Topic starter
17/12/2007 5:02 pm
There has been a lot written on this board about Betty Blake and her efforts to save the DELTA QUEEN, but most of the people on this board would probably not have liked her very much. First of all she was a businesswoman, a hard core businesswoman, who didn't mind hurting feelings or stepping on toes to accomplish her agenda.
She did more to change the DELTA QUEEN than probably anybody else. In the 60's she realized that the traveling public was changing and the boat was competing against what she called "the Holiday Inn" mindset. She knew the traveling public expected larger rooms with private bathrooms. Although she thought chamber pots were "quaint", she knew they wouldn't sell rooms. So she began eleminating all the small cheap rooms...not a popular move with a lot of the boats repeat passengers.
She summarily fired the entire entertainment staff..all two of them. To be replaced by the very popular Vic Tooker and family. She fired the Chief Steward who had elevated the food service dramatically in his 5 or so years on the boat. She replaced him with a franchized food service that turned out to be a disaster.
Oh there was a hew and cry from the repeat passengers...and yes even then about 40% of the passengers were repeaters. But, due to the changes Betty instituted, the boat prospered.
Now MAL knows they are competing for the cruising publics dollars..a public that has come to expect fancy meals, flat screen TV's, and glitzy entertainment. Even the riverboats in Europe have flat screen TV's and terry cloth robes in every room. I personally enjoyed the TV because they had a channel that had river charts tied into a GPS and you could see on TV where the boat was and where the next lock or landing would be. So to me the tv was a positive.
As Bob Dylan sang back in Capt. Betty's day.."Oh, The Times They Are A'Changin".
17/12/2007 7:14 pm
You got that one straight, boy! When Betty Blake needed something, Alan Bates was certified to be able to walk on the waters. When she didn't he was the sorriest bum who ever sniped a cigar from the gutter.
Topic starter
17/12/2007 8:43 pm
Alan..do you think Betty was responsible for the AVALON's bankruptcy? Remember the last year the AVALON operated she sent the boat up the Missouri River against the advise of all the rivermen. That trip was a complete financial disaster and the muddy waters of the Missouri caused a bag in the starboard boiler. The boat had to come straight home on an emergency Coast Guard certificate. The story back then was old excursion boat people told her that the Missouri River was a death trap to any and all excursion boats. I wonder how history would have been changed if the AVALON had stayed on the Upper Miss. or Illinois River.
18/12/2007 1:39 am
If. . .as you say. . ."But, due to the changes Betty instituted, the boat prospered."
Is it possible that part of the prosperity was the lack of competition which was created by building the MQ and later the AQ?
I maintain that the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that size matters. So, while the AQ is too big and the DQ is too small, the strategy that I think is being used is limit the number of options.
Just as Betty Blake wanted to limit the number of options to expensive rooms rather than have too many lesser priced rooms- IF the MQ really does get a makeover, I will be curious if it ends up a mid-size but very upscale boat.
I will also be curious if they keep the name the same although I have no idea what it takes to change the name of a boat.
Just some thoughts- interesting reading Jim and Alan.
I have one other question although I suppose I should be starting a new thread- what about the US Post Office status of the DQ? Does that or should that or will that have any bearing on the DQ's plight? Was that also started under Betty Blake?
19/12/2007 5:31 am
High Steppin' on the Mighty Mo
Oh, but what a great adventure it was steamboating on the Missouri! Saw the great sidewheel dredges LEWIS, CLARK, and the MITCHELL at work and operating on live steam. Met Captain Tom Craig, the legendary Missouri River pilot in his natural element. The Missouri was the greatest river I steamboated on. It was an undiluted Mark Twain adventure of the soul not found on less noble rivers.
19/12/2007 12:55 pm
No, Jim,
I believe the root cause of the Avalon's demise was Ernst Meyers (?) He was a sot and he systematically looted the till to sustain his habit. The boat bought him a new Cadillac each year, which he usually wrecked in time for the next year's model. The Missouri River trip was a financial fiasco in every respect, though.
19/12/2007 2:45 pm
Peas and Carrots
To Mr. Meyers' credit, he eventually climbed aboard "the wagon" and remained a life-long sober friend of Captain Wagner and Ms. Blake, and often visited them aboard the DELTA QUEEN. He was, at his best, as fine a steamboat promoter as there ever was, but the drink was his undoing at an unfortunate time for both himself and the AVALON.
Ernie Meyers was Betty Blake's mentor, and without him she, arguably, would not have possessed the steamboat promotional skills that she carried to the Greene Line where she eventually found the eye of one William Muster. Mr. M. was the genius who most helped make Betty Blake the great promo queen that she is remembered as.
Say what you will about any of these folks, and I will say nothing to the contrary on here, although I could write volumes both ways, Blake and Muster were a fantastic team. As Forrest Gump oft said, they were like peas and carrots. It was the team of Bill and Betty, and not Betty alone who engineered the Save the DELTA QUEEN campaign and the resulting publicity that kept the name of the DELTA QUEEN fresh on practically every tongue in the nation at that time and for years since.
The third member of the Blake-Muster team was the legendary Captain Ernest E. Wagner, and to their credit, they incorporated the rest of us in their publicity efforts. What I learned from them I have used to my advantage since, and remain indebted for their lessons.