Childhood

We've had similar nostalgia posted, but here's another: I know some of you can relate like I do and some of you will probably laugh. To me, in some respect, those were the days.

Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
"Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bo ttle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and a nger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

Oh, and just out of curiosity, do any of you young ones read one and say, "what are they talking about?" (i.e. without cheating, how many know where "good night David, Good night Chet" comes from and who it refers to?

TIS,
Did you ever make mud pies?

Thanks, TIS.

Yes, I know Good Night, David and Good Night, Chet though I think that was before I was watching the news.

Those are great observations.

I vividly remember Good Night David, Good Night Chet. I'll send you a PM, TIS, with a good Huntley-Brinkley story that is too long and too irrelevant for this thread.

Other childhood memories....

On weekends and after school we would just go "outside and play." This could mean riding bikes, making us games, playing pick-up baseball, basketball or football. We had to be home before dark in time for dinner. There were no play dates, few organized leagues to attend, it was all improvised and for the most part unsupervised.

Teachers were always right, and I don't remember schools getting sued because someone got a bad grade.

In the suburbs you cuold lay in the street.

Saturdays the movies had "kiddie shows" which usually consisted of several cartoons and a double feature.

Mig, I did make mud pies in my day. I think every kid did.

DT, great Huntley/Brinkley story. I knew some here would remember them.

Oh DT, granted losts of cartoons on Saturday, but I also loved Fury and My Friend Flicka. Remember those?



TIS

Btw, If I'm not mistaken the Huntley/Brinkley duo were imitated by comedians as well no??? Didn't one or both of them smoke? And, wasn't it allowed on the air? My, how times have changed.


TIS

We had a BW TV until I was probably 10. Only one of our neighbors had a color TV... My sister and I were totally awe struck looking at a fantasy TV show for children featuring a golden haired vampire/ghost. And after lots of begging/crying to our father, we got a color TV eventually

SVSG,

We NEVER had a color tv either. I remember being at someone's house when color tv was so new. You're right. It looked so awesome seeing everything in color.

Also, same type thing with dishwashers. How cool were they? My mom never had one of those either....except my sister and I of course. No matter where we'd be invited for dinner, everytime the hostess started to clear the table, my mom would say "sit down, my girls will be happy to do it." My sister and I would of course obediently get up and wash the dishes, but say to each other some smart ass remark like "we gotta do ALL these dishes.

My sister got married and seven months later I got married (1970). Within a year or so my parents moved and my dad bought a color tv and my mom had a dishwasher in her house. To this day we still joke with my dad on how he waited til we were gone before buying those two things.

TIS

I had never seen a dishwasher until 3 years ago
No dining table until I was 7-8. We used to sit on the floor and eat.
No refrigerator until I was 8. Washing Machine came when I was 13 I think. Microwave at 22. I traveled in a plane first time when I was 15. Lot of caveman stuff eventhough I was born in 1979. US of course is/was way ahead of the third world.

Were there even colors back then? like was the world colorful?

Hey they even had forks/spoons back then, not to mention indoor plumbing. Why it was nice not to go down to the river and wash my clothes on the nearest huge rock.

Santino, you know that saying about children being seen an not heard??

TIS

SVSG,

Yes, we here in America must be really spoiled. We take much or granted.

TIS

Of course there were colors - dark, very dark and pitch dark.

Yes I have, I heard it, the quickly dismissed it and got back to what I was saying

You see, I learn something everyday

How many of you remember Douglas Edwards with the news as anchor of CBS evening news when it was only a 15 minute broadcast until it expanded to 30 minutes with Walter Chronkite?

How about Alex Dryer and Paul Harvey on the radio news every evening? I used to listen to them as I did my homework.

I had nuns in grade school and christian brothers in high school. I have the wounds to prove it.

How about staying out until the street lights came on? Did ya'll have hucksters - a guy who came around in a truck and sold vegetables?

No but we had a popsicle/icecream truck. That was a big thrill when the popsicle man came.

I do remember when there was 15 minute news cast, but can't say I remember Douglas Edwards. Walter Cronkite for sure, and Paul Harvey we'd listen to on the radio every day at 12:00 p.m.

I don't remember necessarily the Vegetable truck, but I recall my parents talking about it when they lived in an Italian-American area. They said people would sell not only vegetables but fish. Plus, I remember going to an outside market with my mother where they sold these things, including live chickens. Can't get any fresher than that.


TIS

I remember the huckster coming around once a week in the summer. We also had Elmer, the bread man, who drove through the neighborhood three or four times a week. He was an old man, who would hand deliver the bread to your house. Once in a while, we would get to go in the back of the truck if we were going to buy a dessert.

I remember the milkman although I wouldn't see him as he'd drop off the bottle of milk before 6 AM.

We had a coal furnace and radiators throughout the house for heat. After playing all day in the snow, we would place our gloves and hats and boots on the radiators to dry. Anyone else with coal furnaces? Remember how the coal truck would place the chute into the coal bins and you'd watch the anthracite slide.

Ahh nuns in grade school...they'd hit your knucles with a ruler if you didn't know your multiplication tables.

I remember Douglas Edwards... and I remember that most television anchormen smoked on the air, the most blatant being John Cameron Swayze whose show was sponsored by Camel Cigarettes. I believe it was called the Camel Cavalcade of News or something like that. He'd light up right there on the set.

I don't remember peole selling vegetables as described, but I do remember a guy would come through our neighborhood about once every six months with some kind of contraption that sharpened knives.

As for the open air markets....they are back! There's a huge one on Fridays in Copley Square in Boston, and I thnk they may have chickens and other livestock.

Finally, I believe Paul Harvey is STILL ALIVE and on the air.

Nice thread, TIS.

I remember most of the things you guys are posting. I also remember not having an air conditioner until I was almost 18 years old. My brother and I used to sleep out on the fire escape when it was stifling outside. I mean, this was in the '60s, in the Belmont section of the Bronx. There wasn't much to fear back then.

Speaking of stifling heat, remember the oscillating fans that did NOTHING but spread out the warm air?

That fan is in just about every flashback I have of my mother's kitchen when I was growing up. That and her old fashioned stove and Frigidaire. That's what we called it, the Frigidaire, NEVER the refrigerator. Of course my uncles, who were all born about 80 years old, just called it the "ice-box."

And plastic on the furniture! Well, that had it's own thread a few years ago, but it's still a goodie!

Wow! The milkman. I'd forgotten. Milk in a glass bottle. How about those little bottles at school with the paper caps?

Labriola's was on the corner and they had dried fish in baskets outside.

And AC. Only in theaters. I forget if Gimbels had it. And never in cars. Why didn't we melt? Were we just tougher back then? And gloves on the radiator at school.

And Harvey is still on the radio about 10:45 AM CST. What about Alex Dryer?

Yep. I remember when my parents got a couple of used air conditioners. One was placed in the room that I shared with my two brothers. It was only turned on at night and the door had to be closed. My father would make sure it wasn't on high. It made a loud rumbling noise, but I don't remember it keeping me up.

Yeah, and the milkman had other things he delivered... chocolate milk, eggs, & butter for sure, but I think they had other stuff. Also you could get milk that was not homogenized...the cream was on the top and you had to shake the bottle to mix it in, or you could pour off the cream.

And just think what a source of jokes the milkman was...those are al gone now.

