Diddy Waw Diddy: Passage of an American Son [Hardcover]

Billy Porterfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1994

The Texas journalist recounts his boyhood growing up on the road during the Depression and World War II, describing his endless larks and capricious adventures and the extraordinary characters he encountered along the way. $20,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Because his father followed a trail of gushing wells in search of work on the oil rigs, the author of this lively and interesting memoir spent the years from 1938 to 1945 traveling with his parents and brother and sister across Texas. Porterfield ( The Greatest Honky-Tonk in Texas ) bases this account of his childhood, lived on the road throughout the Depression and WW II, on the diaries he wrote when he was a boy. His portraits of his father Tice, who frequently abused alcohol, and his mother Janavee, who yearned for a real home in the fantasy hometown the Porterfields called Diddy Waw Diddy , are perceptive and loving. Despite a hand-to-mouth existence and his parents' marital problems, Porterfield enjoyed a childhood filled with adventures and memorable encounters with eccentric characters. The memoir passes through the 1950s, when his parents finally settled down in a trailer park in Sequin, Tex., and ends in the 1980s with their deaths. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

An award-winning Texas author and columnist, Porterfield uses the phrase radiant opposite to describe his family's unusual on-the-road experiences during the Depression and World War II. What became important as the Porterfields followed the oil gushers of Oklahoma and Texas was the awakening of a young boy's awareness of family, heritage, life, and imagination. The uncertainty and the countless homes he endured during his 17-year odyssey didn't matter as much as the memories of his grandfather, his rough and vital father, his strong and enduring mother, his siblings, and the endless, compelling parade of strangers. Finding Diddy Waw Diddy, the spot where the Porterfields would live happily every after, was not to be. This is one writer's personal evocation, not only of a part of America at a particular time but of a reality interpreted with poetic license, great and effortless humor, kindness, and wisdom.
- Robert L. Kelly, Fort Wayne Comm. Schs., Ind.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 423 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060169990
• ISBN-13: 978-0060169992
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,202,043 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Special Place in Texas History, December 25, 2000

By 

Howard L. Dixon (Hopewell, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diddy Waw Diddy: Passage of an American Son (Southwest Life and Letters) (Paperback)

Billy Porterfield either had the good sense to take great notes growing up or has a fantastic memory. Regardless, the result is a fascinating account of growing up in the oil patch of West Texas. Billy and his family moved twenty two times with his dad chasing those wild cat wilds of the past. Most of their travels were in a big Hudson Terraplane and whenever anyone asked where they were headed the standard reply was "Diddy Waw Diddy". Which a substitute word for whatever one wanted it to be...similar to Seinfeld's now famous yada, yada, yada.

This book is filled with belly laughs that will keep you turning the pages for more but the best for me was the story about the woman who left her husband until he built her a dream home. After a few months it's finished and she returns to the find beautiful three story home awaiting her. It wasn't until she walked into the front door did she realize that it was only 12 feet wide and the back was a drive-in movie screen.

This book is out of print but if you can run across a copy you'll find a very amusing look at the authentic life of families involved with helping to lubricate this country's industry toward the end of the Great Depression.