50 years ago: Fire at Palm Grove; Hillbilly Night

A dramatic story of a fire at the Palm Grove Inn dominated the front page of the 6 March 1975 edition of The Caymanian Compass. The owners, Vervil and Marie Ebanks, and their children were awakened at about 4am by fireman Joseph Johnson, who was on standby at Owen Roberts International Airport, when he discovered their place was ablaze. Johnson and Leading Fireman Martin Bodden, along with others, “fought heroically and kept the blaze under control”, according to the article, until Chief Fire Officer Kirkland Nixon, Detective Inspector Rudi Evans and other policemen arrived to help. More than half of the building was destroyed.

Two years after the film debuted in 1973, ‘The Exorcist’ was shown at the Everglo Drive-In in Bodden Town. Though there were rumours that the government would stop the showing of the graphic movie about demonic possession, the film opened to a ‘packed crowd’, according to the front-page story. Corinne Wood, the wife of Everglo manager Buddy Wood, said they had received many phone calls asking if the film would be shown, but there were no attempts to stop it. The Woods put an ‘X’ rating on the movie so no one under 17 could watch it, though in the US, it was rated ‘R’, meaning that age group could only be admitted with a parent or guardian. However, Corinne Wood told the newspaper, “I’ve seen Westerns rougher than that.”

Six Cayman students entered the Royal Commonwealth Society essay competition in the under-14 age group. The photo accompanying the page 3 story shows the Cayman judges tasked with choosing the winner: Governor Thomas Russell, Benson O. Ebanks, John Elliott and Truman Bodden.

A group of ‘hillbillies’ was pictured for a story on a special evening at Pedro Castle. Showing up for Hillbilly Night were Andy Martin, Dexter Bodden, Johnny Merren, Margaret Byles, club owner Glenn Evans, Mike McTaggart, Heith and Oliver Hill, and Cardinal DaCosta.