Around here you can still buy milk in a glass jar, sure it costs a little more but it's a lot better. Oberweis.

This thread has become quite a trip down Memory Lane. I'm glad some of you are also old enough to remember some of the things we now have as a necessity as being a luxury when we were kids.

Re: Air conditioning - we didn't have an air conditioner until I was about 11 or 12 years old. Before that, my dad used to put a huge fan in the living room window every summer. It was made of steel and had to weigh at least 50 pounds (not anything like today's plastic window fans) and it kept the front end of the apartment bearable even during the hottest days. I really don't remember what it was like falling asleep on those hot muggy nights without a/c but I guess that's no problem when you're 8 or 9 years old.

Likewise, my parents would occasionally take me to the movies on a hot summer night simply because those theaters were one of the few gathering areas that had air conditioning. I remember the first time I went to a theater at night (it was a hot summer evening) and saw a grownup movie - it was a Martin & Lewis comedy (Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were partners in a very successful comedy team then).

Re: Milkman- We had a milk machine (a vending machine that sold quarts of milk in cardboard containers) in the basement of our apartment building so, even though I saw plenty of milkmen in the neighborhood, my family didn't use one. We did, however, have seltzer and chocolate syrup delivered to us every week. The old, heavy seltzer bottles with the spray spigot on top were fun to play with, and making an egg-cream became an adventure.

Re: Television - No cable then. We had 6 or 7 over the air broadcast channels and some would go off the air each night at 11:00 p.m. before coming back on at 6:00 a.m. If you tuned to those channels when they weren't broadcasting you'd probably see a test pattern.

If you went to a movie in the mid 1960's you'd probably have to wait on line, and while waiting you'd get a theater employee asking you to sign a petition that was anti-"pay t.v." (what they called cable then).

There weren't any vcr's then, so if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you'd have to watch what was being broadcast on t.v.

My grandmother had the soda man, which included those bottles of seltzer that made the BEST egg creams!! We had a milk man, but nothing else delivered to the house. When I was playing house and my Raggedy Ann was "bad", her punishment was to be placed in the milk box.

We didn't have any vegetable guys or anything, but my mom did when she was younger. She said that they had a code for the fruit and vegetable guy. My grandmother would send her out to buy bananas, but not if they were too small. However, you couldn't risk insulting the fruit man, so my mother would yell into the house, "Ma! They have Uncle Philly bananas today!" Uncle Phil was my mother's brother and was quite short. To this day, we refer to anything small as being "Uncle Philly".

I do remember the Fuller Brush man. He sold brushes door-to-door, which is an odd thing to sell that way if you think about it. We also had the ice cream trucks - Mr. Softee, Good Humor and Bungalow Bar. I loved the Bungalow Bar truck, mostly because it was looked like a little house on wheels.

I liked the street vendors best. In the summer there was the coconut man, who had chunks of fresh coconut which was kept cool by a little fountain. In the winter there was the chestnut man. No Christmas shopping trip was complete without a visit to the chestnut man.

We finally got a color TV in 1974 as a house-warming gift from my Uncle Bob and Aunt Clara. I remember being amazed that the NBC peacock's tail was all different colors.

I remember the milk man and the coal man. In the winter the birds would peck through the tops of the bottles of milk to get to the cream. I always thought the coal man had the worst job in the world but he seemed to be the happiest man alive. Always cheery and singing, he would pinch my cheek and leave a smear of coal dust there every time!

Channels 2,4,5,7,9 and 11 in New York, right, SC? Plus, channel 13 for Public Television.

Remember the Bowery Boys on channel 5 (WNEW), Abbott and Costello on channel 11 (WPIX), and all the great old black and white movies on channel 9 (WOR)?

And Christmas Day: MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS on channel 11!

Wow, there was a Man for everything kinda like greek and roman gods

Having grown uo in the heart of Little Italy in the Bronx, we were fortunate in that we weren't slaves to the vendors that came door-to-door, because they were literally right downstairs.

I still go every Saturday morning to pick up some odds and ends and bullshit with the few remaining old timers.

Oh, Olivant, the concept of dried fish in a basket is alive and well at both Cosenza's and Randazzo's fish markets on Arthur Avenue.

Does anyone remember the barrel full of snails? I want to say that this was at the fish store, but the picture in my head is from the vegetable store.

I remember the black and white movies that would come on to "Tara's Theme". And King Kong would be on Channel 9 every Thanksgiving. It was as much of a tradition in our house as the Macy's parade.

I do remember the snails, Babe. Which just brought back another memory for me. I know the Brooklyn guys will remember, as well.

Remember those old roadside "crab shacks" out in the Rockaways, Sheepshead Bay and Long Beach?

They're illegal now, but the crabbers used to set up makeshift "shacks" right near the inlets and bridges in the Rockaways, then sell their catch right there. They were great. My mother would but a dozen or so for a couple of bucks and make the most delicious spaghetti fra diavlo with them.

Summers in Rockaway and Long Beach, a great personal memory for me.

Same here SC. We just had 1 window unit in my parents bedroom. The Col's Grandma had one of those 50lbs fans in KY. I'll you tell you what that thing really cooled the house down good when she turned it on.



If the President was on your night was shot. We never got cable till I was a senior in high school. And the remote wasn't wireless it had a phone wire hooked to it.

Did anybody else use a tv tray as a tv stand?

Remote? In my house, *I* was the remote. Change the channel for Daddy! He wants to check the score.

Tell me about it. We never had a remote till we got cable. And we only had one tv in the house.

Same here. We had channels 2, 4, 11, & 13 I think. Remember when a movie that had just come out in the past year or so wouldn't come to TV for years afterward?

Snails? Yes I remember the dried ones, but my sister told me the other day that Labriola's had live ones and that sometimes they'd buy one for a pet.

Pgh has the Strip District and you can still go down there and find all of that fresh stuff in baskets, etc. like when we were kids. Do kids today even know what fresh is?

These were live snails and in Sicilian we call them babbaluci. The wooden barrel would be brimming over, and they would be crawling around on the outside. I thought they were the greatest thing.

SB my mom made bubbaluci a oouple times. As great a cook as my mom is, I could never bring myself to eat snails. I think my sister felt the same way.

As far as AC, I don't think homes back then (in Michigan) were built with AC...at least not until later years. Back in 1964 or so, my dad bought a brand new house and it didn't have AC or a dishwasher for that matter. So, I don't know. Now they have had a couple condos and they are built with AC.

Anyway, I miss front porches. We always had a swing (or glider as my mom would call it). On a hot night we'd sit outside to stay out of the furnace of a house. Many times few friends and neighbors would also stop over and you end up talking for what seemed like hours. Then if the Mr. Softie icecream man drove by, that really hit the spot on a hot day. Those really were the days. Nothing terribly exciting happened, but looking back it truly was a special time.

TIS

We never had AC either. We had one unit in the living room and when it was really hot we'd sleep in there. When my husband and I bought our first house in 1989, that's the first time I ever had central air. Now I can't imagine living without it.

What about telephones?

Nobody had a cell phone and some people didn't even have a standard phone in their home. If you were outside and needed to make a call you'd have to stop at a payphone (many of them were enclosed phone booths) on the street. You had to "dial" the phone (a circular dial - no push buttons) and the area codes were so simple then. One area code (212) covered the entire City of New York - now I think it has six different area codes.

