A Legislative and Corporate History
From the Files of Bill N. Muster
and Richard C. Simonton
Muster & Simonton Delta Queen documents index - click here.
Delta Queen legislative and coroprate timeline - click here.
1963
Summary: Judge Marlow Cook, on behalf of the Belle of Louisville, challenged Letha Greene and the Delta Queen to a steamboat race. Betty Blake handled all the public relations work and raised substantial media interest. It was the first steamboat race in 33 years and was held in April.
Simonton had his second, and more serious, car accident Jan 31. Although he kept up active correspondence, he relied more on the help of Quinby and Blake to manage things for him. In May, the company took out a loan to aid operations and upkeep of the boat. Later in the summer, Simonton and Quinby desired a second steamboat and began looking into different possibilities. They decided to raise the money by issuing public stock. In July, their accounting firm prepared the paperwork and applied. However, their request was denied in a letter from Westheimer and Company, members of the New York stock exchange, in mid-October.
After one semester at college, Simonton's oldest daughter decided to quit and spend a season working on the boat. While there, she and the purser, George Hill, decided to get married. Upon hearing the news, Simonton's wife went there to "slow things down."
Read the highlights for this year or skip to 1964
Jan. 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (three letters) regarding an article on DQ, daughter to work on DQ, annual meeting, Blake, overhauling GLS operations; to Greene regarding his daughter, annual meeting, Jack Douglas. Greene to Simonton regarding his daughter, other personnel, annual meeting. Simonton with Blake regarding GLS operations; to friends, acquaintances.
Docs: Summary of Blake's accomplishments during first nine months; press release on Jack Douglas' "Across the Seven Seas" giving regional dates and stations; other press releases about Jack Douglas show.
Feb. 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby regarding his second car accident; to Greene regarding photos, Jack Douglas film, his accident; to Blake congratulating her PR campaign. Blake to Greene (two memos) regarding inquiry follow-up (proposed letter attached), post card follow-up (sample attached). Simonton to friends. Perry-Brown to Quinby regarding advertising (samples attached). "Get well" letters to Simonton from friends and media.
Docs: Accountant's financial statement.
March 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby regarding steamboat race, PR. Quinby to Simonton regarding steam line between Key West and the Yucatan Peninsula; with Greene regarding steamboat race. Simonton to Greene personnel, steamboat race and PR, his itinerary. Greene to Judge Cook accepting steamboat race, Blake to Judge Cook regarding steamboat race acceptance, media coverage; to other Louisville officials regarding steamboat race. QFD to Blake regarding next show. Simonton to friends with steamboat race press release.
Docs: Press release on steamboat race; Calliope newsletter with news clippings; QFD TV script; balance sheet.
April 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby requesting steamboat race posters; to Greene (two letters) regarding his itinerary, other arrangements, bank loan, his daughter. Blake to Simonton, Quinby regarding press releases and steamboat race promotion, other PR. Fred Way to Blake regarding steamboat race. Simonton to friends, media.
Docs: Steamboat race poster; balance sheet; commemorative steamboat race ticket.
May 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Greene (two letters) regarding reimbursement, bank loan, his itinerary, requesting DQ materials. Central Trust Company of Cincinnati to Greene regarding $42,000 loan. Simonton to Blake regarding PR; to friends, and media; to Georgian Bay Lines.
News Clippings: Calliope newsletter with clippings; Holiday magazine"Journey Down the Mississippi"; St. Louis Dispatch, "Alex Blow de Weazel," by Quinby, reprinted from Waterways Journal.
Steamboat race (DQ wins): some front-page, some full-page, one Sunday magazine front-cover. According to Simonton, "we got coverage from all three TV networks, with front page pictures in over 40 metropolitan dailies, plus a great deal of additional coverage" (letter to The Tolucan 6/3/63).
Docs: Press release about steamboat race.
