Doug & Emmy Jo: From New Zoo Revue To Celina Texas

Ron Lyons (00:05):
I think I already know your answer to the next question, but I'm gonna ask anyways, cuz I wanna hear

you say it. So, and, and I'm pointing to, to Emmy Joe right now. What makes you smile?

Emmy Jo Momary (00:14):
We have wonderful friends here in Celina that I'm so thankful for. There just a huge blessing in our lives.

And it, that makes me smile.

Doug Momary (00:26):
I, I can say one other thing that makes her smile. Our donkey

Ron Lyons (00:32):

Welcome to CelinaRadio.com recorded right here in Celina, Texas, a quiet little dusty sleepy town that has absolutely nothing going on. Welcome to another episode of CelinaRadio.com. Now today's episode is gonna start off just a little different than normal as you may notice. There's no background music and there's a reason for that. And the reason is because I wanna take you back in time with me. If you're anywhere near my age and I'm 54 years old, then you're absolutely going to love this trip back in time. It's 1972, you're just a kid mom's in the kitchen making lunch. And you're about to turn on the television set to see what you can find. And then you changed the channel. Just one more time and little. Did you know that the theme song of the TV show that you're about to discover is gonna change your life forever and create memories that will last a lifetime. There it is guys, the news review 50 years ago, and it's still just an amazing memory of mine. And if you loved Doug and Emmy Joe from the show, guess what they live right here, Celina, Texas. And you're gonna love this episode because Doug and Emmy, Joe sat down with me and we talked all about the news review all the years in between and what they're doing today. So guys sit back and let's talk to Doug and Emmy Joe

Ron Lyons (03:22):

Guys, I am here right now, literally living a dream come true. And what I'm doing is sitting here with somebody who is so famous in my world and has been so famous and so many worlds. I just, I, I literally, I almost couldn't sleep last night thinking about talking to my two guests today. And I have right now in front of me, none other than Doug and Emmy Joe. And I'm gonna say Emmy Joe, even though I know it's technically Emily, Joe, so Doug and Emmy Joe, their claim to fame. And I've already asked if I can say this is the new zoo review, but there's so much more to these people than just the new zoo review. And we're gonna get into that just a little bit. They have no earthly idea what questions I'm gonna ask or where we're gonna go, what we're gonna do, but guys, how are we doing today?

Emmy Jo Momary (04:17):
Great. It's a beautiful day in Celina

Doug Momary (04:20):
Iran. It's great to be here with you, man.

Ron Lyons (04:22):

Well, thank you so very much. You guys are so kind, I, I have already enjoyed so much sitting here and getting to just converse with you guys. Learn a little bit about the, the past and where you're at now.

What's going on and let me just say this. I was so amazed to find out that you guys live in Celina, Texas. So Celina, Texas it's it's where everything is right now. Do you just love living in Celina?

Emmy Jo Momary (04:50):

I love it. I and Doug does too. It's the town that I wish I could have grown up in. I love everything about it. It's the, a town filled with the kindest, nicest people you would ever wanna meet. And I am grateful to God that he led us here.

Ron Lyons (05:08):
Absolutely. And you guys are actually going to a varsity game in a little bit and you're so that tells me

you're very involved in, in everything. Well,

Doug Momary (05:17):
We have a grandson who's on the varsity team. And so we're gonna go and support him as just

scrimmage tonight. But Hey, every game's important.

Ron Lyons (05:25):

I, I love that. And I'm certain that you guys frequent different things on the square. We'll get into some of that in just a little bit. You've probably got places you like to eat and things like that. And I'm very, very interested in how in the world, you got to line of Texas all the way from California and in, and all the things that have happened in between. So we're gonna kind of cover some of that stuff. But first of all, tell me about this. Let's let's go all the way back. How did you guys meet?

Doug Momary (05:54):

Well, we met in an acting company in Northern California doing summer stock and she was the lead actress in every play. And I was kind of the musician tag along, not doing some bit parts, but that's where we met.

Ron Lyons (06:12):
So, so give me an idea, Emmy <laugh> you're giggling right now. Tell me what you're thinking right now.

Emmy Jo Momary (06:18):

Well, I never thought I would ever marry anybody in show business ever, but Doug was just different. You know, I, I used to go and listen to him, play his songs in the music building and I just thought they were wonderful. And then when I found out that every morning he would get up at like 5:00 AM and play basketball that did it because I come <laugh> from a very sports oriented family. And I thought, well, you know what? This could work. And we just pretty much fell head over heels and love.

Ron Lyons (06:54):

And, and so from what I understand, I did a little, I always do my due diligence. Right. I always do my, my research. And it looks like you guys were married right about the time that news air review kicked off. Is that tell me about that. Yeah.

Doug Momary (07:08):

Well, I to go to go back, my, my mom worked at a toy store in wittier, California, and the owner of the toy store. I had connections with Mattel toys and some of the media people back in the day and my mom being a good mom said, Hey, you gotta meet my son. He writes, and he does this and he writes songs. And so this lady said, well, let me talk to him. So she brought me in and she said, can you create a TV show, a kid show? And you gotta use this bean bag frog. That's all. That's all I'm gonna tell you. <Laugh> so, okay.

Ron Lyons (07:48): I, I,

Doug Momary (07:49):
We weren't married at the time, but I, so I went back to the house. I was living with my folks and I, I

came up with Charlie. The giraffe was first <laugh>.

Ron Lyons (08:02): Right,

Doug Momary (08:02):

Right. And I came up with Henrietta hippo and I named the beanbag frog, Freddy and I, I wrote the theme song. And then I went over to Emily's and said, Hey, we got an opportunity to do this. You're gonna play this and I'm gonna be Doug. And she can tell you a little bit from there.

Emmy Jo Momary (08:21):
Well, it, then we just started auditioning, I guess.

