...as the 1970's began to settle in...on 86th Street, a new group of kids, ascended onto the block, and basically, took it over...
Mike, John & Tommy Howland moved in back when I was about 8 years old...They lived across the street, about 3 doors down, to the right...really only a stone's throw away...
I first noticed them...as they were playing street hockey wildly, out in the middle of the block, on a wintry, cold February or March day...Who were these new guys...???
See, there was a huge influx of kids, who moved in and out, on our block, back then. I'd say I hung around as many as 10-15 kids on our block, during my early years, as bizarre as it may seem...There were the Jarrell kids, Keith & Kevin, directly across the street...the 3 Howlands a little further down, and then me...who anchored all the action, that went down, on our block...for a good portion, of the early to mid 70's...
Together, we really had an amazing amount of fun...Really, you couldn't have asked for a more memorable childhood era...than the one we had...way back then...so, long, long ago...
Whether we were riding our bikes all over the place, playing ghosts-in-the-graveyard(similar to hide-n-seek), going up to our own private, deluxe baseball diamond, at the end of our block, or playing hoops on the Howlands low-hanging basketball net, which Johhny Howland would rattle and rattle, time and again, just elevating enough, to be able to dunk, like he was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...I could certainly go on and on...and surely, I most certainly will, too...
I can remember how we would go up to this place called "THE B" a little beyond the end of the block, where there literally was a densely, wild, wilderness area, with a giant dirt hill, that rose ever so high, it had to be the highest vantage point, within our entire neighborhood...It was quite the challenge to ride your bike up and down that giant hill, following a make-shift bike path, that transversed throughout the entire "B" area...a dirt biker's ultimate dream world...of course...
Going down that killer hill was quite treacherous, but the Howland Boys were almost giddy, repeatedly, going up and down this huge hill as quickly as possible...Those were the days of famous stunt motorcycle rider, Evil Kneival, and we sure did our absolute darn best, to make our perilous plunge, down the hill, at break-neck speed, truly a thing of breath-taking, death-defying, beauty, just somehow, finding a way, to skid to a stop, tossing up a huge cloud of dust, laughing and laughing and laughing...before wiping out at the bottom of the hill...
And, "The B" was almost always like a treasure trove, of mysterious things you would find, as you made your way through the density of bamboo shoots and tall, tall grass...We'd come across wild rabbits, old tires, broken bottles, ripped-up, rain-soaked, Playboy magazines, and every now and then, we'd hit the jackpot and come across a full can of beer or many, many cans of BEER...
See, this was back in the day when Beer Cans, still had no pop-top...You'd have to use a can opener to get it open, and get at a chance to guzzle down the suds...and since none of us ever had a can opener...we'd resort to primatave measures to get that sucker open...We'd scavenger about looking for a giant rock with a severed edge, to puncture a hole somehow, in the can. and then, after getting a small puncture hole going, we'd furiously pass around the spraying can of suds, before it all seeped quickly, into the ground...
I guess this may be the reason I always had a fondness, for heavy, bitter beers, down the road because we'd always be finding some incredibly warm cans of Schlitz or Budweiser or Meister Brau which were just lethally heavy beers, back then, that had been left to cook underneath the intense, hot-hot summer heat...It didn't matter at all, to us...We'd just guzzle them down as quickly as we could, and then resumed looking through the high weeds for more...and often, we did find more...Because alot of older teenagers hung out there, during the night...
Another great thing about "THE B" was that it was nestled up against the railroad tracks, which really isolated itself, from everywhere else...You could go up and down along the railroad tracks, throwing an endless amount of rocks, at trains passing by, sometimes coming across some neat little forts that other kids had carved out, all along the tracks, most of the time, against the security fence of the Beverly Country Club...in a bunker-of-sorts...
FORTS were HUGE back then...There was still quite a bit of building of houses near the unsettled areas by the railroad tracks...and we'd grab some big sheets of wood from construction sites, when nobody was looking and haul it down the street, out into unknown domains, where we would, work like fiends, assembling fort after fort...And we just got better and better at it...as time went by...Some of them were really, really cool...
I can remember one fort...where we dug out an enormous hole, shovel by shovel, about 6 foot deep, about 12 feet wide...in a densely, high grassy plot at about 86th & Washtenaw...Then we placed a layer of sheets of wood, on top, then placed a thick layer of dirt and grass to camaflauge our new neat, humble hideout...
Then we'd hairy-scary, ride up to the White Hen Pantry where we would stock up on all kinds of soda pop and Ho-Ho's and Taco-flavored Doritos, which had just come on the market with great results and last but not least, every conceivable kind of candy, too...Then we would quickly ride, ride, ride back like little ferocious madmen, back to our new fort and hang out there, totally oblivious from the world around us...as if it were the most coolest, coolest place on Earth...
I believe Mike Howland even tried to install a chimney on this specific fort and even tried to cook a tin of some Jiffy-Pop popcorn, in this bizarre little hole he had carved out for this ridiculous purpose...Of course...As the fire grew bigger and bigger inside this little cavernous pit, the smoke also billowed out like a gusher, sending all of us, Tommy, John and me, scrambling out of the fort, except for Mike, who was gonna stay beneath, inside there, popping that popcorn as if it was the last thing he would ever do...
He did somehow manage to get the popcorn popped, as he coughed and coughed and coughed, resurfacing almost drenched in sweat and soot, emerging from the underground fort, triumphant...but alas, the popcorn was pretty wretched looking and badly burnt...But it was considered a great, great success as we passed it around, this severely burnt, mangled, Jiffy Pop tin as each took a huge handful of this awful creation...
Also...another thing that stands out is...Our baseball games were absolutely legendary...We'd probably be up at our very own dirt and grass baseball diamond we had constructed, a block away at 10AM and play way, way, way until Sundown, sometimes...It was a crazy set up, because there was a huge security fence, situated between 1st Base and 2nd Base...up against "THE B"...which meant Right Field was closed, completely. All of us somehow eventually managed to correct our swing so that we would only hit towards left field...which may seem a little unusual, but it didn't even phase us...
I do remember I had this very light, bright, shiny red aluminum bat...because...I couldn't handle the heavier bats...and that loud, ringing ping! sound, of ripping a baseball, down the line, out into the outfield, was as good as it gets...rounding the bases so quickly, at a chaotic, stutter-step pace, trying to dementedly watch our ball all the way, as we tried hastily to scramble to 2nd or 3rd Base...
I'm pretty sure, Mike and Johnny Howland, would get a hold of one, from time to time, and just sizzle one out, far, far beyond where anyone could come close to reaching...Sometimes even hitting a window of a house residing right next to the field...but amazingly, they never, ever broke any windows...
We also used the baseball field as a football field of sorts, too, when Autumn would come about...Touch football was really huge, back then, also, and our touch football games were relentlessly paced, just kids pouring their whole heart & soul, into getting open for a pass, totally out of breath, only to realize the quarterback had been already sacked, that play...
I can remember one special time...we had the ball on the goal-line, with only one play left...Keith Jarrell who was the oldest kid, and rarely hung around with us, lined up all our receivers on the right side, except for me...Of course, the play was designed to catch the other team off-guard and throw it to me, on the opposite side...wide-open, in the end zone...It played out just as Keith had drawn up in the huddle...The guy defending me, broke loose and tried to run after the mess of people in the middle of the end zone, screaming like crazy for the ball...
Here I was, standing all alone, wide-open, as I'd ever be...Keith just stepped back and lobbed this wildly high pass my way...It surely was beyond my grasp but I kept back-peddling further and further back, into the end zone and managed to come down with the ball...as I fell backwards, onto the ground, somehow able to hold tight, clutching onto the ball, despite getting the wind knocked out of me...to win the game...
There's just so, so much ground to cover...All the good times...as we grew up and up and up and then suddenly, we all kinda, shockingly, poof, disappeared off of the block, one at a time, for good...finding new friends...our own age...basically leaving it all behind...as if it never, ever, even occurred...
But I do remember the good, good times, especially, like seeing the movie TOMMY with the Howlands, way back when, when it first came out, back around 1972...I think they even had the poster from that movie, too...And they'd also sometimes buy the latest top 40 hits, up at the Evergreen Plaza Mall, that were oddly on these little, funky 45 vinyl records you'd buy for only 45 cents...I definitely remember Tommy Howland pulling out the new, latest Paul McCartney/Wings hit, Band On The Run, playing it over and over and over...
There were so many old stories and old times to recall, whether it was walking all the way up to 95th & California in a blizzard to go snow sledding, and freezing half to death...or just laughing it up, tearing things up, in the spring or summer, on our old Schwinn bikes, with the ever-so-cool, banana seats or the latest 10-speeds...
And surely, if we did come across a nerdy kid who had one of those giant, obnoxious orange flags sticking out of the back of their bike, Johnny Howland, would make it a point, to make them feel like a fool for having such a stupid, stupid, ridiculous thing, hanging off the back of their bikes...
At times, its true, we were treacherous little slugs, but for the most part, it was mostly, all good clean fun. I think the only time, one of the neighbors would yell at us, was when we'd accidentally throw a ball of some sorts, out onto the crabby neighbors, the NIPPONS, precious front yard...They'd come out angry as hell and go completely ballistic as if our tiny, little footprints were going to completely alter the look of their nice, perfectly-manicured, grassy lawn...
