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Ace EmCeeing Hollywood Panel L-R: Yvonne DeCarlo, Barbara Hale, Bill Williams, Ann B. Davis, Toni Kelman 

 

WHO MADE THIS SITE POSSIBLE?

AND YES, IT STILL TAKES A VILLAGE!

When it dawned on me one day around six months ago that I was sitting on a treasure trove of photo history and that I had the opportunity to provide a page in the history of this Vietnam era, I thought to myself: This is great! I can provide an unrecorded Guinness Book record now on the Internet. As the co-producer/director of the Jean London Show, the site would be my personal backstage recollections . . . and, when one has such an opportunity to do something decent and positive, why not do it!? I’d be able to honor all the vets who served and were now probably in their late Fifties or early Sixties and they might even see themselves in some of the photos. I would also be able to honor all of the couple hundred stars and performers who entertained in the Shows.  

Then - - - it dawned on me - - - I’m an old man who doesn’t know diddly about creating a web site! I did know from my labors in public relations and marketing however that it would take probably three years for any product/site to become known and checked out, unless there were a lot of bucks promoting it. I didn’t foresee the ‘a lot of bucks’ happening, but I did determine that the site must be up and paid for totally for three years, with a Web Master watching over it, when it did go up.  

Then my memory bank reminded me: anything worthwhile was never created by one person. How correct that old saying is! This site of completing a page of history may have been my idea, but I couldn’t have done it by myself. I had to find the cost coverage for the site creation and three years of being available for web browsers. Let me introduce you to the ‘village folks’ who pitched in what they could to make it possible. Please do check out their sites as they deserve our thanks and support.  

As both Jean and I are two former South Dakota farm kids who have always been proud of our home State, I would unashamedly invite you to think about making a visit to South Dakota; see the beautiful Black Hills – the Paha Sapa of the great Lakota Nation. Maybe visit the Vietnam Memorial in Pierre and see our beautiful State Capitol!  

Here are the ‘village folks’ who are grateful for the service of the Vietnam vets and the Jean London Show with its’ dozens of stars and performers who honored our servicemen/women during those years of 1966 through 1972.  

Please check them out, learn about them and their businesses, and when you visit or are in Rapid City, give them a call or visit them and tell them Ace said to tell you ‘thanks’. This way they’ll know you visited this web site and their participation was not in vain.  

 

Contact Ace Lundon
or call 928-758-6090
This site couldn’t have existed without someone who knew what they were doing and that someone is Joseph Marino, our Webmaster. This site also honors his relatives who served in the Vietnam War. We had to work long distance but he had to make a trip to Rapid City so he could ‘train’ me some and pick up the volume of photos, etc. Since we needed a place with hi-speed internet access to work and because so many veterans groups from across the Nation hold conferences and reunions at the old Alex Johnson Hotel, I contacted Kathy Didier for help. She provided that room with a internet access and a large conference table for us; she felt it was important this web site be created to honor the vets as well as the many entertainment industry folks who performed on the Jean London Shows. By the way, the Alex Johnson Hotel is the only historically preserved Hotel in Rapid City and many movie/TV stars stay there as well as five U.S. Presidents over the years. When you call for a reservation, be sure and say thanks from Ace!
www.alexjohnson.com
STEVE BABBIT, Dir. Photography, Arts & Sciences, BHSU, Spearfish, SD  
 
When I learned the 400+ treasure trove of photo negatives I had from 35/40 years ago would cost $2.50 each to develop just so I might be able to discern what was on them, I knew I would need a lot of help! Steve Babbitt, the Director of Photography Department at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, along with his students, came to my rescue. They proved we had some great photo moments to share - - - and thus this site contains around 200 photos. Please check out http://www.bhsu.edu/artssceinces/indes.html in case your kids, grandkids or maybe even you might want to find a great educational experience at this great facility.  
 
UNITED SIOUX TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT CORP., Clarence Skye, Dir., Pierre, South Dakota
Clarence W. Skye, a friend for decades who is the Director of the United Sioux Tribal Development Corp. in Pierre, SD, became my cheerleader after he learned I was considering sharing my memories of this Vietnam era. He is of the age bracket where he had many buddies who served in the War and believed this would be another way of honoring them. He wanted to make sure the thousands of Native Americans who served, and especially those from South Dakota, would know their service was not overlooked nor forgotten. He also knew I didn’t have the bucks to make this web site a reality but that never stopped him from pushing me onward, reminding me my own beliefs were being put to the test. This site probably wouldn’t be a reality if there weren’t pushy pains-in-the-neck like Clarence in our lives. Please check out his web site to see how his life makes a difference.  
 
