Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
She was in her 20’s, a not-long-out-of-school, wet-behind-the ears copywriter for an advertising agency.
Her idea was to make a television commercial for a client. The premise was that the owner of the business was out of town, and the manager “had gone crazy. He had gone too far.”
So, obviously, the manager had to be thrown from the top of an office building. The ever-creative young lady and her production crew went to Dallas, hired a stuntman, and found a three-story warehouse.
What could go wrong?
“We were at the bottom, waiting for them to throw him off the top. They had piled a bunch of boxes at the bottom. They threw him off the top, and he almost missed the boxes. We were standing there like, ‘Oh my gosh.’”
Barely after it began, her promising career was in jeopardy.
“The boxes all slid. Luckily, there was a mattress on the boxes, so he was okay.”
Mary Craigo, in her 39th year as one of our area’s most accomplished, creative advertising executives (think lots of awards), told me that story, and her story, over breakfast (Mary’s schedule did not allow for lunch) at a place she chose, Another Broken Egg in Bossier City. Mary had the Traditional Day Starter with eggs, baked bacon, and toast. I enjoyed a waffle.
“I think differently,” Mary said. “I will be in a meeting, and I will just come up with something. I have people say, ‘She does that all the time.’ My mind is always working.”
One of four children in a military family, Mary was born in Austin, Texas, and moved to California when she was five years old. At an early age, there were signs Mary would go on to do special things.
“My mother kept everything. When I grew up, she gave me a box that had my kindergarten report cards. One of them said, ‘Mary is a very creative child who exhibits natural leadership ability, but she seems to get upset if the other kids won’t do what she wants.’”
That kindergarten teacher was mighty observant.
“It seems like my whole life I’ve always been trying to get people to do stuff. Get people involved in creative endeavors. I like working as a group and doing things that are creative.”
There was also an early sign Mary had business smarts.
“I would put on a talent show in the neighborhood and get the kids together. We would charge 10 cents for people to come and watch.”
Mary’s father was an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. When she was 10, he transferred from the West Coast to Barksdale Air Force Base, to be closer to his parents who lived in Texas.
“The first things I asked my dad were if there were going to be alligators, and did we have to go to school in a Pirogue? I thought it was going to be real swampy.”
Mary thrived in the Haughton school system, where she was an “overachiever.” Just like in kindergarten, Mary had the ability to convince classmates to work together.
”I remember in fifth grade, we had to play softball. I was very near sighted, so I had glasses. I was always afraid the ball would break my glasses. I wasn’t any good. I told my teacher some of us (me) would rather make up dance routines. She let me get a group of girls, and we made up a dance routine. We went off to the side, and she worked out to where we could perform at one of the elementary school’s basketball games.”
Mary would go on to be a member of the famed Haughton High School Highsteppers dance line.
Another example of Mary’s talents was found in her love for writing. When she would get home from school, Mary would put pencil to paper and let her creative juices flow. The beneficiaries included her classmates.
“In high school, I wrote a lot of the kids’ speeches for them. I had a good friend – I wrote every speech she ever gave. I was the class president, so I always gave speeches at events. I tried to make them funny. At our Ring Ding (ceremony), I did a roast of the whole class. I had everyone’s name in there. I just tried to make things fun.”
One speech Mary wrote ended up winning a state competition. So, a local television news reporter interviewed Mary at Mary’s house. Then, Mary went to the reporter’s TV station, where she recited her speech, which was aired for everyone to see. Already thinking about studying radio and television in college, those experiences helped Mary make up her mind.
“I thought, ‘This is the coolest thing ever!’”
At what was then Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana-Monroe), Mary, eager to start her career, graduated in three years. While there, she worked a Friday afternoon shift at the college radio station.
“I didn’t have a car, so my mother would come and pick me up (for the weekend). She would listen to me, and I would always say something to her on the radio. I would say her name, talk about her, or make a joke about her.”
With a degree and a little experience, Mary began looking for full-time work. During that time, she found another talent while working part-time at a local department store.
“I’m a professional gift-wrapper. And I’m fast, because I had to be really fast at it. You couldn’t have any tape showing or anything.”
Thanks to a high school connection, Mary was eventually put in touch with the owner of a local advertising agency, which at the time was a one-person operation. The owner took a chance on Mary. Now, almost 40 years later, Mary co-owns the business.
“I always feel bad for people who don’t know what they want to do. They struggle and bounce around. (My career) has just been a natural progression of what I wanted to do. As far as a bigger market, you always think about that when you’re young. But I was always glad I was here to take care of my parents when they got sick. I think that was part of the plan. I believe there is a plan for everybody, and that was my plan – being the youngest, and being here to take care of my parents when they were leaving the world.”
As if running a company doesn’t take up enough time, Mary – never married and without children – has solo-written and co-written two short movies, both of which made the Top 20 in the Louisiana Film Prize competition. Amazingly, it took her just two hours to write the script for a 15-minue film.
“The first (movie) was a comedy. When the theatre would erupt with laughter, that was the best. I like to hear people laugh. I like to feel like people are enjoying themselves. The other one was sad. So, when I saw people crying, I thought, ‘I did something. I brought out some emotions.’”
Led by her father, Mary grew up in a movie-oriented family. But forget about G-rated Saturday matinees.
“There were no Disney movies for us as kids. I went to see Bonnie and Clyde at the theatre. I went to see Doctor Zhivago. Those were the kind of movies we went to see as a family. There was none of this Pinocchio, and stuff like that. I would go with my friends on the side, but with my dad, he loved The Godfather. Epic type movies. That’s what we grew up watching.”
Surely there was a business owner waiting for Mary to come up with a whacky, or serious, TV or radio commercial idea. So, I asked my final question. As always, what has Mary learned in her life that might be helpful to others?
“I don’t think there are any coincidences. I think everything falls into place, even though it might seem hard – some parts of it. I try to have faith. I believe in fate . . . . Just keep your head down and keep pushing. Keep pushing forward. Try to be kind and good. I’ve been fortunate to have people helped me along the way, so I try to help other people with their careers.”
And help businesses sell their product, even if it means someone being thrown off a building.
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.
The Journal’s weekly “What’s Your Story?” series is sponsored by Morris & Dewett Injury Lawyers.