A Boys Story - Chapter 6 - The Adventures of Charles Kent: Home Again
We made it! Everyone was glad to see me and wanted to know about the trip. Ma said we should get our pictures developed at the Oriental Pharmacy first so we could show some of what we saw. Ma said we could have everyone over at our house. A new boy named ALAN had moved into the house next-door to Eddie’s … he seemed nice. His dad was working on insulating the house by adding fiberglass batts to the attic. He asked if Eddie, Jimmy, Myron and I would like to help him. I had never heard of fiberglass, we didn’t have any in my house. Fiberglass was stiff, pink, lightweight and easy to carry. We lined up behind the truck and the driver placed two or three batts on our outstretched arms and we carried it into the back door of Alan's house and up to the attic … what an easy job. Alan's dad grabbed the bats with gloved hands and laid it between the attic joists … we are almost done when Eddie said that his arms felt “funny”. We all looked at our arms. They were starting to hurt … hundreds and hundreds of tiny glass fibers were sticking out of our bear arms. It looked like porcupines with short glass needles everywhere. We tried pulling them out of our red arms with our fingers. Allan’s dad was upset he didn’t know that the fiberglass had hurt us. He got out his garden hose and rinsed our arms off and then use the broom on our clothing. What a way to meet a new neighbor, but he gave us each two dollars for helping.
Myron’s parents got a television set … it was the first in a neighborhood. Myron’s mom asked me if I would like to see it. It was a STROMBERG – CARLSON with a big wooden case and doors that close to cover the small screen … it was AMAZING! I saw weatherman named BILL CARLSON … he seems really friendly drinking his butter nut coffee and pointing at maps. It was like your own personal movie theater in your own home. I had to tell Ma and Dad about it … maybe we could get one too.
School was starting soon and I had a new teacher named MR. VICK and he taught a class called Manual Training. The walls of the classroom had all sorts of tools in cases and each boy had a wooden workbench that had a big vice to hold stuff. It was a class of all boys, our first project was to make a wooden mold in two pieces that we were going to make into a lead casting using red hot molten lead … what a great project! We were also going to make a dinner gong out of a piece of solid copper pipe. Mr. Vick said the last project that we would do later in the school year was to make a model city … it all sounded very interesting to me. With the soldiers, Marines and sailors returning to the states there was a lot of interest in housing and building new neighborhoods. It was an exciting time with lots of energy … the fear about spies other people trying to harm us was slowly going away.
One of the upper class teachers at Maryland Avenue School was Mrs. Vollmer, I never had her for a class but she wanted to see me and a bunch of other students because she wanted to know if we were interested in becoming CROSSING GUARDS! … Oh Boy! Yes! … but first we had to be trained … that was easy. I got released from class early before lunch and again at dismissal time every day. My post was right on Maryland Avenue. I had to keep kids behind me on the curb using my outstretched arms. When there wasn’t any traffic I got to walk in the crosswalk raise my arms again and blow my whistle. I also had to wear my white crossing guard belt that I picked up and returned to the office every day. The cross sash had a silver badge attached … I looked spiffy!
Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, Mrs. Vollmer asked me if I would like another job for the school. Her classroom was on the top floor right next to the FIRE ESCAPE SLIDE for the top floor. She asked if I would like to be the FIRE ESCAPE MONITOR … the job was every Friday. I would get some old burlap bags from her classroom closet, then Mrs. Vollmer would open this fire escape door that led to this huge metal tube on the north side of the school that looks like a metal silo. The inside was dark with a twisting metal slide that led down to the playground. At the bottom was a kick-plate door that would swing open when I hit it with my feet. In a real emergency or a fire drill this was the way all the kids got out FAST. The burlap bags were a little oily to keep the slide clean at Maryland Avenue fire drills were very popular especially if you had classes on the top floor … but you had to be QUIET! There was no talking or screaming during the drill.
