Page 6 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 7, 2025 ~ Malden Musings ~ Remembering Wally Brown By Peter Levine S herman, set the WayBack Machine to Maldonia of yesteryear... Thank the deity of your choice for YouTube Premium! After an exhaustive, cold and windy Saturday morning chasing grandchildren five-year-old Lana and threeyear-old Milo around the house, I retired to the recliner that night to view some comfort (YouTube) TV, partake in a Ballantine Ale or two, then attack a plate of my sister Barbara’s famous chicken cutlets. The western TV classic “Cimarron City,” starring George Montgomery, was good for what ailed me. I hit pay dirt when I chose EpiGerry D’Ambrosio Attorney-at-Law Is Your Estate in Order? Do you have an update Will, Health Care Proxy or Power of Attorney? If Not, Please Call for a Free Consultation. 14 Proctor Avenue, Revere (781) 284-5657 Everett Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Celebrating 66 Years in Business! Owned & Operated by the Conti Family since 1958 “Same name, phone number & address for over half a century. We must be doing something right!” •Vinyl Siding •Free Estimates •Carpentry Work •Fully Licensed •Decks •Roof ng • Fully Insured • Replacement Windows www.everettaluminum.com Now’s the time to schedule those home improvement projects you’ve been dreaming about all winter! sode 9 “A Respectable Girl” – first airing December 6, 1958. Who pops up on my screen at about the 16-minute mark but Malden boy (Hollywood movie star and comedian) Wally Brown! Wally’s character is the owner of the Oklahoma Saloon in Cimarron: part of Oklahoma Territory, not yet a full-fledged card-carrying state yet. At a Town Hall meeting, he gets into a heated discussion with another townie about who should and should not be allowed to enjoy all that the city offers (sound familiar?). Wally says everybody should be allowed, especially the “saddle tramps” and “sodbusters” that accompany the cattle drives (good for business, he surmises). Wally’s character holds much sway in Cimarron. Sorta the Albert Spadafora, Debbie Burke, Ron Hogan, Dom Fermano, Toni Mertz, Mo Saab, Greg & Ed Lucey, Maria Luise, Neal Sullivan, Eric Rubin, Paul DeVincentis and Douglas Tran of the Old West. The show concludes with saddle tramps, drifters, dead enders, saints, sinners, losers and winners – everyone you have ever seen and all the rest in between – eventually being allowed to travel through the peaceful city of Cimarron and do business. Good for the bottom line! Worth catching the episode for the Malden connection alone. Mr. Brown was born in 1904 and died in 1961. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in California and would have been 54 years old when he made this appearance. Wally once worked at Liggett’s Drug Store on Pleasant Street in Malden Square at about 23 Pleasant St. Liggett’s did business where Store 33 is now located, which is where Moe’s Smoke Shop was before that. Anthony’s Shoe Repair would have been at the corner of Middlesex and Pleasant, now the home of The Chinese Herbs Store. Liggett’s was a classic oldschool drugstore, the kind that seemed like it had been there forever. By the time I was a customer, its glory days had long passed, but you could still feel the echoes From the 1944 movie “Step Lively,” starring Frank Sinatra: Pictured from left to right are Malden boy Wally Brown, Frank and George Murphy seated with Wally’s comedic partner Alan Carney standing. of its past in the worn tile floors and the wooden shelves stocked with everyday essentials. I’d stop before school, picking up a pack of Juicy Fruit, a Herald, Globe, Mad Magazine or Real Paper, just like countless others had done before me. Once upon a time, Liggett’s was the heart of the Square – along with, of course, the Palace of Sweets two doors down (nod to Boy’s Life intended). You could just tell it had been the place to go, a gathering spot, a staple in the daily routine of the Square denizens. Wally Brown likely worked there through high school, which would have been in the early 1920s or so. “Malden Musings” remembers Wally Brown and the days when places like Liggett’s were more than just stores – they were part of our story, part of our town’s soul. And for you wise guys out there, no, I did not know Wally personally! It is said in “Malden Musings”... • Richie Bucci (MHS 1973): “Good morning, Pete, my name is Richard Bucci and thanks to your reporting I was made aware Spring is Here!
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