86th Street, unfortunately, took a huge hit when we all did, finally go our separate ways...It had been almost like a perfectly isolated, peaceful sanctuary, amidst the far south-eastern corner of Saint Thomas More Parish in Chicago. A very, serene, hazy, dazy, Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer existence, to some extent, really just a pandora's box of adventure, we'd open, day, after day, after day...
And, believe me, we utilized every square inch, of territory, we could come across, barreling it into the ground...because we were filled with an endless amount of energy, having an endless amount of fun and creating an endless amount of good times...
All the laughter and all the screaming at each other, all the rough-housing, or just showing up at each others door, at the start of the day, and yelling for each other, to come out and play...We never, ever, used the door buzzer, back then, we'd just let loose with a loud, penetrating roar, that instantly got the others attention inside...And within seconds, you could hear the excited, rumbling footsteps making their way for the door...grabbing their baseball cap, maybe a coat, maybe a baseball mitt, whatever...It happened almost every day for me, from age 8-11, probably...They were my best friends, back then...and will always bring a chuckle to my mind...even though the years and years...have long passed us by...
So...Here's to all the Howlands, Mike, Johnny & Tommy's Mom & Dad especially, who kept their kids on the straight and narrow...coming home from a hard day's work, just to make ends meet, just to make sure, all their kids, had the best, that life could offer...Because, those times were so timeless, to all of us...and the moments we shared were very heart-warming to recall, as you can very well, imagine....Down on...86th Street...down on the South-Side...just a piece of everyday Americana...that probably would have faded from memory...into oblivion...
In summary, it does seem like such an incredibly long time ago...yet, it does remain, very vivid, very heart-warming, and very much, a long-lasting memory...of those days, from my early childhood, sadly gone by...into the night...No more "B" there, anymore...no more baseball field and no more good friends who would pass on...some of them dead...some of them alive....but surely a decent part, of Jim O'Leary's memories, I was truly, very happy to share...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Early 70's...Mom & Dad
...When you look back, into my life, back to the early 70's...it's impossible not to recall how my parents...had finally reached a point in their lives...where they could truly enjoy themselves, without 8 crying kids, constantly demanding their overwhelming attention...
The Lake House always seemed to be teaming with visits from my sisters and their husbands, with their wild & wooly, little ones...but there also seemed to be some breaks from the chaotic atmosphere...when my Mom & Dad would escape to their own world of excitement...
...And that meant, they were determined, to get away and have some great, great times...living life to the fullest...especially during the summers around Lake Geneva...
...Whether it was dining out, up in and around Lake Geneva., going dancing on weekends up at Lake Lawn Lodge, or even having a ball at the Arnold Palmer Golf Driving Range & Miniature Golf, in Elkhorn, it was a time of leisure and laughs...a time of noticeable relief, from my own extensive spinal problems...a time of thinking they had reached a stretch of what they thought the rest of their lives would look like...more or less, a blissful existence...
...You could sense their happiness...especially when they'd go out to Lake Lawn on a Saturday Night...for a night together, on the dance floor...See, on the dance floor, is where they met, so long before, at Saint Sabinas, deep in the heart of the South Side of Chicago...back around 1938, when they were 16 year old teenagers...
They were always like magic, on the dance floor...It seemed as though, their toes never touched the ground...just a graceful, seamless, flow, around the floor, almost the entire night...Sure, sometimes they'd stop, to order a cocktail, occaisionally, my Mom, having an ultra sweet, shake-like, creme de mint-Grasshopper and my Dad going with a brisk Tom Collins or an even brisker, Whiskey Sour...
It was their time to re-live the magic, the excitement, recapturing their youth, for just a few hours...under the stars...amidst a crowded dance floor...out in Lake Lawn's outdoor garden. They made a point, of dressing appropriately, my Mom always in an elegant, beautiful dress and my Dad in his sear-sucker, double-breasted, sports jacket...Together, their smiles were endless, it was, no doubt, their moment, to shine, once again...
It really didn't matter what kind of band was playing, could be a polka, could be a big band, could be anything...They just loved being together...period...A night at Lake Lawn Lodge, gave them more than a chance to break loose, but also a chance to realize, they were not getting older, but just entering a phase where everything seemed to be going their way, finally...
Also, on the docket, back then, was some care-free moments, of enjoying a night of golf adventures...in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, some 8 miles away...First, we'd hit the miniature golf course, at the Arnold Palmer facility, which was rather a nice, new, place...located on the outskirts of Elkhorn, out by where the bowling alley was, out on Route 67, not to far from where the McDonalds is, these days...
The course, itself, was challenging...My Dad, who was a legitimately, good golfer, often would be astounded by my Mom, a relatively decent competitor herself, who could miraculously ace a hole-in-one, from time-to-time...Right then and there...There was some uproarious laughter, when that would occur...
And after the entire 18 holes were through, there was a chance at dropping your golf ball, from the top, into a clown maze, that allowed the ball sift & boblle & bounce to the bottom and sometimes land in a tiny hole, that entitled you to a free case of soda pop...
Well, you know, who always won this...My Mom, just had it down cold...It almost seemed as if we were already thinking about dropping the ball in the maze again, every time we got beyond the 9th Hole...We'd already be discussing what flavor of Graf's soda pop we'd get if we won this time...
Would it be the foamy, root beer, which was pretty damn good...the tangy, orange soda, not bad, either or some other kind, like the new dark chocolate soda...My Dad, just shook his head, because he did not know how my Mom could repeatedly, win, every now and then...and he never, even came close.
After, the round of miniature golf, it was then onto their Driving Range, which was quite a spectacular event, in itself...My Dad, a very stocky, strong, individual, just had a knack, for crushing the ball, out beyond the range, out into a forest, way, way, out there...Move over Tiger Woods...
Me and my Mom, would be clapping, and expecting him, to keep crushing the golf ball, further and further, with every single swing...My Dad loved going to any golf range, he could get to...but this one, was his absolute favorite...Bucket after bucket, of balls, would come and go, as we'd all be swiping and hacking into every swing...sometimes connecting, sometimes hitting, what we'd call a WORM-BURNER...which was a ball, that you'd hit flat, topping it, and just watch it skid, along the grass, never getting any elevation...
There were many a night, we'd be there when the facility would be closing for the night...at 10 o'clock...Time just seemed to fly by...as fast as the golf balls my Dad would pummel out of sight. I don't think the swarms of nasty mosquitos or any rain or drizzle, ever deterred my Dad from pounding out a few buckets, every time, we went there...
It seemed like such a desolate, quiet area, for such a fine, almost pristine, facility...that was surely a hidden gem...amongst the crowded throngs of people who would flock to the other miniature golf venues, in Walworth County, including the giant frog, in Fontana...or the one up on Motel Road in Lake Geneva...
I don't know what happened but the Arnold Palmer facility got torn down...later that decade...No more free cases of soda...no more hitting the twirling-whirling windmill, or finding your ball, shooting through a hollow sounding pipe & landing into a cruddy, muddy, pool of water...No more unexpected, hole-in-one's...and certainly no more watching my father, supplying an endless amount of golf balls, sent whistling, far out, into the luminous night's sky...
These were uniquely, special times, indeed...and I'm certainly glad I had the chance to share this quick look back to a very tranquil era...where the good times, with my Mother & Father, seemed neverending...and my Mom & Dad's great love of having a good time...always made it so much of an entertaining , merry-go-round of laughs, that will always live on, in my cherished memories, forever and ever...and ever...
The Lake House always seemed to be teaming with visits from my sisters and their husbands, with their wild & wooly, little ones...but there also seemed to be some breaks from the chaotic atmosphere...when my Mom & Dad would escape to their own world of excitement...
...And that meant, they were determined, to get away and have some great, great times...living life to the fullest...especially during the summers around Lake Geneva...
...Whether it was dining out, up in and around Lake Geneva., going dancing on weekends up at Lake Lawn Lodge, or even having a ball at the Arnold Palmer Golf Driving Range & Miniature Golf, in Elkhorn, it was a time of leisure and laughs...a time of noticeable relief, from my own extensive spinal problems...a time of thinking they had reached a stretch of what they thought the rest of their lives would look like...more or less, a blissful existence...
...You could sense their happiness...especially when they'd go out to Lake Lawn on a Saturday Night...for a night together, on the dance floor...See, on the dance floor, is where they met, so long before, at Saint Sabinas, deep in the heart of the South Side of Chicago...back around 1938, when they were 16 year old teenagers...
They were always like magic, on the dance floor...It seemed as though, their toes never touched the ground...just a graceful, seamless, flow, around the floor, almost the entire night...Sure, sometimes they'd stop, to order a cocktail, occaisionally, my Mom, having an ultra sweet, shake-like, creme de mint-Grasshopper and my Dad going with a brisk Tom Collins or an even brisker, Whiskey Sour...
It was their time to re-live the magic, the excitement, recapturing their youth, for just a few hours...under the stars...amidst a crowded dance floor...out in Lake Lawn's outdoor garden. They made a point, of dressing appropriately, my Mom always in an elegant, beautiful dress and my Dad in his sear-sucker, double-breasted, sports jacket...Together, their smiles were endless, it was, no doubt, their moment, to shine, once again...