On the west side of the school grounds was a tennis court that didn’t have a net. This is where we played soccer. We had teams of boys … there wasn’t any strategy we just ran and ran … kicked when we had a chance. There weren’t any uniforms. The one thing everybody had was a pair of black high top tennis shoes called P.F. FLYERS. They made you run fast and turn quick with a rubber sole that looked like suction cups.
.webp)
One day when I got home from school everyone was very sad. My dad told me that his mother my grandmother Jessie Kent and her died. She lived with aunt Gladys and uncle George and my cousin Drue on Oakland Avenue a few blocks away. Grandma Kent had been sick a lot and was frail. She was not around as much as grandma Arn had been, but I will still miss her. At this time of the year the horse chestnut trees in the neighborhood began to drop those prickly nut pods … squirrels liked them and so did the boys … everyone had a collection. The chestnut inside the pod was a beautiful brown color. They looked like walnut furniture when you got them out of the pod. Squirrels would grab one and run to hide it or bury it in the ground. I put mine in a big glass jar to display along with my bug dioramas and cigar boxes.
Myron, Jamie, Allen and I also developed an interest in SMOKING. Just about everybody smoked, cigarettes were everywhere. Downtown was a billboard for CAMEL cigarettes that blew smoke rings! It was amazing to watch. There were many advertisements for cigarettes and newspapers, magazines, radio and even on TV. Doctors in white coats suggested that some cigarettes were better for you to smoke than others.
.jpg)
The grocery stores in Milwaukee announced a “Favorite Checker Contest” … to see who has the most popular grocery checker and all of Milwaukee. To vote you had to fill out a little paper ballot and attach it to an empty Camel cigarette package … what an EASY contest … Holy mackerel! Ma could WIN this thing. We got everyone in the neighborhood in the family to switch to camels and save the packages. I collected some from the Vitucci’s Tavern and the street car terminal … I found them in the street. My aunts, uncles and cousins all helped. Sometimes they arrived in the mail from my parents friends. Well, mom was a runner-up. She got her picture in the paper. They had a big party at the Pfister Hotel downtown. The winner had the same ideas we had. She told us she got lots of the counter packages from bowling alleys because her husband worked for a beer distributor.
Smoking still made me cough when I tried it. My friends and I made little pipes out of acorns in Chestnuts. I don’t know why smoking so popular. I tried it with tobacco from cigarettes and other leaves like Elm and Oak. It burned my tongue it made me sneeze and cough. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a grown-up.
I did discover something that I did like to put in my mouth … a peashooter. They were on sale at the Woolworth five and dime … for a dime. The ammo was only 19 cents for 1 pound bag of dried peas at the A & P. Targets? … NOT my sister and no shooting in the house or at school. The Oriental also put up a sign on the lobby doors “no peashooters” but it was fun for a while and I was a good shot. I irritated a lot of squirrels and robins.
I continue to spend a lot of time at the A & P. The produce manager saved wooden melon and peach boxes for me because my friends and I always had projects. I also like the metal slide in the back room where the grocery clerks would throw some of the larger cardboard boxes … I could scoot down into the basement and play. Mr. Miller appreciated that I would go outside to retrieve shopping carts from the A & P parking lot south of the store and next to the bank. I also helped old people carry paper bags and put them in their cars … 10 cents was a pretty good tip, sometimes I would walk home with a neighbor or a customer if Ma knew who they were, with a bag of groceries.
In the middle of the back room of the A & P what was a walk in refrigerator cooler where the butchers all worked. They were always dressed like it was winter … topped off with a big white coat and white aprons. Dead animals were delivered in a refrigerated truck. A half a cow body with the black and white fur, but no head were often off loaded. One or two butchers would lift the carcass on an overhead meat hook and pulled the skin off before pushing the carcass to the cooler where other butchers used bandsaws and sharp knives … I was allowed to only look inside the big room from the swinging doors to see the butcher block tables and a floor covered in sawdust. The butchers kept large steel barrels that they put animal parts that could be wrapped in cellophane and sold to the customers. My favorite part from the steel barrels was a chicken foot … my sister would really scream when she found one, like in her sock drawer.
