Ask Vance Blog

In the summer of 1961, anyone looking for a job might have noticed these tiny newspaper ads for two competing ice-cream companies.

You could go to 741 S. Cox and knock on the door of Mr. Johnstone and apply for work driving a truck for Ice Cream Circus — a company I no longer remember.

Or — a better option, if you ask me — you could pay a visit to 3065 Broad and apply for a coveted position as a Merrymobile driver. Not only would you be driving a real, honest-to-goodness Merrymobile around the streets of Memphis, but look, you could earn more than $100 a week.

I'd go for the Merrymobile job. Just think of all the stories you could tell your kids. And what an ice-breaker at parties: "I remember that time I was a Merrymobile driver ..." Not many people can say THAT.