HEMINGWAY TALE: Did Saginaw's Jack Parker Really Tell Papa His Books Stunk?
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Capt. Jack D. Parker in yachting attire, perhaps aboard his 52 foot Dawn cruiser, PAISAN.
The scene is a bar in a Paris hotel.
The year 1947.
The players: Jack Parker, Saginaw advertising executive extraordinary, then a radio broadcaster in Europe covering the windup of World War II, and the legendary Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway.
PARKER: (not recognizing the big man, beardless at the time): "Just saw a movie, To Have and Have Not,"( based on Hem's latest book of the same name);
HEMINGWAY: (casually) "How'd you like it?
PARKER: (allegedly) "Well, I didn't like the book and the movie was worse. If you ask me, about all Mr. Hemingway sold the movie producers was the title of the story . . . and whatever they paid him was too much."
HEMINGWAY: (curiously) Didn't catch your name.
PARKER: "Jack Parker -- of ABC. What's yours?"
HEMINGWAY: "My name's Ernest Hemingway."
Parker later lamented: "I missed a beautiful opportunity to keep quiet. I saw him every once in a while after that and every time I did he'd grin and ask me if I'd read any of his books lately."
Classic Hemingway Photo
The yarn about the awkward meeting of the broadcaster and the author is recounted in Capt. Parker's 1986 book, "Shipwrecks of Lake Huron: The Great Sweetwater Sea," published by Avery Color Studios, Au Train, Michigan.
Parker died in 1984 but his book was published by his son, Philip S. Parker, two years later. Phil wrote the preface that amounted to a fascinating biography of his father.
Capt. Parker was born in 1916 and grew up in the Tawas area where he gained his love of the lake that escalated to yachting over 25 years, hence his honorary title, Captain.
The book aims to chronicle all the shipwrecks in Lake Huron since, well, the beginning of time, approximately 1,000. It includes Bay City's first vessel, the Esperance, constructed in 1788 by Louis Tromble, grandfather of pioneers Mader and Joseph Tromble.
Besides the intriguing summary of Parkers' life, the book contains a chapter on communications on the lakes stemming from the sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912, "a tragic accident destined to change the communications status of shipping everywhere," the book accurately states.
The Radio Act of 1913 requires all vessels carrying 50 or more persons to be equipped with ship-to-shore wireless and licensed operators.
Little gems of knowledge are included, including the wording behind the call letters of the first Great Lakes radio station WCAF, initiated by the Michigan Limestone and Cement Company out of Rogers City, a designation supposedly from "we're calling a friend."
Otto Sovereign's yacht Old Timer, stationed at the Saginaw Bay Yacht Club, made that club the first in the world, according to Parker, to house complete electronic ship-to-shore communications equipment.
Anecdotes about radio were, of course, natural for Parker, who was reared in Otisville and at age 15 became a part-time announcer at Flint's WFDF. He soon moved to Michigan State College in 1934, mainly because of radio station WKAR on campus, where he worked in addition to WJIM Lansing.
Graduation saw Parker becoming program director at WBCM in Bay City. During World War II Parker became capital correspondent of the statewide Michigan radio network and wangled assignment to Europe as a war correspondent.
ABC picked him up and on V-J Day our Mr. Parker had returned home to record jubilation of two million from New York's Times Square.
Executive at WSAM, founder of Parker Willox, Fairchild and Campbell Advertising and other experiences ensued.
Read the rest of Parker's life adventures plus the facts of Lake Huron's shipwrecks and other lore and you will be amazed; you can get the book on Amazon.
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mdoloresbarron Says:
On April 24, 2013
at 11:35 AM
Interesting story..also the pictures..!
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frank_starkweather Says:
On April 25, 2013
at 06:05 PM
Dave: Nice to hear stories about Jack Parker, who was my dad's (KT Starkweather's) close friend. Tom and I knew Jack and all of the members of the Parker Willox advertising firm which was built one block from our childhood home. Many of that bunch were also very active at Pit and Balcony, the Saginaw community theater. My parents were there several nights a week and I was underfoot there constantly in the late 1940's and early 1950's. One of Parker's partners was the brilliant artist Martin Tanner, who also raced cars and beat you at bridge. He gave me my first ride ever in a sports car, his 1953 Austin-Healey 100-4, and I have been a fan of British sports cars ever since. (Driving a 1973 MGB right now). Parker could always be counted on for some hilarious story, and with my dad, were always up to some neighborhood or city-wide prank. Never a dull moment when Jack was around.
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wallsopp Says:
On April 26, 2013
at 03:01 PM
Great article. I knew Jack and his wife from SBYC and for several years as a teen I worked on and helped maintain his beautiful wooden yacht Paisan. He was an interesting man with lots of great stories and was a great yachtsman. He and his wife were always generous with me, always over paid me and shared lots of pearls of wisdom. The Classiest!!
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Dave Rogers |
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