Professor Never Met Johnny Bainum

Frank Parker Stockbridge, in his syndicated column that the Times-Tribune printed on October 21st, 1931, talked about a professor who believed that men who whistle were of low intelligence. Apparently, that gentleman professor never made the acquaintance of Johnny Bainum. 

Johnny was constantly whistling tunes in the Trail’s End Cafe as he was serving customers. He also built and kept the Trail’s End running for over 30 years. He had prodigious artistic talent; he routinely decorated the Sheridan School for the Little Dinner Theater plays that took place in the 1970’s and 1980’s after the school closed. And he was a walking encyclopedia of history for the area. 

Stockbridge concluded, in part, “The urge to produce music exists in nine tenths of the human race. The majority of men take it out in whistling. It is almost instinctive for a man to whistle when he is alone.”