The

Authorized

Cordic & Co.

and Olde Frothingslosh
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[Editor's note - this article was originally published in the Coal Smoke, Diesel Fumes and Ion Trails, the newsletter for the American Railway System, back in April of 1998. At that point in time, Rege was very much still with us and I had no idea what would happen in one very short year.]

 

I grew up with a hero. I didn't realize it at the time, but he would affect a great deal of the way I thought and did things for the rest of my life, and all it took was the twist of an on/off switch and the tuning of a radio dial.

The year was 1955 and I was a brash young lad of 9 years old living in Vanport, a small town some thirty miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My brother, Greg, was a whopping one year old at the time. [Click on image for larger view.]

I don't remember the first day I turned that radio dial to KDKA. I don't remember the first time I heard Rege Cordic's voice. But I do remember his off-the-wall sense of humor and the crazy skits that he and a few others acted out during his broadcasts each week-day morning. And I will never forget that very distinctive voice of his.

In the days of Red Skelton and early Jonathan Winters, Rege stood head and shoulder above them all. As Ronald Reagan extolled the virtues of General Electric's progress, Rege more wisely pointed out that Better Things For Better Living [came] Through Chicanery. The "visitors" to his radio show, people that breezed in and out of the radio station, were interruptions to his work that, for some reason, he could do nothing about. Therein, of course, was the humor, as they wreaked havoc with his weekday morning broadcast. (Saturdays were repeats of portions of the weekday stuff.)

Many still remember Milkman, Brunhilda and others that visited him. Omicron and Nudnicron, were extraterrestrials that came from Venus. They were small enough in size that their space ship could fly through an open window and did, most often at the wrong time. The sound of their rocket motors was reminicsent of an old Captain Video or Flash Gordon space vehicle as the two little hell raisers buzzed everyone in the studio and beyond.

These interruptions, in spite of their levity, were fairly serious business, taking two afternoons, 4-5 hours each to record. Each of the actors shared the responsibility of writing the skits, which, in and of itself, could take two days.

Somewhere in those wondrous limes, Rege gave birth to another legend, one that, like the Chevys and Fords of the era, would survive the test of time, to become known not just in the KDKA listening area of western Pennsylvania, but internationally, as well. That, of course, was Old Frothingslosh beer.

At first just a fake ad for his show, Old Frothingslosh was touted as the Pale Stale Ale With The Foam On The Bottom. In 1955 Pittsburg Brewing got involved and, with Rege's permission, began bottling the beer during the Christmas holiday season. The first year it was brewed in small quantities, as a giveaway to suppliers, barkeeps, and such. In 56 they began selling it to the public.

It became as much a tradition for us Pittsburghers as Christmas frees, holly and mistletoe.

Whit Towers, CEO of the famous Alturas & Lone Pine, was editor of the NMRA Bulletin back in those days, and also a neighbor and friend of Rege's. Each year he would publish preprinted box car sides in the magazine. In 1978, this came to include sides for the Olde Frothingslosh reefer, published in O, S, HO, N and Z scales.

Ye Olde Huff and Puff manufactured wood HO scale 40' reefer kits in the Olde Frothingslosh livery, too. I note with pleasure that it is still available as item 792-80 in the Walthers catalog.

The tank cars previously discussed here in the Coal Smoke were apparently "home grown" units, made by the various modelers themselves. Rege says that a set of dry transfers was also available, which he used for his own (3 or 4) tank car fleet.

Then, in the early 60s, Rege packed up the Cordic and Company show, leaving Pittsburgh for a radio station in Los Angeles. It also left a void in Pittsburgh that we never quite recovered from.

Olde Frothingslosh continued to be bottled and sold, but, without Rege to oversee the campaign, it eventually became one of life's fonder memories.

In addition to his being a radio personality, he broke into television and, if you were alert, you'd spot him in various television episodes here and there. Now and again I would recognize his voice doing commercials on radio and tv. Most recently, I heard him as the voice hawking the Discovery Channel's Wings multi-media CD.

In 1988 (I think it was) I discovered his model railroading interest, as well. I saw a photo of a model in MR (Model Railroader magazine) that listed the owner/builder as Regis Cordic. Regis Cordic... there could only be one. It had to be the same person. It HAD to be!!!

Ten years later... God, has it been THAT long? we bring it full circle.

Rege has been retired for a couple of years now, giving him time to work on his model railroad, the Lazy River Railroad, which fills a two car garage.

The Lazy River layout, based on a coal hauling line in West Virginia. is now some 30 years old, making him one of the premier discoverers of the beauty of West Virginian modeling.

Rege's dad was on the B&O (an engineer on the Capitol Limited in the steam days and later an engineer instructor in the diesel days), so he has a warm spot for that railroad and has written some articles about it for Trains magazine over the years.

Time-lined in 1950, the LRR comes up out of WVA and connects with the P&WV to go on into Pittsburgh from there. "We ignore the fact," he says, "that the Wabash Terminal burned, which is where my passenger cars terminate."

He asked me if I was familiar with the FM&P. Thinking he said RF&P, I quickly said yes. When I went to find the FM&P's trackage on my 1928 maps, I realized my error. For one thing, the RF&P isn't even in West Virginia.

I couldn't find the tracks, nor could I find a listing of the FM&F which I was guessing to be the Fairmount, Morgantown & Pittsburgh. Rege had noted that it began at/near Grafton, so that should be accurate. At the moment, I'm assuming that the Allegheny Midland followed Rege's route north to Connelsville. (Rege was there first, Tony.) The lines have to be very close to each other.

Consulting my Kalmbach history book, I found that to be a dead end, too. It was not discussed there, either. A call to NMRA headquarters, however, verified that such a critter really did exist and I was not being dyslexic. Hopefully, the requested FM&P system trackage map will arrive prior to the going to press. [Editor's note: after some rather painstaking work, I believe we have pieced together the bulk of the trackage of Rege Cordic's Lazy River Railroad Company. This map in in the creation stage and will be posted soon to this web site.]

His motive power is, as he calls it, a polyglot collection. Because of the 1950 dating he has a mixture of steam and older diesels. "But," he notes, "I cheat. Some from the B&O, some from the Pennsy, along with a great C&O mallet..."

He painted a couple of Athearn Fairbanks-Morse Trainmasters in PV&W colors. PV&W, he noted, used F-M equipment, but never had any Trainmasters, but "I figured the hell with it."

He is obviously a gentleman of discerning tastes. (Did I hear Peter say eclectic?) But then, what else could the inventor of Olde Frothingslosh be but discerning?

I asked him if he ever went back home and he said yes, every so often, to do speaking engagements and such.

After saying that Pittsburgh was still a beautiful place, he added, "I have a sister back there and we still root for the Pirates, God help us. Heartache goes with the territory."