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CAPE MAY COUNTY MAGAZINE 13 JULY '83

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♦ From PaRO 19 > George, he said, brought out his confidence and natural ability, and helped to dispel the shyness that had paralyzed any entertainment potential before. When liquor salesman Junior Ernst first suggested that Murray might want to work at Henny’s, Murray said he was petrified by the idea. He was having trouble making a Manhattan, let alone singing on the job. SINCE THEN, Murray has taken several jobs as a singing bartender in Delaware County, Pa., in the off-season, and has recorded a single with Johnson in honor of [Philadelphia and the nation’s bicentennial called “That’s the Story.” “Henny’s has opened a lot of doors to other places,’’ said Murray. He also entertained for former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo when he was in office. He did one of his favorite Cagney routines there, from ‘‘‘Public Enemy Number One”. Rizzo. Murray said, was actual ly alarmed when he came out in prison garb and addressed him Cagney style “He thought I was someone he’d put away,’’ Murray laughed Tom Fox. a friend of Murray’s from the Philadelphia Inquirer, assured the mayor it was all part of the entertainment, and Murray was an instant hit HEW VS. TO ME, is the place where it all began,’/he said "I got him to sing," said Johnson I started introducing him as the star of Stone Harbor,’ and he came on strong." Johnson relaxed in his Cape May home, as we listened to a tape of a song he wrote called "Everytime " “It’s not the Beach Boys, but it's a nice song/’ he said (I’d made the mistake of saying that I like rock and roll.) In front of him was a coffee table covered with the first stanzas of his favorite published songs, under glass.

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ARTISTS AT HOME — Buddy Murray, left, relaxes with wife, Miriam, and daiiKhOr' Maryann.’?. At right. J. George Johnson and wife, Anne.

"We play his tapes all the time,” said wife, Anne, who has written many of the lyrics to Johnson's tunes "We get dissatisfied with what they play on the radio THE NUMBER OF HITS a person has, and the number that he actually publishes is very different, said Johnson. In a small work room, down the hall from the living room, he has over 500 songs carefully labeled in files that cover an entire wall, There are also books of published songs and tapes — all alphabetically arranged Since he donated his filing cabinets to First United Presbyterian Church of Cape May, he hasn't been quite as organized as he'd like to be. He fussed through the files, trying to find a copy of "Stone Harbor, I'll Always Love You," a song he and Anne co-authored The song (“S is for the seashore. T is for the tide...") is always the evening's mostdetnanded tune. Henny's regulars can count on hearing it at least twice a night "When Buddy went to Ireland, he beared this song,” Johnson said proudly. The Johnsons have become accustomed to hearing their songs, especially as the piped dinner music when they're out to dinner at a restaurant Johnson raised four children by writing and playing those stanzas. It’s good, he said, to have music around the house. It allows for creativity When the Johnsons aren’t being entertained by one of his many tapes, and even sometimes when they are, they are serenaded by a small, but powerful, chirping canary named Sir Edward Elgar, after the English composer "HE HEARS A LOT of music around here, and I, think that’s why he sings so much," said Anne. Anne has been writing lyrics for almost all of her 66 years. She began writing poetry when she was seven She and George met in high school. He came into her study hall and asked for her roster

"He just wanted to find out my name,” she said. “She had so darned many boyfriends that I could’nt get in there," George complained. In 1935, he convinced her that he was the one. The couple eloped, and they recommend it. They moved to Cape May from Philadelphia 14 years ago, after Anne had a heart attack and it was recommended that she live someplace where there were no stairs. Anne had spent her childwhood summers in Cape May, and so they decided to move to South Jersey. George got a job at Henny's almost immediately "I LOVE TO PLAY for singers," said George. At Henny’s he often invites amateurs on stage. Many of them are performers on vacation or persons from the 76 House theater. When necessary, he can wrestle the mike away from the most determined amateur whose confidence, but not singing ability, may have been bolstered by a few drinks. It was Buddy, he said, who worked up the Cagney and A1 Jolson routines that are so popular with the Henny’s crowd. For Buddy, a poor Irish kid who grew up in an orphanage, actually Girard College in Philadelphia, James Cagney was a “father image." "He was a poor Irish kid like I was," said Murray. Murray had been doing Cagney imitations from “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” a movie he's seen at

least six times, for years before he actually met Cagney this year, when the movie great received an award from the Diabetic Foundation at the Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia. "When I first saw him I was awed,” said Mdrray. "I thought, "Here is the man I‘ve idolized all my life.' ” When he walked back stage for the introduction, he continued, "I just got very emotional, like any teenager seeing a rock star "I SAID I WANTED to thank him for all he did for me as an individual. Finally he said, I he imitates the Cagney drawl), "Well son, thank you for thanking me.' " Murray's last words to his lifelong idol were a line from "Yankee Doodle Dandy”: “My wife thanks you, I thank you and Maryann thanks you.” Maryann just happens to be the name of Murray’s seven year-old daughter, who has performed at Henny's. Murray was married eight ears ago to wife Miriam, better nown as "Chirp,” who is also a Conrail employe. The two were married twice — once in Philadelphia and once in Ireland, to make it official — and by the same priest. Murray keeps close ties to his Irish heritage He has conducted tours to the country every other year for the past 10 years, and has marched in St. Patrick's Day parades in both Philadelphia and Dublin. Now he is trying to get a string band to perform in both locations on the same holiday for