John Carradine

Some of us were fortunate enough to see a different John Carradine in the 1950s and early ‘60s when Ventura Boulevard narrowed down to a narrow road in Tarzana. There, in a local bar called the Hangman’s Tree, Carradine would sit at the bar and regale the occupants with bawdy jokes for hours on end.

To hear his sonorous voice, with Shakespearean splendor, give new dimensions to old jokes is a pleasure I’ll always remember. John was even on stage in this little bar; an inveterate trouper, he always satisfied.

RON LAWRENCE

Agoura