Ah, the old rotary phone. Those things were so heavy you could easily kill someone with one.

My parents had one for years. I don't think my dad ever upgraded to "tone" service because it was an "extra" at one time.

And remember the cool names that phone numbers had? Like FAirbanks 4? And who had a party line? We didn't in the city, but my parents bought a bungalow in Putnam County when I was about 9 and there we had one.

My brother-in-law picked up an old rotary phone that he installed in his garage. His kids had no idea how to use it, having never seen a phone that requires dialing.

We had one of those old rotary phones just like this one.

Yes indeed,proper phones

In addition to the milkman, the huckster and the bread man, we also had a rag man, which the older people called, "The sheeny." I think the use of this term fell out of use because it eventually became an ethnic slur.

Anyhow, the ragman referred to himself as the sheeny and he would drive his flatbed through the neighborhodd. It was essentially a community garage sale on wheels. If our mothers bought from him, he would give the kids candy.

He would also occasionally buy someone's old, weathered lamp for a dime or some pieces of clothing for change.

Did anybody have these kind of roller skates?

Wow, Mig, yes, I had those! One size fits all, right over your sneakers!

I haven't been following this thread much, but as a kid I remember:

1) We had an antenna on the roof, and had to adjust the rotor (that turned it) toward either the NY or Philly station we wanted. Was there more than the 3 networks and PBS at the time on VHF? UHF was kinda useless, but sometimes you could find something.

2) Toys were built to last, out of metal or a much sturdier plastic than you get today. Anyone here buy any "classic" games or toys just to be disgusted with how cheaply they're made these days?

3) Our old B&W TV was relegated to the cutting-edge video game called Pong. We later upgraded to Atari -- snail-slow movable blocks in full primary colors! There were handheld video games, but they were limited to either LED lights or very primitive monochromatic LCD graphics.

4) We had a milkman as well. They delivered in typical quarter containers, but I remember we had some glass milk bottles in the garage they used previously I assume.

5) Before today's typical 2-liter plastic soda bottles, we used heavy-ass glass bottles that held I think 64 oz?

6) iPods with 1000s of songs? Forget it. Around '79 or '80 Sony came out with the Walkman that held one cassette tape. Portable radios? Just AM at first.

7) My dad and older brother had 8-track players in their cars. In about 6th or 7th grade I got an all-in-one record (vinyl) player with cassette, 8-track, and AM/FM radio.

8) I remember hearing air raid sirens often, but I believe at that point they were just used to alert about fires.

9) When cable TV came out, it was a wired box with 3 rows of buttons. That was the remote. There used to be a trick with aluminum foil to descramble the Playboy channel, but I never got it to work very well. Our first "HBO Guide" (they used to mail them to you each month) had King Kong (1976) on the cover.

10) We had a drive-in theater nearby, but I can't with total confidence remember being there. But I think so.

11) Lunch tickets in grade school were 15c I think, maybe 30c. Can't quite recall at the moment. They were green, and you'd tear them out of the book you bought each Monday.

12) Do they still have book mobiles? I always looked forward to getting new Encyclopedia Brown books! Also, even before that, we could order books thru Scholastic Book Club -- I think that was in kindergarten. Through that we'd subscribe to Dynamite and later Bananas magazines -- that was mid-to-late 70s, and I think I still have them somewhere. Then there was the good ol' Highlights for Children you'd see at every doctor's office, even now! In the classroom, we had Weekly Reader.

13) Some of the earliest kids TV shows I recall and watched: Wonderama, New Zoo Revue, The Patchwork Family, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Zoom, Mr Rogers Neighborhood, The Magic Garden, Captain Kangaroo, H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (gotta love Sid and Marty Krofft!), Fat Albert, Gumby, Davey and Goliath, Mickey Mouse Club (1950s series reruns), The Wonderful World of Disney, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Punch and Judy (was that part of another show?), Howdy Doody, ...there are a lot more, I'm sure.

More to come...

This is an outstanding thread.

TELEPHONES Before and even after the introduction of rotary phones you had to call the operator to place a long distance call, and you had the option of "person to person" which cost more, but was free if the person you were calling wasn't home, or "station to station" which always cost. I think there was a set pric for three minutes, and it skyrocketed after that. When you got or placed a long distance call it was a really big deal. If you called long distance to relatives for Christmas the conversations would last no more than those three minutes. As for overseas calls, you would have to wait hours or even days to get through.

Changing the subject a bit, I remember having a conversation with my kids when they were about 15 and 13 respectively, and telling them that when I was growing up there was no remote, no clor television, no dvd's vcr's video games etc., that if you wanted to heat something up you had to put it in a pot on th stove cause there were no microwaves. I explained to them about carbon paper, and how if you typed something perfectly and screwed up the last line you had to re-type the whole thing over. The looked at me like I was crazy.

I remember when Wite-Out (correction fluid) came out. It covered a mis-typed mistake and you could type over it, saving the process of re-typing the whole page again.

Personal computers sure have made typing a whole lot easier!

Manual typewriters were a pain in the ass, especially with the carbon paper. I got an electric one when I went off to college, which was better because it had that correction tape cartridge. It wasn't until Grad School that I dusted off the old Apple //e and dot matrix printer and used that to write papers. And egads -- remember when we had to spend hours and hours at the library to research something?? I wish the Internet was around then, my grades may've been better (if I could ignore the distractions )

Fun fact: Liquid Paper (Wite out) was invented by Bette Nesmith, wife of Mike Nesmith of The Monkees. She patented it, and they're stinkin' rich off of it!

It was his mother, actually

Oops, you're right, Geoffy!


But I got the rich part right, didn't I?

I was born in New York, but moved to Florida when I was 11. At the time Florida was segregated, and I have a distinct memory of "white" and "colored" drinking fountains, bathrooms, movie theatres, EVERYTHING. It seemed absolutely insane, and I know it had a huge impact on me then and to this day. Not one of the better memories of "a more innocent time."

You're right about the rich part, but I think he did alright himself. According to Wiki, "Michael inherited half of his mother's $50+ million estate. The remainder financed the Council on Ideas, a think tank devoted to exploring world problems."

Holy crap - look how old he looks now!

Geoff, you watched Land of the Lost to? I remember watching Davey and Goliath on Sunday mornings before going to church. I use to love that show.

Have you seen that show on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network Moral orel? One of the characters looks like Davey. I haven't watched it yet.

No, Mig, never heard of it... I don't really watch Cartoon Network much unless something grabs me while flipping around.

I can NOT believe you just posted that!

I was just going make a post about my grandfather explaining the Jim Crow curfew to me in Miami in the mid '60s. This was pre-Disney, so we were at the Diplomat in Hallandale, where my family loved to stay back then. I was 6 or 7 years old and it had a profound impact on me. It's the single biggest reason I became so obsessed with civil rights.

I've only seen the commercials for it when I watch Family Guy on the Cartoon Network.

Anyone remember the show "Whirlybirds?"

Heck, yea. Great show for its time.

