Illustrated Daily; 6046; Madrid Lights

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... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... during World War II, the many communities which celebrated Christmas with many lights and much fanfare ceased to do that because of blackouts for fear of enemy attacks. Did you ever heard anything like that?

No. I do know, though, that it's estimated they had their own power plant here, which was run, of course, off of coal and then steam. It has been estimated that it costs them somewhere in the vicinity of $30,000 in those dollars of those days to run the whole light system. Those dollars in those days, that was a lot of dollars. Is it your hope and time eventually to be able to reconstruct the Christmas display of Madrid as it was back in the 40s, back actually in the 30s? I don't think being very realistic that I could be very idealistic and say, oh yes, we want to do everything that they did. However, being very realistic about it, in those days it was an enforced labor. It was a labor of love. People here had a lot of pride in where they came from.

But they also had to donate a certain number of hours per week to working on some facet of the decorations. People were good at art, of course, people who were just general laborers that was plenty of that too. And plus they pulled out a certain number of dollars out of their paycheck every week and that went towards that too. Because in the beginning it was started, supposedly, by Mr. Huber, not Joe Huber, but his dad, who was the supervisor of the millions, and it was his idea to start the whole ball rolling and do a little decorating. However, he soon found that this was really accomplishing his end and getting people interest in the place and keeping the interest here. And, of course, at that time, there was a lot of strikes going around from coast to coast at all the mines.

In fact, even wars broke out in Pennsylvania. Between the strikers, the labor unions which wanted to come into the areas. And the owners of the mines, and so it's my personal opinion that this is one of the reasons why the Christmas decorations and the baseball team, which was very popular, all of that going. So Christmas was a way of resolving labor disputes. Not directly. It wasn't intended to be that way in the beginning, but it definitely served that end. Interesting. You've gotten an awful lot of publicity this year. In fact, I know some of the publicity has made you a little nervous because a lot of people think they're going to come back to Madrid and find it as it was, perhaps, in 1940. That's obviously asking a lot. But clearly, you've had to put a lot of work into that. Has that been hard?

Problems along the way. I think the hardest problem, or one of the hardest problems, was that the interviews which got accomplished during this public relation stage, were accomplished by a number of different people. Consequently, we came out with a number of different points of view. So our first PR, so to speak, was sent out with the bill for P&M for your electric bill. And it went out and lo and behold, it was supposed to be lit from Mesa to Mesa, and this whole valley was supposed to be solid entertainment. Needless to say, we were aghast when we read our bills, not for the monetary reasons that usually associates. So God, that was epic. That could happen, too. Yes, right. And if a county was that they were going to come in and help with all the labor, they were going to donate certain stuff.

The impression I got was just over the phone, but the impression I got from the PR company was that they were really going to take a hand in the whole situation. And so far, nothing. So maybe this next year, they will be involved. So in dealing, you know, all of these are volunteers. We've had absolute, you know, experience, really, with public relations and who to give interviews to and who not to. So we pretty much had to feel our way on it. And eventually, you got to the point where we weeded out, we edited out what we shouldn't say, and emphasized the points that actually would help us. And the main reason for most people to be involved in this whole thing, other than obvious Christmas reasons, was that we want to give the whole community a better reputation to make people realize that this is a lovely little place.

My impression is you have accomplished that objective. How does you get interested in historic preservation? Well, I've always been interested in old-type things. I've always liked Victorian houses. I've always liked even old cars. And I used to restore old cars on its side, not as really a profession, but as a hobby. So I fell right into it. When any really anything historical comes my way, I'm really interested in it. And it's just been that way since the word go away. I guess you almost, if you're going to live in Maddard, better like a bit of history. There are a lot of people who live here who don't. And that, I think, is a real one-of-the-worst crimes here. Is Christmas a contagious thing in Maddard this year, more so than? Definitely. Any scrooches in town, any bar-hung bugs?

