Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Lost Memphis Miss McKellar Lake
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 11:24 AM
- Miss McKellar Lake Finalists
At one time, it was a magnet for Memphians trying to beat the heat. The Lauderdales kept their cabin cruiser, The Lady Lauderdale, berthed there, alongside radio/tv pioneer Hoyt Wooten's magnificent yacht, the Elbaroda ("adorable," spelled backwards). In the 1950s and 1960s, the lake — actually a former oxbow of the Mississippi River — was always packed with ski boats, house boats, rowboats, and just about anything that could float.
But it gradually lost its allure, perhaps because of places like Sardis and Pickwick. What's more, expressways (and airplanes) brought the beaches of the Gulf Coast within easier reach. That's just a theory.
McKellar was such an important part of the Memphis community, and our social life, that every year we held a Miss McKellar Lake contest, and the prettiest women in the region would compete. The event was sponsored by the Memphis Park Commission, Memphis Ski Club, and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. I'm not sure what the "talent" portion of this competition entailed; I suspect how the contestants looked in a swimsuit was the key element of the judging, since that's all the newspapers ever showed.
Here's an undated photo taken of the finalists, all of them (according to the original newspaper caption) just 16 or 17 years old. From left to right: Lynda Cummings, Micki Slover, Micki Dollar, Rita Raney, and Cynthia Cowgill. Some of those names sound made up, to me. I mean, what are the chances that two different girls named "Micki" would end up as finalists?
I'm a little confused. The newspaper clipping that accompanied this photo has a date of "August 1989" stamped on it, but the photo itself was dated 1964. I'm no expert on women's swimsuits or hairstyles, though of course I know you would certainly assume I would be, but I can't tell WHAT year this is from. What do you think?
And I'm sorry to say that I don't know who won this particular contest. Does anyone remember any of these ladies?
PHOTO COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS LIBRARIES
Comments (20)
Showing 1-20 of 20
VL: Sorry, I don't know any of these ladies, but for my money, pretty as they were, the real beauty in the picture is the Chris Craft wood runabout in the background. Boy, do I ever wish I had one of those. Depending on the model (and its condition), buying one today could set you back as much as $100K.
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Vance,
Almost certainly the picture was from 1964. The CA probably ran it again in 1989 in the "25 Years Ago" column. By then, nobody would go swimming in McKellar Lake.
Geezer
@Awesomeberg: The Lauderdales had a whole fleet of Chris-Crafts, but chopped them up and burned them for firewood during the winter. Looking back on it, probably not the best use of such fine old boats, but Mother just would NOT stop bitching about the cold. With all that varnish, they really put out some heat! The runabouts like in the picture burned pretty fast, but I remember the cabin cruiser smoldered for a week.
Curses, it must be a sign of advancing age that my eyes were also drawn to the boat first and then the allegedly "hot" babes second. I think it is the hairstyles but it is hard to believe they were 16 or 17 ... I think everyone aged faster back then what with all the UV sunbathing and such.
I wonder if Micki was short for Michelle but was a "cuter" name at the time? And yes, I think the only talent back then was to look good in a swimsuit; the other stuff was added later as a kind of apology for being so sexist, I guess. At least that was the case when I was turned down for "Mr. Atlas" due to the fact I couldn't play the piano.
VL: the image of burning Chris Crafts almost made me cry!
I was intrigued by the hairstyles. They weren't really bouffants, were they, and a couple of them looked almost contemporary, but the one that captured my fancy was the second from the left. Was there a name for that style, and is it my imagination, or was it, somehow, water buffalo-like in its appearance? http://www.thesunblog.com/gourmetgal/water…
The amount of hairspray necessary to achieve (and maintain) that look would have probably caused a full-on EPA alert nowadays.
I hadn't been to McKellar Lake in a long time. The interstate really cut it and Riverside/MLK Park off from the city. Beautiful park but fairly lonely. Went down to take a look the other day and was told the water now gets a good rating from EPA.