It really didn't matter what kind of band was playing, could be a polka, could be a big band, could be anything...They just loved being together...period...A night at Lake Lawn Lodge, gave them more than a chance to break loose, but also a chance to realize, they were not getting older, but just entering a phase where everything seemed to be going their way, finally...
Also, on the docket, back then, was some care-free moments, of enjoying a night of golf adventures...in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, some 8 miles away...First, we'd hit the miniature golf course, at the Arnold Palmer facility, which was rather a nice, new, place...located on the outskirts of Elkhorn, out by where the bowling alley was, out on Route 67, not to far from where the McDonalds is, these days...
The course, itself, was challenging...My Dad, who was a legitimately, good golfer, often would be astounded by my Mom, a relatively decent competitor herself, who could miraculously ace a hole-in-one, from time-to-time...Right then and there...There was some uproarious laughter, when that would occur...
And after the entire 18 holes were through, there was a chance at dropping your golf ball, from the top, into a clown maze, that allowed the ball sift & boblle & bounce to the bottom and sometimes land in a tiny hole, that entitled you to a free case of soda pop...
Well, you know, who always won this...My Mom, just had it down cold...It almost seemed as if we were already thinking about dropping the ball in the maze again, every time we got beyond the 9th Hole...We'd already be discussing what flavor of Graf's soda pop we'd get if we won this time...
Would it be the foamy, root beer, which was pretty damn good...the tangy, orange soda, not bad, either or some other kind, like the new dark chocolate soda...My Dad, just shook his head, because he did not know how my Mom could repeatedly, win, every now and then...and he never, even came close.
After, the round of miniature golf, it was then onto their Driving Range, which was quite a spectacular event, in itself...My Dad, a very stocky, strong, individual, just had a knack, for crushing the ball, out beyond the range, out into a forest, way, way, out there...Move over Tiger Woods...
Me and my Mom, would be clapping, and expecting him, to keep crushing the golf ball, further and further, with every single swing...My Dad loved going to any golf range, he could get to...but this one, was his absolute favorite...Bucket after bucket, of balls, would come and go, as we'd all be swiping and hacking into every swing...sometimes connecting, sometimes hitting, what we'd call a WORM-BURNER...which was a ball, that you'd hit flat, topping it, and just watch it skid, along the grass, never getting any elevation...
There were many a night, we'd be there when the facility would be closing for the night...at 10 o'clock...Time just seemed to fly by...as fast as the golf balls my Dad would pummel out of sight. I don't think the swarms of nasty mosquitos or any rain or drizzle, ever deterred my Dad from pounding out a few buckets, every time, we went there...
It seemed like such a desolate, quiet area, for such a fine, almost pristine, facility...that was surely a hidden gem...amongst the crowded throngs of people who would flock to the other miniature golf venues, in Walworth County, including the giant frog, in Fontana...or the one up on Motel Road in Lake Geneva...
I don't know what happened but the Arnold Palmer facility got torn down...later that decade...No more free cases of soda...no more hitting the twirling-whirling windmill, or finding your ball, shooting through a hollow sounding pipe & landing into a cruddy, muddy, pool of water...No more unexpected, hole-in-one's...and certainly no more watching my father, supplying an endless amount of golf balls, sent whistling, far out, into the luminous night's sky...
These were uniquely, special times, indeed...and I'm certainly glad I had the chance to share this quick look back to a very tranquil era...where the good times, with my Mother & Father, seemed neverending...and my Mom & Dad's great love of having a good time...always made it so much of an entertaining , merry-go-round of laughs, that will always live on, in my cherished memories, forever and ever...and ever...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Halloween in the 70's
...Ahhh...ghastly ghouls and frightful sights....it's time to look back at Halloween with pure evil delight.
Halloween...let's face it...pretty much...was like the Super Bowl of having a ball for little kids growing up in the 70's....Indeed, in fact, it was pure, kid chaos...You pretty much, got your costume, you got your giant bag, that you had every intention of filling to the very top...and you just blazed a torrid path, out the door, and down the block...with a wild, reckless abandon, jumping from house to house, loading up a ton of candy, candy and more candy...Well, you guessed it, we just could not get enough candy....
In our house...we always had a giant pumpkin that my Dad would carve up and my Mom would decorate...She'd go to great lengths to make it a very unique pumpkin which would be dispalyed in our front picture window...all ablaze, with a flashlight in it...every Halloween season...My Mom would put bright white Desitin baby butt creme on the teeth of the pumpkin, to further enhance our pumpkin's smile...And the pumpkin would also have a big cigar hanging out of its mouth and a big, black top hat...giving him an aristocratic aura...There was also all kinds of Halloween decorations throughout the house and my favorite was the skeleton Dracula that was placed on the wall as you walked down the stairs into the basement...There was always excitement in the air around Halloween and we'd always hope for decent weather...at least not frigid cold...when the big day on October 31st rolled around...
Let's go back to the kiddie costumes back then...They were very primitive compared to today's standards. As a matter of fact, they were the most uncomfortable, ill-fitted pieces of crap...Taiwain had to offer. But hey, don't tell us that....it was our true, shining moment of glory...where, most of the time we became the embodiment of our favorite cartoon character...displayed for the world to see...for only just one day...
They say that your first Halloween costume that you remember wearing while growing up reflects the true inner you...Now think way back...and try to recall that first crazy kid costume. For me, I had every intention of buying that kick-ass SPIDERMAN costume....but they had sold that out quickly. Let's face it...Spiderman was as popular back then...as he is today...So...I was forced to venture into a different direction...while grabbing at every kiddie costume they had stacked in the aisles of our Zayre store up on Western Avenue...which was alot like a Wal-mart back then...I had to sift thru all of the Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Bozo the Clown, Captain America, The Hulk, Fred Flinstone, Superman, Magilla Gorilla, Huckleberry Hound, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy...and on and on and on...
What did I end up with....Egad...Don't say it...Don't even say it....Uhhh...Casper the Friendly Ghost...???....What was I thinking...???...Casper was this little whimpy ghost who would whine and cry, and I don't even know why he existed except for the fact that his whole schtick was him saying over and over that all ghosts aren't so, so SCARY. Yet Casper possessed his child-like innocence and it resonated a certain pure goodness...that had you somewhat transfixed...at a young, impressionable age...Let's face it, in my neighborhood, if you wore a Casper costume...you were gonna get your ass beat, big time and your candy bag ripped out of your hands...if you didn't watch out...and run like hell...
But there I was nonetheless, poised for my first Halloween adventure...when the big day rolled around, sporting the dorky, smiling white, plastic Casper mask...which was already suffocating me, only after 2 minutes, ...ready to boldly head out on a crisp, cool autumn afternoon...
Our neighborhood itself, was prime territory for maximizing your candy obsessions...It was just row after row, of closely knit houses, that streamed block after block, mile after mile...It was a given you would cover a 4-5 block radius...in a few hours...because you were on such a wild high as you ran from house to house...like a madman...just totally focused on landing those tasty treats...from every door to door...
I'm guessing, by the end of the day, my Halloween candy bag was filled with mini Snickers, 3 Muskateers...Kit-Kats...bubble gum, popcorn balls, sugar pixies, sweet tarts, cracker jack, lollipops, ju-ju fruits, Almond Joy, malted milk balls, candy corn, apples, Hershey bars, Nestle Crunch bars...and even those nasty, nasty, nasty, peanut-butter chews...Well, as you can probably guess...that was only half of what was inside my bag that day...It was just such a huge thrill to finally get back home to my house on 86th Street, with my heart still racing, pouring out all of the endless candy onto the living room carpet and just picking up the loads and loads of candy, and letting it all sift thru your fingers, in a complete frenzy of awesome delight...Sure, my Mom and Dad would laugh at all of the candy I had managed to collect, because they knew I'd probably try to eat it all in one day...They'd just chuckle and smile...That was just a given...of course...
As we got older...our costume got cooler, we thought...Most of the girls had elaborate witch costumes and all of the boys were dressed as bums...Bums, was definitely the premium boys costume, in our young adolescent heydey, because you could basically get your Mom to tear up some old, worn-out clothes and you could just smear dirt on your face...and that's it...you were good-to-go...Even the girls liked to dress like bums in our neighborhood...But our obsession with candy...kind of fell by the wayside...at that age...and our passion for throwing eggs at each other and shooting cans of shaving cream at each other...while running around and chasing after the girls...was our primary focus by then...
It was kind of a sad jump for us...Here we were, completely having a ball, screaming adolescents, all drenched in slimy eggs and loads of shaving cream, laughing at each other...but there was a small, small part of us...that still yearned for the candy part of Halloween...I think that may have been our first big realization that we were truly growing up, really, really fast...and you couldn't go back into that time anymore and be the little candy-crazed kid...
On Halloween nights...the neighborhood took on a more ghastly, foreboding glow...especially up at Carroll Park...as the older kids wreaked havoc...where there was your fair share...of people jumping out at you and scaring the hell out of you...in the dark...wearing frightful, terrifying, scary masks...Just a totally different world and certainly no place for the little Caspers and Clowns and Little Red Riding Hoods...alike...
But for the most part, it was our age of innocence...of wearing silly costumes, of getting excited over candy, of just being out by ourselves, going door-to-door...that remains at the heart of our Halloween memories...for us kids...remembering way, way back then...