All of these memories posts, thay are so cool. It's good to know that so many of of us have shared in these things. I had forgotten about the long distance calls and having to go through the operator. Did you try that thing where you would call someone person to person and they would say they're not here and you'd say I'll call back at 1:00 and that meant that you were arriving at the airport at 1 so you didn't have to pay for the call? And remember when you would yell at someone "It's long distance, hurry up" And rotary phones. Remember the scene fron In & Out with Kevin Kline when Matt Dillon's skinny model girlfriend tries to use the rotary phone int heir motel and keeps trying to press the holes in the dial? God, how would this generation have survived back then?

That reminds me when my brother was in college out of state. Collect calls cost more, so he'd place a collect call then we'd say the person wasn't available. But then we knew he was home and wanted us to call him back direct.

Sure... that was a way to call someone to say you'd arrived safely. What my family did was use the name of the person who was calling....whoever was on the other end would say he's not here now. Yes that scene from In and Out was a hoot.

My cousin used to do that with his son when the boy was in college. He would use a code name (it was stupid like John Smith or something), my cousin would say that Mr. Smith was not home, and that meant that my cousin should call his son back at the dorm.

After graduation, my cousin's son was offered a job at a bank near the university. He had met a girl, and decided to live up there. The first time his now-employed son called again for "John Smith", my cousin told the operator, "Tell him that Mr. Smith is dead," and hung up the phone.

I also remember drug store counters and soda shops where they mixed coca cola syrup with carbonated water when you ordered a coke. We always used to ask for extra syrup! Is there any pharmacy that still serves food?

Also there were very few chain restaurants or stores. The biggest one I think was Howard Johnson's which now has no restaurants.

I doubt it.

Remember when the department stores had cafeterias?

I vividly remember eating lunch at John Wanamaker's in Cross County Shopping Center. Woolworth's had a lunch counter in Cross County, as well.

In a few years we'll simply say "remember when there were department stores?"

No joke. Between the Internet, Wal-Marts, and the price clubs, it's almost over already.

It used to be you'd go to the department store right before the school year and get all your school clothes. Because I was in Catholic school we had to buy jackets and ties from the school, but all the rest came from the department store. Also there used to be a rule that when you came home from school you would change from your "school clothes" to your "play clothes," and God help you if you went off and played a game or whatever in your "good" shoes!

I know what you mean. I, too, went to Catholic school. For 17 years!

We got our school clothes at Gimbels. For the big events, like the making of a Sacrament, we went to Lubin's in Cross County, where they had a boys department to go along with their menswear.

How about department store windows at Christmas? My mother used to take us downtown to look at the window displays. I'm not sure they do that anymore. And what about model trains at Christmas? My dad always set one up under the tree. I still have the Lionel from 1948. But I wonder how that tradition got started.

My husband has his dad's trains. It took me some time to find him a transformer for it, but I hunted one down at a train show. They're still in beautiful shape.

PB, my aunt was a buyer for Wanamaker's. We used to go visit her at work (she was the only woman I knew who had an assistant and her own office) and then up to the cafeteria. She would always buy my a dress or something before we left. For years, I wore the coat she had bought for me the Christmas I turned 16. It was peach wool with an opposum collar.

DT, my dad was a pharmacist (they used to say druggist) and he had a soda fountain in the store where he worked. When he went to another store, we had to go to the candy store for sodas. I loved cherry cokes, made with real cherry syrup.

I remember going downtown with my mom during Christmas. The department store had a train ride, Rudolph with his flashing red nose, he'd talk to you and give you a present; and of course that particular store had the "real" Santa. Ha ha...I remember the feeling, standing in line kind of nervous to talk to Ol' Santa. Can't replace those honest to goodness "kid" feelings.


TIS

My mother took me to Macy's one year for Christmas... I thought they had the REAL Santa. I was allowed 30 seconds to sit on his lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas.

I guess that was my first clue that the whole Santa deal was a crock... 30 seconds and then get pushed off his lap so the next little kid could go through the same thing?

That sucks SC. I'll tell you, the Santa stage for kids sure doesn't last long at all. By the time the child is in kindergarten or first grade, some smart ass "killjoy" let's them know there is no Santa. At first you tell your child that "Johnny doesn't know what he' talking about", but that only goes for so long. But, to be pushed or rushed off Santa's lap, that's awful.

On the bright side, we all live through the harsh realization that there is no Santa, and are not emotionally damaged (that I know of) Still, I remmber he disappointment when I found out. Long live Santa!!!!!!!!

TIS

What do you mean - there's no Santa?? WTF are you people talking about???

Oh no!!! I made SB cry. She'll be an emotional wreck now. Don't cry SB, there's still the Easter Bunny which by the way, wasn't it a little hard, even as a kid to wrap yourself around the idea of a Bunny that hops around delivering candy?). I guess we all believed though. Damn, did I ruin that now too?



TIS

I started getting suspicious when there were so many Santas in different stores, and I remember my mom telling me they were his "helpers" and that the real Santa was at Macy's. I was disappointed when I learned the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny, but at least we still have the tooth fairy.

I think Klyd mentioned the rag man. We had a rag and bone man who used to come round on his cart and collect all the old crap left out in the streets.

He was a filthy old grump. Not surprisingly we called him Steptoe

A little off-topic for a second.... Kirk Douglas wrote a wonderful autobiography called "The Ragman's Son" (his father was a ragman). I'd recommend it highly to anyone who likes biographies! (My mother recommended it to me many years ago - her grandfather was a ragman when he first came to the U.S. in the late 1880's). Very good book!

Read it SC... it is a great autobiography.

TIS is just not happy unless she ruins everything for me.

Put some coal in her stocking SB.

Silly Mig!! That's Santa's job!! Oh, wait, TIS told me that there is no Santa!!!

All that Cali. sunshine has fried her brains. She don't know what she is talking about. I seen him. Can you?

Don't worry SB. There'a Santa. It's me. Just ask my kids. Year round too.

I believe in Santy still!

Every Xmas Eve we leave him a can of beer next to the fire and in the morning it has always been drunk

You sleepwalk?

I remember eating a Play-Doh sandwich. Ewwwwwwww. Tasted like...Play-Doh.

I was on the phone with my friend when he said out of nowhere "No, Santa doesn't like oranges!" Turns out his 1 year old daughter was putting a stuffed bear in a santa outfit in her oranges and giggling.

Another thread reminded me of this...Sunday dinner was always around 1 or 2:00. We'd go to church, and I'd always have a dress on (Sunday best) . It was more or less understood that you dress up on Sunday.

Oh, and we'd of course always have nice dinners, but certain dinners simply were NOT Sunday dinners (i.e. we'd never have meatloaf or hot dogs/hamburgs on a Sunday)


TIS

True, TIS. We always had Spaghetti, ravioli, or roast. I'd devour the sunday paper waiting on dinner. And church was an absolute must. Even when I got older. God, will those days ever return?

Oh, and speaking of Sunday dinner, I'm guessing this was only at my house, BUT we only had soda on Sunday. It was always a treat. The only thing is, my mom would buy the cheap stuff like "Sun-Glo" orange or whatever.


TIS

My dad made rootbeer.

While my Mom was alive Sunday dinners were great. She would put the ham in the oven to cook while we were at church. By the time we got home the ham was done and you can smell it as soon as you walked in the house. Boy do I miss her.

I remember my mom cooking salmon patties out of a can, I hated the smell and refused to eat them. For some reason my dad was getting pissed off that I didn't eat them and was yelling at me and slammed his hands down on the table knocking over a bunch of glasses and whatnot. I didn't eat them. I was a stubborn bastard back then too.

