REFLECTIONS- "Growing up in the50's"- Chapter 16- Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

Nostalgia Tidbit : Going to the movies for the first time ever was  an amazing experience. It is something I will never forget. This time period was before anyone I knew had ever seen or even heard of a TV. The Big Screen became a great place to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Chapter 16

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

In the early 50s, the downtown movie theater in

Auburndale was the only entertainment hotspot

around. The indoor theatre was called “The Auburn

Theatre” and the drive in theatre in town was  called

the “

Dale Drive

In”.     Get it? The Auburn and the Dale

were appropriate for a town called Auburndale. At the

time I thought that was really creative!

The first time I went to the movies, I can remember

being frightened to death once I saw the moving

picture on that big screen. I know it was a western

and a lot of loud shooting going on. I don’t recall the

name of the movie. 

All I know is I had my eyes closed and fingers

in my ears the whole time.

Keep in mind, seeing a moving picture for the first

time ever was a major experience. At that point, I had

never seen or even heard of a TV. Books and radio had

been it.

Finally, I adapted to the wonderful experience of

watching movies. Saturday afternoon’s became one of

the great highlights for the entire gang.

It was about a two mile walk to the downtown theatre

and we did it many times on Saturday afternoons over

the next several years. The cost of admission was 15

cents. 

You could sell three cola bottles and you had your

ticket to the movies.

Popcorn and candy were reasonable as well.

An afternoon at the movies always included a double

feature, a cartoon, and lots of previews. There may

have been some advertisement but I don’t remember

any. This was a super bargain for 15 cents.  You could

even stay and watch the re-runs as many times as you

wanted. We did many times!

Movies of that era were primarily westerns. I can

remember watching numerous horror films too. I came

a long way in a short time…from closing my eyes and

holding fingers in my ears to becoming a big horror

film lover. Two movies you may have never heard of

stand out in my mind…”The Creature from the Black

Lagoon”  and “The Hitchhicker.”

Nowadays, when we see the re-runs of a lot of the old

movies from that era, even the serious ones seem

almost like a comedy. Still, at the time it was great

entertainment for all of us who spent “Saturday

Afternoon at the Movies”.

REFLECTIONS- "Growing up in the 50's" Chapter 15- A Second Language

Nostalgia Tidbit : In Central Florida in the 50’s, we never heard anything about how important it was to learn a second language. Today, we all know how valuable it is in Florida as well as many areas of our country to understand Spanish. Our Hispanic population growth is tremendous and will continue at a steady pace. Back then, those of us who had learned another language thought we had “one up” on everybody else.

Chapter 15

A Second Language

(ig-pay   atin-lay)

To feel the need to learn a second language was not

even on my radar until some friends shared some

insight in to  a secretive way of verbally

communicating with each other so our parents and

strangers would have no idea what we were saying. It

was a language that even the name of it would make us

laugh.  “Pig Latin” was the new found method of

communication. Just in case you don’t know how Pig

Latin works, here you go.

The usual rules for changing English into Pig Latin are:

1.                        If a word begins with consonant sounds, move all the first consonant sounds to the end of the word and add “ay”. As follows:

bat     >  at-bay

door  >  oor-day

John  >  ohn-jay

2. For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonants) you add the syllable “ay” to the end word. as follows:

I        >  I-ay

equal > equal-ay

honest> honest-ay (because the h is silent).

Anyway, you get the idea. We had our own second

language and probably felt it had been invented within

our own little group of friends. It was most fun to use

around the adults because we felt there was no way

they could ever know what we were saying. 

One day, a good buddy  and I were at the corner store 

and we went into our “second language” mode just to

test it out. “red-Fay    is-ay    uper-say  tupid-say 

which translates in to a not very nice “Fred is super

stupid.”

Fred looked at us with a sign of shock on his face. We

 laughed because we knew we had done it on our first

try…puzzled an adult with our second language.

After a moment, Fred replied. “ ou-yay    are-ya   ot-

nay  ooling-fay  e-may  which means (You are not

fooling me.)

We had to think about what he said for a moment to

decipher what he had actually said. 

At this point we had spent so much time learning to

speak Pig Latin that we had not perfected listening and

understanding…BUT…we got it! He was on to us!

Apparently this new second language of ours was more

widespread that we had known. After that lesson, we

tried to stay away from saying anything negative but

did enjoy being able to speak a language that most

others, especially adults, did not understand.

Even to this day “Pig Latin” works very well if you are

in a foreign country and need to stay away from

English. You will confuse the heck out of any rude

foreigners who know how to speak English. Try it!

 Also, if you are ever asked on a job application if you

speak a second language”? You can check “yes”! Ig-

pay   atin-lay.

I double dog dare you! You won’t get the job, but what

an interesting reaction you will receive!                                

 UST-JAY  OKING-JAY !

Did you get it?

Just a funny side note: While writing this story my PC “spell check” went crazy…..maybe one day even our computers will recognize Pig Latin!

REFLECTIONS "Growing up in the 50's" CHAPTER 14- That's Cool

Nostalgia Tidbit : In the 50s there was no air conditioning in the home or car, at least none that we knew about, so you cooled off  as creatively as you could.

                                                                         Chapter 14

 That’s Cool

On a hot summer day in Central Florida in the 1950’s I

can remember how creative we tried to be in finding  

ways to cool off. With no air conditioning in the home

or in the car, it was a challenge. You couldn’t even go

to the Mall to cool down because they didn’t exist. I

don’t remember any stores even having A/C either.

