The Neighborhood

Have you watched "Leave It To Beaver" or any of the shows from the fifties? My life was like that, except it was two girls instead of two boys.

<---we had this car - it had push button gears-one morning the reverse button got stuck while Mom was warming it up and it backed itself out of the driveway and was going backwards in slow circles in the middle of the street. Daddy had to run in several circles before he was able to jump in and stop it. Sis and I were sooooo embarrassed.

We lived in a neighborhood where everyone watched out for everyone else's kids. Where it was alright to take off in the morning and stay gone all day as long as you were home by dark. We put on talent shows in our garages and charged two cents for a Pixie cup of Kool-Aid. My Mom bought us Prom dresses at the Goodwill store to wear in our shows.

supercalafragilisticecspealadocious

We also had Kool-Aid stands in front of our houses and folks would pull over and buy a Tupperware glass full of the icy cold drink for a dime. We would go from house to house collecting for The March of Dimes, selling Girl Scout cookies, or that delicious chocolate bar "Softball Chocolate" what I would give for some of that chocolate. I don't know the real name for it, but it was a huge chocolate bar with break off pieces and it was wonderful. It was a dollar a bar.

Halloween was fun, we would go around the block three times, hitting the best houses every time. It was so safe and secure then. Our parents didn't even go with us once we were eight or older. We were warned against unwrapped candy though.
Daddy was starting to do really well at his job. We were invited to his bosses house for dinner. Mom went to J.C. Penny's and bought us all new dresses, we were washed and primped and excited.

<---Camelot, we loved President Kennedy at our house. I was in fourth grade when he was killed. We were very upset it happened when he was visiting our area.

We could tell it meant a lot to Mom and Dad to be on our best behavior. The boss Mr. Bell and his wife Mrs. Bell had a very nice home in North Dallas. I was about eight as this time and sister was ten. Mrs Bell had two children, a boy, twelve and a girl, nine.

The Miss America pageant was on TV and Mrs Bell and Mom were watching it and having Tom Collins in tall, cloudy glasses with a lime and orange slice on the edge of the glass. I remember it very clearly for some reason. It was the first time I saw Mom envious. Mrs Bell had just had new paneling put in the Dining room. I could see Mom wanted it badly. We did have paneling added to our dining room in later years. I don't know where the men went. I think there was a Billiard table somewhere. Mrs Bell told her kids to take us and show us their rooms. They has tons of stuff and they were kinda mean and snotty to me and sister, though the girl was nicer to sister and they started playing after a while. I (being me) followed the boy to his room. He tried to act cool, but he liked the attention and ended up showing me some neat toys.

He had the Magic Shot Shooting Gallery, Rock N Sock Em Robots, and some neat Matchbox Cars. I was in Heaven. He also had a train set that I wanted so badly. I begged Daddy to get me one and he said they were for boys and I should stop being silly.

My Mom loved dolls and still does and so sister and I got Barbie dolls as soon as the came out. Grandpa Williams (Mom's Dad) was living with us then and he built us a three story doll house and Mom furnished it with all the newest gadgets. We had a kitchen and the oven lit up and had a little rotisserie chicken in it, a sink with running water. The bedroom was so pretty . Mom had made an itty bitty bedspread and rug. The living room had all the details, lamps, phones, books, table, couch, chairs and a TV. It was a special Christmas. One of many you will probably hear about if you keep reading this.

Soon

I tried to look as unblinkingly at myself, I tried to write about every single person in my book with compassion. There are no villains in this story. Joyce Maynard

I will be back tonight or tomorrow to continue my story.

Daddy, Big Sister, Mama and little me. 1952

I am tired today and I won't be posting memories. I think this blog is going to wear me out. Dredging up old memories can be nice and it can be disturbing as well. I am having trouble uploading pictures this week. I got this one then the uploader started acting up. I will return soon.

Ideal Childhood

"The Logical Song" by Supertramp

When I was young
It seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees
Well they´d be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, oh playfully watching me
But then they sent me away
To teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible ,practical
And they showed me a world
Where i could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical

There are times when all the world´s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won´t you please, please tell me what we´ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who i am

Now watch what you say
Or they´ll be calling you a radical
A liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Oh won´t you sign up your name
We´d like to feel you´re
Acceptable, respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!

At night when all the world´s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won´t you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who i am, who i am ,who i am.

I don't think life could of been better than it was the first nine years of my life. I was Daddys shadow. He called me Little Billy. He took me hunting and camping with him and sometimes to work.

I recall waking before daylight and Mom dressing me in layer after layer of clothes and packing us a thermos of coffee before we headed out to Grapevine Lake.(I started drinking coffee at two) I live at Grapevine Lake now, but it is a different world now than it was then. We just walked around with guns and bows and arrows. Daddy let me carry a small 22 rifle, but I never shot anything. We would sit up in a duck blind in the freezing cold for hours, being very quiet except for the sound of Dads duck calls. I got in trouble more than once for playing with them. Sometimes we went squirrel hunting and brought squirrels home and Mom made dumplings...yuck. I could never eat that now, but then it was the reason we wanted them. I would pretty much eat anything Daddy would eat and he ate some strange foods. I guess he had to when he was growing up. I drew the line at pigs feet though. Yuck.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good frogs legs were. Daddy would go frog gigging with his friends late at night. He would bring bullfrogs home alive then kill them. Once a big live snake came out when he cut one open. I also remember liking rabbit. Mom would fry it like chicken and it tasted like chicken, but with more white meat.

Sometimes Daddy and I would throw a blanket down in the back yard at night and he would teach me the constellations. It was much darker outside then, before DFW Airport, you could see five times as many stars as you see now.

