the money was a flowin´ and the boys were throwin´ it around. In 1920, when prohibition was about one month old there was a devastating fire. People poured in from every vantage point to watch the club burn. But before the ashes cooled, plans for a new building were drawn up for a bigger and better new Owl. It was 1921 when Jack Tenney was offered a job playing piano at the New Owl. The club was complete with dance floor, and orchestra platform and a seven-piece band. Tenney became not only piano player but leader of the orchestra. Not long afterwards business slacked off and Tenney went to work at a place called the “Imperial Cabaret.” It was there he wrote his famous melody which he called “The Waltz.” The song was written without lyrics. It eventually was called “Mexicali Rose.” People came to believe that the song had been named after one of the dance hall girls with a dubious reputation, who was the inspiration for the song. Her name was Rose Erskine. Jack Tenney always denied this assumption. Later on in his career, Tenney insisted that the naming of his lovely “Waltz” was a joke. “There was an old lady who ran a boarding house in Brawley. Every 30 days when the railroad men were
paid, she came to Mexicali. We´d play the waltz for her, and she´d sit around drinking and crying. She must have been 50 or 60 years old and weighed 200 pounds. I don´t know what her name was but Jack Hazelip, my saxophone player called her “Mexicali Rose.” I already had the tune and we started fiddling around with the words as a result of watching her cry.” Mexicali Rose, stop crying, I´ll come back to you some sunny day. Called-every night you know that I´ll be pining, Every hour a year when I´m away. Dry those big brown eyes and smile, dear Banish all those tears and please don´t cry. Kiss me once again, and hold me. Mexicali Rose, goodbye. In the years that followed the writing of the song, movie stars made “Mexicali Rose” famous. Bing Crosby made a recording which put it on the “Hit Parade.” Barbara Stanwyck starred in a movie of the same name. It was also the title of a Gene Autry movie in 1939. Then, Mexicali Rose and Jack Tenney took very different paths. Tenney went to law school, became a lawyer and in 1936 was elected to the California State Legislature.
Saw you in the Ojo 51