The Miss McKellar Lake competition was taken over by the short-lived Miss Nonconnah Creek pageant, which failed due to a lack of participants after they introduced the fly fishing portion of the contest.
No one looks good in hip waders, except of course, for our very own Vance Lauderdale.
Jeff, it's strange that you would mention the hip-waders, because I'm wearing them now. In fact, that's ALL I'm wearing. In these miserable Memphis summers, it's pretty much become my uniform around the office, much to the dismay of my co-workers.
And Awesomeberg, I share your fascination with that woman's interesting hairstyle, and the cans of hairspray required to hold every single folicle in position — especially while you were water-skiing!
The woman in the middle, with the longer dark hair, looks eerily modern compared to the others, but her very 1960s swimsuit gives her away.
But except for the girl on the far right, who seems to have a rather youthful-looking face, NONE of these women look even close to being 16-17 years old. No offense intended, but the woman at far left certainly looks like she's in her late 20s.
Wonder where that nice boat is today?
I think the "Water Buffalo" 'do is also a "Doris Day"? In fairness to the ladies, any old photos from the "black and white" days all the men seem to be old too ... maybe it was the fashion back then? Maybe that is why they are the "Old" days?
I remembered that there are photos of Elvis skiing on McKellar Lake, so after a long and exhaustive google ( I am learning from Vance...) there he is skiing in 1955 and '56 in what looks like a construction zone. In 1960 he bought a speedboat for - gasp - $2,000 and took it for a spin. Apparently he got a free sailor's cap in the photos too.
As an aside, not being a native Memphian I presume "Kilowatt Lake" in North Memphis is not one anybody would wade in, let alone ski? Try Mapquest at "city" view setting and "Arial" view and it shows a scary green/yellow color that would have the aforementioned EPA scrambling. Once you zoom in it looks "better" but something about that view would scare tourists away. What we need is another Manatee.....
I never understood how "Kilowatt Lake" got its name. But, as eerie as the place may look today, in the 1970s (or was it the 1980s? -- it's all a blur), it was the site of organized powerboat racing. It would have been a nasty place to take a spill; falling into the water was probably more of a danger than crashing your boat. I need to look into that some day ...
When I was a teen in the '60s, my friends and I would swim in McKellar Lake, until one summer day we were splashing around and my friend Rusty started screaming. We saw that a turd floated up and hit him in the chin. True story. We've not been back since.
Anybody looking for info about hard hair and good times at McKellar lake in the 50's & 60's should track down Jane Coll, The Memphis mermaid.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/summer…
Her husband ran The Psycho Lounge (For People Who Need Help). Shame that none of the pics that went with that story are online.
I must be getting old myself, as I only had eyes for that classic "Cypress Gardens" slalom ski; I had one just like it when I learned to ski in McKellar Lake, in the early '70s. I still recall the ski-jump ramp to the right of the boat ramp, along with the slalom course maintained by the ski club. This leads to an interesting story of how launching my boat there one evening, my then-girlfriend let the car slip into the water ... now my wife of 30+ years. I often wish I had kept the car instead.
Yes they did have organized powerboat racing in Kilowatt Lake. I think it wasthe late '70s. One of the racers got killed there and I don't think they ever had racing again.
Kilowatt Lake came about from the channeling of the Wolf River in the early 1960s. I think I remember a USGS map from '59 or '60 that had the river meandering. And about that boat crash in the '70s I remember a very dramatic photo of the crash in one of the local papers.
I remember seeing a photo of Micki Slover in my sister's yearbook (Immaculate Conception mid-1960s). She was a twin — her sister was named Vicki.
I learned to ski in McKellar Lake in the early/mid-'70s on wooden skis as the one pictured, and utilized the lake as late as 1990. My fondest (?) memory was when my family docked on a sand bar-like tiny island out there and I came upon a dead catfish that was bigger than my little brother. Scared the daylights out of me.
I would like to see the picture from 1960. My sister was one of the contestants. Does anyone have that? Thanks.
Cynthia Cowgill, on the right, was Central High, Class of 1964.
Robert Coker, 11/22/2011
