in about 2002 a note circulated on the web via email about going back in time. It inspired me and ignited a whirlwind of memories about growing up in Beverly / Morgan Park on the south side of Chicago. I took the premise of the note and expounded on that. Here's what evolved:
Go back in time...........................
Close your eyes.....and go back ........
before the internet or the I-pods,
before semii-automatics, crack, or AIDS
before SEGA and Nintendo 64 or PS3
before Oklahoma City, Waco, or the World Trade Center tragedies
before Virginia Tech, NIU, or Tucson
Way back.......
I'm talking about hide and seek at dusk.
catching fireflies at twilight and saving them in a jar.
the good humor man,
red light, green light.
Nelson's penny candy store where the glass case was as tall as your parents and it was filled with mint juleps, banana splits, pixie sticks, lik'm'aid, sour gum balls, good 'n plenty, wax lips and mustaches.
when Mary Janes were still candy.
Playing Hopscotch, Butterscotch, double dutch, jacks, kick ball, dodge ball, or bombardament.
Mother may I? Red Rover, Roly Poly Hula Hoops, pogo sticks and Twister.
Mrs. Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, with silver buttons,
all down her back....
Running through the sprinkler, racing to Slip 'n Slide
the smell of the water in the sunshine and licking salty lips, making lariat chains,
going to Rainbo Cone for ice cream on a hot summer night.
listening to 45's
Peppermint ice cream with real pieces of peppermint
A cherry coke from the corner fountain, or a chocolate phosphate, or a real Malt
banana seat stingray bikes
big old fat tire bicycles with real chrome fenders
Wait..........
Watching Saturday morning cartoons.....short commercials
Fractured Fairy Tales, Family Classics with Frasier Thomas, Mr. Magoo, The Jetsons, Bugs, and Rocky and Bullwinkle...
the forbidden "Three Stooges" or "The Twilight Zone"
Staying up late for Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock, The Fugitive
gathering around the set on a Sunday night to watch Mission Impossible & Ed Sullivan
hearing Topo Gigio say; "Ed, kiss me goodnight." and loving another mouse.
Seeing the Beatles for the first time
Patty Duke and Gidget, Betty and Veronica
the "to die for" doc's were Kildare and Ben Casey
Barney Fife, Opie, Aunt Bee, Gomer and Guber,
and the only drunk guy you'd seen was Otis.
Margaret O'Brien and Shirley Temple
Maynard G. Krebbs and his infamous mystery ball of foil. (we knew what was in there)
Walter Brennan as Grandpa McCoy
Jethro and Ellie Mae Clampett
Marianne and Ginger and the Howells
Tarzan and Jane.
Jimmy Olsen, Lois & Clark
Girls wanting to grow up to be Emma Peel or The Farmer's Daughter, or Doris Day in Please Don't Eat the Daisies.
or staying up really late to watch the Johnny Carson show (Hi-O), or Jack Parr or Steve Allen and the late show movie that opened and paused with a guy holding a lampshade (what was that about anyway?)
When around the corner seemed far away,
when you had to dress up to go downtown
and if you were a girl you wore white gloves,
anklet socks trimmed in lace and black patent leather shoes.
crossing mosquito bites to stop the itchy sting,
when the ferris wheel at Kiddieland seemed HUGE
Playing Cops and Robbers, Statue, Robin Hood, Zorro, or Cowboys and Indians
getting stuck in trees
having mud ball fights, or making water balloon bombs
building forts out of your moms blankets in the summer and snow in the winter,
the long walk to school and home again,
playing chicken,
Rodies Beverly Day Camp
Sleep-overs and fart contests, ghost stories, pillow fights and T.P. raids,and
playing alligator (under the bed)
laughing so hard, you wet your pants and then laughing harder still.
Radio Flyers and 4 wheeled roller skates with rubber toed stops
the organ at Swank Roller Rink only topped by Nancy Faust at Comiskey Park
learning to play chess and shoot pool with your big brother or sister on Western
Going to the Starlight drive-in to see the latest flick or sneaking in the exit or packing the trunk full of kids and getting past the entrance gates
road trips in the family wagon singing rounds of songs in harmony "gently down the stream",
when Columbine was just a flower,
remember?
Did you ever have the cooties?
remember playing crazy eights, or old maid, or black jack poker?
eating Howard Johnsons salt water taffy out of the box,
the first time you got the wind knocked out of you,
when the toothfairy left you a quarter (if you were lucky)
when a call was a dime, when a stamp was a nickel,
when a White Castle slider was 16 cents and the straws were paper so when you sucked on your shake they'd collapse.
remember the full service gas station,
S & H green stamps,
Moms home after school with cookies in the oven,
T.V. dinners,
jiffy pop
when your Grandma's shoes had holes in the toes.
saucer sleds, and making snow angels
eating chicklets or getting a strip of white paper that was dotted with multi-colored drops of candy,
when dandelions made your mom smile or cry,
being a Catholic or a public
Going to Red's drive-in for a double double or Jumbo's for fries, or Snyders for Red-Hots..or stopping at The Homestead for a slab of ribs.
the big lips on the Dan Ryan
HUDSON THREE TWO SEVEN HUNDRED.