Ma got a promotion to assistant cashier. She had to spend more time in the office to cash peoples checks, count money, prepare deposits for the bank. Down the aisle from the office there were dairy and cheese refrigerated cases against the wall and cigarettes and candy displayed across the aisle. When Ma was not busy in the office she would stock the cheese cases and put out boxes and bags of candy items as well as cartons of five packs of cigarettes. One time she had gotten some boxes of candy bars from the basement, put them in a shipping cart and begin to refill the shelves. There were a few customers in the store that day and she was busy moving things around in the candy aisle … as she bent over to put some candy bars on the bottom shelf, she had a little gas … actually she said she had a lot of gas that just came out suddenly. She quickly looked up and down the aisle … seeing no one, she turned to get another box. Immediately behind her was a small boy with a scrunched up face holding his nose with one hand and waving in the air with the other … Ma started to speak to him, but he never said a word, he just went running toward the checkout at the front of the store.
Sometimes I helped Ma stock the shelves. I’d like to stock gum. My favorite were Wrigley Spearmint, Black Jack and Chiclets … but there was a new kind of pink gum that was all the rave Bubblegum! You could chew up real good and then you should tongue and breath to blow a big bubble. Double Bubble and Bazooka for my new favorites. I had to be careful not to leave any gum in my pockets when Ma washed my clothes cause it would ruin everything. Ma usually checked my pockets anyway and I heard about if she found any gum or matches.
.jpg)
Ma got a call from my aunt Dorothy that grandma Arn was not well and might die. Everyone was to go to Portage to see what might be done. My whole family was gathering. My sister Colleen and her husband Chuck lived in Portage … Aunt Ormie and Uncle Bill and their kids lived in Portage too. Skinny and aunt Marie and Mickey and Aunt Pokey were driving up from Milwaukee. Dad, mom and I drove up in the Hudson … we even passed uncle skinny in his new Ford along Highway 16.
When we got there Gramma Arn was in her big bed off of the dining room, she was looking small and weak. I told her if she died I would bury her next to her garden because I knew she loved her garden … but that didn’t turn out the way I planned.
My relatives and other people came in and out of her room all day long. I got to stay with Jack and Joan down Marion Street. My mom and dad, Pokey and Micky and Uncle Skinny and Aunt Marie all slept in Gramma’s upstairs three bedrooms … Gramma died. On the night after she died my parents were sleeping in the bedroom at the top of the stairs. Micky and Poke, Skinny and Marie we’re in the bedrooms. About 2 AM my Ma woke up to see Micky sleep walk into the doorway of her bedroom … Micky slept in the nude. Ma tried to wake my dad on the other side of the bed … but then Micky started to speak, “ FIRE, FIRE, FIRE” then he began to pee … right into my mothers shoes beside the bed … she reached out of the bed to move them out of the way. I didn’t know about this, but it was a topic of conversation around the dining room table when I arrived from Jack and Joan’s house in the morning for breakfast. Uncle Micky had problems sleeping since he got back from the war according to Pokey. After the funeral service and burial we all left portage it was a quiet trip home … I miss Grandma Arn.
My cousin Drue and her mom and dad bought a house in Brown Deer with a lot of land. Drue got a nice black and white dog called Dusty and a cat, she already had a horse … I was getting a little jealous. I asked my parents if we could get a dog or something. Our landlord, Mr. Bohnacker said NO again … Marco downstairs was enough.
I did get to visit Drue a lot more now that they had their own house. The house had a long and wide lot. Next to the house was a big orchard with many fruit trees. I like the Italian plums which were sweet and tasty. I was given a bag full to take home after my visit. The lot extended into an undeveloped park where the Milwaukee River flows. It was huge and full of trees. No one was ever back there. It was great to explore the woods, but Aunt Gladys said there was NO getting into the river. Of course I had already thought about, so I stayed dry. I still thought … a big log raft would be a super idea and there were dead trees and vines in the woods … I was thinking Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, but I never did it.