Doug Momary (08:25):

Well, we were fortunate enough to bar, you know, Barbara had connections owning the toy store. So we actually got a live audition for the handlers who owned Mattel toys at the time. Wow. So we went into this big amphitheater, just Emily and I playing all the parts. That's why it's called review R E V U E. Right. Because we were doing all the hats and all the stuff and, and I was playing my guitar and we did a whole little show with some songs and Hey, this is what it's gonna be. There was silence. Nobody said anything. <Laugh> right. Thank you very much. We'll get in touch with you. <Laugh> so we were like, well, we don't know what's gonna happen. Right. But two weeks later we got this call. They were building the set that I had designed.

Emmy Jo Momary (09:16):

We, we were married and for our honeymoon, we did the pilot <laugh>. Wow. That was the honeymoon. And that was actually when you finished, you really designed the set, as I remember on the plane coming back from Dallas. Yeah.

Doug Momary (09:30):
So, so we went and did the pilot and that was the start of it. And we, we had no idea that Mattel was

gonna, you know, love the show at like they did. Ron Lyons (09:39):

Right. And so fast forward a little bit. And I think you were in production for four or five years.

Doug Momary (09:47):
Four years, we did 196, half hours,

Ron Lyons (09:52):
196, half hours. And I that's an awful lot of work.

Doug Momary (09:54):
I wrote over 600 original songs for, for the series.

Ron Lyons (09:58):

And, and I remember when I was young, there were there were, there were toys and, or coloring books and lunch boxes and, and, and all of this sort of thing around it. So how was that back then? I mean, that's, that's gotta be just an amazing experience. You, you, you come up with this little show, they pick it up. Now you have like toys and things like that. Be made. Tell, tell me about that. Was it awesome? Well,

Doug Momary (10:25):

You know, we didn't know about all that <laugh> because back in the day we were two young kids. I had no attorney, I had no representation. I was one of those stories where you say, sign on the dotted line <laugh> which we did. So we had no idea, right. How big this would become or what was even going on in the background. Now we do, of course. But so we weren't really involved. We were just excited. I was just excited to be able to do a musical every day for kids. That was a positive, that had positive messages. That, that was just a thrill for

Ron Lyons (11:00):

Us. And it was like every episode essentially was almost like teaching something so about love or about kindness or just different things like that. So was that part of your original intention with when you first started? This? Is, was it like, we, we've gotta reach out to some kids where it's 1972. Tell me about that.

Emmy Jo Momary (11:24): Well, go ahead.

Doug Momary (11:25):
I used you. No, go ahead.

Ron Lyons (11:27): Well,

Emmy Jo Momary (11:27): <Laugh>

Emmy Jo Momary (11:29):

Doug, just, it just flowed out of his heart and all of these concepts, he did every storyline and he did all of the things like love and being kind, having good manners and all of that telling the truth. But then he started branching out and he did like one on Shakespeare and the arts. And I, I, I would just sort of sat back and was amazed and thought, well, gee, I'm very fortunate on, I certainly married the right guy <laugh> right. But he, he was the creative impetus for the show. He wrote all the songs for the show and I'm just enormously proud of him. Honestly,

Doug Momary (12:13):

It was a thrill. It really was. And we had to go to bat for a lot of the scripts that we, that we did because like, like one of the episodes was on greed, like being, I was trying to get across it. Hey, kids be happy with what you have, cuz you have a lot in comparison to the world. And so I went in all the scripts had to be approved by Mattel and I, we went in and said, Hey, I'm gonna teach the kids. Be satisfied. What? Wait a minute works.

Ron Lyons (12:42): That doesn't work. It

Doug Momary (12:43):

Doesn't work. But eventually we did get it through it passed and Charlie sang the song. I got what I need. And it's a honky, tonk piano thing that that's, you can go look up the show greed. Right. And that's the message.

Ron Lyons (12:58):

So, so the shows are still out there and they are so evergreen. I mean they literally still live. You can go to YouTube and find them they're, they're just all over the place. And, and how does that feel now? So what are we 50 years later? How does it feel to know that something you did so long ago is still out there?

Emmy Jo Momary (13:19):

Well, we do hear from a lot of people that enjoy the show and would like to see it on again so they can show their children and grandchildren. And it's something I didn't really think about when we were doing the show, but it's very rewarding to hear some of the stories about how maybe children who were lonely, they could identify with us and somehow it comforted them to watch our show. And so it's, it's been a very rewarding experience as we've gotten older.

Ron Lyons (13:55):

So you were both, you were both on set and, and you're the two humans on this show. Right. And you're interacting and doing all of these things with a frog and an owl and a hippo. How is that? I mean, I mean, what is that, what's that like talking to somebody that's in that sort of a costume and interacting?

Emmy Jo Momary (14:15):

Well, I'm gonna tell you I was completely starstruck because the dancer that was in the Charlie, the Al costume was Sharon Baird, who was one of the original Mae tears that I used to watch on TV. So I, I was just, you know, it was my first television show that I'd ever done. And the, the lady that was in the Henrietta hippo con costume was a very, very famous dancer in Hollywood. And, and we've seen her

actually in my fair lady and any number of movies as a dancer. And, and I was really, really impressed and very starstruck, really to be working with these people that have so much more experience than I did. And I, I learned a lot from

Ron Lyons (15:04):
Them there there's a, a great interview out there right now. And I believe it's the, the lady who played

Henrietta hippo for a period of time. And there may have been more than one person,

Doug Momary (15:13): Hazel Sherman.

Ron Lyons (15:14):

Correct. And how she went through the interview process, how she changed her voice pitch in order to kind of impress them and, and that sort of thing. So, and, and, and there's so many collateral, like famous people who were either guests on the show. Yeah. Or things like that. So tell me a little bit about some of those people, because it's, it's been amazing when I look through to see, like who'd been on the show or who you guys have met because of the show where you've been the white house, different places, what an amazing story. Tell me about some of that.