I think we all appreciate all the memories that Halloween has given us throughout our years...Our one big chance, to just let go...and pretend to be something else...providing us with an endless amount of visions...so firmly locked in our minds...and a reason to grab a big, ripe pumpkin, to put up all the decorations, to load up on the crazy candy...and just let the kid inside of us...take hold...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ONE AND ALL...
Halloween...let's face it...pretty much...was like the Super Bowl of having a ball for little kids growing up in the 70's....Indeed, in fact, it was pure, kid chaos...You pretty much, got your costume, you got your giant bag, that you had every intention of filling to the very top...and you just blazed a torrid path, out the door, and down the block...with a wild, reckless abandon, jumping from house to house, loading up a ton of candy, candy and more candy...Well, you guessed it, we just could not get enough candy....
In our house...we always had a giant pumpkin that my Dad would carve up and my Mom would decorate...She'd go to great lengths to make it a very unique pumpkin which would be dispalyed in our front picture window...all ablaze, with a flashlight in it...every Halloween season...My Mom would put bright white Desitin baby butt creme on the teeth of the pumpkin, to further enhance our pumpkin's smile...And the pumpkin would also have a big cigar hanging out of its mouth and a big, black top hat...giving him an aristocratic aura...There was also all kinds of Halloween decorations throughout the house and my favorite was the skeleton Dracula that was placed on the wall as you walked down the stairs into the basement...There was always excitement in the air around Halloween and we'd always hope for decent weather...at least not frigid cold...when the big day on October 31st rolled around...
Let's go back to the kiddie costumes back then...They were very primitive compared to today's standards. As a matter of fact, they were the most uncomfortable, ill-fitted pieces of crap...Taiwain had to offer. But hey, don't tell us that....it was our true, shining moment of glory...where, most of the time we became the embodiment of our favorite cartoon character...displayed for the world to see...for only just one day...
They say that your first Halloween costume that you remember wearing while growing up reflects the true inner you...Now think way back...and try to recall that first crazy kid costume. For me, I had every intention of buying that kick-ass SPIDERMAN costume....but they had sold that out quickly. Let's face it...Spiderman was as popular back then...as he is today...So...I was forced to venture into a different direction...while grabbing at every kiddie costume they had stacked in the aisles of our Zayre store up on Western Avenue...which was alot like a Wal-mart back then...I had to sift thru all of the Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Bozo the Clown, Captain America, The Hulk, Fred Flinstone, Superman, Magilla Gorilla, Huckleberry Hound, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy...and on and on and on...
What did I end up with....Egad...Don't say it...Don't even say it....Uhhh...Casper the Friendly Ghost...???....What was I thinking...???...Casper was this little whimpy ghost who would whine and cry, and I don't even know why he existed except for the fact that his whole schtick was him saying over and over that all ghosts aren't so, so SCARY. Yet Casper possessed his child-like innocence and it resonated a certain pure goodness...that had you somewhat transfixed...at a young, impressionable age...Let's face it, in my neighborhood, if you wore a Casper costume...you were gonna get your ass beat, big time and your candy bag ripped out of your hands...if you didn't watch out...and run like hell...
But there I was nonetheless, poised for my first Halloween adventure...when the big day rolled around, sporting the dorky, smiling white, plastic Casper mask...which was already suffocating me, only after 2 minutes, ...ready to boldly head out on a crisp, cool autumn afternoon...
Our neighborhood itself, was prime territory for maximizing your candy obsessions...It was just row after row, of closely knit houses, that streamed block after block, mile after mile...It was a given you would cover a 4-5 block radius...in a few hours...because you were on such a wild high as you ran from house to house...like a madman...just totally focused on landing those tasty treats...from every door to door...
I'm guessing, by the end of the day, my Halloween candy bag was filled with mini Snickers, 3 Muskateers...Kit-Kats...bubble gum, popcorn balls, sugar pixies, sweet tarts, cracker jack, lollipops, ju-ju fruits, Almond Joy, malted milk balls, candy corn, apples, Hershey bars, Nestle Crunch bars...and even those nasty, nasty, nasty, peanut-butter chews...Well, as you can probably guess...that was only half of what was inside my bag that day...It was just such a huge thrill to finally get back home to my house on 86th Street, with my heart still racing, pouring out all of the endless candy onto the living room carpet and just picking up the loads and loads of candy, and letting it all sift thru your fingers, in a complete frenzy of awesome delight...Sure, my Mom and Dad would laugh at all of the candy I had managed to collect, because they knew I'd probably try to eat it all in one day...They'd just chuckle and smile...That was just a given...of course...
As we got older...our costume got cooler, we thought...Most of the girls had elaborate witch costumes and all of the boys were dressed as bums...Bums, was definitely the premium boys costume, in our young adolescent heydey, because you could basically get your Mom to tear up some old, worn-out clothes and you could just smear dirt on your face...and that's it...you were good-to-go...Even the girls liked to dress like bums in our neighborhood...But our obsession with candy...kind of fell by the wayside...at that age...and our passion for throwing eggs at each other and shooting cans of shaving cream at each other...while running around and chasing after the girls...was our primary focus by then...
It was kind of a sad jump for us...Here we were, completely having a ball, screaming adolescents, all drenched in slimy eggs and loads of shaving cream, laughing at each other...but there was a small, small part of us...that still yearned for the candy part of Halloween...I think that may have been our first big realization that we were truly growing up, really, really fast...and you couldn't go back into that time anymore and be the little candy-crazed kid...
On Halloween nights...the neighborhood took on a more ghastly, foreboding glow...especially up at Carroll Park...as the older kids wreaked havoc...where there was your fair share...of people jumping out at you and scaring the hell out of you...in the dark...wearing frightful, terrifying, scary masks...Just a totally different world and certainly no place for the little Caspers and Clowns and Little Red Riding Hoods...alike...
But for the most part, it was our age of innocence...of wearing silly costumes, of getting excited over candy, of just being out by ourselves, going door-to-door...that remains at the heart of our Halloween memories...for us kids...remembering way, way back then...
I think we all appreciate all the memories that Halloween has given us throughout our years...Our one big chance, to just let go...and pretend to be something else...providing us with an endless amount of visions...so firmly locked in our minds...and a reason to grab a big, ripe pumpkin, to put up all the decorations, to load up on the crazy candy...and just let the kid inside of us...take hold...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ONE AND ALL...
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The GRANNY FRANNY boat
Well, well, well........We roll into the 70's and it's time to grab the life jackets, the igloo cooler, the water skis, the suntan oil, and the beach towels...and hop aboard the GRANNY FRANNY boat...as it rumbles into your sightlines, pulling up to the pier...The Granny Franny was a 20 foot Correct Craft inboard speedboat...and I do mean SPEED-boat...It probably had the most powerful engine on Lake Geneva, for sure ..I'm guessing at least a 475-496 horsepower Chrysler Marine engine...which was like a tank engine compared to other boats...and the thunderous roar of the engine...was plainly a major characteristic of this mighty beast...
Originally, back in 1970, my Dad was just paring down his choices for a boat...He was going to go with a huge orange house boat but all the kids wanted to be able to water ski...So he searched and searched and he one day just took a ride on the new Granny Franny...being sold over at the Delavan Boat Company...(which is only yards away from my sister's Maureen's current Summer Home)...
I don't think my Dad had any clue it had such a large, ferocious, rumbling engine...It may have been one of the first boats he'd actually had ever been on...But one ride on the GRANNY was all he ever needed...It was so sleek, with a cool dark green bottom-half, creme top/interior...Plenty of room, for all the kids...And gas back then was probably less than a dollar a gallon...What was there not to love...
As my Dad wrapped up buying the Granny...the boat dealer asked him if he wanted a name painted on the back of the boat....He thought, for a moment, long and hard...and he came up with the amusing little name that would always have us laughing...See, my Mom, Frances, was only 46 years old and had around 2 or 3 grandchildren at the time...so she certainly didn't feel like an old Granny...But there it was...painted in large whispy white writing, across the back of the dark green boat....GRANNY FRANNY...
I think my Mom was a little startled...and all us kids...couldn't believe my Dad would actually name our boat such a crazy name...It pretty much freaked us all out...But it stuck like glue and anybody out on the water who dared challenge us to a race...would soon find out that the thunderously loud, dark green boat with the silly, silly name, pretty much was gonna leave you in your tracks...
I'd say we were challenged quite a bit...back then...They even used to have these high performance boats called DONZIS...and the owners of these boats prided themselves, thinking they had the ultimate speed machines...Such was not the case...The Granny not only was fast...but it cut right thru the high waves...like a knife...It left a huge, huge wake behind the boat...and anyone driving the Granny loved to put the throttle down...all the way....and hold on for dear life....It was pretty exhilerating to bounce about at about 60mph....clutching onto something...like you were on a thrill ride...like no other...
Wow!!!!!!!!!!....
That's all you could say...after lifting up the throttle and let it purr to a complete stop....
Hours and hours of so much fun...was spent on the Granny Franny....Whether it was Danny or Joe or Karen or Joan...or any of my brother-in-laws...getting out on the water skis...or just a bunch of tiny little grandchildren being loaded on for a gentle daylight cruise...The Granny Franny was just an endless, endless amount of fun....for all of my brothers and sisters...Maureen, Patsy, Kathy, Joan, Karen, Joe, Danny and all of the little ones, too...