Sidewalk chalk and waiting for the engineer on the caboose to toss it at you as the train rolled past.
moms or older sisters who ratted their hair then sprayed it with Aqua Net so much so that you'd gag
when seldom was heard a discouraging word.....
when respect and courtesy were the norms.
hearing; "wait till your father gets home"
Rotary phones with numbers beginning with Prescott, Beverly and HIlltop
building bon fires from fallen leaves and looking up and down your block as far as the eye could see where practically everyone else is doing the same thing, and you would imagine a tribal rituals...because the Tribune always ran that pic of the Indian summer.
finding a branch that was long and thin enough to stick a marshmallow on the end and toast it brown and if you were really lucky there were graham crackers and hershey bars to make s'mores. (of course, this was before we knew about the ozone)
Seeing the constellations in a clear sky with no pollution.
When Dionne Warwick sang with Burt Bacharach and your "psychic connection" was the Quija board or the "8 ball" or consulting with Mary Worth in a closet seance with your closest friends in total darkness.
Your first slinky or egg of Silly Putty?
Canteen dances, sock hops,
Troy Donohue and Cookie from Route 66
Fabian in his white bucks
Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello
The big Kahuna
CTA paper bus transfers
Riverview, with Aladdins Castle, the Bobs, the parachutes, the comet, and the flying turns
the tunnel of love, where you heard...."keep your hands inside the boat,
don't rock the boat"
The Kennedy Park Pool, Ridge Park Pool, Cermak Pool, Beverly Country Club, RIdge Country Club
skating at Punky Park
Tennis at Crescent Park or Beverly tennis club
Going to Rainbow Beach or the Dunes
Riding your bike or running through Dead Mans path on a dare and in case the man that lived under ground there who had tunnels into the cemetery was around you raced so fast you lost your breath.
Fireworks at Ridge Country Club, and lighting punks and snakes
M-80's
getting peanut butter and jellies cut into sailboats,
nehi orange drink,
space food sticks,
ultra-bright toothpaste,
Dog n' Suds, A & W root beer floats,
going to Tony DiCola's for carry-out shrimp
matchbox cars,
when nobody dared question the President, but the worst happened anyway.
fun with Dick, Jane, and Spot....
how about that capsule John Glenn hit the water in?
going to Snackville Junction where the train came out of the kitchen with a whistle call from the chef, ran the rail around the counter, and stopped in front of your stool with your lunch basket
the first Chatty Cathy doll that talked
Betsy Wetsy and Tiny Tears with real curly hair and Patty Play Pal
Hubert the Harris Lion
the Thumbelina doll
the first Barbie doll
the first G.I. Joe....
real cars made with gleaming chrome and Detroit steel and the only radio was an AM
watching your mom try to clamp a girdle or use an electric belt that jiggled hoping she was getting thinner.
when Chicago's Prudential building was the tallest.
watching hullaballoo or laugh-in,
dancing to Chubby Checker, doing the Twist or ballin' the jack?
manual lawn mowers and the smell of the grass.
sheets blowing on clotheslines,
having a recess.
the "super ball"
Cracker Jack prizes and Bazooka Joe
Dick Tracey rings
the pocket fisherman
Max and 99
the Hippy Dippy Weatherman or our own neighborhood 'Bob, the weatherman."
Robert Crumbs, Mr. Natural
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie
Garfield Goose and Friends
Howdy Doody
Bozo and the grand prize game
Danny Kayes genius
Louie Nye's hilarity
Jimmy Cagney as George M. Cohan
metal ski bindings
back yard "Miss America" contests where towels were creatively fashioned for the ball gown competition
inventing the "air" guitar.
lip synching to the Beatles
finding out that your Beatles haircut is really only a "pixie"
moving up to the flip, and the page-boy.
when Campbells Soup distributed paper dresses fashioned after Warhol's art
Peter Max
the smell of a new box of crayola crayons
Flash Gordon and the Clay people, Ming the Magnificent and his mysterious daughter who walked with a black leopard.
pink sponge rollers
Ye Olde Tavern cheese crocks
when used boxes became back yard carnival booths
when mothers faces were covered with cold creams
when Coppertone was it.
there was Wrangler or Levi's, that's all
trading baseball cards and showing off your Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, or Dizzy Dean,
playing "IT"
the park sky blanketed in beautifully colored kites on a windy day.
remember when....
decisions were made by going eeny-meeny-miney-mo, or picking petals off a daisy or making one of those folded paper answer guides that fit over your four fingers and you had to answer 4 questions before you got to open "the fold" that told you yours.
Mistakes were corrected with; "Do over!"
a race issue was who crossed the finish line first
a weapon in school was a spitball
a foot of snow fell and school got called off
remember the good times
remember the innocence
remember the carefree days
remember the feeling....
they said good things come to those who wait but time teaches us not to hesitate, for life is short and the road is long, court your fancy, sing your songs, dig your garden, grow your own, play your cards, shake your jones, dance in the sun, howl at the moon and get your ya-ya's out while you still know the tune.
Kristine Lang
MPHS Alum
posted in Facebook.com EMPEHI ALUMNI 1960-1973
https://www.facebook.com/notes/kristine-lang/a-flashback/10150098628294233
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