Not that I know, although we do have one that's an official scrooge. And his name is Bill McDaniels, and he's a member of the Melodrama. And he dresses up as scrooge. And anytime there's a Santa Claus or any kind of happening here in the village, he always comes out and makes sure that people realize. What is his function? The official scrooge. What is his job? What must he do? Well, he's an actor, and you can't stop him from acting. Well, on Christmas Eve as a matter of fact, should we expect to find him doing something kind for poor, tiny Tim, perhaps? Very probably, because I think inside of all of the scrooge is there is a little pocket there somewhere. I am told the original Maddard lights and decorations went or were purchased by the city of Gallup. Is that true? Some of the pieces went to Gallup

and some pieces went to Raton. What is that right? In Gallup, they were in storage in a particular building there, and they had a fire in that building, and most of them were destroyed. Have you, other than the Christ figure, which remained here? I'm going to talk a bit about that in a moment. Have you been able to locate or maybe effort to locate any of the originals that might remain either in Gallup or in Raton? The only link that we have had with Raton. Gallup was sort of out of the picture because of that fact that they did have a fire. They were all lost in Gallup. That is the impression I get. That is going to be in the next few years who will tie up loose ends as far as that's concerned. Raton, like I say, exposure we've had to that, was a lady who did have something to do with the city council. She said, well, there's a good possibility they would give back. People in Raton, if you're listening on this Christmas Eve,

do something nice for Madrew, give them back, give them back. I want to know, first of all, what was the Christ figure made of? Is it wood? It's made in the same manner as a flooring. In other words, there are tons of grooves. There are floor joists that run across the figure, tack boards up on the top, which are not tiny and groove. They're just one by fours, one by sixes, and they're put across, and then an old style of gypsum or sheet rock. You will understand if I am perplexed how it came to be that if all of the Christmas decorations, the Christ figure remained, never was taken down, in what 45 years. Does it make any sense to you? It doesn't, to me, the only explanation I would have for it is the fact that the place where it was mounted

had a 30-foot pole set in concrete with a pulley at the top. They obviously brought the figure up in pieces on the coal currents, and pointed it up probably 100-foot mesa to the top of the pole. That was quite endeavour even in those days. I think the main reason for it was because of the Christmas decorations getting shut down, the Christ figure was just one of the losses. And instead of, it was sort of just a loss of interest more than it was a valuable piece that should be passed on to someone. And yet it was the culmination of the whole valley's decorations. There was a logic I understand to the design of this. Is there some way you can explain that stage of progressions to the Christ figure? The layout of the village, this was probably late 30s, when it really climaxed.

The beginning of town was the little town of Bethlehem, and they had a mechanically driven star, and I found the mechanism for this star. I don't think it can be restored, but it's fascinating just to see what's left of it, that actually spiraled this way. It was huge over the little town of Bethlehem, and the little town of Bethlehem actually had a solid foundation which you can see to this day. It has rock wallarons around the whole outside of it. The whole inside was filled with cutouts, which they were many, many of, throughout the village. Then on the third mesa here, before you get to the Christ figure, was the town of Jerusalem, and then the Christ figure. So it was a progression of pretty much of Christ's life. Don't you wish you just, for a moment, had a magic wand so that we could see that? Don't be fascinating. As it is, what you've done is wonderful.

Are you, by now, glad as the saying goes? Christmas comes, but once a year. Well, my feeling is not... The way that this whole thing has been a community effort has been not even from a Christian point of view. It has been from one historic, but for another, the fact that that is the time of year, the most important thought is peace on earth, goodwill to men. And I think that everyone in this village feels that way. And if we can do anything to emphasize that particular time of the year, let's do it. Ace, I look at you, and I think to myself, you're too young for the role still, but there's a distinct look of Santa Claus about your face. Merry Christmas to you. Thank you very much. And Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for joining us. I'm Howard. Good night. Merry Christmas to you.