Because we had to fast until Communion, we always went to the early mass on Sunday morning. We'd be all dressed up and, weather permitting, we'd walk to church. On the way home, we'd stop at the bakery and get danish for breakfast. After breakfast, my mom would make the meatballs and gravy, or we'd eat at my grandmother's. Sometimes we would have ravioli. It was always made from scratch on this special wooden board and my job was to pinch the edges together with a fork.

SB, just curious what time was the early mass?

We usually went to either the 8 or 9. Then they changed the fasting rule to one hour before receiving communion, so people started to go to the later masses.

Why do you have to fast before communion? Does that rule still apply today? Still curious.

Yes, it still applies. Only, now you only have to fast for an hour, not midnight Saturday.

I always peferred to go to the 11:30 a.m. mass on Sunday. However, when I was older, and had a car and plans to go out on weekends, I loved it when they started having Saturday mass. 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. was perfect. I go to church and go out with friends.

Not only that, I didn't have to worry about getting up early (10:00 a.m) Sunday to go to church.


TIS

Madonne, I remember those midnight fasts.

I remember being worried that I would swallow tothpaste before going to communion!

In my country, in the old days, people had to go to mass every day. You could choose: 5:30 AM, 6:30 AM, or 7:30 AM. The priest would speak in Latin, his back turned to the people. Chairs were made just as uncomfortable as was needed to effectively massacre your lower regions. Yeah, those were the days.

This is more of a "Catholic" story than a childhood memory, although it did involve childish behavior. When we were seniors at an all boys Catholic School, we had to go for a three day retreat where they pretty much had us praying and going to confession, fasting and all the rest. Naturally many of the group brought an ample supply of alcohol to the event, and the first night everyone was pretty hammered. After "lights out" many students rn wild through the hallways, setting off fire alarms, and reaking total havoc. To say the least the people running the retreat let alone out teachers who accompanied us were very pleased. At 3:00 A.M. we were marched into a darkened chapel where an eerie light shone up at the face of a priest who read us the liturgical riot act, all but damning our souls to hell. This dude was SCARY. Then, at they end of his tirade he made us all kneel down and as a "sacrifice" made everyone spread his arms as if we were crucified for three minutes. After about two minutes of this, arms get VERY heavy and people were haveing obvious trouble
holding the position. As about half the arms dropped this priest, still glaring at us said "Jesus had his arms stretched like that for three hours, yet none of you can do it for three minutes. From the back of the group someone shouted, "Yeah, but he had nails to hold his hands up." I never laughed so hard in my life. The following morning the retreat was cancelled, we were put on a bus and sent home.

Brother Leonard would have said "Oh yeah wiseguy. Come here and let's show them."

We had Brother Peter, who was the Dean of Discipline. The man could easily have played for the Tennessee Titans. He was huge, and literally could scare the crap out of you with one glance.

I had to go on one of those retreats, Don T. Mount Saint Michael: Class of 1977.

The school is run by the Marist brothers, yet for some reason there weren't any Marist retreat sites available that year. So we went up to Graymoor in Garrison, New York, which is run by the Franciscan brothers. It's a really beautiful place, where they shelter homeless men for up to three months at a time.

I still like to drive up there every so often. It's a great place to unwind from city life.

Marist brothers,Franciscan brothers I'm sorry those names sound mafiaish to me.

I didn't even mention La Salle Academy.

Oh, Mig, you so did NOT mess with the brothers. I'd be very careful if I were you. I would not rule out some serious wrath of God lightning.

Say a prayer for my soul.

Please St. Jude, have mercy on her!

Ha ha ha... Isn't St. Jude the patron saint of lost causes??? Quick thinking DT!! Ohhhhhhh Mig your ass is in a sling now.



TIS

Another true story...same high school


Every Tuesday we had to go to confession in the morning before class. There was this priest, Father Kuhn, who was a total dork. He could not control us at all. One Tuesday we got about 10 guys to go into confession and tell him that we had sex with the same girl the saturday night before. Each story was more lurid than the one before it...one said they did it on the hood of a car, one aid he did it underneath the football stands, etc. In each case we mentioned the girl's name.

Kuhn was absolutely livid, and when we got to his class he started in on us for abusing the sacrament. One smart ass raised his hand and said "Father I thought you could not talk about what you heard in confession." He turned beet red and stormed out of the room. The following day he was replaced by a really tough no nonsense guy who beat the crap out of some kid who was strolling into class late. After that he told us he was in the Navy and what a tough guy he was and how he would not put up with our crap. The next day we marched into the classroom humming Anchors Aweigh and saluting him saying "Permission To Come aboard SIR!"

I guess I'm in trouble huh?
I lived by a St. Judes church growing up.

I understand that they monitor this Board.

Uh oh!! I'm being stalked again.

Didn't hot dogs taste better back then?

Everything tasted better back then.

Summer lasted FOREVER back then:D

It was just great being a kid back then.

In High School we had a substitute teacher who was old, hard of hearing, maybe a little senile...His name was Mr. Rector.

"Mr. Rectum, I have a question!"

I can't believe you were the first to think of that!! Rector/Rectum...!! How did you EVER make that connection??!!

HAHA my friend has an math teacher who is a Wigger, he said before he came to our school, he was "Makin Mad Coin In Da Bronx"

Does he have an English teacher?

I wasn't, but being in high school it was entertaining. Those classes were the best.

I always splattered ketchup on the cafeteria walls, it stayed for years. We'd shoot spitwads at each other during class. One classroom had a ceiling fan and we'd throw banana peels up at it...

Very "cool"

YEs he deos, but i dno't undersand en of dat stuf

At least back then I didn't do adolescent B.S.

...I was taking the mufagga apart! I still have hand railings, locker doors, signs, all kinds of nuts and bolts... I wasn't redecorating, I was demolishing! lol

HAHAHA damn JG

Had tablets of hall passes too...

Wait, did they even have schools yet back when you are a teenager?

No we didn't have "schools" yet, we were meeting in that field beside the lake you may've seen in Quest for Fire -- hey, at least WE got laid! lol

But seriously...

I had a pocketful of blank yet signed hall passes for any occasion. Yet most of the time, I didn't need one. I r00led! lol

You keep thinking that.

You're right... I was a total loser dork. BUT... I did have blank yet SIGNED hall passes... and owned the staircases

YOU TOOK THOSE TOO?????

LOL, no, not the stairs... they were built in. Just the railings... lol

I used to rip the gym locker doors off their hinges with my bare hands, but don't tell anyone...

oooooooh, I thought you and your friends... er I mean friend took Jackhammers to the stairs

Because Lying is a sin?

No, because felony is a sin. lol

I had a football(round variety),a bike and my pals and the run of the streets(no grass anywhere near us back then)and we were happier than pigs in poop

I wonder if everyone stole school property way back when...I remember asking my brother where the clock with bars around it came from.

One of the great childhood memories was smelling freshly mimeographed paper.

My daughter was looking through a box of old books in the loft and came across an old school book of mine about the Tudors. Dated 1978

Funny thing is,she is studying the Tudors at school just now so she was pleased.

I was just appalled that i am so old

I remember seeing in the halls of my Jr. High School a big poster saying "Time will pass but will you?"