Perhaps they had some big circulating fans that stirred

the hot air.

Still, hot is hot!

Luckily, we had a lake about a mile away, so we often

walked or rode our bikes over to take a dip.

 Back then, you actually felt comfortable swimming in

a fresh water lake with never a thought of gators,

snakes, amoebas and slime. I’m sure they were present

but it never crossed our minds.

.

We were too busy “cooling off”. Some creative ways

to cool off were to ride in the car “fast” with windows

down and hanging out up to the waist. That had a little

numbing effect as well. Standing in front of the

refrigerator with the door open worked nicely but we

could only get away with that for very short periods of

time. Sometimes, I would even think if I rode my bike

fast enough or ran fast enough, I could create a cool

breeze. Of course, that back fired on me.

Finally, one summer day, this wonderful appliance

became a part of our household. It was an electric fan.

While it wasn’t a monster of a fan, it was nevertheless

“a fan”! It was actually pretty small with a

circumference of about twelve inches. Still, it stirred

up the air in the living room. Circulating hot air is still

better than stale hot air.

I can still see us on a hot night with Dad lying on the

couch, Mom sitting in the chair and the three of us on

the floor as close to the fan’s breeze as possible

soaking up every moment of semi-coolness. I’m sure

we were often blocking the air flow to Mom and Dad

but I really don’t remember them

complaining….maybe they did. Selective memory is

good at times. 

It was still many years before we were able to

experience the wonder of air conditioning. I do know

that even while in high school in the early 60’s, my

school was not air conditioned. As I recall, I think we

had that fan for many years.

As we fast forward to nowadays, I must leave my

air conditioned house to get in my air conditioned car

to go to the air conditioned grocery store and then off

to the air conditioned mall.

Wow, it sure is hot outside!

REFLECTIONS "Growing up in the 50's-Chapter 13- Touch of the Toe

Nostalgia Tidbit: Since I was 9 years old, I had always wanted to play little league football, but each year, prior to the pre-season draft I could never get my weight up to the minimum weight requirement which was 85 lbs. The weight range was from 85-115lbs.

Chapter 13

Touch of the Toe

Finally in 1959 at 12 years old my weight came within

range to qualify to play little league football. This was

the last year I would be eligible to play. I barely hit the

85 lb mark but felt I was close enough. I was a little

shrimp, wasn’t I?

Anyway, the day finally came when all would try to  

qualify. We had two teams in Auburndale. One was

sponsored by Publix Supermarkets and the other was

sponsored by a local business called Killebrews.

Publix wore green and white and Killebrew’s wore red

and white.

We had to do some basic workout events such as speed

running and catching the ball on the run.

 All the coaches were observing with the demeanor of

what I thought to be professional coaches. As you

might suspect with me being so small, I was fast! I did

catch their attention and did get drafted by the

Killebrew Killers! A couple of former Auburndale

High School players would be our coaches. They were

great high school players only the year before. This

would be a treat to learn from a couple of guys I really

looked up to.

Over the next couple of weeks, practice went well. I

was primarily at a running back position on offense

and defensive back on the defensive side of the ball. 

Overall, I felt pretty good about the way things were

developing.

Finally, came the night of our first game. I was filled

with butterflies and excitement …until…in the locker

room, one of the officials told us to step up to the

weigh in “one by one”.

 My heart was in my throat as I stepped onto the

scales. 79 pounds registered! How could I only

weigh 79 pounds? After all, I was 12 years old!

Anyway, I spent the whole night sitting on the

sidelines ineligible to play that night. How

disappointing.

The following week I practiced harder than ever

determined to impress the coaches to the point of  

making them forget about the weight issue.

After all, I could have better understood if I was in

excess of the maximum weight…I might hurt

someone…but as small as I was, they didn’t have to

worry about me really hurting anyone. Of course, I was

not worried about getting hurt. After all, I had two

older brothers who had broken me in when it came

to toughness.

During that week of practice, I was impressive. I ran

through defender after defender dodging and darting

and utilizing all that quickness and speed I was blessed

with. Speed was as critical in those days as now,

perhaps even more so, because there were a lot of

single and double reverses run in the backfield and

even on most kickoff returns. I was quick! As small as

I was I had better be quick or get smashed!

Game day was here again. From here on out, the

coaches had to conduct the weigh ins and record such.

When I stepped on the scales this time it was amazing

that in one week I had gained enough to qualify!

 I never did know whose toe was pressing on that

scale but it was pressing hard enough to add about 5

pounds to my weight. All teammates and coaches were

gathered so closely I couldn’t tell.     

All I know is there was a cheer once I stepped off the

scale. It appeared that “Rules are made to be

Broken”…not a very good testimony to my grand kids

one day but at the time it seemed like justice.

That night, we won the game by a big margin. I was

tackling people on all points of the field. It was so

invigorating to be a part of the team. 

By the way, on the first ball handed off to me in the

backfield, I ran  untouched for a 60 yard Touchdown.

It was the highlight of my football career. I never

played another season after that. I was always so small

throughout high school; I had to stick with basketball,

baseball and track.

I never had to weigh- in the remainder of that season.

Were rules made to be broken?

As perfect as memory tries to make the 50s era, I guess

we weren’t so perfect after all! I still wonder whose toe

rescued me and gave me the chance for that great

memory of being able to play the game. Whoever you

were…if by some chance you read this story, please let

me know. My football career was saved by

 “The Touch of the Toe”.