He stocked it with silk from the Far East, silver from Spain, jewels from England and France and to his misfortune a valued family heirloom of one of his customers. The unhappy customer had the Captain arrested and tried in the town square. As a result of the Captain’s quick demise, the building had a new owner, Madame LeCleaque who turned it into a House not a home! Business was brisk until a pesky customer shot the Madame and her girls fled into the night. The building remained empty for years!
Perhaps the family recipe sold better than the family antiques! The building then became a butcher shop with graded meat selling for 5¢ a pound.
A German artist used the building during World War I as a studio, specializing in painting of the Torpedo Factory. The Roaring Twenties saw a speakeasy located here, and then during the 40’s a Nazi family moved in and set up a radio network disguised as a fix-it shop.
Over his lifetime, Johnny recorded more than 70 singles and close to 50 albums. Johnny earned 9 gold singles with total sales of over 11 million records. Johnny has his own star on Hollywood Boulevard. His very first single, “St. Louis Tickle” with “Crazy Bone Rag” on the flip side (recorded May 19, 1950), sold over 22,000 copies in a few weeks.
Maddox became the first successful artist to record for Dot Records, and his instant first success helped build the Dot into one of the most popular labels in the 1950s. Maddox’s first record to sell over a million copies was probably Bob Wills’s “San Antonio Rose,” around 1951.
“The Stones Rag” was also recorded by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys as “Lone Star Rag.” Friday nights at II Porto was standing room only with Johnny Maddox “tickling” the ivories on the 2nd floor, which is now our private party room.