Phyllis Eileen Banks is both writer and artist.Her articles have appeared in Southern New Mexico Magazine, FYI, Vision Magazine, Roswell Daily Record, New Mexico Magazine, Ranger Rick, Concern, Anchorage Daily News, and other periodicals. In addition, with Cynthia Smith she authored The Anchorage Fun Book.
Much of her experience has been as an editor.Her editorial experience includes The Alaska Presbyterian, The Alaska Heart, newsletter of the Alaska Heart Association, the book COCAHINIA (Consultation on Church and Human Need in Alaska), and Roaming Southern New Mexico.
"I have invisible antennae that 'vibrate' when something doesn't seem right.Of course editing someone else's work is easier than editing one's own," she says.
People stories, historical pieces, and travel writing are her favorites.She and her husband, Hal, moved to New Mexico from Alaska.
"New Mexico has some of the same mystic of Alaska – wide open spaces, different cultures.The transition was easy," says Eileen."It is truly The Land of Enchantment and no matter where you reside you carry it with you."
Phone:727-544-3713
Her name was Victoria Louise Massey.She was born in Midland, Texas in 1902.
But her musical career began in 1918 in Roswell. She dropped the name "Victoria" andformed a band with her father, Henry Massey, her husband, Milt Mabie and her two brothers, Allen and Curt Massey.At that time it was called the Massey Family Band but later it became Louise Massey and the Westerners.Their home at 209 W. Alameda Street was modest and attractive.It was here that the Redpath Chautauqua auditioned the group.
The Chautauqua Caravans signed up the nation's artists, actors, actresses, musicians, and speakers and then took them on tours to small towns and sparsely populated areas all across the United States.President Theodore Roosevelt called the annual Chautauqua "The most American thing about America."It was our radio, TV, theater rolled into one in those days.
The group was taken to Kansas City and coached for a few weeks.Their style was a lilting kind of western music and Louise would never call it "hillbilly."She composed My Adobe Hacienda with Lee Penny and it was a "crossover" hit, listed on both "hillbilly" and pop charts simultaneously, and was on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade for 11 weeks.Other of their well-known songs were:South of the Border, When the White Azaleas Start Blooming,In a Little Spanish Town, Ramona, and It Happened in Monterey.Louise's repertoire included many songs in Spanish that were very popular.
Composer, Musician, Singer, and Actress
(1902-1983)
Her name was Victoria Louise Massey.She was born in Midland, Texas in 1902.
But her musical career began in 1918 in Roswell. She dropped the name "Victoria" andformed a band with her father, Henry Massey, her husband, Milt Mabie and her two brothers, Allen and Curt Massey.At that time it was called the Massey Family Band but later it became Louise Massey and the Westerners.Their home at 209 W. Alameda Street was modest and attractive.It was here that the Redpath Chautauqua auditioned the group.
The Chautauqua Caravans signed up the nation's artists, actors, actresses, musicians, and speakers and then took them on tours to small towns and sparsely populated areas all across the United States.President Theodore Roosevelt called the annual Chautauqua "The most American thing about America."It was our radio, TV, theater rolled into one in those days.
The group was taken to Kansas City and coached for a few weeks.Their style was a lilting kind of western music and Louise would never call it "hillbilly."She composed My Adobe Hacienda with Lee Penny and it was a "crossover" hit, listed on both "hillbilly" and pop charts simultaneously, and was on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade for 11 weeks.Other of their well-known songs were:South of the Border, When the White Azaleas Start Blooming,In a Little Spanish Town, Ramona, and It Happened in Monterey.Louise's repertoire included many songs in Spanish that were very popular.
The musical career of Louise Massey and the Westerners continued through a twoyear contract at the Lyceum Theater in Canada, then live radio broadcasts in Kansas City, at The National Barn Dance in Chicago where they were a big hit (at a time when anything that came from west of Chicago was considered unacceptable).Later performances at the Waldorf Astoria earned them a front page story on The New York Times.This brought them to the attention of every director in New York who wanted them for top radio shows.They were invited to the White House.Composer Bob Miller chose Louise to do his "White Azaleas."It sold 3 million copies, a gold record and a lifetime contract with Columbia Records.Their careers continued on to a movie with Tex Ritter and appearances in MGM movie shorts in upstate New York and California.
Louise retired at a young age – 43.She, her husband and daughter sold their ranch in the Hondo Valley to Linda Darnell, the well-known movie star who named it Casa Linda. Louise and family then proceeded to build their own adobe hacienda in nearby Picacho, also in the Hondo Valley. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1982 a year before her death in San Angelo, Texas on June 20, 1983.
And back in Roswell, people drive down Alameda Street and say, "That's where Louise Massey lived."
Photo by Maurice Seymour, Courtesy of National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame Collection