Cactus Pryor
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (64169)
United States
April 18, 2007 7:42pm CST
There's this radio personality here in Austin. I'm going to copy what is writen in Wikipedia.
Richard "Cactus" Pryor is considered a legend in Texas broadcasting. A native Austinite, Pryor has been a fixture in Texas broadcasting and entertainment since 1944. He received his nickname after the old Cactus Theater on Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, which was run by his father, Skinny Pryor.
Pryor has also appeared in several movies including The Green Berets with John Wayne. He is the author of a 1995 collection of some 40 essays entitled "Playback".
He currently regales audiences on Austin radio with a daily 2-minute trip down memory lane, reminiscing about places and people from his past. Many of those of whom he speaks are long-gone. He is a confessed liberal, and has acknowledged that his (adult) children are conservative. Pryor also claims to be one of the first people to have heard of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, having been at the ranch of then-vice president Lyndon Baines Johnson at the time.
Pryor has for several years been a radio spokesman for the Austin-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain Serrano's. In these ads, he is often called "Nopalito", which loosely means little cactus, after the Spanish word nopal. Nopal is Spanish for prickly pear cactus. Nopales, used in many Mexican dishes, are commonly available throughout the American Southwest at most grocery stores and markets.
His broadcasting sign-off consists of a series of nonsense words, "thermostrocka mortimer". The spelling and meaning of such are up to speculation. Cactus has stated, "The phrase is in the Bible; if you don't find it, keep reading."He's quite a character.
3 responses
@trinidadvelasco (11401)
• Philippines
19 Apr 07
By the way you talk about this guy, I can say that you are quite a fan of Cactus Pryor. I may not be familiar with the guy considering where I live. Nonetheless, I should say that he is a remarkable man and he is worth admiring.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
19 Apr 07
I love hearing him talk about how Austin was when he was a young person. My dad was stationed in Hondo Texas during WWII & would come to Austin because there was less competition on leave than in San Antonio. He was here, reporting on the Tower shooting that I posted about earlier, he did man on the street type interviews during WWII in Austin.
Yes, he's a local guy, I think its a shame that other towns can't hear him, tho he's of pretty much local interest.
@slickcut (8140)
• United States
19 Apr 07
This was interesting to read about ,but im not quite sure how to reply since this is not a question or a reply type discussion,however it is interesting,but i was not aware of this person.I live near Austin in Bandera county..I also have a step sister that lives in the Austin area..Thank you for the information,maybe one day i will hear him speak...