Aunt Gladys had a talk with my mom and dad about enrolling Drue and I in a summer camp called the JOY FARM. They had some brochures with pictures. You got a ride on a big yellow Joy farm bus. They had horseback riding lessons with saddles, they had arts and crafts and twice a week we got to swim in the Mequon pool with lifeguards. Drue and I got to go … Drue was really good on a horse… the best of all the kids in camp. These horses were bigger and faster than the ones at the Luick Dairy … they also had English saddles which didn’t have a handle to hold onto. The horses were named for all the states in the union. My favorite was “Tennessee”. We rode every day, I enjoyed it all until we got up to “Cantor”. Walking was better and I wasn’t in any hurry.
.jpg)
The crafts part was making things out of leather, beads and plastic string called a “lanyard”. My project fit around my neck and was edged in the yellow plastic and had a hook in case I wanted to add a whistle later.
Before camp I didn’t swim much because although Lake Michigan was close by it was mostly too cold and the Milwaukee River was too swift. The Mequon pool was just right, but it was pretty deep and I was pretty short. The guards taught me to float first, but it is hard to push yourself through the water. I practiced a lot of swimming out to the buoy rope across the center of the pool. The days flew by and my time at Joy Farm came to an end … Gee I had a good time.
Dad said that he had read in the paper that there was to be a demonstration of a beach landing invasion at South Shore Park on Sunday, August 26. He asked if I wanted to go see it … YES! There were to be war planes, soldiers, sailors and marines with tanks and landing crafts … I can hardly wait. When we got there the park was packed with thousands of people lined up in the trees facing the beach. I could see machine gun positioned facing the water with long bands of barbed wire stretched across the beach. “Hit the Beach” started with airplanes flying very low overhead screaming towards us … send flew up, there were loud explosions you could hear and feel. Out in the lake I could see the landing craft circling and heading for shore … it was terrifying and very loud … I had to pee. My dad told me where to go and hurry back, but I got lost … I pee'd on a tree then found a cop and he took me to the front of a crowd to the Red Cross First Aid tent where I could see the action even better. Tanks were landing firing guns. Marines with flamethrowers were knocking out the “enemy” machine gun nest. More planes flew at us just above the tree tops. Some soldiers came to the first a tent because they got bloodied in the show. They all had pockets full of brass from firing their guns and had been told to pick it up … they gave the brass to all the lost kids including me. A couple of the soldiers teased me because it looked like I had wet my pants again. War can scare the pee out of you! I’m glad the war is finally over.
CARNIVAL
Summer was not quite over so my friends and I thought that we should do something fun. We were sitting around behind the big billboard near the Vitucci’s Tavern trying to think of something FUN to do … after much discussion we decided that a KIDS CARNIVAL in Allen’s backyard was the ticket. We had been watching puppet shows on Myron’s TV like Kukla, Fran and Ollie, Beulah the Witch and Howdy Doody … kids liked puppet shows so we decided to include one.
Allen heard I had darts in my basement and he thought a Dart Game should also be included. We needed something big to attract kids … an AIRPLANE RIDE! We decided to build an airplane and for the little kids we would make a fishing pond was Alices suggestion.