Sometimes, we'd drop anchor to take a break and just float about and relax...I can then remember opening up the cooler...and digging deep into the ice and pulling out several bottles of Pepsi...or a just a few cans of Graf's Root Beer....A big treat back then was these neat little new snack crackers called TRISCUITS....We'd open a box of these salted wheat crackers and pile on a quarter slice of American Cheese...and then, keep piling it on, layer after layer...Then my Dad would pull out the portable ladder from underneath the hull and everyone would jump off the boat and swim about, usually on a hot, hot, sticky, summer day....
I can remember there were times, when it was only ME & my Mom & my Dad...just floating still in the water...My Mom perched up on the deck, up front, dangling her feet in the water, everytime a wave would cause the boat to rock up an down...My Dad would prepare to take a wild swim dive off of the boat, usually with his favorite, cannonball plunge, which would drench both me and my Mom and have us laughing hysterically...You wanna talk about some timeless moments...Man, those were the best...It seemed like they would actually last forever.
Everyone has a special GRANNY FRANNY memory...I wish I could grab at least one from each one of my brothers and sisters...No doubt about it...I'd just love to sit back and listen to everyone's special memories of this famous, irreplaceable boat...that always had us excited about going out, with an exhuberent energy, enjoying the waters of Lake Geneva to the fullest...
I'll just throw this one out there...for the fun of it...What lucky grandkid, can't recall, as their Grandpa would slowly drive the Granny Franny under the bridge as you entered the harbor at The Abbey...and he would have all the kids sit up on his lap in the captain's chair and press the button next to the steering wheel, for the extremely loud horn...to go off...so that it would echo...echo...echo...all about....What a huge thrill it was for those little ones...to generate such a huge commotion...
Going out on the Granny Franny at night was a perilous adventure, indeed...We really didn't quite have our bearings and it was a huge challenge to drive amidst all the unknown objects, floating about. It was just very cool to take the Granny out, all the time, any time, day or night...And if you add up all the time, all of us spent during the endless amount of summer hours, enjoying this special boat's unique charm, to the fullest, you'd certainly say that my Dad got his money's tidy worth and then some...
I know I could easily just float back and rattle off at least 10 to 20 pages of Granny Franny adventurous boat stories, easily...Most of them good...a tiny few, even bad...It's so hard...to think of even, stopping of writing about the Granny Franny boat, at this juncture...I just want to hold onto to those precious moments....so, so bad...
It almost makes me cry...as we drive by it nowadays, across the street from the Sentry Food Store in Walworth, today, where, the old Granny Franny, sits...alone...in a chalky gravel, side lot...its now faded green bottom looking haggard and worn...Somehow, it justs sits there, just magically, holding on, for dear life, not ready to go to that big boatyard in the sky...Put there, for all of us to drive by...and just sigh...It is truly an icon...in the history of the O'Leary family, and I always say...as I buy a lotto ticket...all the time...The first thing I do if I win the LOTTO...is buy that damn boat back, immediately, at any cost, and restore it to its full and lusterous glory...
Memories of The GRANNY FRANNY boat...truly, a captivating little piece, of such a glorious era, the early 70's and beyond...in the unique annals of Jim O'Leary's life...for sure...
Originally, back in 1970, my Dad was just paring down his choices for a boat...He was going to go with a huge orange house boat but all the kids wanted to be able to water ski...So he searched and searched and he one day just took a ride on the new Granny Franny...being sold over at the Delavan Boat Company...(which is only yards away from my sister's Maureen's current Summer Home)...
I don't think my Dad had any clue it had such a large, ferocious, rumbling engine...It may have been one of the first boats he'd actually had ever been on...But one ride on the GRANNY was all he ever needed...It was so sleek, with a cool dark green bottom-half, creme top/interior...Plenty of room, for all the kids...And gas back then was probably less than a dollar a gallon...What was there not to love...
As my Dad wrapped up buying the Granny...the boat dealer asked him if he wanted a name painted on the back of the boat....He thought, for a moment, long and hard...and he came up with the amusing little name that would always have us laughing...See, my Mom, Frances, was only 46 years old and had around 2 or 3 grandchildren at the time...so she certainly didn't feel like an old Granny...But there it was...painted in large whispy white writing, across the back of the dark green boat....GRANNY FRANNY...
I think my Mom was a little startled...and all us kids...couldn't believe my Dad would actually name our boat such a crazy name...It pretty much freaked us all out...But it stuck like glue and anybody out on the water who dared challenge us to a race...would soon find out that the thunderously loud, dark green boat with the silly, silly name, pretty much was gonna leave you in your tracks...
I'd say we were challenged quite a bit...back then...They even used to have these high performance boats called DONZIS...and the owners of these boats prided themselves, thinking they had the ultimate speed machines...Such was not the case...The Granny not only was fast...but it cut right thru the high waves...like a knife...It left a huge, huge wake behind the boat...and anyone driving the Granny loved to put the throttle down...all the way....and hold on for dear life....It was pretty exhilerating to bounce about at about 60mph....clutching onto something...like you were on a thrill ride...like no other...
Wow!!!!!!!!!!....
That's all you could say...after lifting up the throttle and let it purr to a complete stop....
Hours and hours of so much fun...was spent on the Granny Franny....Whether it was Danny or Joe or Karen or Joan...or any of my brother-in-laws...getting out on the water skis...or just a bunch of tiny little grandchildren being loaded on for a gentle daylight cruise...The Granny Franny was just an endless, endless amount of fun....for all of my brothers and sisters...Maureen, Patsy, Kathy, Joan, Karen, Joe, Danny and all of the little ones, too...
Sometimes, we'd drop anchor to take a break and just float about and relax...I can then remember opening up the cooler...and digging deep into the ice and pulling out several bottles of Pepsi...or a just a few cans of Graf's Root Beer....A big treat back then was these neat little new snack crackers called TRISCUITS....We'd open a box of these salted wheat crackers and pile on a quarter slice of American Cheese...and then, keep piling it on, layer after layer...Then my Dad would pull out the portable ladder from underneath the hull and everyone would jump off the boat and swim about, usually on a hot, hot, sticky, summer day....
I can remember there were times, when it was only ME & my Mom & my Dad...just floating still in the water...My Mom perched up on the deck, up front, dangling her feet in the water, everytime a wave would cause the boat to rock up an down...My Dad would prepare to take a wild swim dive off of the boat, usually with his favorite, cannonball plunge, which would drench both me and my Mom and have us laughing hysterically...You wanna talk about some timeless moments...Man, those were the best...It seemed like they would actually last forever.
Everyone has a special GRANNY FRANNY memory...I wish I could grab at least one from each one of my brothers and sisters...No doubt about it...I'd just love to sit back and listen to everyone's special memories of this famous, irreplaceable boat...that always had us excited about going out, with an exhuberent energy, enjoying the waters of Lake Geneva to the fullest...
I'll just throw this one out there...for the fun of it...What lucky grandkid, can't recall, as their Grandpa would slowly drive the Granny Franny under the bridge as you entered the harbor at The Abbey...and he would have all the kids sit up on his lap in the captain's chair and press the button next to the steering wheel, for the extremely loud horn...to go off...so that it would echo...echo...echo...all about....What a huge thrill it was for those little ones...to generate such a huge commotion...
Going out on the Granny Franny at night was a perilous adventure, indeed...We really didn't quite have our bearings and it was a huge challenge to drive amidst all the unknown objects, floating about. It was just very cool to take the Granny out, all the time, any time, day or night...And if you add up all the time, all of us spent during the endless amount of summer hours, enjoying this special boat's unique charm, to the fullest, you'd certainly say that my Dad got his money's tidy worth and then some...
I know I could easily just float back and rattle off at least 10 to 20 pages of Granny Franny adventurous boat stories, easily...Most of them good...a tiny few, even bad...It's so hard...to think of even, stopping of writing about the Granny Franny boat, at this juncture...I just want to hold onto to those precious moments....so, so bad...
It almost makes me cry...as we drive by it nowadays, across the street from the Sentry Food Store in Walworth, today, where, the old Granny Franny, sits...alone...in a chalky gravel, side lot...its now faded green bottom looking haggard and worn...Somehow, it justs sits there, just magically, holding on, for dear life, not ready to go to that big boatyard in the sky...Put there, for all of us to drive by...and just sigh...It is truly an icon...in the history of the O'Leary family, and I always say...as I buy a lotto ticket...all the time...The first thing I do if I win the LOTTO...is buy that damn boat back, immediately, at any cost, and restore it to its full and lusterous glory...
Memories of The GRANNY FRANNY boat...truly, a captivating little piece, of such a glorious era, the early 70's and beyond...in the unique annals of Jim O'Leary's life...for sure...
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Onward & Upward
Well...here we are...20 blogs into the Life and Times of Jim O'Leary
...I've covered such a vast array of memories...already...and yet we are only getting started...
...The 60's...in itself...was a great starting point...for anyone to begin their life. It certainly left some incredible impressions of how different things were back then...and that time has almost swept away...so many of those interesting facets and figures which held us in awe...during those daring, illustrious years, so long ago...