Not to mention what's left will probably all go in the malls lol

What was everyone's High School sports team called?

Mine....The Kentwood Falcons Of all animals, a bird????



TIS

Mine is The Bayside Bears

Scranton Prep Cavaliers.

Central Catholic Vikings.

What was Scranton's mascot Kly? What were your school colors?
Mine was red and black. Funny thing, the middle school I work at now has the same school colors.

Isn't there a professional team called the Vikings Olivant? Seems like a Michigan team maybe???? Then you know how much I know about sports.

TIS

We were the Elyria High Pioneer's. Our colors were red & white.

The Bayside Bear's colors are Teal and white

Minnesota

We didn't really have a mascot, but our colors were purple and gold.

It was a Jesuit high school, still only one of two in PA. Our sports teams did very well while I was there. I didn't play football, but the team won the Eastern State Championship, which was as far as you could go then. For the postseason games a student dressed in a full cavalier costume and rode a horse on the track behind the sidelines.

Chaminade Lions colors Scarlett and Columbia Blue

Mine was the Valhalla Vikings and the team colors were maroon and white.

Toms River HS South Indians, also maroon and white.

Frankfort Hot Dogs...

That logo is good for scaring little children away.

Ours were blue and gold.

UK schools don't have anything like cool names or mascots which is a shame. Any school team i played for was just called the first team.

Boring

In high school we were the Mount Saint Michael Mountaineers. In college we were the Fordham Rams.

Not only is my high school the friggin HOT DOGS my college is the Sycamores!

Watch out for those trees!

Back when we were children all teams (except the Red Sox and Whits Sox) ended with the letter "s." No more.

Ahh, you're a Jesuit boy, like me. Fordham was the alma mater of Gordon Liddy, I believe.

Our college name was the Royals. We were purple and white. We won a Division III national championship in basketball in a game, played in Wisconsin. Before the game most of us ate at a Burger King where someone got the idea of wearing the paper crowns to the game (like low budget Royals). The game was aired on ESPN and the analyst made some cracks about our crowns throughout the game.

Yes I am, Klyd.

Fordham is where I developed my split personality (half liberal, half bat-shit insane ).

Yes I am, Klyd.

Fordham is where I developed my split personality (half liberal, half bat-shit insane ). [/quote]

We're a bunch of Recovering Catholics!

Things may have changed however,my 2 eldest boys who play football (outside of school) have names for their teams now.

Andrew plays for the Longbenton Mags and Mikey plays for the Longbenton Lions.

Wait...that's not the same side?

I had to search for this thread because I was in Manhattan early this morning. I think I've posted about my 97 year old aunt in the past. The woman is amazing. She owns an 8 family walkup apartment building on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village and she's still very much hands on. Every bit the landlady. I do, however, help her out with a good portion of the legal issues (namely landlord-tenant issues).

Anyway, this morning I get down there at about a quarter to seven. She has my breakfast on the table, which was great. But here's the reason for the post: She still uses old jelly jars as drinking glasses! Does any one remember this but me and my insane (often frugal) Italian family?

I guess before disposable cups and tupperware became so widely available, people were less likely to throw glass containers away? I'm sure TB could give me an answer.

97 years old. Very fortunate in terms of her financial situation. And still serving orange juice out of an old jelly jar .

Only in America.

No, I remmeber the jelly jars some of which were purposely marketed as glasses.

I remember my family doing this. I kind of liked them.

PB, what a great lady. I had an aunt much like yours. She was 90 years old and lived like a lady half her age. Shortly after she turned 91 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She opted out of all the usual treatments saying she has lived a great life and whatever would be would be. She passed away within months - but what a lady! She baked her world famous choco chip & walnut cookies and made her delicious nut gravy weeks before she passed. I will always remember her giving me tons of drawing paper, pens and pencils to feed my love of cartooning. She was a frugal Italian lady who worked for the City of Chicago. Whenever they were going to throw away old letterhead paper or an outdated form, she would have the janitors save it "for her nephew who was going to be a famous cartoonist someday." She was great and I'll always remember her frugal, youthful zest for life. I love having those experiences and memories of the past generation.

If by jelly jars, you mean canning jars(my mom did a lot of canning, including jelly), I do believe I remember my mother using them as drinking glasses (or maybe it was my grandmother). Anyway, I remember seeing these jars in the garage with nails/screws in them and also using them to keep bugs or some kind in them, pokig a couple airholes in the top. I laugh as I say this because I am sno NOT a nature girl now that I'd even consider catching bugs.

TIS

Yeah we would use jelly/mason jars to drink out of. Matter of fact I have a couple of them in my cabinet that I use to drink out of.

Welch's began the tradition of packaging jelly in commemorative jars that were designed to be used as drinking glasses in 1953. Its first subject was Howdy Doody. It was such a success that new series were released every couple of years. Others who were honored included Davy Crockett, the aforementioned Flintstones (three different series released in the early 60's), the Archies, Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers characters, football teams, Tom and Jerry, Dr. Seuss, and many others.

Wow, Olivant. I remember a lot of those. I remember the Flintstones vividly, but I guess a guy your age remembers the actual dinosaurs, huh?

I also had one as a pet. I trained him to fetch the Stone Gazette.

So the dinosaurs and the humans did co-exist.

Sarah Palin's a genius .

10 REASONS WHY I OWE MY MOTHER


1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .
'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL .
'If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!'

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
' Because I said so, that's why.'

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .
'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me.'

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.'

7. My mother taught me IRONY
'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about.'

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM .
'Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
'You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone.'

As a kid i remember being desperate to be older!

Now i am older i wish i was young again

My childhood lasted much longer than my children's did.

Looking back on the posts in this thread, I was reminded of the awe in which we held kids who attended Catholic schools. They regaled us with vivid tales of the brutality of the Brothers and Sisters--what would happen to girls whose skirts weren't well below the knee, or who wore scarves to hide hickeys; or to guys who mouthed off. Later, when I entered the work force, I'd meet guys who'd gone through Catholic schools. "What was the teaching order?" I'd ask. "The Irish Christian Brothers," they'd spit out (in NYC, they had the reputation for being the most brutal--the Jesuits were considered too intellectual to get physical). "Did they beat you up?" "Dey beat da piss outta me!" "Would you send your kids to Catholic school?" "Yeah, sure! Teach 'em discipline."

As for jelly glasses: When I lived in genteel Summit NJ, the Central Presbyterian Church had a nice series of concerts at noontimes during Lent. People were encouraged to bring brown bag lunches. All the old ladies in town showed up with watercress sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper, and jelly glasses filled with milk.

You know I went to a Catholic school from 4th thru 7th grade. Were the nuns intimidating? Yes!!! Was the school strict? Yes! As a matter of fact, I did more poorly at Catholic school then I did at public school, which might be considered a plus as far as education goes for the Catholic school.

However, as strict as the nuns were, I never recall anybody being mistreated or manhandled or hit with a ruler, etc. Maybe I am in the minority. I don't know. I hear many stories from others like TB shared.

My school (and parish) was an Italian Parish with the Priest and nuns (I forgot which order the nuns were?? Consolota..they wore gray habits) right from the old country...they all spoke very broken English. Of course, so did my grandmothers (who really didn't speak English), so I guess I was kind of use to it.

