The Starlite Club & The Telephone Pioneers

While the Rocket Club was arguably the best known nightclub on the Jacksboro Highway, there were plenty of others. One was the Starlite Club. Located on the west side of the highway and several blocks south of the Rocket Club, my knowledge of it is due to exactly one thing. Stashed in some of the photos and documents that my parents saved is a photo folder that is virtually identical to the ones used by the Rocket Club. It only differed in color, cover design and the club name on the front. The folder serves to perpetuate the memory (good or bad) of the Starlite Club, but it’s what I found inside that’s interesting.

My mother, Ruby Claudine Wacaster Marmo, started working for the telephone company in 1922 when she was sixteen years old, having just moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Remember, this was when the phone company was AT&T with no competition.


At any rate, my mother spent 31 years with the phone company before retiring and spending another 33 years on various PBX boards with hospitals, newspapers and department stores. When she retired from AT&T, she was a Life Member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. But, as I’m sure you know, to become a Life Member of anything, first you have to be just a member. I never knew when that occurred...until I found the Starlite Club folder.



Inside was a certificate printed on heavyweight stock Certifying that Ruby C. Marmo was a Member of the Telephone Pioneers of America. The date is December 25, 1949. This much is fact. From this point on, it’s an educated guess, but I think I’m correct. If anyone has information to the contrary, I’d appreciate hearing from them.

Since my parents appeared in a photo taken at the Rocket Club sometime in 1949, and the Telephone Pioneers certificate was found in a Starlite Club folder where it’s been since 1949, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to reach a particular conclusion.

What I believe is that the presentation of the certificate was held at a party in the Starlite Club, sometime in late December, 1949. Could it have been a few months later, making it early 1950? Sure could, since I can’t nail the date down to the specific day,

This is just a microcosm of the kinds of things that went on during the late 1940s here in Ft. Worth. No earthshattering event was connected with this presentation nor did it make the newspaper. It was just another moment in the day-to-day life in Cowtown.

The Rocket Club

Drive north on Henderson until you cross the intersection where University Drive North and Northside Drive change names and you will find yourself on the Jacksboro Highway. Actually, you’re not going due north but northwest. Still, on the west side of the highway is Rockwood Park for a good distance. On the east is a retaining wall and a very steep hill that forms the back yard for houses that front on Grand Street. By the time you’re halfway between University/Northside Drive and N.E. 28th, the area is a hodge podge of car lots, cafes and abandoned buildings. But it didn’t use to be that way. In the late 1940s, you wouldn’t have been wrong to have called it nightclub row. There were quite a number there. The Starlight Club at 1301 Jacksboro Highway and the well known Rocket Club at 2202 Jacksboro Highway to name only two. As of the last time I’ve passed thru that area (and it’s been several years), the Rocket Club building was still there and I think the sign was still mounted on it. Might be wrong because I’ve slept since then.

Since anyone who knows me knows that I don’t drink (can’t stand the taste), nor do I care anything about going clubbing, you’ve got to be wondering why I’m talking about the Rocket Club. Well, there’s a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the Rocket Club is part of Ft. Worth history. As for the second, I have a folder from the Rocket Club containing a photograph of my parents sitting at a table inside the club. The date had to be around 1949.

In that time period, many clubs had roving photographers who took photos of the customers, much like sidewalk photographers in downtown Ft. Worth. If they wanted to buy the photo, it would be presented to them in a photo folder that appears to be made from heavyweight construction paper. Not only did it bring in extra money for the club, the folder did an excellent job of publicizing the club. To give you an idea of exactly what the folder looked like, I’ve added three photos to this post. The first, seen below, shows the front cover.


This was actually quite a creative cover. Note there are two planets Saturn, along with a rocketship passing by. As it nears Ft. Worth, it’s spotlight illuminates a crooner (think Bing Crosby) standing on a cloud holding a microphone with musical notes wafting into the ether. By the way, the folder is a horizontal format with the fold on the left side.



Inside the folder were four slits designed to hold a 5”x7” print. Black & White in those days, of course. As I told you, the couple in the photo are my parents, Caesar Sarafino “Jack” Marmo and Ruby Claudine Wacaster Marmo. This picture was most likely taken in 1949, making my father 41 and my mother 44. I would’ve been a few months shy of 7. Note that all tables had white tablecloths and a centerpiece that appears to be comprised of a number of glasses and at least one bottle.


The back of the folder provides the club name and address, as well as the number of the folder. If the number is sequential and started from #1, then we can assume that over 5,000 patrons had purchased photos at the Rocket Club. If anyone has similar folders from the Rocket Club or any of the other clubs on the Jacksboro Highway, I’d like to hear from you.

Next post I’ll deal with the Starlight Club & The Telephone Pioneers Of America.