We had a lot of work to do. We also talked to parents about our plans, except for Myron’s mom who had strong opinions that generally started with NO. The airplane ride was the biggest project so we decided to do that first. We went into Allen’s backyard that had a big tall elm tree near the fence that divided Allen’s and Eddie’s backyards. Allen’s dad had a bow and arrow and helped us get some ropes into the branches to see what we could do. The plan was to make a wooden plan that we could pull off the ground and then swing around a little and then land … it would seat two kids at a time. We could make it out of wooden boxes from the A&P and 2 x 4’s from Mr. Pendergast. After many trips to the A & P for more boxes, bushel baskets and larger conical bushel baskets we were ready to see what we could make. We worked on drawing some airplanes. We tried to see how much we could lift and fly. Richie suggested that we borrow some tall wooden stepladder’s from his dad, that way the airplane would hang from the big elm tree and rest on the tops of 2 stepladders … then we could use a longer stepladder to get into and out of the plane. We didn’t need to lift anybody, just swing them around. We also needed large cardboard boxes from packages of toilet paper from the A & P to make our puppet theater and for a backstop for the Dart game. The 9 piece open melon crates were used to make fences along with clothesline ropes and colorful ribbons from the funeral parlor.
Well the wooden plane was something to behold it sort of looked like a bomber.
We painted the wooden boxes and bushel baskets silver and put a big white star on each side. The stubby wings and tail had red and white stripes like a real bomber. There were four props, we ended up using big pinwheels because they would spin. We made it strong but not too heavy. Allan’s dad had some pulleys we used to get it lifted in place on top of the step ladders. Richie, Eddie, and I where in charge of “flying” the plane. After we got it together and hung in the tree we tested it with Myron’s little sister and then with Pat. After the passenger got into the plane, the ladders were removed and we pulled in twisted the plane all over the yard around and around … it was almost like REAL flying.
The puppet theater even had curtains. Pat and Myron had some puppets from Woolworths that looked just like the ones on TV. They wrote sort of a script with lots of violence and hitting. Allan ran the dart game. He decided that water filled balloons would be funner and Annette would help him retrieve the darts. Alice had a FISH POND for a little kids and she would attach gum, candy or a little plastic prize to a kids bamboo pole and fish line behind a bed sheet curtain.
We were almost ready but we needed to advertise. We had selected a date and time. Admission was ten cents to get in, but then everything was free. We didn’t want to fool around with tickets and everybody had a dime. The signs were hand lettered on construction paper and thumbtacked to every telephone pole and tree on Kramer, North Avenue, Thomas, Murray and Oakland.
When carnival they arrived we had a big crowd of kids in front of Allan’s house … I recognized kids from school and the neighborhood. Eddie, Richie and I were kept busy. Some of the littler kids only wanted a short airplane ride and not too fast. There was some screaming and laughing and just about everybody had a good time. No one fell out of the airplane, but some kids were a little dizzy after they landed. One boy snuck water balloons from the dart game into the airplane and bombed me during the flight. I thought he threw up and was happy it was just water.
Officer Murphy stopped by and nobody got arrested. The only injury was Annette got a dart stuck in the back of her head when she ran in front of a shooter. I don’t think Myron told his mom about it. Officer Murphy reminded me to take all the signs down in the car voice over … I did, I even pulled out all the thumbtacks.
After another trip to Drue’s new house and playing with her parents I decided to renew my quest for a pet of my own … not a dog … not a cat, or a horse. A trip to the library made me think that a parakeet would be a good choice. The library books had great information. It was suggested that male birds were better pets than females and the way to tell the difference was by the color of the parakeets nose! Boy birds nose were blue and girls noses were pink just like clothing for new babies. The book suggested getting a finger trained bird who would sit on your finger … it should also be young. After I had read all the facts, my dad and I went to a pet store west on North Avenue on the bridge over the river and around the big reservoir with an American Legion flowers display.
The man who owned the shop was very helpful and he was impressed that I learned about parakeets from books. He had a big selection of young birds that didn’t have a black-dot-necklace around their neck which showed they were young … the black necklace appears around the neck when they are about one year old. There were all yellow birds called LUTINOS and all white ALBINOS that had red eyes.
I picked a male that had a light blue breast and white wings and head with black eyes … he cuddled right into my hands and was very friendly. We got a big cage and a wooden play yard with swings, ropes, ladders, a bell and a small mirror. For the cage we got fresh birdseed and a water thing like I saw on these mouse cages at the Carnation Lab.
