sports

■ outdoors with Lou Rodia '

Remembering Marty, ' The Fisherman '

This is a column about a fisherman He never caught many fish. Most of my readers won't recognize his name or remember him. He was a short roly-poly guy with a sad face and a gravelly voice. While he was far from an accomplished angler, he was extremely good at his basic talent — making people laugh. His name was Marty Bohn He was an old-time vaudeville comedian who lived and worked a lifetime in show business. When vaudeville disappeared as an entertainment medium. Marty worked shows in moi

tion picture houses for a while and eventually ended up owning his own night clubs. One was in North Wildwood and the other was at 10th and Rising Sun Avenues in Philadelphia Both were called the Nut Club. Marty was never a TV star and he never was a big show headliner. But. he always worked. In his clubs, he was a star in his own right and participated in routines with . each and every entertainer. Many of the greats and near-greats in show buisness, who went on to the big time, performed on the Nut Club stages. This

isn't a story of Marty's career. Nor is it about Marty's fishing exploits, since he never caught many fish. It is a story about friendship, the holiday spirit, giving and remembering. EACH YEAR ABOUT this time, I get to think a lot about Marty. He was a lorfg time friend; he died in Florida some years ago. People forget. Sometimes sooner than they should. Many of the people who Marty helped get their start in show business never came back to grace the North Wildwood stage which helped launch them on their show business careers. Marty's shows were not built around stars. He Ibok fledgeling comics, singers, musicians and a whole gamut of night club entertainers and gave them a place to perform while they honed their skills. Marty played the clown, made jokes, mimiced them and filled in around their little miscues on stage. He in. jected himself into their routines and, in do soing. he helped them with their timing, stage presence and audience rapport. Marty had two connections to fishing. One was a post-season effort to catch fish from a rowboat in Grassy Sound. Once the summer was over and things at the night club were moth-balled for another year, Marty headed for one of. the boat liveries with a couple of cronies to try to catch a kingfish or a bluefish or perhaps a stray fluke. Sometimes he scored and sometimes he didn't. But it was okay because Marty, the boat fisherman who didn't do too well, was best known for his solo night club routine entitled "The Fisherman" in which he portrayed a party boat angler down from the city for a day on the ocean. THE ROUTINE FEATURED a wooden chip basket, a battered fishing rod and reel, a floppy fisherman's hat and a bentwood chair. Those props — coupled With line after line of comic patter, and a face which reflected the joy of the angler as he boarded the Boat — through to when he succumbed to the mal de mer which afflicts some of us who fish in rough weather. Who appreciated Marty's routine the most?? It usually was the fisherman who had been out on the water for a day and got hit with a bout of sea sickness. Even if you never fished, or never got sea sick, it was a hilarious skit and it always brought down the house when flarty finished his stage stint with a performance of the "Fisherman" for his crowd. Marty rarely did his Fisherman routine off the stage of the Nut Club. It was his trademark and he kept it for the clubs. He did do the Fisherman for us a number of times "when we were hosting groups of outdoor writers on outings into Cape May County. Many of those writers remember the little rolypoly guy with the floppy fisherman's hat who did the fishing skit so well.

They remember the lines, the battered wood chip basket and the busted fishing rod. . Many of my fisherman friends remember the routine, also because it provided them with more pleasure than any or many of the fish they themselves caught. Sure, we remember the Fisherman as portrayed by Marty Bohn. Were member Marty as a friend, and so do a lot of others. Marty was Jewish. Yet he MC'd penny auctions for the Catholic Church. He adopted the Betty. Bacharach home as his favorite charity and that cause was the only one which was permitted to solicit funds in his club. Marty worked lots of charity spots for clubs and organizations for free. Hopefully, a lot of people remember him for the good works he did as well as remembering him as a night club comedian. Our first meeting with Marty was on New Year's Eve over 35 years ago in his Nut Club in Philadelphia. I was a student in college, just out of the service after a stint with Uncle Sam. My wife ahd I were new at the marriage business back then, and since money was less than plentiful, stye and I both worked during my college time. NEW YEAR'S EVE was mid-week that year, .and it meant we would be alone in . the big city, just the two of us, with no family or friends to celebrate with. We, at the last minute, tried to get reservations somewhere for a New Year's Eve party but places were booked up. A Daily News ad showed a party at the Nut Club and a phone call there got a response that the place was filled for the party. Marty himself had answered the phone. Distressed by our disappointment, he asked where we were from. Learning that we were from Wildwood. Marty proceeded to invite us to the club, anyway.

The place was packed, and true to his word. Marty found us a spot for the evening. We had ringside seats for the show— right in the corner of the stage. Not only did the proprietor squeeze us in, he spent time in between acts and prior to the start of the show to make himself available to chit-chat with us .about home, family and mutual friends from Wildwood. It was a bit of home away from home. And, when the time came to settle up the bill for the evening, our host had also picked up our tab— unobtusively, but effectively. His only comment was that he too was glad to see someone from home at the holiday season. There have been lots of New Year's Eves since then. There has been lots of laughter and lots of water under the bridge in 35 years. Marty is gone. I ride by the darkened night club, even now, and imagine the laughter from the empty hall. - I hear the music from Eddie Sheppard's organ and lines from Marty's Fisherman routine. They're more nostalgic than funny today.