June 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (three letters) regarding other steamboats, Jack Douglas film, Burrud film, [finished at] Shepard Labs, his itinerary; to Greene (two letters) regarding CPA firm and tax loophole, Belle of Louisville, ticketing friends; to Blake (three letters) regarding defective film, Burrud film, advertising, his itinerary, other PR; to friends, media.
News Clippings: Pittsburgh Press Sunday magazine, "Mail Returns to the River," about Lady Grace. Cincinnati Enquirer, fashion on the DQ.
Docs: Balance sheet.
July 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (two letters) regarding his DQ trip, Burrud film, other steamboat memorabilia, acquiring a second steamboat; to Greene regarding ticketing friends, issuing GLS stock; to Blake regarding Waterways Journal ad, her press release; to Judge Cook regarding PR.
Docs: Balance sheet.
Aug. 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (three letters) regarding his daughter, steamboats, Fred Way, public stock, finances, second steamboat. Quinby to Simonton regarding second steamboat, Fred Way and sternwheel vs. sidewheel steamboats, DQ movies, advertising calliope records. Simonton to Greene (three letters) regarding advertising and publicity, ICC, new Waterways Journal ad, reimbursements, bank loan; to Blake regarding news releases, new Waterways Journal ad; to friends; from Fred Way regarding pros and cons of various steamboats, the Tom Greene; from CPA firm regarding GLS finances, ICC, public stock; from Judge Cook thanking for DQ cruise.
News Clippings: Cutler-Hammer Record, "Cruising Down the River."
Docs: Balance sheet.
Sept. 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Greene regarding financial statements, public stock, his itinerary, advertising; to Blake regarding Maxwell, other PR; to "George and Crew Members" thanking for get well card; from Maxwell congratulating him on recent PR; with CPA firm regarding finances, stock.
Docs: Balance sheet.
News Clippings: Cover story in Family magazine, "What's Cookin' on the Delta Queen"; misc.
Oct. 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Greene regarding finances, his itinerary; to Perry-Brown regarding his itinerary; to friends; from stock exchange denying request to issue stock.
News Clippings: Two Sunday magazine features with photos: "Solitary Survivor of a Bygone Era," and "Going Places the Slow Way."
Nov. 1963:
Correspondence: DQ engineer to a company, requesting information.
Dec. 1963:
Correspondence: Simonton to Greene regarding finances, layup repairs, tax matters; from Greene regarding layup repairs, finances; with Blake regarding promotion, travel show, Burrud film, 1964 brochures; with Fred Way regarding other steamboat operations; with DQ personnel regarding ticketing friends; from other friends.
Docs: Financial statement.
Undated:
Docs: Layup; Mary Greene bio-data (Letha's mother); press release regarding 1963 cruises; brochure including DQ promotion.
1964
Summary: The season began with thousands of dollars in advanced bookings and media interest. Simonton was able to commission Harold Lloyd, famous comedian of early Hollywood, to act as one of the judges in the steamboat race. Many steamboat enthusiasts had doubted whether the Belle of Louisville could beat the larger, more powerful Delta Queen. Thus when the Delta Queen lost the race, Simonton commented to a friend, "if we had won, it would have been the last. So this way we get another shot at it next year and another million dollars worth of free publicity."
Fred Way, a writer and one of the people involved in bringing the Delta Queen to the Mississippi, had always adhered to many river superstitions. One of these was that he believed himself a jinx and said that if he rode the Delta Queen, she would surely lose the race. When she did lose, he told Betty Blake, "Jay Quinby formally forgave me for any influence my presence on the DQ might have contributed to the successful defeat: I think we all agree it was successful."
At their annual meeting, the GLS stockholders' officially decided to look for a second boat. Simonton was particularly interested in the Delta King and following his daughter's marriage, he and Quinby went to Stockton to see it. He also visited Fulton Shipyard in Antioch where he met some of the people who originally invested in and built the two boats in the 1920s. He made arrangements to purchase salvage parts from the Delta King and have them shipped to Cincinnati. He also asked Norman Hoover to find out what it would take to certify the boat for passenger trade.
Misc.: Simonton turned over the task of organizing a charter cruise for the Shriner group to Blake.
