From: buickohv@aol.com [mailto:buickohv@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 11:07 PM
To: jeffsalisburyhhs1967@yahoo.com
Subject: The Midget
Hi Jeff-
I was delighted to see so many of Howell's residents recall the Midget restaurant and the good food they got there so many years ago! Our parents, Lawrence and Ellen Dunham, would have been VERY pleased. After Dad retired he liked nothing better than to have an old customer recall the good food and service they got there. Dad always took a great deal of pride in the quality of both.
Mom & Dad opened the Midget in Howell in 1940 and operated it for the next 32 years. I can recall Dad saying in later years that during WWII they were opened 24 hours a day and "never turned the key in the lock" during the war. Dad was sweeping the sidewalk in front of the Midget on December 7, 1941 when a man in a car pulled to the curb and told him to "listen to the car radio." The announcement was just being made that the Japanese had bombed
In 1948 Dad was a member of the Howell Board of Commerce. I don't know this for sure, but it may have been a predecessor to the Chamber of Commerce.
I can also recall long haul truck drivers stopping by in the 1950's, and telling me that during the war they always waited until they got to Howell to eat because Dad always seemed to have coffee and cigarettes, both of which were often in short supply during the war.
Dad retired in the early 1970s and even though the folks traveled extensively, they always retained close ties to the Howell community and their many friends there.
I have a lot of Midget memorabilia filed away here and am attaching scans of some of it. The menu appears to have been one we had at the house that was probably used as a guide for the printer to follow when he made new ones. I would judge from the prices that it was probably used in the mid 1950's.
The long white item is one of the paper hats the men working at the Midget wore when cooking. The book of matches speaks for itself, as does the business card.
There is an interesting history to the Midget and I have it all written down here somewhere in case you have an interest. And speaking of that, I think you are performing a wonderful service with what you are doing. I know it must take a lot of time and a lot of folks must be very grateful. I know I am!
Terry Dunham buickohv@aol.com
Class of 1958
Let’s have some fun sharing stories… Recently I asked members of the Class of 1967, "What was your favorite Old Howell Eatery and specifically what entrée, sandwich, side dish, dessert or other treat do you remember the most and why? "
Here’s my comments… and the submitted remembrances are below.
Hope you have as much fun writing down your memories as I did reading them! --- If I get more I will post them here too. And if you by chance have any photos, send them along. I think I will scan some images from the advertising section of my copies of The Torch as well. Here goes...
O'Leary's Bakery 1960s postcard I found somewhere ...
I think the waitress is Linda Metz, '66.
The older gentleman to the left certainly looks like Mr. Culver Bailey to me. Can you spot anyone you recognize in this photo?
And where was this restaurant? 
- Jeff
Jeff & Penny,
The answer to where "Brownies Bar and Grill" was....it was the bar on the cornor of Grand River and Court Street next to Bob White's Standard gas station. It was sold and became the "Dukes of Windsor" and is now called "Diamonds" and has moved up grand river a few doors. I think the old bowling alley was upstairs above it.. Norm and Barb Pettibone would love it that so many kids remembered their "Old Howell House"...I remember when it was filmed and aired on tv... I also remember when Paul Baldwin and Johnny Livingston took turn being open every other sun...from only 9 til noon. If you didnt get your groceries by sat at 6 pm...you were out of luck til Mon...the good ole days...
Sheila Parrish-Aldridge 1968
Eagers Restaurant - remember the Eager Sisters?? Two little old darling ladies.......every sunday after church we would stop in and have a piece of pie. They could make a really great pie! their crust was out of this world and they would not share the receipe with me......they said it was a family secret....... - Kathy Pearson-Lehman, 1967
I HAD SO MUCH FUN READING ALL THE COMMENTS...DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE WOODLAND LAKE KIDS..WE WERE BUSED TO HOWELL HIGH..LIVED IN BRIGHTON...AND TO BE QUITE HONEST AS A KID MY FAMILY DID NOT GO OUT MUCH...BUT A&W WAS EVERYONE 'S FIRST JOB AS WELL MINE ...CANOPY WAS FOR VERY SPECIAL DINNER...IT WAS WONDERFUL...SO MUCH FUN REMEMBERING.... KAY MOSSING TAGLIAMONTE CLASS 67
Well Jeff, here are some thoughts you may or may not want to include in your email about Howell memories.
Baldwin's Drugstore on the corner of Grand River and Michigan Avenue; McPherson Bank across from them and on the other side of the four corners, was the dime store, National Bank, then Goodnow's department store, and then there was Pierce's clothing store, Adams clothing store, and the Hotel.
Further down the street was Udies bar and grill who always had boxes of chocolates in the window. Further down yet, was the cleaners, the Catholic bingo hall where we were allowed to hold dances on Friday nights. Sometimes there would be a band from
Across from them were the telephone company offices - we went to the Midget on our breaks. We worked Monday thru Friday and four hours on Saturday and made, now get this, take home pay of $18.75 a week and thought we were doing great.
There was a basement barbershop on the corner across from the courthouse with two windows as you went down the stairs where we used to watch the old men spit their tobacco across the room into the spittoons. Course we got yelled at if we got caught doing that. The Schlenkers built the Timbers, Paul Schlenker graduated from Howell in 1944 I believe and then his Dad sold out and moved up north somewhere and ran a hunting camp. These are just a few of my memories from my growing up years.
Your aunt,
Joy
The restaurant at
My favs:
Used to Love going to the Midget after a movie for hamburger and chili, and do you guys remember the fried cinnamon rolls and the gal that served us all there for a million years was Layla. I also remember JoAnn Fideler and a bunch of us girls took her car for banana splits because they were running a special price on them. JoAnn let me drive her car. We were going down the road when one of the girls in back, (don't remember who) asked me if I had a date later. When I said "no" she flung a spoonful of ice cream at me and the banana split war was on. All of us including the car were covered with sticky stuff!! I think that was the same night that we were on a country road, (very dark) and all the lights in the car went out and I found myself driving blind for a few moments? Any one else remember who was in the car that night? Isn't it amazing the trivial things we can and CANNOT remember?? Speaking of which: that was so long ago that her car started with a button on the floor!!!!!! I can't for the life of me remember what kind of car it was, but now that I think of it, that was before I had a car so it may have been one of the seniors car but I DO remember thinking as the bananas and whipped cream were dripping all over me that JoAnn had on a very nice looking two piece outfit of some kind and I hoped she wouldn't get her butt kicked for getting goo all over it. I also loved the olive burgers at the Midget and A&W's Mama burgers and who wouldn't love a frosty mug of root beer? And yes it was super cheap by today’s standards. Now you can't take one child to McDonalds for that amount. Cha Ching!! -Rosemarie Poma ‘67
Rosemarie, I don't remember who was in the car. I don't even remember the car for crying out loud. A starter on the floor???? We had that little Corvair and the linkage was often on the ground. But I don't remember the starter being down in that area also. I do remember lots of banana splits, and lots of big messes involving cars. Including shaving cream! I remember hot fudge sundaes at what I think was Johnson's Drug Store, at the counter in the back with the big wall mirrors. And pool at Dickie's pool hall. The olive burgers at the Midget were the best! - Jo Fideler Wilson ‘67
I remember a house on
