June • 2010 • NEWSLETTER

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Life in the Fabulous
50s book »

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Dear ##firstname[Friend]##,

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This month, it’s the dads’ turn to get some recognition with Father’s Day approaching. We’ve included a story about girls making their way to the dime store to shop for their father, a tailgating recipe for the ballgame and a cute photo of a boy who wants to be just like dad.

—John Burlingham at Reminisce

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In this issue:

• Daddy’s Girls Go Shopping
• Picture from the Past
• Stirring Up Memories
• Time Capsule Trivia
• Over the Back Fence
• A Thought to Remember

Daddy’s Girls Go Shopping

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By Maryanne Curran
Lexington, Massachusetts

As the oldest of four daughters, executing the shopping trip for Father’s Day fell on my shoulders. The ritual began in June of 1966 and continued for a dozen years or so.

My sisters Janet, Kathy and Gail and I started making plans on the Friday night before the big day. We’d rummage through our piggy banks, pockets and even under the cushions of the couch to gather all the coins we could for Dad’s gift.

We’d walk the mile or so to the Ben Franklin store in Lexington, Massachusetts, where I believe the same cashier worked throughout my childhood. She didn’t trust any young customers, and her eyes followed the four Curran sisters as we walked up and down the six aisles of merchandise. You knew where every customer in the store was located based on the creaks of sound from the old, warped, wooden floors.

When you’re a kid, your range of gifts is limited by your weekly allowance. So we concentrated on aisle two, which held handkerchiefs, plastic combs, nail clippers and other male grooming supplies—all items 50 cents or less.

As the rebel of the family, my sister Janet would wander down other aisles and make gift suggestions for Dad like a kite, a jump rope or a bag of candy. Hmmm, I wonder what the reason was.

A democratic vote vetoed those suggestions, and we’d select from aisle two. Our gifts may have lacked creativity, but they were bought with all the love that four daughters could have for a wonderful father.

While many Father’s Days gifts have been bestowed on Dad over the years, I’d guess that our cheap little ones from the dime store are some of his favorites.

Click here to see other Pictures from the Past.

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Picture from the Past

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By Joyce Pemberton
Leonard, Texas

The older man in this photo (at right), taken in the early 1940s in Trenton, Texas, is my uncle Burr Holt, and the boy is my cousin Joe Holt. Every time I look at this picture, it reminds me what a simple pleasure it was for a little boy to imitate his father. Washing cars—what an easy way for a dad and son to enjoy the day and each other. Both are gone now, but we have such fond memories of my uncle and cousin.

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Stirring Up Memories

Hacienda Hot Dogs

Taking your dad out to the ballgame or the races? Well, here’s a snappy tailgating recipe that dresses up a hot dog so well you’ll hardly recognize it. And here’s an item from a reader who fondly recalls outings with his father at the horse races.

By Donald Turnbaugh
Palm Harbor, Florida

My dad was not one to just sit in the grandstands at Pimlico Racetrack, which was only a few miles from our home in the Hampden section of Baltimore. He’d go down to see and touch the horses.

So one of my earliest memories involves my father taking me to Pimlico when I was 5 or 6 years old, around 1946, and walking in and out of the stalls behind the racetrack.

I’m the only kid I ever knew whose scrapbook was not of Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle or Joe DiMaggio but of Native Dancer, a big, gray racehorse nicknamed “The Gray Ghost” who won every race he was in except the biggest one of all—the Kentucky Derby in 1953. The Gray Ghost redeemed himself that year by winning the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes and went on to win 21 of 22 races.

I still have that tattered scrapbook, and thinking of it brings tears to my eyes as I recall what a great dad I had and didn’t fully know it at the time. I just accepted that a dad was supposed to be the assistant coach of the St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School basketball and baseball teams. I never noticed that other dads weren’t there for practices—not because they didn’t want to but because they worked two jobs. But so did mine, and somehow, Dad found the time.

The only falling out we ever had came when I told Dad that I didn’t want to be a jockey. I wanted to become a Baltimore police officer, which I did. We reconciled quickly, though, as my dad realized that I was not cut out to be a jockey—at 6 feet 3 inches and almost 200 pounds!

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Over the Back Fence

Amusing morsels and bits of wisdom overheard and read here and there.

Are Ya Chicken? A neighbor in our small town was suspected of stealing our chickens and selling them. Mother persuaded our reluctant father to sleep in the hayloft to act as guard. On the first night, Mother decided to play a trick on him, entering the barn and making rustling sounds. Nervously, my father called out, “Who’s there?” Mother continued rustling until Father descended the ladder. As he cautiously extended one long-john-clad leg, Mother grabbed his foot. Father dashed back up the ladder and dove into the hayloft as Mother burst out laughing. It was decided that a strong padlock would replace our chicken guard.
—Stacia Choronzak
Des Plaines, Illinois

Sound Logic: These short bits come from a 1933 copy of The American Ironsmith magazine sent to us by Carol Swart of Cedar Lake, Indiana.

Farmer: “Where did you learn to smoke cigarettes?”
Flapper: “In Paris.”
Farmer: “It’s a good thing you didn’t go to Norway. I hear they smoke herrings there.”

First student: “I see you’re getting better marks lately. How’s that?”

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Time Capsule Trivia

With summertime nearly upon us, try matching the excerpted lyric with the title of the summery song by writing down the corresponding number and letter. Click the Web link below for the answers, but no peeking!

1. Every time I call my baby, and try to get a date, my boss says, “No dice, son, you gotta work late.”

2. Right from the moment that those lovers start arrivin’, you’ll see more kissin’ in the cars than on the screen.
   

3. Till I’m wheezing like a bus stop, running up the stairs gonna meet you on the rooftop.
   

4. She stepped out of the rainbow, golden hair shinin’ like moon glow.
   

5. Like painted kites, those days and nights they went flyin’ by, the world was new, beneath a blue umbrella sky.

6. Sittin’ in my car outside your house, ’member when you spilled Coke all over your blouse.

7. The livin’ is easy, fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.

8. County fair in the country sun, and everything, it’s true, ooh, yeah, yeah.

9. You can chase right up and touch the sky, when the weather’s right, you got women, you got women on your mind.

10. Well shut them books and throw ’em away, say goodbye to dull school days.

A. Summer in the City (1966) by The Lovin’ Spoonful.
B. Hot Fun in the Summertime (1969) by Sly and the Family Stone.
C. Summertime Blues (1958) by Eddie Cochran.
D. Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer (1964) by Nat King Cole.
E. Summertime, Summertime (1958) by The Jamies.
F. Summer Rain (1967) by Johnny Rivers.
G. Summertime (1935) from Porgy and Bess and later popularized by Sam Cooke (1957) and others.
H. Summer Wind (1966) by Frank Sinatra.
I. In the Summertime (1970) by Mungo Jerry.
J. All Summer Long (1964) by The Beach Boys.

Click here for the answer to Time Capsule Trivia.

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A Thought to Remember

A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.

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