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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
VAMPIRA’S SECRETS
FISHY FENCE
un rerun: Ken Mittelbuscher, owner of the Crosby
House Bed and Breakfast, came up with a creative
way to solve a neighborhood problem.
“In an effort to slow traffi c down on Bond Street,
where I live, I painted a big sign and mounted it to a
pole,” he explained. “It’s a warning — ‘Kiddie Corner.’
Unfortunately, that sign no longer deters the commuters
at 5 p.m., or much at any other time …”
Undeterred, he decided to build an eye-catching
fence. “I notice as I worked on the fence, cars slowed
and people even pulled over to gaze at my fence as they
talked on cell phones,” Ken recalled.
“I realized my creative fence was getting attention.
Specifi cally, they asked questions, and wanted to talk,
as I was attempting to make adjustments — there were
many.
“I decided to cut the shapes of whales out of cedar
fencing boards. I couldn’t fi nd the size, shape and poses
I wanted. Instead, I went with fi sh.
“What I now call ‘The Fish Fence’ is
completed on Bond Street … (A moon was added
because of its) impact on the tides, and the tides’ effects
on fi sh …”
“Not only did the project come out OK,” he added,
“traffi c passes at a slower pace.” Mission accomplished.
(In One Ear, 3/3/2017)
F
LOCAL BREVITIES
arly in February, KATU interviewed Sandra
Niemi about her revealing biography of her aunt,
famed horror host Vampira, “Glamour Ghoul: The Pas-
sions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi,”
who was an Astoria High School graduate (bit.ly/
NiemiNurmi).
The book is mainly based on her aunt’s diaries and
notes and family stories. The book is available online.
Sandra is pictured, inset, courtesy of KATU.
Maila moved to Los Angeles in 1941, determined
to become successful and rich. But she wasn’t really
noticed until she won a masquerade ball with an early
Vampira-like costume — which she designed and sewed
herself — and was invited to appear on KABC in L.A.
She developed the wasp-waisted Vampira persona, and
her career was on its way.
The book contains some interesting tidbits about Mai-
la’s life. For one thing, she was friends with Oscar-win-
ning actor Marlon Brando for 30 years. She also had
a close platonic relationship with iconic actor James
Dean. Maila had given up a child for adoption at age
20, and, missing her son, she “adopted” Dean, whose
mother died when he was young.
Maila didn’t want to do Ed Wood’s movie
“Plan 9 from Outer Space” (bit.ly/Plan9ugh),
well-known as one of the worst movies ever made, but
agreed only on the condition that she stay mute. She
thought — correctly — that the dialogue she was given
was “inane.”
And, the big secret: She was pregnant with Orson
Welles’ child, but couldn’t reach him to tell him. It was
then announced on the radio that he had married Rita
Hayworth. She and her mother took the train to New
York, where her father lived. Maila had the baby there
and gave him up for adoption.
Sandra found Maila’s son online, with the help of a
DNA test and Ancestry.com. He lives in Vermont and
was an attorney for 50 years.
Since he wanted to know who his mother was, San-
dra told him. “Oh my gosh!” he replied. “I’ve waited 75
years to know who my mother is, and I fi nd out she’s a
vampire!”
E
F
rom The Daily Astorian, March 4, 1884:
• On the Oregon yesterday came Mr. Brown with
the material and apparatus for the construction of the
telephone system of communication, which is intended
to save us many steps this summer. The work of putting
it up begins today.
It was reported yesterday evening that the central
offi ce will be across the street from The Astorian offi ce,
and will be in charge of F. C. Norris, who formerly
manipulated the wires of the Western Union Telegraph
Co.
• Note: A steamboat captain, George Ainsworth,
brought the fi rst telephone to Oregon in 1878, and the
fi rst phone line connected his offi ce and home in Port-
land. The new gadget didn’t take long to catch on, and
by the fall of that same year, there were almost 100
phones in the City of Roses.
Incidentally, the busy captain also founded Ainsworth,
British Columbia, in 1883. (bit.ly/AstPhone, bit.ly/
ainsworthBC)
BIG AS A BARBECUE
have a nautical mystery,” Reba Owen of Sea-
side wrote. “A large buoy washed up in front of
our cabin at Falcon Cove. It has numbers and letters
PLA-V, check mark 320. Can you mention it in your col-
umn? I would like to know what it is, and where it came
from.
“I think it’s about 3 feet by 4 feet, with handles on
each end, and made of black heavy plastic … It is as big
as a barbecue.”
The Ear, as usual, turned to the fount of information,
the Astoria Oregon: Culture, Tales And History Face-
book page. T he consensus is that Reba’s fi nd is a boat
fender, possibly belonging to a tug.
Reba is concerned and wants to do the right thing.
“I would like to return it to the owner,” she added,
“because it is still usable.”