...Whether it was my O'Leary family members caught in a time warp, remembering themselves so vividly, drifting way, way back to that era...or good friends my age who also firmly clutched their Frito Bandito erasers & did some outrageously, ridiculous things pretending they were young NASA astronauts, too...It's all good stuff, for all of us, to hold onto, flashbacks that should be cherished, at least one more time, to some extent, just for the laughs, just for the fun, just for the hell-of-it...For so many of my nieces & nephews, this has been a glimpse of the history of their Mom's & Dad's, Gramma & Grampa, Uncles & Aunts...And for those who have only known me, from recent years, this has provided a great deal of nostalgia & curiosity, an insight into a world they may never, ever, realized...had existed...And really, the best is yet to come...
...Of course, with all this in mind...I'm not through...by any means...We are just about to embark on a wonderous journey through the 1970's...Another decade of long-lost symbols, fads & functions that will all be inter-woven together, from my perspective, at that time...I was only a young kid, still, but I was growing up rather quickly...And that decade held a huge cluster of both good and bad moments which will transpire right before your eyes...
I'm really kinda torn by turning the pages of time, so quickly, yet there is a sense, within me, that so many people are anxious to roll on...into the future...with the anticipation...of what lie ahead...in the crazy, upside-down world of Jim O'Leary...
Really, the 70's were some pivotal years...when I still had just an amazing amount of robust energy, a budding imagination, ready, about to take off and such an endless, endless passion to have a good time....And I don't intend to dissappoint...by holding off on that slice of my life, so let us go...steady & straight...Onward & Upward...
...I've covered such a vast array of memories...already...and yet we are only getting started...
...The 60's...in itself...was a great starting point...for anyone to begin their life. It certainly left some incredible impressions of how different things were back then...and that time has almost swept away...so many of those interesting facets and figures which held us in awe...during those daring, illustrious years, so long ago...
...Whether it was my O'Leary family members caught in a time warp, remembering themselves so vividly, drifting way, way back to that era...or good friends my age who also firmly clutched their Frito Bandito erasers & did some outrageously, ridiculous things pretending they were young NASA astronauts, too...It's all good stuff, for all of us, to hold onto, flashbacks that should be cherished, at least one more time, to some extent, just for the laughs, just for the fun, just for the hell-of-it...For so many of my nieces & nephews, this has been a glimpse of the history of their Mom's & Dad's, Gramma & Grampa, Uncles & Aunts...And for those who have only known me, from recent years, this has provided a great deal of nostalgia & curiosity, an insight into a world they may never, ever, realized...had existed...And really, the best is yet to come...
...Of course, with all this in mind...I'm not through...by any means...We are just about to embark on a wonderous journey through the 1970's...Another decade of long-lost symbols, fads & functions that will all be inter-woven together, from my perspective, at that time...I was only a young kid, still, but I was growing up rather quickly...And that decade held a huge cluster of both good and bad moments which will transpire right before your eyes...
I'm really kinda torn by turning the pages of time, so quickly, yet there is a sense, within me, that so many people are anxious to roll on...into the future...with the anticipation...of what lie ahead...in the crazy, upside-down world of Jim O'Leary...
Really, the 70's were some pivotal years...when I still had just an amazing amount of robust energy, a budding imagination, ready, about to take off and such an endless, endless passion to have a good time....And I don't intend to dissappoint...by holding off on that slice of my life, so let us go...steady & straight...Onward & Upward...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Race to Space
....One thing that remains...within the heart & soul of every kid...who grew up in my late 60's era, early on, in our childhood, was the endless fascination with SPACE...We were literally born and raised within the span of when the Apollo Space program was in its hey-dey...It almost seemed like there was a blast-off every six months back then...each mission looming as a more and more important element in unraveling the mysteries of the universe....
...And don't think we weren't bombarded from every angle on the illustrious, magical possibilities---That conquering space was THE greatest acheivement our world could ever acheive...
Yet...as a kid...we couldn't exactly grasp all that...so instead...we were constantly fed a huge dose of silly space related cartoons and tv programs that elevated all our imaginations to new heights that other generations really had not had....
You could certainly start off with THE JETSONS...a harmless, piece-of-fluff, cartoon that followed the charmed life of George Jetson, daughter Judy, Jane-his wife, his boy-Elroy and some crazy dog that was always causing some kind of chaos...It was space age, personified, and all of these wild futuristic devices they incorporated into the show...made it a super big hit with one and all...They had huge TV screens that just plopped down out of nowhere, telephones very reminiscent of our cell phones today...Food that cooked in ovens in seconds...And the cars were like floating space roavers that zoomed throughout its kooky solar system of old-fashoined stores and burger joints that were revved up special to look ultra-modren...supposedly a quick glimpse of the cosmic world that lie ahead for all of us....
Really...almost all of the cartoons back then...would utilize the adventure of space as a way to keep us all glued to the screen, dreaming of the endless possibilites...of what maybe, our destiny, would be, of someday...all of us...finding our way...into the far reaches of space....
Check out an episode of Clutch Cargo, which was about the most absurdly drawn, cartoon, which utilized the bizarre option of big, moving, red lips, to advance the dialogue of a scene while stuck on the same page of frozen cartoon images...(Search Youtube. com....Creepy Cartoon with Human Mouths...)
It's so proposterous to see this fluid transition from Earth to Space...within seconds, with a child named Spinner and a dog named Paddlefoot...along for the rocket rode with Clutch...
And this image was almost repeated in some way, shape and form for every show embracing our nation's passion for space exploration...I guess, we were a unique generation exposed to such a bizzare perspective...that all things space related...held the key to our future...
...And the tv shows also liked to play up this angle too...Who can forget the rabidly popular, I DREAM OF JEANNIE.....Here we had an incredibly gorgeous, knock-out of a girl locked up in a bottle, magically released by an astronaut, who had landed hard in a remote area...From there, the whimsical adventures of Jeannie and her master, Major Tony Nelson were born....to light up our eyes, with hilarious spoofs and stories...We just couldn't get enough of that...
Also, the fascination with space carried over to everyday life for us kids, as several food products had a space connection, that we all just had to get our hands on...TANG-an orange flavored powder mix was plugged as the drink of the astronauts, loaded with Vitamin C, which at the time, nobody heard of....What was Vitamin C...???...Well, we concluded, if those darn astronauts were drinking this stuff...I gotta try this stuff, too....
An even funkier concoction, were, SPACE FOOD STICKS...This was the primative, early form, of what an energy bar, would someday evolve into...It was a chewy, little elongated stick that was about 5 inches wide...and tasted sweet & spongy....when you tried to eat it...Wow, us kids all thought...There's astronauts, circling the Earth, right now...and I'm chewing on the exact same food that give them a tremendous jolt of energy, to keep them focused on their mission....Of course, you'd chomp away, and chomp away, waiting for some boost in energy but it was about as nutritious as a bowl of Captain Crunch cereal....
You can pop up some commercials on TANG and SPACE FOOD STICKS on YOUTUBE.com and find yourself, laughing hysterically, at these totally over-hyped, proposterous food and drink creations that were really just ordinary items that held no magical powers so many of us were led to believe....
Oh yeah, then there was STAR TREK too...that took hold as a cult classic down the road...but at its inception...Star Trek just seemed a little bit too loony...for us to accept...It took awhile to really catch hold of its special brand of sci-fi noteriaty....Captain James T. Kirk & Doctor Spock beckoned us to believe that both aliens and humans could get along and the amazing journeys that they took us all on....built a foundation of what so many future sci-fi classic inventions...would capitalize on...to render us down their paths of exploring the cosmos....
Of course, previous generations can shout out that FLASH GORDON was the original space show that all others are based upon...but most of us...in the late 60's...had no idea that such great innovative short, feature film classics even existed....
I know nowadays...space has lost its luster...As much as the media tries to hype the vitality and importance of what space missions are providing today....The real, day-to-day news, just seems to overwhelm our interests in paying any attention to any kind of space stuff...It is kinda sad...but...it has lost its shock value also because so much of what we use today, from cell phones to I-Pods, have just as much of an innovation factor...that are just common advances we've come to expect to happen...In our time...the great innovations were touted as coming to fruition from our beloved NASA Space Program...
LET US COMMENCE THE COUNTDOWN...!!!
Five....Four....Three.....Two....One.....BLAST-OFF......!!!!!!
Just a quick, short phrase, every one of kids, of long ago, would repeat, with a great amount of heart and enthusiasm....Whether it was when we paused before we were about to run outside to play for the day or driving our parents nuts, engaged in a mega-solar lift-off while orbiting our tasteless, vegatables on a fork when we were ordered to eat them at dinner time...Yeah...we were imaginative kids...all hepped up on the abundance of space stuff that intertwined into our daily rituals...It's probably a good thing that we would grow out of that phase quickly as we did...but it nonetheless...is rooted cosmically, way, way back...deeply into our spacious orb of conscienceness...whether we like it or not...even to this very day...if we care to dwell upon and admit it....Well...at least...I'll climb out of my lunar module and admit it..........Oh well, I'll say it again.......as I fondly bid good-bye....How times....have changed....!!!
...And don't think we weren't bombarded from every angle on the illustrious, magical possibilities---That conquering space was THE greatest acheivement our world could ever acheive...
Yet...as a kid...we couldn't exactly grasp all that...so instead...we were constantly fed a huge dose of silly space related cartoons and tv programs that elevated all our imaginations to new heights that other generations really had not had....