On thing that makes me look back and chuckle is when Sister Celestia would get frustrated because we were all talking and horsing around, she would grab a stack of books on her desk, keeping them in a pile and then holding them, slammed them on the desk 3 or four times, saying in broken English..."mah....Is eeeet posseeble?" Ha ha..she'd get so frustrated. But, we did listen. She never had to do that twice in a day if I recall.

Oh, and when our Priest, Father Davanzo, walked in the room, we stood and as a group said, "Good Morning Father". He was kind of a scary Priest and had a sharp tone.

TIS

Oh, yes, I remember standing for the priest as well, and saying all together in a sing-song voice, "Good morning, Father!". I went to Catholic school 1st through 8th grade. Our nuns were VERY strict, and I do remember beatings with a ruler, although I never got one. It was mostly the "hold out your hand" variety, and you'd get a good rap across the knuckles, God forbid if you pulled your hand away.

The one thing I remember was first grade, and all the nuns were in to-the-floor habits. I guess that summer was Vatican II, and when we went back to school for second grade, they were all wearing the "airline stewardess" variety of habits. After another year or so, they were in street clothes, all except for Sister Mary Phillip. She was about four feet tall, 112 years old, wore the old-fashioned habits until her death, and we were all terrified of her.

However, when I made the transition to public school (and with 50+ kids to a class, btw), I was light years ahead in math in reading. Science not so much, though.

Speaking of Habits, I was a little before you SB so none of the nuns were modernized with shorter habits (right from Italy they were literally off the boat).

Anyway, we had only one non-Italian nun, and she was right from Scotland (Sister Elizabeth). A very fun, jolly type person who would think nothing of shooting hoops with the kids outside. One very windy day her veil (head cover, geez, I don't even rememaber the term) flew off and everyone was like "OMG"!! Ha ha ha. She picked it up, put it on and continued the game.

TIS

My mom was raised in a day-care center run by nuns. They weren't really supposed to take her because she was so little, but it was the Depression, and my grandmother needed to work, so they used to hide her in the convent. She saw them without their veils (I think they're called wimples??) and knew that they had very short hair. When all the other kids used to speculate that they shaved their heads, she used to get very upset, because the other kids never believed her when she said that the nuns weren't bald.

SB,

I assume you went to mass everyday while in Catholic school? And, I assume it was in Latin? We would answer the Priest in Latin and even sing the responses in Latin.

The priest I mentioned (Father Davanzo), once went to Lourdes France where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Bernardette. He brought back for each of us (it was a small school with less than 100 kids) a medal of Our Lady Of Lourdes which were placed on the exact spot that Mary stood and blessed. I still have that medal.

My younger daughter who is going thru rough times right now saw it and asked about it. I gave to her to wear, told her the story and she was so interested that I purchased the old old movie which told it better.

Anyway, if you (or anyone else)remembers there was a song about Bernadette that we'd sing in church . I can't remember the title nor can I find it. All I know is it does have the lyrics "Ave Ave, Ave Maria" in it, but it isn't "The" Ave Maria. I think I heard that line only in the old movie.

Just wondering. We learned so many religious songs back than. Every now and then, one will ring a bell and I'll think, "Hey, I know that."

Sorry for boring others. I'm religiously nostalgic today I guess.

TIS

I remember Latin vaguely and the "old-timers" expressing outrage at the switch. We didn't go to church every day, but did go often. I also remember saying the Rosary during May.

Do you remember having your throat blessed on St. Blaise's feast day?? The priest would had these two candles tied together to make an X, and he would lay them on your throat. It had something to do with St. Blaise saving a child from choking to death.

I did K-12 in catholic chool K-8 was taught by Dominican nuns, many of whom were off the boat from Ireland. They claimed to have eyes in the back of their head. They'd walk around with a large pointer or a 36 inch ruler and wack your hands if you screwed up on a multiplication question, a catechism answer and just about anything else.

If you got caught talking they would tape your mouth. And if
you committed an offense serious enough to be ent to the principl's office you would get paddled on the butt 10-15 times depending on the offense. We were terrified of them.

9-12 I had Marianist priests and brothers. Also very big on corporal punishment, only they used fists.

By the time we were seniors we pretty much knew how to get away with all kinds of things. One of my favorites was this:
Every Tuesday morning they had confesions set up starting about an hour before school started. They were "optional."
About ten of us decided to tell the priest the same story, which was basically that we had sex with a girl. What we did was say it happened the previous Saturday ...the first guy in said he did it at 8:00 in the back seat of a car, the second guy said 8:30 on the hood of the car, third guy said 9:00 on a blanket under stadium seats....and so forth. Each description
contained more graphic acts, and included doing things in every oraface of her body, multiple times, by the time the last guy confessed. Later in the day we had this priest for religion class, and he knew exactly who had done this. He started to rant about our sinful abuse of confession, that he knew who did it and that we would pay for it, etc. I raised my hand and asked "Father I thought you were bound to keep confessions a complete secret. Why are you telling us this?"
By then everyone knew of the stunt and the clas went nuts laughing. I got five demerits for "causing a disruption." Ten demerits would get you suspended so it was harsh. He then became emotional and told us to put our head down and pray silently. Of course doing that makes one laugh even harder.
Within two days he was replaced by another priest it was rumored the first priest had some kind of nervous breakdown.
This priest told us he knew "all about" our class (we were 30 guys who'd been together for four years) what smart asses we were, and how he'd been in the navy, how tough he was and how he wasn't going to take any crap from us. The following day we marched single file into the classroom humming "Anchors Aweigh." Once we got to our assigned seats the president of the class saluted and said "Permission to come aboard SIR!"
This guy was pissed, and railed at us for an hour. The following day one of us had to go to the dentist and had a note excusing him from school. When he returned it was about 20 minutes into th class, and his face was all puffy from the dental work and it looked like he was sneering. This priest went ballistic and told the kid to "Get that smirk off your face" and the more he tried the worse he looked. The priest then decked the kid right in the mouts. Blood was everywhere.
Somebody knew about the dentist appt. and got up and took the note from the semi consciou kids hand and announced he had a pass to go to the dentist, and was not smirking, but that his expression was due to the numbness in his mouth and the dental work.
We then all signed a petition againt him for hitting an innocent kid for no good cause. He was replaced a week later.

Wow, that's really something DT!! Wow!! You guys had a lot of guts that's for sure. And, although not surprised, I'm glad to see the Priest was booted out.

Boy, I would think you'll always remember that incident as vividly now as then. Thanks for sharing.

TIS

How's this for a Bronx/Catholic education?

No wonder I'm such a mess .

K-8 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School: Bronx, NY (Carmelite Nuns)

9-12 at Mount Saint Michael Academy: Bronx, NY (Marist Brothers)

B.A. at Fordham University: Bronx, NY (Jesuit Priests and Brothers)

I was taught by nuns in grade school and christian brothers in high school. It was dang tough, but I remember it with fondness and I appreciate the learning and discipline. I remember Sister Teresa Mary in 6th grade whom I fell in love with. I also remember Brother Leonard in high school wwho was a former Marine Drill Instructor and believe me he was every bit of it at school. He actually wore a black cape. You talk about Darth Vader! He was well over 6 ft. and weight prbaby 275. He was a legend.