Doug Momary (15:49):

Yeah. It was just, it was amazing because one of the ones that I remember and that I was so starch struck myself, was Henry Mancini. You know, the, the great com film composer, and he's sitting in the rowboat with Freddy and me. <Laugh>, that's crazy. You can imagine. I'm like, I can't even believe this is happening, but we had him as a guest star. We had Mr. Mcgoo, you know, Jim Backas, he did a couple of them. We had pat Paulson. I don't know if you remember him at the time. I mean, he was big on laughing. And so we had all these just great personalities come on board and just ha we just had a blast with him because they loved, they loved the message of the show and they got to sing along with us and learn the songs. Cause we had rehearsal the day before we shot and they could hear all the pre- recorded songs and they just were like, this is so cool. <Laugh> it's

Ron Lyons (16:46): It is amazing.

Doug Momary (16:47):
It was kind of a mutual love Fest.

Ron Lyons (16:49):
Right. And so I know I've seen pictures of you, me, Joe, with a different I, I think at the white house and

things like that. So tell me about some of that.

Emmy Jo Momary (17:02):

Well, that's just incomparable. You just can't even believe that you're actually at the white house. And one year we went for a party they had for the children of the foreign diplomats and Mrs. Nixon was there and we performed in, I think the east room. And then another year we went for the Easter egg roll and they didn't have any other acts at all, but us, we were it. And we were on the stage with Trisha

Nixon and it was just, it was amazing. It's something I'll never forget. The white house is so beautiful at Christmas. It's just, it's almost impossible to adequately describe it, but I, I'm just thankful that we got to have that experience.

Ron Lyons (17:49):
Yeah. There's, there's literally no one else that has been able to have the experience that you guys did.

And, and, and I'm gonna ask you, and I feel comfortable asking you this, but was, was this a God thing?

Emmy Jo Momary (18:02):

I think so. I really do because, well, for one thing, Doug and I did not have children when we did new zoo review. And somehow, you know, over the years, we've come to appreciate what it's meant to so many children. And I just believe that somehow or other God wanted to use the tremendous gifts that he has given to Doug for that purpose, because it was his creative ideas that all came from God, even when he didn't realize it at the time that birthed this show, it has meant so much to so many kids.

Doug Momary (18:45):

But, but I have to tell you at the time we were doing the show I wasn't a committed Christian. And so I, I think all of these songs and everything was inspired now that I look back on it, but it wasn't like a conscious thing. It was almost like a, you know, now I can see it as God breathed, but and, and it, you know, because it changed lives, I think it changed my life too,

Ron Lyons (19:12):

But that, isn't that the amazing thing about God is that he will use you for his purposes to, for, for the betterment of the kingdom, if you will. And, and, and sometimes you don't even know, you couldn't possibly know. I mean, you guys were maybe what, 20 years old back then, and just, you couldn't possibly know the effect and how this was gonna go down the road and, and, and in a world right now, that's really just starving for wholesomeness. And for things that, that seem to have just left society. Now, you guys stand as like a monument to the way it ought to be to the way that it should be to good, wholesome, loving, kind, the, just the, the family unit. I mean, everything that's right is sitting right here in front of me. So you guys, yes. It's amazing.

Doug Momary (20:05):

Well, God has blessed us. I can tell you that. And we have a three kids and 11 grandkids, right? Wow. So we, you know, and, and of course they, they like the show and everything, but, you know, shows for kids now are just off the charts, weird. And just, if you don't keep them in the space of, you know, 10 seconds, you've lost

Ron Lyons (20:31):
Them. And, and now, and, and I have a nine year old and I am so saddened and so shocked at some of

the things that they're exposed to at such a young age now. So different than it was. Yeah.

Doug Momary (20:43):
Everybody, everybody wants 'em to grow up too soon.

Emmy Jo Momary (20:46):

It's very sad, sad. It's very, very sad, you know, because even with, with our grandchildren, we're so careful and we're care. We always ask their parents, are they allowed to watch this? Or the kids will tell us the truth. And we'll say, are you allowed to watch this show? Because there's just a lot of immorality and things that children should not be exposed

Doug Momary (21:12):

To you're right. I mean, I, it's amazing that our show did take hold like it did, because I think it hit a chord among the audience out there. And I think it's gonna do that again, cuz we wanted to reboot the show. We want it out there for the next generation. And there's so many things that we could talk about now and, and do it in a way that is hip to the kids, but still gets the message of love and tolerance and acceptance across

Ron Lyons (21:42):

I think, and this is just my very unprofessional opinion, but I think that the world is craving that because there's so much, like you said so much, that's just not right out there right now, myself as a parent, I would love to have something good and wholesome to, to give my kids and to show them the balance to the world that they see every day.

Doug Momary (22:06):

Now we, yeah, we, we see that all the time. Now we, we really do. And you know, our show, when it, when it premiered, we were up against the original Sesame street. And so that was fast paced and that was numbers and letters and ours was different. Ours was, you know, how do you, how do you behave? What's a good citizen. <Laugh>

Ron Lyons (22:28):

Absolutely. It's that uniqueness that makes it just survive all these years and everything. So I, I love Sesame street and you know, I'm, I'm not trying to, you know, throw any negativity towards Sesame street, but I don't remember it. Like I remember news year review, you know what I'm saying? It was much more kind of canned production line stuff.

Ron Lyons (22:48):

Yeah. You know, it wasn't as, as, as homemade feeling and as authentic as what you guys did. So I think there's a significant difference there. And, and just, you know, so, you know, and I'm sure you've heard this for 50 years. You've had people telling you how amazing you are. So we're, we're gonna, you know, just in the nature and the spirit of what we do on this particular podcast is we're gonna, we're gonna venture a little bit away from the obvious stuff and we're gonna have a little fun. I'm get, I'm getting a little, I'm getting a little side eye right now from Emmy Jones. She's a, she may be, she may be kicking me out of this room in just a minute. She may be like, Nope, we're done. What has life been like? So new zoo review wraps up in the, kind of in the late seventies. What was it like coming to where you're at right now? You've done. You've got a production company. You found your way to Celina. Tell me about some of that middle ground there.

