The History of the
Nauga Industry in Eunice, NM
It was in the back of our garage at Eunice
where I started my very successful Nauga business. The year was l947 and
I had only one pair to begin. However Naugas reproduce quickly, so before
long I was forced to expand. The demand for their pelts was enormous as
the furniture industry couldn't get enough to fill demand. Everywhere you
looked people wanted Naugahide covered couches and chairs.
I couldn't get them to breed fast enough,
and we used an old warehouse to provide an air conditioned environment
which Naugas require. Breeding Naugas's a delicate activity as they first
must fall in love. Putting lipstick on their tiny lips and net stockings
and high heels wasn't easy. Getting the proper colors of the pelts means
you must breed for color match. Sometimes it goes awry and you wind up
with wierd colors no one wants. The business was good for about 25 years,
then disaster struck. People opted for other furniture coverings and Naugahide
fell from favor. We were forced to downsize and lay off long-time employees.
Some of them had even made Naugahide clothing. That was one of our experimental
marketing efforts that failed.
Eventually we began to import native Naugas
from their homeland high in the Peruvian Andes. They were different colors
and highly emotional. Many wouldn't breed at all feigning headaches. Finally
we were forced to face the inevitable closure of the plant--a sad end to
a profitable enterprise. Today it is rare to find any Naugahide, much less
live Naugas. They were a cute little animal that brought us much fun and
profit.
GE/Houston
Nauga Lic.#6795
Copyright (C) l999 Glenn
Elliott
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Response
from: Bev Harvey Sandlin, 67
Thanks to the Naugahyde Industry, the Nauga is now close to an extinct
breed. Shame, shame, shame on you and all the Naugahyde breeders!!! How
many little nauga lives were lost just to make a buck? Future generations
will never have the opportunity to know what a Nauga really looks like.
Response
from: Glenn
Actually Naugas look surprisingly like "Gordita", as seen in the
Taco Bell commercials.
Response
from: Bev
That makes it even worse!!! Such a cute, clever little animal! And
they were used to make couches and chairs that stuck to you when you tried
to stand up. UNBELIEVABLE! Did the Nauga breeders have no morals, no ethics????
Oh no. I have a sinking feeling, but I have to ask. Did you also have a
feather producing business? I saw all the feathers on those Las Vegas Show
Girls and a lot of the feathers were red! PLEASE DON'T TELL ME IT IS SO!!!
Response
from: Glenn
Ever see a plucked
Cardinal? Not a pretty sight, but those showgirls had to get feathers somewhere!
Response
from: Bev
Is not even the esteemed Cardinal safe? I am shocked and dismayed
at all the stories of animal abuse that occurred in Eunice. First, Randy
Evans tells us of live turkeys being tossed from the roof of the Eunice
post office. Next Fred tells us about using fingernail polish to deface
and write on the backs of innocent turtles. Fred even tells me that he
may have eaten my beloved Easter chicken, Chick-a-dee. The poor Naugas
butchered so someone can have a couch that can be wiped clean with a damp
cloth. AND NOW THE CARDINAL! How did you expect him to stay warm in the
winter with no feathers. I only have 3 words to say---E TU, GLENN?
Response
from: Fred Tucker, ‘60
Glenn, I had much rather see a deplummed showgirl than a plucked
Cardinal.
Response
from: Coleen Hopper Bruce, ‘65
Fred, Of course you would!
Response
from: Glenn
How do I expect a naked Cardinal to stay warm in the winter. Why
there's enough hot air going here to keep anything cozy!
GE/Houston
Disclaimer:
Yes, folks I really
am an animal lover! I just stayed out in the sun laying pipelines at Eunice
and go overbaked. Lol
Response
from: Bev
That overbaked brain can still weave some pretty good tales!
Response
from: Lynda Ragan, 60
Glenn,
Speaking of red birds, my dad had a red
chicken named ROJO. That chicken could whip any chicken, dog, or cat in
the neighborhood. Poor ROJO came to a bitter end in a long drawn out fight
with a chicken from the Hobbs area. He would have won but the other chicken
cheated !! That cheater slipped ol' ROJO some cheap whisky in his drinking
water right before the fight. Most people know that chickens and booze
just don't mix. It wasn't much of a fight since ROJO kept trying to dance
with the other chicken and stopped several times during the fight to yodel
a tune or two. True, ROJO lost the fight but he will forever be remember
as the dancing yodeling chicken...Oh, could that rooster waltz !!! So in
memory of ol' ROJO I've enclosed one of his favorite tunes.
Response from: Glenn
Terrific story! Great
imagery, and music too. I can just see ROJO waltzing with the bag on and
trying to defend himself. Did he wear those funny little spurs like the
Cowboy Dude roosters wore? Some were almost like ballerinas leaping chest
to chest in a frenzy of the dance. You've done our new Tall Tales column
proud. cluck, cluck...croak.
Response
from: Fred
Glenn
Since you are much much older and maybe somewhat wiser than this country
boy. Could you tell me what relation your naughs were to the infamose formaldes?
Your hides could be sat on, but if you drank my formaldehyde juice it would
fix you right up and keep you from ageing. If you drank a bottle of it
a week, it would keep you from getting wrinkles,or gray and losing hair
plus it would keep you from getting overweight like some of these folks
that are on this site. I have come to the conclusion that neither your
naughs nor my formaldes were really any good alive, that we didn't benefit
from them untill we could recover the hydes from them I do know that I
wish that they had been more like a chicken in that you could get an egg
a day from a chicken,and milk from a cow, but I found out rather quickly
that you could only get one hyde from a formalde. Formaldes are somewhat
like a hog in that a chicken gives an egg every day a cow gives milk every
day but a hog gives a ham only one time.
Reponse
from: Glenn
Remind me to tell you about the pet pig
with the wooden leg on "Chat" night. A hog only gives a ham one time....
Response from: Randy
Evans, ‘67
Now you know if you take the milk from
the nauga and some sugar and peanuts you can make one of those long white
candy bars in a dark wrapper. I think they were called Big Hunks or something
like that. If anyone is interested I can send a drawing of how to convert
an aquarium pump into an electric nauga milking machine.
Response from: Glenn
Randy, you think it was tough putting
lipstick, fish net stockings, and high heels on those little Naugas to
make them fall in love? Try putting on that little electric Nauga milking
machine! Whew! ...and they bite like Tasmanian Devils.
Response from: Fred
Randy, It looks like
you don't remember me all that well, but you could ask the girls and they
would tell you that I am the original BIG HUNK. hehehe!!!!
Response
from: Annie Bertrand, ‘57
Your stories are great so PLEASE do another one soon...Maybe a second
generation of the Naugas and Formaldes.....
Response
from: Lynda
Oh yes ROJO wore the shiny silver gaffs as most fighting roosters
wore and as he stepped into the ring with his little vest and his little
white cowboy hat ( tilted ever so slightly to one side) he made quite the
fashion statement.
ROJO's brother BIG RED took on the cheater
shortly there after and whipped that cheater soundly. As BIG RED stood
proudly in the middle of the ring those in the audience could hear the
faint sounds of the attachment below. ROJO was surely kicking up his heels
and crowing.. What a night and what a fight. Which only proves once again,
that cheaters never win !!!
Response
from: Randy
Yes Fred, I definitely remember you as big hunk of something, but
I don't think it was a hunka, hunka, hunka, BURNING LOVE as you would like
for all the ladies to believe.hehehehehehe
Response
from: Fred
Randy-Just remember
that your memory ain't what the girls think. hahaha!!!!!! oh yeah!!!!!!
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