Ode to Maurry the Ice Cream Man

Maurry Glusman was dealt a bad hand
But turned it into a royal flush…
He flew around NW Detroit,
Spreading popsicles and love,
Like an angel on the wings
Of his ice cream truck.
He drove his route
With joy in his eyes
And “It’s Maurry the Ice Cream Man!”
Hand painted just above the bumper.

Cerebral palsy had immobilized Maurry Glusman’s left side. But he never threw in the towel or let the shit he endured get in the way of a full life. We were neighbors in the Stratford Court Apartments and his nieces Joanne, Denise and Barbara Shpargel were my friends.

Aside from blood relatives, Maurry was the first person who offered any encouragement regarding my musical aspirations. On one of his days off in the spring of 1967, he even drove my band downtown to the offices of an old friend … a local music producer named Harry Balk who, at that time, owned a label called Impact Records.

Mr. Balk had discovered Little Willie John and produced Runaway and Hats Off to Larry for Del Shannon. His label had released some big hits that year too – like Oh How Happy by the Shades of Blue (written by Edwin Starr). They’d also signed the Human Beings, the Detroit Wheels minus Mitch Ryder, various members of the Royaltones – a band that included studio legends Dennis Coffey and Bob Babbitt. And an artist who went by the first name of Rod and the last name of Riguez and later became known by his full name, Sixto Rodriguez … as in Searching for Sugarman.

Ricky Fishman, Art Hirschfield, Mike Loceff and I practiced our full repertoire of Top 40 covers in anticipation of the audition. However, the night before our meeting, Maurry let us know that, by the way, Mr. Balk had just called and he only wanted to hear original songs…

Of which we had none.

What would you do in that position?

I think we handled it well:

Our band had been listening to a great debut album by an LA group called Love. At that point in time, their music had made zero impact in Detroit and almost nobody was familiar with them. So we felt pretty safe when we took two of their songs – Alone Again Or and 7 And 7 Is – learned ‘em and told Harry Balk that they were our original compositions –

It’s a cutthroat business, baby.

A&R genius that he was, Mr. Balk immediately recognized our deep talent as songwriters and offered us a deal. He told us to work up a couple more just like the first two...

Come back in a week and we’ll make a record.

Not too many rock 'n' roll artists were writing better songs than Arthur Lee and Love … certainly not the Opalescent Hobnails. (That was the name of our band.) Despite Maurry’s encouragement, we were unable to write anything close to Alone Again Or. And, drowning in the shame of our blatant albeit undiscovered plagiarism, we never summoned up the nerve to get back in touch with Harry Balk.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to convey how much that kind gesture of affirmation and early vote of confidence means to a kid who’s just getting started. Maurry opened the doors and let us see into a room where the wildest dreams became possibilities.

Thank you, man.

Maurry Glusman was dealt a bad hand
But turned it into a royal flush…
He flew around NW Detroit,
Spreading popsicles and love,
Like an angel on the wings
Of his ice cream truck.
He drove his route
With joy in his eyes
And “It’s Maurry the Ice Cream Man!”
Hand painted just above the bumper.

Excerpted from the Maurry the Ice Cream Man episode of the Don Was Motor City Playlist, hosted by Don Was and Ann Delisi on WDET FM, Fridays from 10:00 to midnight. Streamed live and archived at wdet.org and on Spotify.