You could certainly start off with THE JETSONS...a harmless, piece-of-fluff, cartoon that followed the charmed life of George Jetson, daughter Judy, Jane-his wife, his boy-Elroy and some crazy dog that was always causing some kind of chaos...It was space age, personified, and all of these wild futuristic devices they incorporated into the show...made it a super big hit with one and all...They had huge TV screens that just plopped down out of nowhere, telephones very reminiscent of our cell phones today...Food that cooked in ovens in seconds...And the cars were like floating space roavers that zoomed throughout its kooky solar system of old-fashoined stores and burger joints that were revved up special to look ultra-modren...supposedly a quick glimpse of the cosmic world that lie ahead for all of us....
Really...almost all of the cartoons back then...would utilize the adventure of space as a way to keep us all glued to the screen, dreaming of the endless possibilites...of what maybe, our destiny, would be, of someday...all of us...finding our way...into the far reaches of space....
Check out an episode of Clutch Cargo, which was about the most absurdly drawn, cartoon, which utilized the bizarre option of big, moving, red lips, to advance the dialogue of a scene while stuck on the same page of frozen cartoon images...(Search Youtube. com....Creepy Cartoon with Human Mouths...)
It's so proposterous to see this fluid transition from Earth to Space...within seconds, with a child named Spinner and a dog named Paddlefoot...along for the rocket rode with Clutch...
And this image was almost repeated in some way, shape and form for every show embracing our nation's passion for space exploration...I guess, we were a unique generation exposed to such a bizzare perspective...that all things space related...held the key to our future...
...And the tv shows also liked to play up this angle too...Who can forget the rabidly popular, I DREAM OF JEANNIE.....Here we had an incredibly gorgeous, knock-out of a girl locked up in a bottle, magically released by an astronaut, who had landed hard in a remote area...From there, the whimsical adventures of Jeannie and her master, Major Tony Nelson were born....to light up our eyes, with hilarious spoofs and stories...We just couldn't get enough of that...
Also, the fascination with space carried over to everyday life for us kids, as several food products had a space connection, that we all just had to get our hands on...TANG-an orange flavored powder mix was plugged as the drink of the astronauts, loaded with Vitamin C, which at the time, nobody heard of....What was Vitamin C...???...Well, we concluded, if those darn astronauts were drinking this stuff...I gotta try this stuff, too....
An even funkier concoction, were, SPACE FOOD STICKS...This was the primative, early form, of what an energy bar, would someday evolve into...It was a chewy, little elongated stick that was about 5 inches wide...and tasted sweet & spongy....when you tried to eat it...Wow, us kids all thought...There's astronauts, circling the Earth, right now...and I'm chewing on the exact same food that give them a tremendous jolt of energy, to keep them focused on their mission....Of course, you'd chomp away, and chomp away, waiting for some boost in energy but it was about as nutritious as a bowl of Captain Crunch cereal....
You can pop up some commercials on TANG and SPACE FOOD STICKS on YOUTUBE.com and find yourself, laughing hysterically, at these totally over-hyped, proposterous food and drink creations that were really just ordinary items that held no magical powers so many of us were led to believe....
Oh yeah, then there was STAR TREK too...that took hold as a cult classic down the road...but at its inception...Star Trek just seemed a little bit too loony...for us to accept...It took awhile to really catch hold of its special brand of sci-fi noteriaty....Captain James T. Kirk & Doctor Spock beckoned us to believe that both aliens and humans could get along and the amazing journeys that they took us all on....built a foundation of what so many future sci-fi classic inventions...would capitalize on...to render us down their paths of exploring the cosmos....
Of course, previous generations can shout out that FLASH GORDON was the original space show that all others are based upon...but most of us...in the late 60's...had no idea that such great innovative short, feature film classics even existed....
I know nowadays...space has lost its luster...As much as the media tries to hype the vitality and importance of what space missions are providing today....The real, day-to-day news, just seems to overwhelm our interests in paying any attention to any kind of space stuff...It is kinda sad...but...it has lost its shock value also because so much of what we use today, from cell phones to I-Pods, have just as much of an innovation factor...that are just common advances we've come to expect to happen...In our time...the great innovations were touted as coming to fruition from our beloved NASA Space Program...
LET US COMMENCE THE COUNTDOWN...!!!
Five....Four....Three.....Two....One.....BLAST-OFF......!!!!!!
Just a quick, short phrase, every one of kids, of long ago, would repeat, with a great amount of heart and enthusiasm....Whether it was when we paused before we were about to run outside to play for the day or driving our parents nuts, engaged in a mega-solar lift-off while orbiting our tasteless, vegatables on a fork when we were ordered to eat them at dinner time...Yeah...we were imaginative kids...all hepped up on the abundance of space stuff that intertwined into our daily rituals...It's probably a good thing that we would grow out of that phase quickly as we did...but it nonetheless...is rooted cosmically, way, way back...deeply into our spacious orb of conscienceness...whether we like it or not...even to this very day...if we care to dwell upon and admit it....Well...at least...I'll climb out of my lunar module and admit it..........Oh well, I'll say it again.......as I fondly bid good-bye....How times....have changed....!!!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
From Bozo to Baseball
...As long as I can remember back, I have always been a completely obsessed sports fan...I mean I had every imaginable trading card of every player of every team from almost every sport. Looking back, I can even recall opening up a pack of baseball cards and seeing a Mickey Mantle card and being pissed that I got his card, furiously tearing it up and throwing it up in the air because he had retired that year...I'm thinking that must have been around 1969 and that card today probably would buy me some season's tickets to any sports venue for a year...
...All the Chicago teams were huge favorites to me growing up and it's impossible to rate them in some kind of all-time favorite order...But I do intend on spending some time giving you some of my insights and recollections regarding my vast array of golden sports memories throughout these memoirs...
First up...the Cubs...I know...I know...that's a shocker...me being from the South-Side but the Cubs were on WGN and they had a huge advantage of gaining my attention over the years...especially as a little youngster...On any given day, you could go from watching the kooky antics of Bozo's Circus at Noon followed by the Cubs Lead-Off Man Show...at 1pm...(which was sponsored by Danley Garages way back then and even now)...
....The Cubs were loaded back in 1969, so many of those players have their numbers flying out on flagpoles erected in the outfield bleachers...nowadays...but back then...these guys just were average to decently-great prospects...who could just do it all, that magical season...Santo, Billy Williams, Glenn Beckert, Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins and Mister Cub, himself, Ernie Banks...
...As a kid...baseball was King...It was by far...America's Pastime...in every sense of the word. Every kid wore a baseball cap...and they probably wore that cap every day, no matter how sweaty and grimy and dirty and ripped and bent it got...Losing your baseball cap was like losing a limb...It almost felt un-natural not to have one on...I kinda got mad because I'd see so many Cubs caps at department stores back then...but hardly any White Sox caps...It's no wonder that the Cubs held a huge lead in popularity...All the White Sox had back then was an aging shortstop, Louie Aparicio and a young fast-ball pitcher Tommy John...I can't recall anyone else being that great...maybe pitcher Joel Horlen and new knuckle-baller Wilbur Wood but that is reaching...a bit...
...We were basically a young generation that had inherited a passion for baseball from our fathers...who were equally rabid about baseball from their early years on up...also...My Dad absolutely hated the New York Yankees...and I also followed his lead by hating the Bronx Bombers...from the get-go, too...They were just awful back then...the Yanks...but they had the mystique of DiMaggio and Gerhig and Ruth to fall back upon...even though...that was a good 20-30-40 years before... Heck, Joe DiMaggio was doing Mr. Coffee commercials and that pretty much guaranteed a huge load of good poblicity & sales from his legendary, impeccable image, alone...
...Back to the Cubs in the summner of 1969...It was a special year in Cub history...They had spent so many years without a glimpse of hope of winning a championship...for so long...It had to have been way back around World War II...when they last had a decent chance of taking home a World Series...But this year in 69...everything was going their way...They were way out in front of the Cardinals, I believe and also the Mets...who were still basically considered a rummy expansion franchise compared to everyone else...
...I was up in Children's Memorial Hospital...at the time...for an extensive 3-4 month stretch and you just had to watch the Cubs to keep away the boredom...of being stuck in bed, in a huge plaster cast...after some kind of hellacious back surgery...
...All the doctors and nurses and just about anyone would come into my room and ask me for a score update...while the Cubs were on...because they knew I was glued to the game of that day and could pretty much recall all the highlights like a human highlight reel...
...Children's Memorial Hospital was only a little over a mile away from Wrigley Field...and Cub Fever was running rampant in a huge way...This just had to be their year, everyone kept excitedly repeating, over and over...
...Eventually, I was released from the hospital in July that summer but I kept a close eye on the Cubs as they made their way towards their pennant push...Jack Brickhouse and Lou Boudrou and Vince Lloyd were the everyday WGN announcers back then...and they were great broadcasters who shared the same enthusiasm for this incredible year...evolving on a daily basis for throngs of dedicated fans...Everyone was purely awe-struck by the lead the Cubs kept building and building upon...Wow...coulde this really be the year...!!!!
....The Cubbies, somehow, came up a little short...in the end...down the stretch...as the Amazing Mets...came out of nowhere with some awesome pitching talent...from the likes of young guns--Nolan Ryan & Tug McGraw & Jerry Koosman & Tom Seaver who would go on to capture the National League crown followed by an improbable World Series title....