Emmy Jo Momary (23:41):

Well, after we left California, we went to Las Vegas and Doug had an opportunity to head up the music division of a production company. And we got that through somebody at our church actually. And that just led to the development of our company. And so we raised our children in Las Vegas and when our

older daughter got married, she had gone to a and M and when they, when she married, she moved to Plano. And I came down for our first grandson's first birthday and I cried all the way home. And this is how good Doug is because I just got off the plane. I was in tears and I knew that I was going to never really get to see my grandchildren except, you know, once or twice a year, maybe. And he, in those days you could go right to the gate.

Emmy Jo Momary (24:37):

And Doug just took me in his arms and he said, honey, you go right back down to Texas and you buy that little farm that you've always wanted. And I did. And that's how our daughter was living in Plano at the time. And she said, mother, no more than 30 minutes away. And that, and believe it or not in 2002 was Celina. So here we are. And then she, she and her family moved to Frisco. Then they moved up to salon and they live here now. And so it was, I guess for me it was coming home because that's the real need. The real me is just up on our little farm with our animals and playing with my grandkids. And I just leave all of the business really to Doug.

Ron Lyons (25:30):

Well, and can I, can I just say something right now, just an observation as, as we're kind of talking through some of these things, Doug, she is your biggest, she loves you so much. She is your biggest cheerleader. Isn't that incredible? What a, what a fantastic relationship. Oh, well,

Doug Momary (25:47):

I, I, and I have to tell you, cause let's go back into the time machine because nobody on the set of new zoo thought our marriage would last, they thought this was gonna be a Hollywood disaster really? Huh, absolutely.

Ron Lyons (26:01):
So why would they think that, like, I don't, I don't understand

Doug Momary (26:03):
Because it was the seventies at the time. I mean, it was, you know,

Emmy Jo Momary (26:08):
Well he had an Afro <laugh>. He was just a, in those days, that was, he was, he was a little bit rough

around the edges. Right.

Doug Momary (26:16):
And I, I was a rock and roller. I mean,

Emmy Jo Momary (26:18):
When I came out to California, I didn't even bring a pair of jeans because I only wore jeans on the farm.

So I didn't fit in at all.

Doug Momary (26:27):

Here we are. We've been married 52 years. Oh, you coming up on right. Coming up on 52 years. Right, right. So that's, that's, you know, pretty good. Sure. We proved them wrong. It did last. Oh,

Ron Lyons (26:39): It's amazing.

Doug Momary (26:40):
And not to say we were, it's not been perfect, but what is, you

Ron Lyons (26:44): Know? Yes, exactly. But

Emmy Jo Momary (26:45):
We, we had our struggles just like, I think everybody,

Ron Lyons (26:51): Everybody,

Emmy Jo Momary (26:51):

Marriage, marriage is an adventure. Absolutely. And at one point we actually had a recommitment service at our church with our three children. And it was actually our oldest daughter who actually works for the school district now, Joanna Bennett. She was going into sixth grade and Lori was going into fourth grade and Bobby was going into first grade and they all stood up. We had, we set our marriage vows all over again. Wow. And that year, Doug said, I'll, I'll tear up, but it was wonderful. He said, I wanna go to a Christian camp.

Ron Lyons (27:35): Wow.

Emmy Jo Momary (27:36):

And we found the most wonderful camp in California called forest home. It's like pine Cove. Right. And I mean, Doug couldn't get enough of it. We went, he took our son to father son camp. I took the girls to mother daughter camp. We went every summer to family camp. And I will just tell you one year, well, when our son got married, Doug was his best man. And I will tell you that one year they were supposed to go to father's sun camp. And Doug got this call for this big job. And, but it had to be done that weekend. And he turned it down. He said, I'm not gonna do that to my son. Wow. And instead he took, took Rob, we call him Rob. Now he doesn't wanna be called Bobby anymore. <Laugh> to, to forest home for camp. And I just think, you know, when God grabs us our lives change in the most wonderful

Ron Lyons (28:44): Ways. Absolutely.

Emmy Jo Momary (28:46):

And so that's kind of where we are now. And every night we, we have that now with Christ as the center of our relationship that has been so rewarding and that we see that birthed out in our children and our grandchildren. And I'm just, I'm just thankful. I'm grateful to God.

Ron Lyons (29:10):
Well, and we're so grateful because we've got you right here in Celina, Texas in Celina, Texas is where

it's all going on right now. So tell me about Celina youth. Love Celina.

Doug Momary (29:26):

Well, we do. I mean, we, we frequent almost every restaurant in town and have meetings at loosies and we, we get takeout from toasted Walnut almost every week, maybe twice a week. Right. And we just, just, just love the whole environment.

Ron Lyons (29:43):

So, so I'm kind of known, I, I, I never meant for this to happen, but I'm kind of known on this show for asking people what you might order at a particular restaurant. So let's just take loosies as an example. What might, if I walk in and I see Doug from the new zoo review, sitting there eating, what am I gonna see you having at loosies?

Doug Momary (30:02):
Well, it's, it's, it's gotta be, I mean, for me when I'm not on a low carb diet, <laugh> it's got it's, it's gotta

be the chicken fried

Ron Lyons (30:12):

Steak. Oh my goodness. You are speaking my language. Absolutely. And even the low carb diet part. Oh, it's just so limiting isn't it. But yes, I feel you. So, so the chicken fried steak and then what are you gonna get for your sides?

Doug Momary (30:28):
Ah, I'm gonna have a salad. Okay. I'm gonna have mashed potatoes. Right?

Ron Lyons (30:32):

Navy. There you go. Go cream corn. Gotcha. Love it. Love every bit of it. It makes me want to go over there right now and just order that and, and, and Amy, Joe, give me an idea and pick me a restaurant and give me something that you love from there in Celina, Texas.