If you know the owner of Reba’s fi nd, please
contact the Ear at 971-704-1718 or ewilson@
dailyastorian.com
‘I
CHASING
CHESSMAN
storian Robert Clark wonders what hap-
pened to the largest of Astoria’s ferries,
the M. R. Chessman. Good question.
Capt. Fritz Elfving, who started the Asto-
ria ferry service to Megler, Washington, retired
and sold the business to Merle R. Chessman in
1946. Chessman sold the operation to the Ore-
gon State Highway Department that same year.
Constructed in 1947, the steel-built Chess-
man — unlike the previous ferries, which were
wooden — plied the waters of the ferry route
from 1948 to 1966.
Once the Astoria Bridge was completed in
1966, there was no longer any need for a ferry
service to get across the river. The Chessman
made the fi nal ferry run for the little fl eet — at
almost full capacity, with 445 passengers — on
July 28, 1966. After cobbling together a few —
often confl icting — sources, the rest of the fer-
ry’s story seems to go as follows:
In 1968, the U.S. Navy bought the Chess-
man for $300,000, and transferred the vessel
to South Vietnam. Her name was changed to
HQ9602 and Lieu Lo II. S he was stationed at
the Naval Intermediate Support Base Cat Lai
on the Dong Nai River east of Saigon. In 1971,
Cat Lai was handed over to the South Viet-
namese; the ferry was sold and turned into a
machine shop.
North Vietnam took over Saigon in 1975,
including the Cat Lai facility, which was not
damaged in the process. The Vietnamese navy
really didn’t need the place, so it was used for
storage. Over the years, the facility fell into dis-
use, was fi nally bulldozed in the early 2000s
and turned into a shipping container yard.
What happened to the M. R. Chessman? No
one really seems to know, for certain. Most
likely, she was scrapped. But wouldn’t it be fun
if she turned up somewhere?
(bit.ly/chessman1, bit.ly/chessman2, bit.ly/
Chessman3, bit.ly/Chessman4, “Water Under
the Bridge” by Bob Duke)
A
BAD, BAD TIMING
illamette Week recently wrote about an
Oregon Health Authority public service
announcement on TV promoting social distancing
that probably could not have had worse timing. (bit.ly/
PSAgaffe)
In the ad, a fi shing boat crew realizes they unwit-
tingly have one extra man aboard. A large splash implies
he was tossed overboard to comply with social distanc-
ing guidelines — which was obviously meant to be
amusing.
At the end of the video, you can see that he’s fi ne —
the crew tossed him into a life boat that is being towed
behind them. You can see the PSA at bit.ly/PSAgaffe2; a
screenshot is shown.
The mayor of Newport, Dean Sawyer, took
offense (maybe he didn’t see the end?) and complained
in a letter to Gov. Kate Brown that the ad is “very insen-
sitive and disturbing to the families of our local fi shing
fl eet.”
Especially since two men died recently when
a fi shing boat capsized Feb. 20 on the Tillamook Bay
bar.
The health authority promptly apologized, sent con-
dolences to the families and pulled the offending ad
which was, incidentally, fi lmed in January.
W
LANGUISHING LAMPREY
ecently, Ally Blevins and her family found a
very interesting visitor in their backyard: a lam-
prey,” recalled Tiffany Boothe, of the Seaside Aquar-
ium (seasideaquarium.com). Tiffany provided the lam-
prey photo.
“It appeared that this slimy, slithering creature
had fallen out of the sky and landed in their yard.
They contacted the aquarium, and the general man-
ager, Keith Chandler, rushed over to see what was
going on.
“He quickly recovered the small eel, and put it into
a cooler full of salt water. The lamprey had small talon
marks along its side, and though it had been out of water
for some time, was still alive. So just how did it get
there?
“It is suspected that it was seized out of the water
by either an eagle or, more likely, an osprey. Unfortu-
nately, the little lamprey succumbed to the injuries it
incurred while being held captive by whatever bird of
prey snatched it up.
“It’s an unusual backyard fi nd,” Tiffany noted, “to say
the least.”
‘R
GRACE AND VERVE
he Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport reports
that one of their large spider crabs found herself
in a very awkward situation: She lost a few legs during
molting.
Which really isn’t as strange as it sounds, when you
realize that these crabs can weigh up to 44 pounds and
can reach 13 feet across from leg tip to leg tip. The leg
length can make molting quite tricky, and legs can get
damaged.
Never fear, after a little research, the aquarium staff
came up with an ingenious solution for the off-balance
crustacean. They attached yoga block foam strategi-
cally on her shell near the lost legs. The addition made
her more buoyant, thereby putting less pressure on her
remaining legs. A photo of her new look is shown, cour-
tesy of the aquarium.
“Once returned to the exhibit, she began walk-
ing with grace and verve,” aquarium staffer Evonne
Mochon-Collura wrote in an update. “Her motions are
stable and effortless.” (bit.ly/OCAcrab)
T