Read the highlights for this year or skip to 1965
Jan. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby regarding second boat ("Somehow I don't seem to get enthusiastic about the President or any of those Streckfus boats. . . I always keep coming back to the same thought or latent hope that we might acquire the Delta King and restore it"), his itinerary; to Blake regarding Long Beach travel show, New York World's Fair, West Coast promotion, his itinerary; to friends and media friends regarding cruise to Hawaii; to Doc Hawley regarding lost book.
Docs: Balance sheet.
Feb. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Greene regarding Hawaii cruise and showing DQ films on ships, MUZAK charter, inviting Harold Lloyd to steamboat race, musical postcard souvenir, travel poster; to MUZAK associate regarding charter cruise.
Docs: Balance sheet and financial statement.
March 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (two letters) regarding musical postcard souvenir, floods in Cincinnati, New York World's Fair, first cruise, Harold Lloyd, his itinerary; to Greene (two letters) regarding New York World's Fair and advertising, personnel, first cruise heavily booked ("Yes, I too can remember when we went out on our first trip with much less."), his itinerary, need new typewriter ("That old typewriter was an absolute wreck and should be thrown overboard."), floods; to Blake regarding MUZAK charter; to MUZAK associate (two letters) regarding charter cruise.
Docs: Balance sheet.
April 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to MUZAK associate regarding charter cruise; to the Collector's Exchange regarding steamboat race.
Docs: Balance sheet.
May 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Greene (two letters) regarding his daughter's marriage, the steamboat race and press coverage, buying spare parts from the Delta King; to friends regarding steamboat race, annual meeting; to media acquaintances. Fred Way to Blake regarding media, steamboat race. Hoover to Simonton detailing requirements to license the Delta King.
Docs: Balance sheet.
June 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (two letters) regarding Delta King, his travels and itinerary; to Greene (two letters) regarding Blake's wedding with Simcox, finances, his daughter; to Blake regarding Shriners charter cruise, her marriage; to Fred Way (three letters) regarding Delta King, old Delta King parts, DQ steering mechanism; to Waterways Journal editor/friend regarding Harold Lloyd.
Docs: Balance sheet.
July 1964:
Docs: Balance sheet.
Aug. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby declining Steam Ferryboat Orange venture. Greene to Simonton regarding finances, 1965 schedule, rudder damage. Simonton to Greene (two letters) regarding lower tourist trade; to Blake regarding Shriner charter, other promotion; to a media acquaintance.
News Clippings: Calliope newsletter with various clippings.
Docs: Balance sheet.
Sept. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby regarding his travels and itinerary, the Delta King ("I think it's too far gone and the end wouldn't justify the means."); to Greene regarding profit sharing plan, Shriner charter cruise.
News Clippings: Calliope newsletter with various clippings.
Docs: Balance sheet.
Oct. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (two letters) regarding his travels, New York DQ representatives, meeting former commanding officer of DQ (1941 - 42), profit sharing plan; to Fulton Shipyard regarding Delta King engine parts.
Docs: Balance sheet; advertising report.
Nov. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby (three letters) regarding Delta King parts, financial, profit sharing plan, publicity, DQ films, taxes, Proctor and Gamble TV commercials; to Greene regarding tax matters, profit sharing plan, Delta King parts, financial; to Blake regarding final DQ cruise, publicity; to Fulton Shipyard regarding parts. Hoover to Simonton regarding tax matters, depreciation.
Docs: Balance sheet; press release on Randy Spark's Back Porch Majority (a band featured on DQ).
Dec. 1964:
Correspondence: Simonton to Quinby enclosing clipping about Mary Greene; to Greene regarding Delta King parts, profit sharing plan, Mary Greene; from Greene regarding financial, taxes; to Waterways Journal (three letters) regarding Mary Greene, successful season, story for Waterways Journal.
News Clippings: Calliope newsletter with various clippings.
Docs: Balance sheet; profit sharing document.
Undated:
List of Delta King parts.