Emmy Jo Momary (30:45):

Every week, we get takeout from toasted Walnut every week, sometimes twice a week. And we always get the same thing, right. The chicken salad. Okay. With the avocado. Nice. And instead of getting flatbread, we stick the low carb and we get the cucumbers, but I was delicious.

Ron Lyons (31:02):

Very, very good. What a great idea. So I, I go back and forth with this low carb thing as well. What a great idea. That's fantastic. And, and, and it's so, so good. And, and, you know some of the people around town and, and who runs some of these restaurants, you know, Joey and, and isn't it amazing what's going on right now in the downtown square is kind of, I keep saying, it's where we're gonna preserve our small town feel. Cuz we're gonna grow. Yeah. We're gonna grow.

Doug Momary (31:31):

There's just growth. No,

Ron Lyons (31:32):

No stopping it. That's right. There's no stopping it. You guys have been in Celina for roughly how long now? Since 2002. So you bet you've been here 20 years and you seen a lot of change in those 20 years. Yeah. And so are you guys gonna be okay with all the growth? I mean 350,000 people coming to this city.

Emmy Jo Momary (31:51):

I am on the museum board mm-hmm <affirmative> and the reason I joined the board is because I love the history of Celina and I think it's very important to preserve it and honor it and respect it. And I, I would like to just say right now, if anybody has not been to our lovely museum Doug did the website, you know, because I guess because I'm on the board, right. I could say, Doug, how about a website for the board? And he has done this wonderful website and it's got the hours and a lot of things that you can see at the museum. And I think that we're just blessed to have this little gym of a museum. When we, we travel around Texas, we like to stop and see the museums. And I think ours is pretty much tops of all the community museums that we've seen.

Doug Momary (32:50):

Well, it was fun doing the museum website because we in it, there's a section called read all about it and it's the Celina record going back to 1911. Wow. And all of them are online and you can search by year and month and go and see the headlines of the day.

Ron Lyons (33:10):
That is awesome. I had no idea. That's

Doug Momary (33:12):
Fantastic. And you ought see it. It's pretty cool. Oh, I'll

Ron Lyons (33:16): Definitely be

Doug Momary (33:16):
Checking it out. And also we have one honoring our, our veterans and that that's, that was also a great

section to, to read.

Ron Lyons (33:26):

Very, very good. So we're, we're literally sitting here right now in a house that, that I happen to own and you know, you can buy a lot of different things in Celina right now, but I, I prefer this. This is over a hundred years old. So do you, do you love this since you're into the, the museum, the history and things like that? Exactly. Do you guys just love this over 100 year old house we're in?

Emmy Jo Momary (33:48): I love it. It's beautiful.

Doug Momary (33:49):

Yeah. It's just awesome. Beautiful. And to preserve the essence of it is really important. I think because you know, we're in a throw away society now. I mean, we're in a fast paced. How quick can I get it then? How quick can I throw it away? And I know I've experienced this because I having a business in Las Vegas, when can we blow up the next hotel casino and build a new one? I mean, there is no history there there's history, but it's yeah. Questionable.

Ron Lyons (34:18): No, I, I

Doug Momary (34:19): <Laugh>. So

Ron Lyons (34:20): The same.

Doug Momary (34:22):
And that's one of the things I love starting my business here again from Vegas is the fact that we can

lend a lot of expertise to, to businesses here and help them grow in the right way.

Ron Lyons (34:36):

And, and so that's something I want to talk about. What are you doing right now, business wise? So it's called Laguna productions. Am I correct about that? Yes. Okay. Tell me all about that. What do you do? And, and, and, and what are you involved in now with Laguna productions?

Doug Momary (34:51):

Well, first of all, it's, it's called Laguna because we want to bring production quality from Hollywood and California, everywhere we go. Right. And we like to vacation in Laguna beach. <Laugh> there. You, you go, hence the name Laguna. I wanna get that straight. Right. and the other thing is we're, we are kind of a full, we are a full service production company. Okay. We can do high end things, but we can videos don't need to be expensive. I mean, they can, you know, if you light it, right. If you have good audio, you can, you can make things happen. You know? And we were fortunate enough to do Cleve razor of razor insurance. We did a whole campaign for him that was actually on the air in the, the Dallas Fort worth metroplex. And so we, we, but we can do it all. We, we did the website for the museum.

Ron Lyons (35:45):

So all of that is kind of just in your blood, you, you started off doing, you know, producing, making your own, creating your own show. And now here we are, 50 years later, still involved, still doing it. You're in Celina. Would you say that your services right now are a good fit for many of the businesses that are in Celina right now?

Doug Momary (36:06):

I think it is because, you know, a lot of 'em don't have a, a branding and they, they need to brand their, their product and that, that we're kind of experts in that. So.

Ron Lyons (36:18):

Gotcha. So, so how would someone find you if they wanted to contact you and say, Hey, I'm, you know, I'm much like Cleve with razor insurance and that sort of thing. I, we would like to have some maybe material for social media or do a, an advertising campaign or something on our website would live a video for our website. How do they reach out to you?

Doug Momary (36:40):

Well, they can go to our website, which is Laguna productions.net. Okay. And they can see all of our services, there's a phone number there, but they can also call me directly. I I'd rather that happen. <Laugh>

Ron Lyons (36:55):

And, and that's, what's so awesome about it. Like we're in Celina, Texas, we have these celebrities and I mean, celebrities right here, and they're willing to come and help your business succeed by putting their gifts and talents to work for you. So that, I think that's amazing

Doug Momary (37:12):
That that would give us a lot of satisfaction. And it has just from the, the, you know, the, the things

we've done in town

Ron Lyons (37:20):

And you have a lot of experience with all of this stuff. So it's not like, you know, like I'm more recent to all of this stuff. I'll do video and I'll do this sort of thing like we're doing right now, but I don't have the experience. You have, you guys have done this for so long and you've seen everything, you know, what's right. I, I I'd throw a light on a scene or something and I, and you'd probably walk up and be like, Uhuh, let me fix this for you.

