Robert Hall Clothing Stores The Circle at West Mercury Boulevard and North Armistead Avenue Hampton, VA and Jefferson Avenue and Oyster Point Newport News, VA
09/30/05		Courtesy of Marvin Barnes ('65) of VA - 07/30/19

OK, if we are gonna begin a thread on Buster Brown and Poll Parrot Shoes,
then I will have to gather some data on Robert Hall Clothes. Indeed, I searched in vain
for a WAV, MP3, or MIDI of the old jingle.  There is a plethora of sites with the words,
but no has the music.  No matter, we can all still hear it in our heads, right?

The only one I remember on the Peninsula was at the Circle at West Mercury Boulevard
and North Armistead Avenue.  The site is now a chain drug store.

- Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 09/29/05

 Robert Hall! Oh, my goodness! My mama used to drag us out there kicking and screaming.
I don't know what the deal was, but she seemed to think her money would stretch farther, or she
could charge it, or I don't know what! (And I don't know how she managed to clothe us at all,
after Daddy died!) Man, I still remember trying on clothes there, though - and wanting to go
somewhere else, and knowing I was stuck! Actually, I did get some cute things there -
especially when I was in the seventh grade and Eleanor (Buckley Nowitzky - '59 - of NC)
was a senior.  I still (naturally!) remember some of the outfits. WOW!

I think I even have one of their ads somewhere - maybe on a Beacon, or in one
of these ancient newspapers I have around here.

Thanks for the memory, Dave!

- Cathy Slusser Hudson ('64) of VA - 09/30/05

WOW!  I certainly didn't remember that one!  Thanks, Cathy!

When I read Captain Dave's message regarding Robert Hall Clothier, I cracked myself up laughing
at an old joke. Two businessmen enter an elevator, and standing in elevator was another passenger
dressed in a two piece suit, with no hands. One of the businessmen asks the fellow passenger: "Korea?"
(suspecting both hands had been amputated from a war injury).
No, was the reply..."Robert Hall".

OK, it is a sick joke, but it is the only Robert Hall Clothier joke.

TYPHOON Regards
Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 10/01/05

GIGGLES!  Thanks, Joe!

Did the Robert Hall store on Oyster Point move over to Warwick Boulevard up closer to Fort
Eustis? My last memory of Robert Hall was around 1971 when my then 5 year old son (Mike - #1) began
to run wildly through the racks of clothes – the clerk politely (or not so politely) said, if could not control my
child, to please leave – Well, I left VERY humiliated!! – never went back – would not go today if they still
existed – would bring back traumatic memories! Anyway, they were still around in 1971.

- Cheryl White Wilson (JMHS - '64) of VA - 10/03/05

AHHH - I often think children were designed for the express purpose of publicly embarrassing their parents,
and thereby teaching them humility and patience and probably a few other things I never learned....
GIGGLES!!! Thanks, Cheryl!

I could write out the note pattern of the Robert Hall ditty. When I read the lyrics, the tune just jumped
right up to the front of my brain. But I guess you're looking for a midi version.

- Kathy Pilgrim Clark ('63) of VA - 10/03/05

Ja, midis and an occasional wav file are all I can really use. People frequently send me other goodies, but I'm
assuming they're doing that for my own enjoyment just to be nice, because I cannot attach them to the pages
for a number of reasons. But I myself have been singing those two Robert Hall jingles for all these many years!
But thanks anyway, Kathy!

Carol,
I remember the Robert Hall clothing store up toward Fort Eustis on Route 60, which is extended
Warwick Boulevard...I must have run across it since we lived near there after we moved to Denbigh, but I
don't remember shopping for clothes there...

- Jimmy Hines ('64) of Northern VA - 10/03/05

Thanks, Jimmy!

Robert Hall went of business, maybe 20, 25, or 30 eleven years ago. :) :) I remember the store,
although I never shopped there. I was mad about them ripping down the trees and tearing up the
pasture for some old store. Oh, well...what are you gonna do. :)
 
- Joan Lauterbach Krause ('60) of VA - 10/04/05

GIGGLES!  Thanks, Joan!

Aloha Carol!

	THEN:	NOW:
	1950's - Les Paul	2005 - Les Paul
	Courtesy of Dale Parsons ('69) of HA - 10/05/05

I save everything (much to my wife's dismay), so when I read about Robert Hall,
I went through my files and came up with a version of the "School Bells Ring..." jingle from the 1950's.
This one was performed by Les Paul & Mary Ford in the mid-1950's. Les, who turned 90 in June,
is still performing on Monday nights at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City. I spoke with him
last Spring when a mutual friend of ours (Joey Reynolds) was here on Maui doing his network radio show.
Les sounds great and Joey says the Monday night gigs are unbelievable...with everyone
from Paul McCartney to Keith Richards to Tony Bennett stopping by to jam.

I'm sure I have the "low overhead" jingle somewhere...I'll send it to you when I find it.
- Dale Parsons ('69) - Maui, Hawaii - 10/05/05

WOWZERONI!! Thanks so much, Dale!  The jingle is fabulous, and the background material is delightful!

(This page was created on 09/30/05, at the suggestion of Dave Spriggs - '64 - of VA.
Thanks, Dave!)

In my search I found this page. It should provide all the images you could need for a long time.

http://www.vaiden.net/childhood_memories1.html

- Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 09/29/05
WOWZERS!  Thanks, Dave!

Mp3 File of Les Brown and Mary Ford singing the Robert Hall Jingle courtesy of Dale Parsons ('69) of HA - 10/05/05
WOWZERONI-RINI!!!  Thanks, Dale!

Additional Background Information courtesy of http://shoppingjob.net/search/15/robert-hall-clothing-stores.html -  0929/05

Back to Our Old Stomping Grounds

Return to NNHS Class of 1965