I'll bet many of you have eaten at this little diner! It was a favorite of folks from all over the county.UPPER PHOTO (1957): In 1947, Truman "Dudie" Christian bought a decommissioned Memphis streetcar, brought to Tupelo and turned the barely six foot wide streetcar into Dudie’s Diner. Dudie’s Diner and the burger soon became a local favorite in downtown Tupelo.
Christian learned to make the burgers (a mix of meat, flour, oatmeal, and water) when meat and staples were rationed during World War II. But neither the burger's appeal nor the charm of the diner's converted Memphis streetcar could compete with fast-food chains. The diner closed in 1986, and the streetcar ended up at Tupelo's Oren Dunn Museum, where the town's beloved dough burger is celebrated with a festival each year on the first Saturday in May.
The namesake of the festival is the Dudie Dough Burger. At one time you could get ten for a dollar.
LOWER PHOTO: Today the diner is on display at the Oren Dunn Museum in Tupelo where, incidentally, the Lee County Bookmobile is also on exhibit.
15 comments:
About 10 years ago the family authorized someone to publish the Dudie's hamburger recipe in Memphis Commercial Appeal but it lost something in translation.
I could eat a sackful of Dudies this morning for breakfast!
I can see that top photo is original. The Savings gas station nearby was owned by my uncle Billy Lawson at one time. Notice that gas was 30 cents at the time.
I can see that top photo is original. The Savings gas station nearby was owned by my uncle Billy Lawson at one time. Notice that gas was 30 cents at the time.
Dudies had the best french fries, good and greasy.
As far as Tupelo must-go-to places, how about Shearer's??? Great Drive-In and good malts!!!
How about Mike's Cafe and the old TKE drugstore, Carr Myers had wonderful ice cream after a swim in the Tupelo pool. Peach sherbet was my favorite.
For a short time during my youth (mid 50's) there was diner in the alley just east of Tapp's Grocery. They served wonderful ten cent hamburgers or 12 for a dollar. I remember the distinctive aroma of the place and how excited I was to get two hamburger and a coke for 25 cents. My brother and I would scourer the sides of the roads picking up coke bottles, sale them at Tapp's, and then go next door to enjoy those hamburgers for lunch. Often, one pickle slice could cover the whole patty and there was enough mustard to choke a horse but that never dampened my enthusiasm for them.
I remember the diner, maybe Robert Marcus Herring's parents owned it, not sure. They had a jukebox that could be heard for miles and great and really greasy hamburgers. The songs I remember were "Mexican Joe" by Jim Reeves and lots of Hank Wms Sr.
I have a photo of said diner, but it is a still capture from Claude Gentry's film and I cannot get it in focus or detailed enough to be useful. It is behind a closeup of Jess McKissack, the "peanut man" so that would be in the mid-late 40s.
Carl, I just attended a birthday party for one of my grandsons at the O. Dunn Museum in Tupelo last Saturday and then saw your post about it on the Bearcat Blog. They now have some picnic tables under the canopy of the diner where you can sit and the diner is unlocked. Because of the wind last Saturday, some of our party actually ate inside the diner. It was an excellent place to have a party because the price was reasonable and included admission to the museum. Worth checking out. My grandson really enjoyed the military museum and while walking through the outside exhibits, we looked into the log church and all of a sudden, a dove flew across the room and landed on the opened Bible on the pulpit as if it was getting ready to preach. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera with us.
Jimmy Bryson
(From an e/mail on 3-31-10)
Carl, I don't know about the one (diner) that was there in the mid 40's, I wasn't born until September of 1946, but there was definitely on there, at least for a short time, in the mid 50's. And Mr McKissack was still selling parched peanuts well into the 50's. But I agree with you that the Gentry video is way before my time and shows a much younger Mr. McKissack.
Phil, there was a diner there in the early 50s. My most vivid memory of it is not the doughburgers, but the huge glass jars of pickled eggs, five cents each. Two of those would really stir you up good!!!
FYI, the Gentry video was in the early to mid 40s as best we can theorize. In the very start of play there appears to be a huge wind disturbance, possibly the '42 tornado, but no way of finding out that we know of.
Re the diner near Tapp's: I moved from Baldwyn in 1952. I remember going to that diner on a visit back home. My cousin, Maxine Williams, was working there at that time.
The diner that Phil is talking about by Tapp's was one time owned by the Brownlee's from Corinth. They had a daughter named Betty.
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