Mom never worked then and she kept things nice at home. She had friends in the neighborhood with kids our age and they had coffee at one house or another every day. They would put on some Ray Charles or Bobby Darin and dance sometimes. Mama was so pretty and fun. She always made things extra nice, especially birthdays and holidays, but often would treat us to a Special day for no reason. She always loved to have fun and still does. Mom loves the State Fair of Texas. I was going to add her picture in 1950 here, but I am having trouble getting anymore pictures uploaded. I will try again later.

On weekends Mom and Dad would have family and friends over for BBQ's or a fish fry and Dad would always make homemade ice cream. There was least six cousins or company kids over. We played Swinging Statue, Roll Over Red Rover, Mother May I.

There were a lot of advertising lights. Everytime a store had a grand opening, they would rent them. You know those big spot lights that criss cross in the sky. We played like they were giant ant antennas, like in the movie "Them" and played a game where you had to hit the ground flat when they went over. It was good times. Much squealing and panic.

Sister and I shared a room and liked to scare each other. I would get a flashlight and bring my hand down slowly over it and it made a giant hand on the ceiling, she would convince me there was a man looking in the window. I feel sorry for sister now in retrospect. I wet the bed till I was six years old. I think I was an irritating child, always wanting to know everything and talking all the time. I know my Granny Williams (Mom's side) said so more than once. She had to take Valiums, called them her "nerve" pills. She was always offering them to Mom.

I think I was almost six when we quit going to church. It was around then that we started hearing a new sound coming from the living room after we went to bed. I remember lying in bed wondering what was making that poppsshhh sound. I was a sneaky devil and snuck down the hall and peeked and it turned out to be Mom opening cans of Schitz Beer. I had never known them to ever drink. They probably didn't even like the taste back then. It was preached against much in church, but many things that were a sin in the spring were fine to do in the summer. It was a bit confusing for me. I sure liked it though.

My hands say I have rattled enough for today.

Page One - The Day I Arrived - August 16, 1954

August 16, 1954 arriving at 6lbs & 2ozs, with a head full of black hair, it's ME!

There have been many things happen since that day.

Though only a half-century ago, in retrospect 1954 seems worlds removed from today. The United States was embarking on a period of peace and prosperity. War hero-turned-president Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the first half of his first term as president; Richard M. Nixon was vice president. The Korean War had ended the previous year. Veterans thrived and prospered as they joined the work force, bought homes and raised families. The Soviet Union was a looming, if distant, threat. Great Depression, World War II and the Korean War were in the past. Life was good in America. Changes every day made life even easier. Television was booming. From the time my Mama first layed me on a pallet in front of a television, I was hooked.. I could tell you what time it was by what I was watching at the moment. These are the shows that were on the year I was born, some of them are still showing somewhere.:
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (1946-1960).
Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947-1957).
Howdy Doody (1947-1960).
Kraft Television Theater (1947-1958).
Meet the Press (1947-present).
Candid Camera (1948-present).
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971).
Bozo the Clown (1949-present).
The Goldbergs (1949-1955).
The Voice of Firestone (1949-1963).
Cisco Kid (1950-1956).
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950-1958).
The Jack Benny Show (1950-1965).
Truth or Consequences (1950-1988).
What's My Line (1950-1967).
Your Hit Parade (1950-1959).
Dragnet (1951-1959).
I Love Lucy (1951-1957).
Love of Life (1951-1980).
Search for Tomorrow (1951-1986).
The Roy Rogers Show (1951-1957).
Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951-present)
American Bandstand (1952-1989).
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966).
My Little Margie (1952-1955).
The Guiding Light (1952-present).
The Honeymooners (1952-1970).
The Today Show (1952-present).
This Is Your Life (US) (1952-1961).
Buick-Berle Show (1953-1954); the show was renamed
The Milton Berle Show (1954-1967) this year.

I remember most of them from repeats. I was born in Irving, Texas. My Dad was a carpet layer at the time and my Mom was a housewife. He was a nineteen year old fresh from the Oklahoma hills. Education wasn't that important in the hills. My Gramdma and Pa were migrate farm workers for awhile and they had four boys and three girls that lived and I believe that my Grandpa and his Pa had a Moonshine still up in the Hills too. Dad only finished sixth grade and Mom, who grew up in town, had an eighth grade education. Mom read all the time though and could tell you anything about history or geography or really anything you needed to know. Dad was a whiz with numbers and later became a Carpet salesman, then opened his own business selling and installing Carpet, Draperies and Furniture.. He was doing really well too, until he started making too much money and drinking with his clients. Alcohol and Dad didn't mix. That ruined our "Leave it to Beaver" lifestyle.

I am getting way ahead of myself - back to 1954.
Stevie Ray Vaughn was born in Dallas. Elvis cut his first big hit. Homes were cheap. When I was three we bought a house. A nice three bedroom on a great street. White Frame with light blue trim, fenced in backyard, lots of childrens everywhere. We went to church then. The Assembly of God, a strict Pentecostal church. We could only wear dresses, no jewelry, gospel music only. We weren't supposed to have coffee or tea, but Mama fudged a bit regarding the music and coffee. My sister is two years older than me.She was the first grandchild in the family. I remember her getting up her nerve once and singing in church. "The Devil is a Sly Old Fox, a sly old fox is he, if I could I would put him in a box and throw way the key" I was the performer in the family, so that was very unusual for her to get up like that. Church was pretty much our life for a few years then we just stopped going one day. We were just kids, so no explanation was given. Things started going bad after we quit. It started slow, but it had started.....Continued next time. (hands have decided to stop working for now)

<---I was worked in the Film/Tv business in my 40's. I worked with Richard Crenna(far left) in three Made for TV movies. Just some personal trivia.