 Mention "Saturday Night" to a person who grew up in rural America before 1950, and immediately you receive stories of cars lined up on Main Street, visits with neighbors, and young men and women gathered in groups at the street corners. Mention "Saturday Night" to a person from Manning, and you also get the tale of Hotchy and his Popcorn Stand. The aroma of hot, buttered popcorn and fresh roasted nuts would lure young and old to the stand, located in front of the Crystal Theatre near the corner of Fourth and Main. As the customers munched, they and Hotchy would visit, tell a joke or two, and relive the latest ball games. The fact that Hotchy was blind was never apparent. He knew his customers by voice, recognizing even those he had not talked to for years. He counted out change by the feel of the coins, and if his blindness was a handicap, he never let on. His name was George Parish, and he was a veteran of World War I and a member of the American Legion. He had been a car salesman in Omaha before being blinded in a serious auto accident there. George had a house on the north end of Main Street, which he shared with his parents, Henry and Emma, until their deaths. He had several housekeepers over the years, and at times members of his large family would stay with him. He would employ helpers to walk him to his stand, to shopping trips, and stops at the bank, but business at the popcorn stand was conducted mostly by Hotchy himself. |