I was a server too (I actually got thrown off the servers) and I remember my Latin (I love to say the Our Father in Latin). Of course, it was required in high school. I was fearful of my parish priest's reaction in high school because they were the ones who distributed report cards.

I always respected the nuns/priests (we simply were taught to) and always tried to obey, but I can't say I felt especially close to any of them. Although, reflecting back, they were always very nice to me. I guess I was just scared of them or something.


Here's a picture from my church in Michigan which last year had it's Cenntinial celebration. They combined a "then and now" pic. The left is the first church, AND where I attended Catholic School and it is still a school. My parents were married at that church, and I was baptized at that church.

The right is the church now (which has been standing for as long as I remember). I was married in that church as were my sister and brother. It's actually very beautiful inside too.

TIS

I got in a boatload of trouble as an Altar Boy. My friend and Mass partner, Gino, would often ring the bells at the wrong time, then blame me. Worse than a rat; a lying rat!

Of course today, I'm Godfather to his oldest son, who just graduated from the University of Miami. Boy, time flies.

I just remember that the bells always made me think of the Good Humor man, which made me crave ice cream (especially since we were always hungry at Church!), which I was convinced was some sort of sin. I was supposed to be thinking about God, and instead I couldn't stop thinking about a Candy Center Crunch!

Yea, remember the bells and you'd gently beat your heart each time???

Funny story that just happened on Palm Sunday at my church. The Priest had us all go outside in a pavillion/courtyard type area to bless and distribute the palms to the people. He explained everything he was doing and when he used the incense, he told the congregation, "now you're grandparents may tell you about times they used this to cover up smoking marijuana." I cracked up and my daughter just sort of stared at me. LOL

TIS

Btw, why is it that it seems the Catholic boys are the ones that got in trouble? You devils you!!

Monsignor once told my mom that Palm Sunday had the largest turnout, even bigger than Christmas or Easter, because "people felt like they were getting something for nothing."

Never thought of it that way! Wow! What a bunch of leeches hu?


TIS

Yes!

Even though Vatican II took place in the mid '60s, I don't think it reached the Bronx until the '80s . Meaning that you couldn't eat from midnight Saturday until after Communion on Sunday.

That was a killer, because I'd have to walk right through the heart of Little Italy in the Bronx to get to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (same Parish as Dion DiMucci and Chazz Palminteri). The smells. My God, the smells. Bread, pasta, meatballs frying . . .

I gotta admit, a bunch of times, I didn't make it .

My aunt lived in the apartment building on the corner of Lorillard and 187th. Dion and his pals, who went to school with my cousin, used to sing on the corner. My aunt was very proud of the fact that she often dumped pots of water on their heads on Sunday nights. She used to say that they wanted to sing under her window all night like a bunch of bums, but she had to get up for work in the morning!

Dion lives is Boca Raton now, Babe. Not too far from me. A few years ago, when my Dad was down there with us, we ran into him at Renzo's, an Italian Restaurant down there. He actually remembered my Dad quite well. My Dad's about ten years older than he is, so he showed him that "older guy from the neighborhood" respect.

He's a helluva nice guy. He's like 70 now, but still talks like Sammy Davis Jr. Like, "it was great seeing you cats . . ." My Pop just rolls his eyes .

He must be about 70, because my cousin turns either 70 or 71 this year.

How cool! I love Dion. I always thought he was from Philly though. Still, what neat stories.


TIS

Dion, from Philly? You're killing me, TIS. He's only one of the most famous Bronxites EVER. And the most famous to ever come out of the Belmont section of the Bronx (next to me ).

You're probably thinking of Frankie Avalon or Fabian. They were both Italians from Philly, who had their stories loosely adapted in "The Idolmaker," one of my favorite "indy" films ever (Tommy Dee was based on Frankie Avalon, Cesare was based on Fabian). Of course, the producers of that film had the good sense to move the film to the Bronx. .

TIS, your nun story made me think of this :

Oh TIS, I definitely recall being hit with a ruler by the nuns. In fact, I remember the entire class being spanked one time - the entire class. And when you went home and told your parents, they were likely to repeat that discipline.

...and don't forget Bobby Rydell (nee Ridarelli), the third of the Dick Clark No-Talent Trinity. I saw Dion, with and without the Belmonts, at several Alan Freed R&R shows in the Fifties. But Frankie and Bobby appeared with Freed only once--to show their "versatility," Frankie blew a few notes on a trumpet, Bobby whacked at a drum kit for a few seconds. And that was before Frankie discovered Annette.

Dion had talent. He also had a storming drug problem that derailed his career. Lou Reed reveres him--he inducted Dion into the R&R Hall of Fame. Dion wailed at the end of Reed's "Dirty Boulevard."

All those guys - pompadore alley!

No doubt about that, TB, but he whupped it. He was one of the first rock and rollers to acknowledge his addiction (in his case, heroin). And this was in the mid '60s, when drug and alcohol problems were widely considered character flaws and not real problems. In other words, no "Celebrity Rehab" for Dion, so I give him credit. His career was never the same, but his life got a whole lot better.

And yeah, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, even Roy Orbison (who was his contemporary), revered him.

TIS, the name "Dion and the Belmonts" came from Belmont Avenue in the Bronx, where the boys used to hang out on street corners and sing. They were on the Winter Dance Party tour, but Dion didn't want to spend the $36 to get on the ill-fated flight with Richie Valens and the Big Bopper.

I stand corrected on Dion's hometown state. I do remember for the BB Philly meet a couple years ago ((I think by the Philly Cheesebuger restaurant), there was painted pictures on the side of the building with Bobby Rydell and Frankie Avalon maybe???? Can't quite recall, but I swore Dion was one of them. (Also, if I'm not mistaken, my dad' favorite, Mario Lanza is from Philly as well.)

TB, I remember Dick Clark's shows. I think it was called "Calvecade of Stars?" If I recall, most were in the early 60's, a time in which I was a tad too young (12/13 or so) to attend so I never got to go to one. I would have loved to.

I am aware of Dion's drug problem, and I agree he is the most talented of the three TB mentioned. Actually, I didn't mind Bobby Rydell but never really was into Fabian. Maybe because he seemed like an Elvis clone and even then I knew there was only one Elvis.

And DC, I remember that Skit well, but was it Cheech & Chong, or Fireside Theater??? I think my husband and I had he record (or 8 track) Sister Mary Elephant.

TIS

Well, I just gave Dion the Bronx salute with a new avatar.

I have his greatest hits album back in Michigan. I love nearly all of his music, although I haven't heard him in years.

Didn't realize the story about him not wanting to pay airfare for the fateful Valenz flight. How lucky he must feel.

Great avator. I remember as a young girl in the early 60's he was a popular teen idol. I didn't realize he was Italian til years later, which is a plus IMHO.



TIS

Dick Clark's show was "American Bandstand." Dion may have appeared on that show, but Frankie, Bobby and Fabian were the trio that Clark launched via his show. Thse three were Philadelphians.

TB, I wasn't clear. I know American Bandstand. I was referring to a touring show of his (or at least had his name). It was in the early 60's. I thought it was Calvalcade of Stars, but might be mistaken. He always had several of the current top hitmakers (one time I almost went to see Chubby Checker).

TIS

There was the Dick Clark Saturday Beechnut show which ran from 1958-1960 I think.