Bill Haley, the musical wonder, who was a regular at the nearby WPWA radio station, to come and play for the kids. He showed up with his band the Comets, and almost rocked the whole building down. It was wild! I think that was the first time Rock Around The Clock was played in a public place. That song became the soundtrack for a hit movie, The Blackboard Jungle, (1955), a film about high school delinquency. It became the de facto anthem for rebellious 50’s youth. Our family has proclaimed that event as a legend, saying Rock ’n Roll started at Shoost- er’s! Rock Around the Clock [eventually this song became ranked No. 158 on The Roll- ing Stone Magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The article also noted that Bill Haley started in Chester.] Shooster’s may not have been the birthplace of Rock ‘n Roll, but my hometown played a part. An old employee of Shooster’s, William Thomas reported, “I was there that night [Bill Haley played] working as a soda jerk in the back making milkshakes for the carhops. It was a riotous good time. Bill also played at our high school. He was the last group they allowed on stage because he always drove everyone crazy. His home was nearby in Boothland, Pennsylvania, about a mile from Delaware.” William also remembered that there
Bill Haley
was a big auditorium nearby that had wres- tling matches. Once, Haystacks Calhoun, a wrestler, came into Shooster’s with his wife. He was a colorful character. What made the biggest impression is that he was so beefy at 640 pounds, he needed two chairs. Three young black men dressed as profes- sionals came into the restaurant. I found this unusual. Not many black men came into the restaurant. They were very polite. I served them a few hamburgers. Later, I realized that the man in the center of that group was Dr. Martin Luther King. He was being trained as a minister at The Cozier Theological Center located in Chester. At the time, I had no idea how his life would change mine. Sometimes business came to us in droves.
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Haystacks Calhoun
Dr. Martin Luther King
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