Dan Martinets The Lone Granger meets Jane Russell and Rock Hudson in Neiman Marcus, Dallas. (original) (raw)

	When we say Granger has Character, 90% of it is Saint Dan Dan Martinets today TE Photo, 2000

While on a trip from Taylor to Waco we passed by the town of Granger. We had heard Granger's streets were the first to be paved in Texas and we went to check it out. Our inquires at the city hall resulted in a mysterious look between the two clerks. "You need to talk to Dan Martinets" was what we were told. It turned out to be the best advice we've been given by city employees to date.

We called Mr. Martinets and received an invitation to visit and have all our questions about Granger answered. We got much more. We got to meet the man who has been known as "Saint Dan" and "The Reluctant Psychic." Since he has become our only source for Granger stories, we asked if we could call him the "Lone Granger." He graciously accepted and is now included in our staff as our Granger Historian.

Baby Dan Martinets with father c. 1923

The J.F. Martinets Family c. 1915

How Jane Russell nearly broke my Collarbone on the Neiman Marcus Escalator.

By Dan (The Lone Granger) Martinets as told to The Editor

Dan Martinets, had left Williamson County after guaduating from Southwestern University in Georgetown. Having seen all of Williamson County, he decided to take a job in Dallas at the Neiman Marcus store.

The Elevator Grapevine
He headed a group of advertising people who were also responsible for the printing of the famous catalogs. Since they were on the fifth floor and were sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Floor Stepchildren," they depended on the kindness of visitors and elevator operators to have some contact with the outside world. Since celebrities often shopped at Neimans, perhaps the first people to see them would be the elevator operators. This may be a surprise to our younger readers (as if we had younger readers) to know that there were people who actually made a living punching numbers for people, but such was the case. If a movie star was let out on the 2nd floor, the elevator operator would tell the other floors, so that they might be better prepared for an encounter with a celebrity.

One day word came up that Jane Russell was visiting a department several floors below. Dan had missed several previous celebrities, so he was determined to see this one. Such was his hurry that he and a woman collided at the escalator. As they both turned picked themselves off the floor, and Dan started to apologize, he found himself looking into the face he was rushing to see. This story is not nearly as good as the time he used the urinal next to Rock Hudson, but it'll have to do until we include that one.

�

John Troesser
September 2000

More about Dan Martinets:

Granger Through The Years by Clay Coppedge

Dan Martinets used to walk along the railroad tracks running through the heart of his hometown, Granger, and dream of getting on one of those trains and never coming back.

That was in the 1920s, when both Granger and Martinets were young and in their prime. Now Granger would seem to be yet another small town with a great future behind it and Martinets has passed on; he died two days before Christmas last year... more