I go up into the attic to get the decorations down for the tree. Some are kept in the last of the chip baskets— one which I never got to deliver to Marty. It is a reminder. Come New Year's Eve, when every one else is remembering and r celebrating, I'll be doing both. I'll remember the little roly-poly guy who did the Fisherman as no other comedian can or will do it. I'll remember another New Year's Eve when a little guy gave a little pf himself to help two kids enjoy a holiday evening by providing a little touch of home for someone he didn't know. It was a gift worth giving. From it came many years of friendship, many years of pleasure and many years of sharing, caring and remembering. Mostly the remembering, at this time of year. LOWER GOP TO MEET TOWN BANK — The Lower Township Republican Club has changed its previously scheduled meeting date to Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 8 p.m. on Clubhouse Drive.

new prom anco! 3-Track Storm & Screen Window for ANDERSON DOUBLE HUNG WINDOWS K rj| • Increases Energy Savings j • No need for j Lr. . --- 1 separate screen :![r~ ! ' • Easy clip on installations (no holes to drill) Fjtrrrr•White or . Earthtone Bronze Finish ANCO | HOME CENTER Bayshore Rd. & Iowa Ave. ' I Villas I W 886-2701 ^ I I ; Open Daily iiuiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiNiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

. Cape May County . ALMANAC JANUARY 1985

M<H»Y PHASES/POSITIONS The Moon's affect on the Tide is greatest when closest to Earth t (in perigee I and when in direct alignment "with Sun & earth I full & new nioon phases I On and about these dates, low pressure systems and /or strong winds (depending upttn direction) may result in flooding, and extremely low tides Moon Phases F ull Moon 8 lail Quarter 13 New Moon 2# First Quarter 28 Apogee II Perigee 27 \ TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May City beachfront . for other areas, see Correction Times DATE ' HIGH LOW a.m. p.m. a.m. p.a>. 1 Tue 3:01- 3:2? 9:19- 9:22 2 Wed 3:55— 4:21 10 10-10:-10 3 Thu 4:47- 5:43 11:00-10:55 4 Fri 5:35- 6J01 II 50— 11 40 5 Sat 6:20- 6547 «-12:37 6 Sun 7 02- 7 30 12:27- 1:23 7 Mon 7 43- 8 15 1:15- 2:09 8 Tue 8:26- 9 01 2:01- 2:15 9 Wed 9 11- 9 48 2 46- 3 32 10 Thu 10:01- 10: 41 3:34- 4:17 11 Fri 10:54-11:34 4*525- 5:04 12 Sat 11:47- S:20— 5 SS 13 Sua 12:29-12:42 6:24- 6 55 14 Mon 1:26- 1:41 7:35- 7-5? 15 Tue 2:27- 2:47 8 42 - 8:57 16 Wed 3:30- 3:57 9 44- 9 54 17 Thu 4:34- 5 01 10:43-10 SO 18 Fn 5:32- 5 58 11:36-11 44 19 Sat 6:22- 6:48 —12:31 20 Sun 7 07 - 7 34 >2 36- I 21 21 Mon 7:52- 8:16 1:26- 2:05 22 Tue 8:34- 8 59 2:12- 2:46 23 Wed 9 IS- r39 2:54- 3 24 24 Thu 9 56 -10:20 3 34- 4:01 25 Fri 10:35-11:01 4:14- 4:37 26 Sat 11 16—11:42 4:53- 5:14 27 Sun 11:58- 5:36- 5:55 28 Mon 12:25-12:40 6:29- 6:42

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high & low water for your area by adding or subtracting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in the Tide Table LOW HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Plus 12 pluslO Ocean City i 9th SI Bridge) plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet (bridge) plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle City (Ludlam Thoro Bridge) plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus 15 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bridge) plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet < Anglesea > plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood ( Grassy Channel bndge > plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus I minus 4 Five Fathom Bank plus 11 plus I Cape May Point plus 46 plus 34 McCne Shoal plus 28 plus 22 □tlawarr Bay Bayshore Channel ( Bay -Canal Junction) plus 47 plus 36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 61 Dennis Creek Entrance plus 114 plus 97 Brandywine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52

•HUNTING, FISHING & ARCHERY SUPPLIES • NEW & USED GUNS ' • BIG DISCOUNTS ON ALL ITEMS | 1985 : j N.J. HUNTING LICENSES ) IN STOCK! B 1

[?]

[?]

MONAGHAN'S AUTO TIRE CENTER

| ^^EXPIRES JAN. 16, 1985 | 6- Brake Service | ! CAR Your Choice I m tIKM MMli-l twmitrrk, I ■ OO I

8 I iMttnWTIK 2 E-EsrH a

, ran. iwua | .rrjrcrs s I

| • | EXP|RES JAN. 16, 1985 , *41.88 2 ■ •hudimntar.Mvviiiptap a I •SctttahftoramaaM^Mi 8 |<L*fcUe»im*ctab • a M6.9SB I 8-cytinder cars. •49.8881 I 4<yl Efctttonic IpObun " I STANDARD IGNITION: Add $8.00 for required panti. ■ red— ft. and addumnai Ubot •

[?]

Am Mdeptndemt UmitlCad

MONAGHAN

I AUTO TIRE CENTER MNUUM. MttlM ntim wuMa.fetitwJiui.j78.uMui.iM