MOKIE PORTER, Editor ‘The Vietnam Veteran’, Silver Spring, MD
 
  Because I am probably one of those people who needs more encouragement than others to keep plodding along, our Creator noticed and crossed my path with a stranger: Margaret Porter, who was also the editor of the Vietnam Veteran magazine.  She believed this web site could be a positive effort on behalf of the Vietnam veterans and wanted to assign a reporter to do a feature to let their readers know.  This gave me much encouragement to keep working on making this site a reality.  My desire was not only to reach the 750,000 who had attended a Jean London Show, but to have a site that would garner one hit for every vet who served in the Vietnam War and honor them all for their service.  To accomplish this, we would need many magazines and media outlets letting folks know! 
        Please do check out the www.vva.org site and maybe even get a subscription to the Vietnam Veteran magazine.  Also being an author and having been a teacher, I would urge you to get a copy of the excellent book edited by Ms. Porter and John Prados: Inside The Pentagon Papers, University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-1325-0.  It really should be required reading, in my estimation, for serious students of history.   


 
COPY COUNTRY, Rapid City, South Dakota
 
 To help get the initial word out to my mailing list of around 500+ and the newspaper/radio/TV media, about the site going up, I decided a brochure would be appropriate as mailing costs would only run around $250. When I contacted Donna Barck, owner of Copy Country in Rapid City, she believed the brochure would be a good tool also and donated the printing of them. Joyce Huber and Loren Gooden donated their efforts and we also now have the historic Pendleton Scout news clippings I found yellowing in a box, now all preserved in acid-free covers. Please check out the work that Copy Country does at www.copycountryinc.com  
 
THE BREAKFAST NOOK, Dee & Arvin Anderson, Rapid City, South Dakota

To cover the costs for the web site name and the Dakota 2000 ISP for a three year period, Dee and Arvin Anderson, owners of The Breakfast Nook, came to my rescue. The Breakfast Nook is a popular local breakfast/lunch spot frequented by vets and their families. If you’re visiting or live in the area, grab a quick meal and let Dee know you saw this web site telling her Ace told you to stop by. Their son, Dusty, recently returned from duty in Iraq.
 
PAULINE & ROBERT BRIGHAM, Monroe, WA

They – Robert and Pauline Bingham – live in Washington State now but are former South Dakotans; for Pauline’s recent 93rd birthday, she splurged with a motorcycle ride. She could have gone sky diving but she did that a couple years earlier! When they learned I was filling in a page of historic value from the Vietnam era, they let me know they had friends who were vets from every War since WWI and doing a web site like this would be important for everyone. After learning the costs of creation of the site, they wrote out a check to help defray a few costs of the Web Master. The photo of Robert, Pauline and myself was snapped by Virgil Eberly at the Breakfast Nook when they were in town for a visit.  
 

Parrot Video

    When attempting an adventure such as this web site; even though one may get a lot of help, I also wasn't naive in thinking there wouldn't be plenty of pop-up costs to cover - - - so, I took out a small loan, and wouldn't you know it - - - along came a BIG pop-up cost!  Actually it was the discovery of an historical treasure trove of reel-to-reel audio tapes someone had taped of the Shows 35 years ago!  I had forgotten totally about them and had given them to a nephew in 1979 after the Show had ended, as I was concerned they might be destroyed or lost in my post divorce years and a new life.
     The first challenge was finding anyone who might have the old equipment so I might learn what was on the tapes and if anything could be useable for the web site.  A brother-in-law that used to be with the Arista Records band - "Striker" - during the Beatles era had an old recorder with only headphones and no speaker; I learned the tapes were messed up with double tracking and chipmunk sounds, but somewhat audible, and might be valuable.
       Thanks to Col. Jinx McCain's daughter, Debbie, I located Mike Allen in San Juan Capistrano, CA who had some ability to transcribe the tapes to CD.  Two reels, however, had to be brought elsewhere as their speeds were somewhere still back in the Sixties!  Because Mike hoped his friends who were vets might enjoy this web site, he didn't charge what he could have for his service and I am grateful now to recommend you check out his web site and maybe use his service.  Yes, the village is alive and well and we help one another get through the maze! 


www.parrotvideo.com
ROXIE PETERSON, former owner of Rushmore Travel, Rapid City, South Dakota

After I had made the decision to actually create this web site and knew I couldn't do it by myself because it would be financially impossible; the very first person that came to help because she believed the site needed to become a recorded part of history, was Roxie Peterson, then owner of Rushmore Travel.  She said she would like to cover the monthly cost of the site when it went on line for the first three years.  We figured it would probably be between $20 or $30 a month.  Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes do go astray, and when her hubby got the news that he would be heading for his 6th heart bypass surgery, she had to sell the business.  We decided that she should not worry about covering the web site monthly costs as she would have plenty to cover in upcoming outrageous hospital/doctor bills.  It was another step to test my own faith I had to conclude.  The monthly charges are $21.11. My thanks to Roxie for being a true angel with a big heart and a giving spirit in caring about preserving history and honoring our veterans . . . and then, not being able to accomplish what she wished to do, had to be a bummer for her also. 

DATOTA 2000, Web Hosting, Pierre, South Dakota

JOSEPH MARINO, Webmaster

YES, IT CERTAINLY DOES TAKE A VILLAGE!

 

To learn about the upcoming dedication of the South Dakota Vietnam War Memorial

www.sdvietnamwarmemorial.com

 
For a Show skit, actress Ella Edwards gets wigged-out backstage.

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