Orleans. On the way we stopped in Bunkie, but not long
enough for me to see or talk to anyone. Arriving in N.O. I
called my uncle, and he and I made Bourbon Street. The next
day I was on a train to Parris Island, South Carolina for
basic training. At completion, I was put in “Tent City”
(living in a tent) waiting to go to Korea. Luckily I didn't
have to go. I was reassigned to go to combat infantry
training school at Camp Jejune, North Carolina. Then I went
to Quantico, Virginia (showplace of the Marine Corps). I
was working in the mess hall when I overheard someone say,
they wished they knew someone who could type. Thanks to Mr.
Sharpe from school, I could type a little. I asked them
where they were assigned. They were in the F. H. T. N.C.
Business of the Corps. Fleet Home Town News Center, right
across the street. I went over there and met Capt. Amo F.
Judd. Told him my name. He shook his head, pointed to the
black board there were three names like mine. He said from
now on you are "Joe" and Joe I was, and will be till I die.
My only son was named Joe Arthur (Tiger) Mason, my first
grandson is named Joe Arthur Mason. I earned the rank of
corporal, but as soon as I made the rank, I lost the stripe
for drinking and fighting. I had a set of golf clubs, given
to me by the members of the Avoyelles Country Club. They
stayed in the hockshop most of the time, so I could party.
You remember what it said in the yearbook under my name "Let
not work interfere with pleasure." Needless to say it was
three years of party time. All the guys wanted to party
with Joe. They knew where Joe was, so were the women. I
wrote news for the Quantico Sentry. Interviewed high rank,
low rank, and no rank and their wives and children. On
Saturday night they brought in the women to the base. There
was a band that played with the dance floor on the first and
second-floor. Always had a lady on each floor. Guys would
take bets to see which one found out about the other one
first.
When I was
interviewed for top-secret clearance, I was transferred to
Camp Elmore, Norfolk, Virginia. The same thing there.
Party, party, party. Every time I would lose a stripe, I
would get it back meritoriously. I was honorably discharged
June 16, 1957. Went to New Orleans. My brother, August,
was working at an insurance company during the day, and at
Lake Ponchatrain Beach at night in The Bingo Area. (The
area was like a small Coney Island). I ran a ring toss game
and got 40% of what came across the board. Needless to say,
I learned my percentages real quick. We had an apartment on
St. Ann and Bourbon Street. The beach closed at 11 p.m. He
went home, and I hit Bourbon Street. My favorite place was
a small bar to the side of the Moulin Rouge, one of the
better strip bars on Bourbon. The lady that ran the bar was
very nice. She introduced me to the owner Elmo Badon. One
night he asked me to watch the front door till 2 a.m. His
regular doorman didn't show. He gave me $20 for two hours
work. I then started to work full time for him. I was the
youngest male to be hired to work on Bourbon. In September,
I went to LSU in Baton Rouge. I wanted to study journalism
and criminal psychology. But after two months, I got
restless. We were living in the LSU Stadium apartments.
But between the ladies, golf, and drinking, school just got
in the way.
I knew a man
who was going to Mississippi with a carnival. I went with
him. I joined the Royal American shows, ran a game, then
party time in Shreveport. I think I ran into Louis Witty
there. Then back to Bourbon Street. I met and drank with
Redd Flame, later kicked out of New Orleans. I met Jimmy
Durante, Sally Rand, Blaze Starr, Hoss from TV fame, Lil Joe
from the same show, and my best friend, Martha Raye. When
she was in town, she always asked for me, also the original
Candy Bar and others. I met my wife, who was a dancer, and
had a beautiful baby boy we called Tiger, on Jan 3, 1960.
We went with friends to Marathon Shores, Florida in the
keys. There I dove for fish, and drove a cement truck with
pallets of bricks to house sites. My wife worked as a
waitress at the Jack Tar motel/hotel, I was a busboy. I
would swim in the Gulf of Mexico in the morning and in the
Atlantic Ocean in the evening.
I washed
dishes and worked a shrimp boat. We went from Key West to
Cuba shrimping. But Bourbon Street called to us. Some of
the old timers said once you worked on Bourbon, you always
come back. When I left finally, I never went back, but to
this day, I am tempted. When I got a divorce in 1962 I had
full custody of my son. He was and still is my life. I
worked various jobs in Texas when I left New Orleans: pipe
fitter, boilermaker, gas station attendant, GFC loan
company, Comet Rice mill, worked on a tugboat, shipyard,
naval base, worked on warships that were in mothballs. Then
I went to work for Atlantic Richfield, which became Sohio-BP,
then Fina. I stayed there 31 years. Now I'm at the
Holliday Unit with two L's. This is a prison unit in Texas
where I will be for 8 more years. In the 31 years at Fina, I
owned and ran at least four bars. But, when I got out of
the business, I broke even.
At one time
in my life I also raced motorcycles in Texas. My son also
-- he was good.
I did a lot of
crazy stuff in my life. It's a wonder I'm still alive. I
could go on with more stories of the crazy things that I
did. Hey, maybe later. |
