The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975 Page: 466
562 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
money now, but about the only thing I can do for you is to buy you a meal.
You remember that when you're my age, and always pick up the check
for youngsters in the crowd."
From I922 onward Cotten went twice a year to the annual furniture
mart in Chicago. Through a contact he enjoyed guest privileges at the Uni-
versity Club, with its Gothic, vaulted, high-ceilinged old dining room over-
looking Michigan Avenue in the heart of downtown. When I was teaching
at Northwestern in the summer of 1963, he came to town, we ate Lake
Superior whitefish and raspberry sherbet at the University Club, and then
went out to see the White Sox. At the game he said to me,
"Have you ever been to a burlesque show?"
I told him that I had.
"I never have," he said. "But I've always wanted to. I've been coming
up here for forty-one years, and I tell myself twice each year that I'm
going to go. But I feel that as sure as I do, I'll see somebody from Weather-
ford just as I step up to box office, and I'll never hear the last of it back
in Weatherford."
I told him that I would buy the tickets, because not that many people
in Weatherford would probably remember me, and all he would have to
do would be to take one quick look and go in. He agreed that we would
do it, and we returned from the ball game to head for the burlesque area.
But when it came time to get out of the taxi, he said, "No, I'm going back
to the University Club. I just can't do it-although I'd sure like to, and
I know if I don't tonight, I never will."
So far as I know, he died without ever having made that burlesque show.
Some of his arguments and feuds have become legend. When his temper
was up, he could take a man apart, but he loved to forgive afterwards.
All that was required was a conciliatory gesture in his direction, and he
was back in his opponent's camp. On the other hand, he didn't mind step-
ping on sensitivities, and spent a good part of his life telling me how over-
rated he thought Eugene C. Barker was, knowing full well that Barker was
one of my academic heroes. He preferred Walter Prescott Webb and, most
particularly, Charles W. Ramsdell, under whom he had planned to do
graduate work, a plan that was negated by World War I.
Certainly in all respects here was a man who is not easily forgettable.
The range of his interests is indicated by the fact that he was president of
the Texas Funeral Directors' Association, the Texas Retail Furniture Deal-
ers' Association, the Texas Swine Breeders' Association, the Texas State
Historical Association, and the West Texas Historical Association.
JOE B. FRANTZ466
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975, periodical, 1974/1975; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117149/m1/526/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.