Doug Momary (37:42):

Well, I mean, just to give you a little history of some of the things we've done we, we had the privilege of doing the capture of the U 5 0 5 submarine for the Chicago museum of science and industry. Nice. We literally cast it to match the you know, the people to recreate that capture of the submarine. Right. And that exhibit is still playing back there in Chicago. It's

Ron Lyons (38:08): Amazing. Business's that

Doug Momary (38:09):
Awesome. So little things like, you know, not little things, but things like that we've done throughout our

business career.

Ron Lyons (38:17):
And, and so if somebody finds you, like give, gimme an idea of a, like a, a local type job you'd like to do,

so it would be video creation, production, that sort of thing. Is that kind of your sweet spot? Doug Momary (38:30):

Yeah. That, that would be the sweet spot, but it's, it's everything. If they need a website, if they, they need, you know, radio, I mean, that's still viable media right now. Right, right. And I've had to reinvent myself as you know, in this business. Sure. You have to reinvent yourself because when we did new zoo, we did it on two inch videotape. Right. You had to splice. Right, right.

Ron Lyons (38:52): Right.

Doug Momary (38:53):

And literally, you know, literally we did our recordings, our music on 24 track. And we were had to, you know, we had to sync them together to get 48 tracks. Wow. And now on a computer, you can get a hundred tracks, a hundred

Ron Lyons (39:08):

Percent. It's a whole different world. And in, in a lot of ways, it's easier. It's, it's, it's gotten easier maybe in the sense that, you know, the equipment is lighter and more moveable. Yeah. There's, there's, there's things that have gotten better, but, but don't, we miss sometimes the old stuff,

Doug Momary (39:24):

Well, it's not the old stuff, but you, I find that you can't do everything on an iPhone. Right. Because it's not lit, well, it's not recorded well, and it's absolutely people may not know what's missing in their production, but they know something's missing. And the people that watch it know something's missing.

Ron Lyons (39:44):

Absolutely. So let's, let's venture into a few fun questions and then I'm gonna get you guys out of here because I know you've got the game to go to and I've, I could keep you guys until tomorrow. I'd love to just sit here with you guys. I, I, I would order something from, you know, loosies or wherever you want toasted Walnut. We can just sit here for hours and talk, but I, I, I would like to do this. Maybe if you guys feel like, if you don't just absolutely hate this after, after it's all said and done, I'd love to do another one with you guys. They could be so much fun. Sure. Yeah. So interesting. And

Doug Momary (40:18):
We've got a lot of stories <laugh>

Ron Lyons (40:19):

So much to offer just so much to offer. And I, I just don't, I know we can't even start to scratch the surface today, but sure. Now, now there's been a little bit of finger pointing, going on, trying to decide who's gonna answer these questions. So these are definitely gonna create a little bit of that now. Okay. So you guys, I'm, I'm gonna let Y work that out between the two of you, but either one of you, what's your best tip for making the world a better place?

Emmy Jo Momary (40:44):

Well, my best tip is I just think faith in Jesus, having a vital living faith and reading our Bibles and taking his promises to heart. I have found that God is very, very faithful to keep his promises and my grandmother, her favorite Bible verse. I've probably heard her say it a thousand times. This is the day

the Lord has made. I'll rejoice and be glad in it. And so that's what I would tell my grandchildren and what I tell them when they spend the night before they go to bed.

Ron Lyons (41:29):

That's amazing. I love it. I absolutely love it. You guys are so genuine. It just, it's so amazing. I love it. The world's so fake out there right now and this just, you guys are so real. So thank you for that. And I'm gonna Doug, maybe you can, maybe you can do this one. Okay. Yeah, sure. I'm just gonna go ahead and just throw this some straight at you because yeah. You, you have real experience in this, but if you could sit down with three famous people from history and have dinner, what three people might you invite to the dinner table? Give me three people that you'd love to sit down with.

Doug Momary (42:02):
Oh man. Well, one would be CS Lewis. Okay.

Ron Lyons (42:06): That's

Doug Momary (42:07):
Good. I would just love to very impress. Pick his mind.

Ron Lyons (42:10): Absolutely.

Doug Momary (42:11): Thomas Jefferson.

Ron Lyons (42:12): Okay, great.

Doug Momary (42:13):
That would be another one and Abe Lincoln. Wow. So I think the combination of those guys <laugh>, we

would come up with a constitution that <laugh>

Ron Lyons (42:23):

You gotta rewrite everything. That's awesome. That is that's amazing. So, yeah. Golly, that's greatness. So how about, I'm gonna kick it over you. Same question. Gimme three people that you would like to sit down with Joe, just make, who would be interesting to sit down with?

Emmy Jo Momary (42:39): Well, queen Elizabeth.

Ron Lyons (42:41): Wow.

Emmy Jo Momary (42:42):
I, I would love to, to sit down for tea with queen Elizabeth. Nice. Now that would be a thrill.

Ron Lyons (42:48): Nice.

Emmy Jo Momary (42:49):

And I, I can't, I'm sure there's lots of other celebrities and lots of other important people from history that I I'd have to give that some real thought, but I have two friends that just came back from England that were there for the Jubilee. Right. And brought me books that talk about one of them talks about, you know, just queen Elizabeth and her reign. The other one talks about her, her faith, her Christian faith. And that's pretty special too. She's a very strong

Ron Lyons (43:20):
Christian. Wow. And that's very interesting. I had no idea. Very

Doug Momary (43:25):
Interesting. I could tell you who she would want to have dinner with. Okay. Tell me her grandmother

and great grandmother and her mom, if they could come

Ron Lyons (43:32):
You go. I like it. I like it. Yes.

Emmy Jo Momary (43:35): Wouldn't we all like to,

Ron Lyons (43:37):

I know. I know. That's just, I know, right? Yeah. So Doug, yes. If you could have a billboard right up there on Preston road, a billboard, you can use it for any reason you want, it can be advertising for your business. You could put a, a message on it. You could, you could literally do anything. And, and, and it's yours. What, what are you gonna put on that billboard?

