[Dixielandjazz] Re: "Benny's From Heaven"

[Charlie Hooks]

On Sunday, August 21, 2005, at 10:41 PM, tcashwigg at aol.com wrote:

> Bet Guys like Mike Vax and Steve Barbone saw a few of these little 
> white pills get swallowed back in the 60.s Not that any of us ever 
> used any of them.

Vax and Barbone are far too young, and maybe you are, too, if you're 
confusing white crosses with bennies (benzadrine).  "Bennies"--at 
least the Smith, Kline and French variety and I think most others, 
too--were triangular with a groove down the middle for breaking into 
halves and colored a kind of orange/tan/sand color.  Ring any bells, 
folks?  About a penny apiece from your friendly neighborhood 
pharmacist.

Charlie

PS.  White crosses, which had two grooves for breaking into fourths, 
contained an amphetamine of some sort but were not--at least, not in 
Texas in the forties--called "bennies."  They worked, but not as 
well.  The orange triangles were normally 10mg, breakable into two 5 
mg halves, one of which with a cup of coffee--or, even better, a 
Pepsi-Cola--would boost you right up there for the evening.  Some 
guys got so used to them that a small handfull became the normal 
dose. During WWII pilots were issued a few for use in emergencies.  
Musicians discovered we could fly without the airplane.
>  
____________________________________________
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