forim
theand
nurrn
ateeed
ofup-
in
indeh,
n—
ousevel
oftf
ofnering
a
a
a
ofor
forors
foros
fornas
and
Weekday
The weekly feature page of the University Daily Kansan
March 23, 1979
n
s
d
d
d
l
r
d
t
build
g to
the
the
con-omic
nit?t
the be
be con-ine
the in
in her
neiuch
tes,
tes,
life
the n a
INDEPENDENCE—Waves of applause from the packed house welcome the Count Basie Big Band as it takes the stage.
Basis and his band dazzle the crowd with their hard-swinging jazz. Then the lights dim and spotlights illuminate the front of the stage. One by one, dancers come out and exchange routines, nearly stealing the show.
George Brown, 83, was one of those dancers more than 60 years ago.
But "I got too old to dance, anymore," he said.
Brown has been shining shoes since he was five years old.
He said, "I ain't going to leave if I can keep from it. I'll never retire."
Now, Brown shines shoes in a downtown store in Independence, Kan. He has worked in the shop for 28 years.
He turns back to concentrate on his customer's shoes.
At George's Parlor, a "plain" shine costs 25 cents. An "off-the-foot" shine costs twice that.
"I'm not doing this for a living. I'm doing this 'cause I like it," Brown said.
Brown's shop has become a fixure on Main Street. Most of his customers are regulars. Even if they do not stop, they peer into the front window and wave.
Besides shining shoes and traveling with jazz bands, he played semi-pro baseball in the "black leagues."
"I played baseball all over," he said, "Memphis, Kansas City, Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Cleveland, New Orleans, Indiana, Florida, them all. I played in the white leagues, I was as good a player as any of them.
He said, "I got too old for ball, so I quit. I missed it, so I started dancing. I didn't miss it after that."
But Brown soon left baseball.
Brown first came to Independence in 1927 and worked for a few years as sheshoeing man at the new defunct Belldhot Hotel.
Brown danced with Count Basie for nearly two years. Later, when he was dancing with Cab Calloway's band, a young trumpet played named Dizzy Gillespie was just starting to build his reputation.
"I wanted to entertain. 'Entertain' means dancing, so I danced."
"I used to do a lot of nightclub dancing, too," he said. "I didn't have no band for that. I just went in there and danced."
"We went to Kansas City on the weekends to keep entertained. We'd go to the
In the early '30s, he moved on to work on an Army Corps of Engineer project at Lone Star Lake, outside Lawrence, where his family lived together in barracks at the site.
In time, travel lost its glamor, so Brown quit and came to Kansas.
baseball games, the wrestling matches and the boxing matches." he said.
After he left the dam project, Brow n went to Witch to find work. He stayed nearly 10 years, working as a sohoeine man at barbershops and hotels.
On a particularly busy day, he and five other workers shined 385 pairs of shoes.
"I like shining shoes just fine, but it runs into work sometimes," he said.
In the early '50s, Brown left Wichita and came back to Independence. Instead of working at hotel or barber house in town, he worked George's Parlor. The name has stuck.
As many as five employees have worked with Brown at one time during the last 28 years. Now, he works alone, by choice.
"I had a couple of boys from the high school working here, and I had the whole school here. I got sick of that, quick."
But Brown's years have not slowed him down. Last Saturday he shined more than 60 pairs of shoes.
As a 5-year-old, Brown walked into town, Havana, Ark., from the family farm to shine shoes for a nickel a pair. He carried his brushes and polish in a bask.
Now, his shop has a row of chairs, for plain shines, complete with brass footrests, all elevated. The arrangement keeps him from bending, he said.
Underneath the chairs are the accumulated tools of Brown's trade brushes, rags, tins of polish and wax, a wheelbarrow and a Michelon bottle filled with nautilus.
Brown said, "a had a beer bottle full of naphtha sitting there without a top on it one. This fellow came in and sat next to me next to it and dropped his cigarette in it."
"You don't know how close you are to blowing yourself right out of that chair," I said. "You know that's not water in there."
Naphtha, a flammable liquid, is used to clean the edges of the soles.
To people in Independence, George's Parlor is a modern-day version of the barber shops and general stores that the barber served as places to gather and talk.
"When I told him what it was, he didn't wait to be blowed out. He jumped."
Gossip and jokes are exchanged, as well as news of the latest calves born in area herds.
"If I don't show up here, people come out looking for me." Brown said.
So he comes to town from his farmhouse, by cab, six days a week.
"It's something inside that tells what you can and can't do. It's your heart," Brown said. "It's what you are, not what you're supposed to be the same. It don't make no difference."
The swinging strains of Count Basie and his band bring back fond memories for 83-year-old George Brown, who was a dancer for the Count more than 60 years ago. Brown says his dancing days have long since gone, and he now operates a shoe shine shop in Independence, Kan., about 130 miles south of Lawrence.
Photos By Peter Bosch Story By Doug Hitchcock