Hi Mr. Robinson
I was telling some co-workers this morning about my time working for Harvey
Boswell. While looking for the articles about Harvey, I came across a letter he
wrote that you have on
Sideshow World.
In the letter he mentions that he
was going to leave for Bangor the next day. I drove him to Maine on that trip,
and it was a fantastic but way-too-short adventure.
I was thinking that if he wrote that on 15 July 1991, he probably would have
mailed it the next day since he went to bed early that day. We left very early
on the 16th. So, I think I may have put that letter in a mailbox somewhere on
the road.
Traveling with Harvey was a lot of fun. Man, that guy could talk. For the trip,
I brought a bunch of cassette tapes, but every time I tried to play one, he
would crank up another story. And, usually those stories were about some
horrible accident he had seen in the vicinity of where ever we were at that
moment.
One thing I liked about Harvey was his sense of drama.
Everything was more than what it
really was.
I guess you have to have that
showmanship when you're running a sideshow.
My favorite part of my trip up North
with Harvey came at the Canadian border north of Jackman, Maine. After we
had crossed over to the other side as we approached the Canadian checkpoint,
Harvey mentioned that he couldn't remember if he removed his pistol from the
truck. I then remember the hunting knife I had in my bag. When we were
ordered over to a separate area for a search, Harvey said, "Oh $#!+" In the
course of their search, they found a case of snake oil. I told the border
guard that Harvey was crazy, and he believed it and allowed us to leave.
Harvey got a kick out of that and said I was probably at least half-right.
I can laugh about it now, but at the
time I was scared as hell.
I really miss ol' Harvey, I'm glad my wife got a chance to meet him before
he died. I especially enjoyed drinking with him, and listening to his stories.
Every time I visited him, he would send someone to the store next door to get
some beer. Hell, I got drunk while
interviewing him for a story I wrote.
-Bryan Bass