Doug Momary (43:58):
Well, I'm gonna have to do what I put on YouTube. Yeah. There's always hope.

Ron Lyons (44:04): Wow.

Doug Momary (44:05):
So I like it. That's, that's the name of my channel on YouTube. Okay. And that's kind of what I would put

because I, I think don't, don't lose hope no matter what your circumstances are,

Ron Lyons (44:16): Where I,

Doug Momary (44:16):
I like it. You can get better.

Ron Lyons (44:18):

Wow. That's amazing. What a great, what a great billboard and, and what a great message. And, you know, that would just, that would impact people. That's all you guys do. Y'all just impact people. That's just, that's what you're good at. You say you're into video production stuff. If you're not y'all are just into like world changing. That's what it is. So tell me this. If, if you guys hadn't taken this path and what I mean is starting news review and doing the video production stuff. What, what other way, if you could just kind of like reconfigure life and go in a different direction. What, what other directions might you have taken?

Emmy Jo Momary (44:53):
Well, I think if I had it to do all over again, I would do one of two things. I would either get involved in

criminal justice or agriculture.

Ron Lyons (45:06):
Wow. Very, very interesting.

Emmy Jo Momary (45:09):
My dad raised beautiful SIM tall cattle in Kaufman county. And having access to cattle here has been a

real joy for me. It's not, they're not our cow. It's our wonderful neighbors,

Ron Lyons (45:25):
Which is actually better by the way. Yeah.

Emmy Jo Momary (45:28):
It's a lot easier. It's a lot easier, but that's probably what I would do. Something like that.

Ron Lyons (45:32): I like that

Emmy Jo Momary (45:33):
I was, I'm glad that I had the experience with new zoo. It was absolutely wonderful, but you know, I've,

I've grown and changed over

Ron Lyons (45:42):
The years. Absolutely. Right. So, so I, I want to ask you this, this is one of my fun questions, but I'm just

curious. Do you guys miss that? Do you miss news? The review? You miss it?

Emmy Jo Momary (45:53):

I, I don't, I don't, I, I don't get me wrong. I love the fact that people appreciate it. And I love the fact that there's gonna be an opportunity hopefully for it to be back on the air someday, but I don't miss performing at all. In fact, when our daughter was born, that was the last season of new zoo. That sort of

was the cutoff point for me. I, I really wanted to just be a mommy and take care of my kids. And it's just, but I'm, I'm for Doug. I want him all of his creative impulses to be fulfilled because he's extremely creative and he needs to have projects and things to do. And tell him about kid Schwartz. Now that's interesting.

Ron Lyons (46:43): Tell me,

Doug Momary (46:43):
Well, I, first of all to answer your question, I don't know if I do anything different <laugh> because,

Ron Lyons (46:49):
So you're, you're, you're kinda,

Doug Momary (46:51): I that's my realm.

Ron Lyons (46:53): Right,

Doug Momary (46:54): Right. Is creating stuff.

Ron Lyons (46:55):
So, so you're, you're, you're pretty content with how it started and where it's come and, and yeah. You

probably wouldn't change much of

Doug Momary (47:02):

Anything. No. I mean, in fact, the Lord protected me because I was in a rock band before. Wow. I had the opportunity to do new zoo really. And we were, I mean, we fronted for it was called CTA, Chicago transit authority. When we, we did an opening act for them, my band did. And but the Lord said, no, I want you in kids TV. Yeah,

Ron Lyons (47:23):
Yeah, yeah. I gave you talents. And although you're trying to use 'em this way, I want you to use

Doug Momary (47:28):
'Em this way. Yeah. And that was, was a real blessing. Wow. You know, so but anyway,

Ron Lyons (47:33):
I, I like that. So, so tell me, she just mentioned, is that, is that related to what you were just talking

about? How
Doug Momary (47:41):

Well it's another kid show and it's teaching Bible versus to kids in like a five minute format. Right. But it's, it's in the form of a graphic novel. Oh, okay. Where you see the text that the voiceover is saying, and they learn to read while they're enjoying the, the show.

Ron Lyons (48:00): Very, very, very good.

Doug Momary (48:01):
Like it's you could see an episode on our website.

Ron Lyons (48:04):
Okay. Well, I'm, I'm definitely gonna be, it's checking

Doug Momary (48:06):
It out sports in the trackers.

Ron Lyons (48:08):

Okay. That's very, very, very cool. I, I love that you guys are so still involved in trying to improve people's lives, be it via, you know, helping them with their business and doing the video production or being involved in your grandkids life so much and doing things like this. I mean, it's, it's just amazing. So I think I already know your answer to the next question, but I'm gonna ask anyways, cuz I wanna hear you say it. So, and, and I'm pointing to, to Emmy Joe right now, what makes you smile?

Emmy Jo Momary (48:37):

Oh, just a lot of things just being alive makes me smile. Right. I look at every day as a gift, I really do every day is a gift and to be able to enjoy each other and our family and we have wonderful friends here in Celina that I'm so thankful for. They're just a huge blessing in our life. And it, that makes me smile.

Doug Momary (49:05):
I, I could say one other thing that makes her smile. Our donkey.

Emmy Jo Momary (49:09):
Yeah. <laugh> Carlos donkey makes me smile.

Ron Lyons (49:12):

All right. So tell me about that. Now I know a little bit about it. I know that you got one of Carla Vargas donkeys and she was on the show. She's an amazing donkey rescue person and just, just good human being. Tell me about this.

Emmy Jo Momary (49:25):

She gave us the perfect donkey. This little donkey is blind in one eye. He was in a kill pin and all he wants is to have somebody to love him. And he gets along so well with our pony. And our pony has always sort of been the submissive one because he's small. Well now he's got somebody that he's a little bit bigger

than, so it gives him the chance to be bossy and but they get along great. And I just, I just, I just love him. I, I he's like a, if I could bring him into the house and put him on the couch, I would,

Ron Lyons (50:04):
And you know, some people do that now, is this a mini donkey or a full size? Yeah.