...It was a bitter moment in time...to see the Cubs fade to a bunch of no-name guys from NYC but most of the Mets young players would go on to have stellar careers...The pain of losing for the Cubs almost overshadowed the brilliance of the Cubs players efforts...and that year...1969...would go down as one of the most traumatic as well as most memorable years in Cub history...
...Over the years...I have continued to follow baseball and the Cubs with great interest for many reasons. Some of my most favorite baseball memories are Cubs games or Sox games that I have either watched or attended with great friends and I'm sure I'll be jumping back in time to give you a glimpse of the essence of Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park and all that has transpired...before my eyes...Oh yeah, let's not forget those White Sox who got their act together finally...for some very memorable teams from the late 70's to mid-80's...And what about old Comiskey Park...which may have lacked the charm of other parks like Wrigley Field but still was held in reverence by baseball purists as the real place to see baseball in Chicago...I have every intention of instilling the aura that surrounded these ball parks, which should be alot of fun...
...Right now...at this moment...in October of 2008...the Cubs, the Sox and even the Brewers are in the play-offs, perched up at the top...ready to take a shot at a World Series title...The Cubs will face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers...another team...I really hate...We'll see what happens...The Sox are tussling with the new kids, the Tampa Bay Rays...and the Brew Crew are in for a battle with the Phillies of Philadelphia...These lucky teams are going for it all...this post-season...so this year, especially, in 2008, has been a remarkable year for baseball....that has unfolded...for all of the fans in the Upper Midwest and everywhere across the U.S.A...to enjoy immensely and elusively try to hold onto...every minute they can...
(...As a footnote...I did want to mention that with all those loads and loads of baseball cards I had collected, they had to be stacked, piled all up in rubber bands...My Dad, seeing this, would come home every so often with some really cool cigar boxes for me to store all my cards in...These cigar boxes were mostly top-notch, wooden, with a heavy metal clasp to keep it shut tight and its dimensions were a perfect fit for stuffing a huge bunch of cards together...And after awhile...the cards even developed a distinct pungent, sweet tobacco smell to them...Every so often...years later, whenever I would light up a cigar on occasion...I would think back to those cigar boxes my Dad had given me long ago...Gosh, that huge collection of baseball cards would be worth a fortune, right now, but I know I would probably still keep them, if I had the chance...I laugh now because I can still remember having a rookie Lou Pinella mini-poster they had specially made of all the promising rookies coming up back then when he came into the big leagues with the Kansas City Royals...Here we are, 40 years later and Lou is pretty much the cagey old manager of the Cubs...with his trademark fiery temper boiling over, now and then, beneath that once, youthful and talented athlete...from ages ago...You could say I did keep myself quite absorbed in sports back then...but it was a great hobby...and to think back at all the outstanding players I got to watch flourish before my eyes...was quite a treat...)
...All the Chicago teams were huge favorites to me growing up and it's impossible to rate them in some kind of all-time favorite order...But I do intend on spending some time giving you some of my insights and recollections regarding my vast array of golden sports memories throughout these memoirs...
First up...the Cubs...I know...I know...that's a shocker...me being from the South-Side but the Cubs were on WGN and they had a huge advantage of gaining my attention over the years...especially as a little youngster...On any given day, you could go from watching the kooky antics of Bozo's Circus at Noon followed by the Cubs Lead-Off Man Show...at 1pm...(which was sponsored by Danley Garages way back then and even now)...
....The Cubs were loaded back in 1969, so many of those players have their numbers flying out on flagpoles erected in the outfield bleachers...nowadays...but back then...these guys just were average to decently-great prospects...who could just do it all, that magical season...Santo, Billy Williams, Glenn Beckert, Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins and Mister Cub, himself, Ernie Banks...
...As a kid...baseball was King...It was by far...America's Pastime...in every sense of the word. Every kid wore a baseball cap...and they probably wore that cap every day, no matter how sweaty and grimy and dirty and ripped and bent it got...Losing your baseball cap was like losing a limb...It almost felt un-natural not to have one on...I kinda got mad because I'd see so many Cubs caps at department stores back then...but hardly any White Sox caps...It's no wonder that the Cubs held a huge lead in popularity...All the White Sox had back then was an aging shortstop, Louie Aparicio and a young fast-ball pitcher Tommy John...I can't recall anyone else being that great...maybe pitcher Joel Horlen and new knuckle-baller Wilbur Wood but that is reaching...a bit...
...We were basically a young generation that had inherited a passion for baseball from our fathers...who were equally rabid about baseball from their early years on up...also...My Dad absolutely hated the New York Yankees...and I also followed his lead by hating the Bronx Bombers...from the get-go, too...They were just awful back then...the Yanks...but they had the mystique of DiMaggio and Gerhig and Ruth to fall back upon...even though...that was a good 20-30-40 years before... Heck, Joe DiMaggio was doing Mr. Coffee commercials and that pretty much guaranteed a huge load of good poblicity & sales from his legendary, impeccable image, alone...
...Back to the Cubs in the summner of 1969...It was a special year in Cub history...They had spent so many years without a glimpse of hope of winning a championship...for so long...It had to have been way back around World War II...when they last had a decent chance of taking home a World Series...But this year in 69...everything was going their way...They were way out in front of the Cardinals, I believe and also the Mets...who were still basically considered a rummy expansion franchise compared to everyone else...
...I was up in Children's Memorial Hospital...at the time...for an extensive 3-4 month stretch and you just had to watch the Cubs to keep away the boredom...of being stuck in bed, in a huge plaster cast...after some kind of hellacious back surgery...
...All the doctors and nurses and just about anyone would come into my room and ask me for a score update...while the Cubs were on...because they knew I was glued to the game of that day and could pretty much recall all the highlights like a human highlight reel...
...Children's Memorial Hospital was only a little over a mile away from Wrigley Field...and Cub Fever was running rampant in a huge way...This just had to be their year, everyone kept excitedly repeating, over and over...
...Eventually, I was released from the hospital in July that summer but I kept a close eye on the Cubs as they made their way towards their pennant push...Jack Brickhouse and Lou Boudrou and Vince Lloyd were the everyday WGN announcers back then...and they were great broadcasters who shared the same enthusiasm for this incredible year...evolving on a daily basis for throngs of dedicated fans...Everyone was purely awe-struck by the lead the Cubs kept building and building upon...Wow...coulde this really be the year...!!!!
....The Cubbies, somehow, came up a little short...in the end...down the stretch...as the Amazing Mets...came out of nowhere with some awesome pitching talent...from the likes of young guns--Nolan Ryan & Tug McGraw & Jerry Koosman & Tom Seaver who would go on to capture the National League crown followed by an improbable World Series title....
...It was a bitter moment in time...to see the Cubs fade to a bunch of no-name guys from NYC but most of the Mets young players would go on to have stellar careers...The pain of losing for the Cubs almost overshadowed the brilliance of the Cubs players efforts...and that year...1969...would go down as one of the most traumatic as well as most memorable years in Cub history...
...Over the years...I have continued to follow baseball and the Cubs with great interest for many reasons. Some of my most favorite baseball memories are Cubs games or Sox games that I have either watched or attended with great friends and I'm sure I'll be jumping back in time to give you a glimpse of the essence of Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park and all that has transpired...before my eyes...Oh yeah, let's not forget those White Sox who got their act together finally...for some very memorable teams from the late 70's to mid-80's...And what about old Comiskey Park...which may have lacked the charm of other parks like Wrigley Field but still was held in reverence by baseball purists as the real place to see baseball in Chicago...I have every intention of instilling the aura that surrounded these ball parks, which should be alot of fun...
...Right now...at this moment...in October of 2008...the Cubs, the Sox and even the Brewers are in the play-offs, perched up at the top...ready to take a shot at a World Series title...The Cubs will face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers...another team...I really hate...We'll see what happens...The Sox are tussling with the new kids, the Tampa Bay Rays...and the Brew Crew are in for a battle with the Phillies of Philadelphia...These lucky teams are going for it all...this post-season...so this year, especially, in 2008, has been a remarkable year for baseball....that has unfolded...for all of the fans in the Upper Midwest and everywhere across the U.S.A...to enjoy immensely and elusively try to hold onto...every minute they can...
(...As a footnote...I did want to mention that with all those loads and loads of baseball cards I had collected, they had to be stacked, piled all up in rubber bands...My Dad, seeing this, would come home every so often with some really cool cigar boxes for me to store all my cards in...These cigar boxes were mostly top-notch, wooden, with a heavy metal clasp to keep it shut tight and its dimensions were a perfect fit for stuffing a huge bunch of cards together...And after awhile...the cards even developed a distinct pungent, sweet tobacco smell to them...Every so often...years later, whenever I would light up a cigar on occasion...I would think back to those cigar boxes my Dad had given me long ago...Gosh, that huge collection of baseball cards would be worth a fortune, right now, but I know I would probably still keep them, if I had the chance...I laugh now because I can still remember having a rookie Lou Pinella mini-poster they had specially made of all the promising rookies coming up back then when he came into the big leagues with the Kansas City Royals...Here we are, 40 years later and Lou is pretty much the cagey old manager of the Cubs...with his trademark fiery temper boiling over, now and then, beneath that once, youthful and talented athlete...from ages ago...You could say I did keep myself quite absorbed in sports back then...but it was a great hobby...and to think back at all the outstanding players I got to watch flourish before my eyes...was quite a treat...)
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