MEMORIES PHOTOGRAPHY AND PRINTING (1959-1960)

“In 1959, when I was at UW, I started a niche business called Memories Photography and Printing. Since I was a band leader and was booking other bands, it occurred to me that it would be profitable to provide a whole spectrum of services (photography, programs/printing, and music) for dances.”

In the late fifties, while attending University of Washington, I (soon) had another company operating to accommodate the needs of party planners. I started Memories Photography and Printing with another fellow, Jerry Lonn, who was two years ahead of me at UW. Jerry had a good knowledge of photography. Our business plan was to provide color photographs for couples and printed programs for formal dances in the region. There wasn’t much competition in that field (The Jack Brooke and George August studios were the only others doing that type of work in Seattle at the time). I had developed a good strategy for marketing dance bands so providing pictures, programs and invitations for event planners was a logical expansion of my business; I was often talking to the same decision-makers. I hired a young couple, Doug and Linda De Meerleer to work for me and eventually dropped out of college to run the business. Doug and I worked hard contacting all of the schools, fraternities, sororities and dance committee chairmen in the N. W. regional market. We soon bought out our main competitor, The Jack Brooke Company and by 1962, had a monopoly on the dance picture and program business in Western Washington. Doug and I were a young and energetic sales team. We were continuously in touch with the committee chairmen and quickly dominated the market for shooting couples color photographs at high school and college functions. As the business evolved we started booking more and more bands as well, which became an organizational challenge. On busy weekends we often had to service up to two dozen band engagements and photography contracts. We provided the music while also handling the photography concessions for formal homecoming dances at the University of Washington, Western Washington State University, Seattle University, and University of Puget Sound (to mention a few).

THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON HOMECOMING IN SEATTLE’S CIVIC AUDITORIUM CIRCA 1960

By the age twenty two, I was working with my regular bands (small and big), booking four or five other groups, providing the pictures at formal dances on a wholesale basis and employing five people full time. Both Doug and Linda De Meerleer worked for me in those years and we soon bought out our main competitor at the University, Jack Brooke Photography. After that we sometimes had as many as fifteen photographers working for us on weekends, together with an expanded staff of posers, receipt writers and picture putter-outers. We soon added our own black-and-white lab in the basement of my house at 6510- 35th Avenue N. E (just northeast of the University of Washington). I remember, at that time, we calculated that were providing photographs and printed dance programs for more than seventy percent of the fraternities and sororities at the University of Washington and University of Puget Sound. We were providing music, photo services and programs for a large percentage of the high school and college dances as well.

It was “right time – right place” for me. I had stumbled upon and exploited a great niche business, and there was very little competition. It was – my early twenties were - a very busy time of my life. The downside of all this is I dropped out of college in my Junior year. The most successful years for Memories Photography and Printing and Garrett Enterprises (my band-booking agency) were during the eight year period, 1960-1967. I was 28 years old in 1967.

Before long, I had two other companies operating under one umbrella. I started Memories Photography and Printing with another guy, Jerry Lonn, who was two years ahead of me at the University. Jerry had a good knowledge of photography. Our business plan was to provide color photographs and printed programs for formal dances in the region. At the time there wasn’t very much competition in that field (The Jack Brooke and George August studios were doing most of the work at the time). At that point I had developed a successful strategy for marketing dance bands so providing pictures, programs and invitations for formal parties in the region was a logical expansion of my business (we were usually dealing with the same decision-makers across the board). I hired a young couple, Doug and Linda De Meerleer to work for me and ultimately dropped out of school to run the business. Doug and I worked very hard contacting all of the schools, fraternities, sororities and dance committee chairmen in our regional market. It wasn’t long before we bought out our main competitor, The Jack Brooke Company, and soon had a monopoly on the dance picture and program business in Western Washington. It was an organizational challenge. On weekends we often had up to two dozen contracts for band engagements and photographer bookings to administer. We provided the music and handled the photography concessions at formal homecoming dances for the University of Washington, Western Washington State University, Seattle University and University of Puget Sound. I remember when I played the University of Washington homecoming in the Civic auditorium with my fifteen piece band we also had a staff of twelve working the picture concession (four photographers, four people greeting and posing the customers and four others collecting the money and writing receipts. That engagement was, without a doubt, the highpoint of my young business career to date. I was twenty years old at the time.

JERRY LONN

I started Memories Photography and Printing with another guy, Jerry Lonn, who was two years ahead of me at the University. Jerry had a good knowledge of photography. Our business plan was to provide color photographs and printed programs for formal dances in the region. At the time there wasn’t anyone specializing in that specific field (The Jack Brooke and George August studios were the competition at the time). At that point I had developed a successful strategy for marketing dance bands, so providing pictures, programs and invitations for formal parties in the region was a logical expansion of my business. We were usually dealing with the same decision-makers across the board. I hired a young couple, Doug and Linda DeMeerleer to work for me and ultimately dropped out of school to run the business. Doug and I worked very hard contacting all of the schools, fraternities, sororities and dance committee chairmen in our regional market. It wasn’t long before we bought out our main competitor, The Jack Brooke Company, and soon had a monopoly on the dance picture and program business in Western Washington. It was an organizational challenge. On weekends we often had up to two dozen contracts for band engagements and photographer bookings to administer. We provided the music and handled the photography concessions at formal homecoming dances for the University of Washington, Western Washington State University, Seattle University and University of Puget Sound. I remember when I played the University of Washington homecoming in the Civic Auditorium with my fifteen piece band, we also had a staff of twelve working the picture concession (four photographers, four people greeting and posing the customers and four others collecting the money and writing receipts). That engagement was, without a doubt, the highpoint of my young business career to date. I was twenty years old at the time.

Doug De Meerleer

Doug and I were an energetic sales team; always in touch with all of the dance committee chairmen. We quickly dominated the market for shooting color couples photographs at formal proms, tolos and Homecomings. It was a short step to booking more and more bands as well. It just so happened, at this particular time in history, there really wasn’t much competition for what we were doing. We were in a sweet spot, well organized, young, bushy-tailed and very serious about delivering on our promises to provide top quality services. Although we had a few young ones, the photographers working for Memories Photography and Printing at the time were seasoned professionals. The musicians that I was hiring at that time were usually older than I was as well.

Ben Lester WeinerMay 21, 2019MEM