Emmy Jo Momary (50:08):

I think he's full size. I know nothing about donkeys. I'm gonna learn from Carla. Right, right. And I'm just waiting for her to get back into town. And then she and I are gonna have to have a, a meeting, but I think that what she's doing down there rescuing those donkeys from those kill pins is just wonderful. And I'm so, so thankful that the city of Celina supporting her and helping her and encouraging her because this is just a great thing that she's doing.

Ron Lyons (50:35):
Absolutely. So, and, and what's the donkey's name?

Emmy Jo Momary (50:39):

Simba <laugh> it was Jack Sparrow, but I told our grandchildren that they could name the donkey. They could rename the donkey. And they said, well, Grannie, we know that we, we really would prefer a lion, but we know you're never gonna get a lion. So can we just name the donkey Seba? And I said, sure,

Ron Lyons (50:57):
That's awesome. That's I, I love it. So I'm this is, this is a joint question. What makes you guys such a

great team? Because you are, you're amazing. What's what's the secret here?

Doug Momary (51:07):
Well, in my opinion, we laugh. We, I just,

Ron Lyons (51:10): You have a good time.

Doug Momary (51:11):
Yeah. We don't take things that serious. I mean, we take serious things seriously, but if you can't laugh

at yourself and situations, then you're, you're just taking life too seriously. Absolutely.

Ron Lyons (51:24):
And you've gotta daunting name similar.

Doug Momary (51:26):
I mean, I, I, I just think you have to find laughter and humor. I'm sure Emily might have something else.

Emmy Jo Momary (51:33): No, I think

Doug Momary (51:33): That's,

Ron Lyons (51:34): That's good. That's that?

Emmy Jo Momary (51:36):
We just, we just get along very well. Doug and I

Ron Lyons (51:39):
Do you do the two of you could kind of see the magic even back in the day and it's still here.

Doug Momary (51:44):
It's still here. Well, thank you. But another thing, and this, for all the couples out there, give yourself

some space, give yourself a quiet time,

Ron Lyons (51:53): Kind of by yourself, by

Doug Momary (51:55):
Yourself thing. And then bring that good self back to the relationship.

Ron Lyons (51:59):
I like it. No, I think that's fantastic advice. And that's, that's exactly what the world needs. So now, now

you're not, now you're not helping the kids. Now you're helping the kids that grew up. So I like that.

Emmy Jo Momary (52:09):

Well, everybody needs to have in any relationship, you need to have some personal time away just by yourself or to do whatever you want. And Doug is so good about that. Cuz I've got some girlfriends here in town that I'm really close friends with and we'll go out to dinner maybe once every six weeks and once a month, whatever. And Doug always says, well, you girls, you stay out till 10 o'clock if you want

Ron Lyons (52:37):
<Laugh> that was awesomeness. I love it. I love it. It's fantastic guys. It's been amazing. And I hope to

see you at loosies. I hope to see you at toasted Walnut around town.

Emmy Jo Momary (52:52): Don't take Papa,

Ron Lyons (52:53):

Gaos, Papa Gaos. We loves every Friday, Saturday night. I'm there. So yes, it's great things. You love Celina. Celina loves you. You guys are amazing. And we're definitely doing a number two. I don't care if I have to come over there and like take care of your donkey for you. We're doing part two, cuz I have so

many other things that we wanna talk about and I've never done a part one in part two. So this will be the first one.

Doug Momary (53:14):
Well, I appreciate you having us on it's an honor to, to be here and it'll be in Celina. Really?

Ron Lyons (53:20):
Thank you. You guys, thank you so much and God bless you guys

Emmy Jo Momary (53:23): And let's go, Bob

Ron Lyons (53:24): Camps. There you go.

Ron Lyons (53:31):

Wow. That is literally all I can say, Doug and Emmy Joe from the new zoo review. Now let me just tell you they were everything that I wished they would be. And even more, they had a huge impact on my life and on countless thousands of others. And it's so crazy how God's plan brought them all the way from Hollywood to Celina, Texas. Now they're very active in the community. So you may see them at a local restaurant or at a football game. Not only that, but they're available to help you with video production, with website creation, social media, and so much more. You can find doug@lagunaproductions.net. And by the way, now I'm a huge fan of the Celina museum that Emmy Joe is talking about. And you can find that@Celinamuseum.com.

Ron Lyons (54:45):

So what's next. Well, I've got it on the authority of a little owl that there's a whole new world of new zoo review on its way. And it's all centered around the original vintage television series that we all love so much. And I can't say too much else about it, but let's just say if I was excited before I'm even more excited now. And if you're as big a fan as I am, then guess what? I got Doug and Emmy Joe, to agree to autograph a vintage eight by 10 photograph of them from back in the news. We review days. If you want that, we're gonna give it away in the little contest. So all you've gotta do is share this episode on your social media, throw it on your Facebook page, tag us so that we see it. And that we're gonna hold a little drawing here before the next episode of Solana radio.com. And hopefully you will be the winner of a really, really awesome picture. That's just gonna take you back to our childhood. The guys CelinaRadio.com is gonna be all over town at tons of events that are coming up and we've got more fantastic guests coming on the show. So come back next week for another adventure in Celina, Texas guys, until then God bless. And I'll see you on the next show.

Doug Momary (56:48):
So you see Freddy, we want you to have this money we collected for this wing and we want you to buy a

new record player.

Freddy The Frog (56:55):
But gee, I don't understand why you doing this because

Emmy Jo (56:58):
You're our friend Freddy, and we love you,

Freddy The Frog (57:01):
But you love the money too. It was going to buy you the swing,

Emmy Jo (57:05):
But our love for you is most important. There are all different kinds of love. Freddy Love Comes in different Forms and stars. Some a small love comes.