As soon as I got home I started training … his winter feathers had been clipped so he couldn’t fly very far … they would grow back. Ma thought he was pretty, but as soon as he sat on her shoulder … well he pooped on my mother. Seeing as he could learn to speak we decided that a bird dropping would be called a “PEARL” cause Ma said we wouldn’t want a bird flying around the house saying “S . . T”. The name I decided on for him was CHICO. The Reichels came up to see the bird, but they brought MARCO for the visit, which lasted about 10 seconds cause MARCO thought CHICO was a snack and Chico thought Marco was a big toy and bit him on the nose.
Chico turned out to be a real nice pet … he loved to come into the bathroom when I was taking a bath. He would sit on my knee and I would dribble warm water on him as he bobbed up and down … if I made my hands into a cup he would flush out his feathers and walk right into my hands chirping, whistling and saying his name and “PRETTY BOY”.
One of my jobs was to put fresh newspaper into the bottom of his cage every few days. Chico made a lot of “pearls”. I thought I might potty train him, so each morning when I would wake up he was pacing back-and-forth on a perch in his cage waiting to get out. I would open the cage door and he would hop out onto my finger. I would hold him over the wastepaper basket and he would squirt and poop … what a good bird! Then he would have to play on his wooden player. When I had breakfast he would swoop down onto the kitchen table picking up crumbs from toast and sometimes would swipe a cornflake out of my cereal bowl and run away.
Jack and Joan came for a visit from Portage. Chico and Joan got along right away and became friends. I thought Jack might want a parakeet for his magic act. We did go to the Plankinton Arcade Magic Store to see if they had any new tricks. Jack, Joan and I spent a long time there and Jack bought some new things, but he didn’t want to show us his stuff. Jack also brought some new kind of comic books with him I had never seen before … they were called HORROR comics. I had listened to some horror radio programs like INNER SANCTUM that was sorta creepy. I picked one off of the top of Jack’s pile. The story was about a reporter who discovered a decayed hanging body … as he was looking at the body it fell on him. He ran into the spooky house that had a mirror. Anywhere the dead body touch the skin began to decay away. The reporter died a horrible death. I had nightmares! That was the first and last horror comic for me … too scary.
The newspapers were full of the presidential election. My parents were kinda split. They had both liked FDR and dad didn’t like Truman much until he bombed Japan and ended the war. Thomas Dewey and President Truman ran a close race and Truman won, but the Chicago tribune got it wrong with a big headline that everyone thought was real funny.
Although my dad was a Republican he didn’t like Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy. Dad had friends that actually knew Senator McCarthy said he was a blowhard and a drunk. Dad was more of a Lincoln Republican … he was more sober and thoughtful with his words.
Ma and dad had been saving up to get a TV. They bought a CAPEHART in a red mahogany case. It looks like furniture … you had to open doors to see the screen which was small and sort of oval. It kinda looks like our zenith radio, but newer.
Uncle Luther was excited about it too. He and dad got a big antenna which they set up in the front of the attic and was connected to the Capehart with cables. They installed a TENA ROTOR which was a device that rotated the antenna to get the best picture.
.webp)
There was a jingle on the radio and TV about the TENA ROTOR, “A BUNCH OF THE BOYS WERE WHOOPING IT / UP FOR FIGHTING KID OSHEEN, BUT ALONG WITH A CRUNCH CAME THE KNOCK-OUT PUNCH … BUT HERE IT WAS NEVER SEEN. A HORRIBLE GHOST / EMBARASSED THE HOST AND OBLITERATED THE SCRENN. TO SOLVE THIS DILEMA ROTATE YOUR ANTENNA TILL THE PICTURE COMES IN CLEAN. THE RUGGED MOTOR OF THE TENA ROTOR WILL PUT YOU ON THE BEAM!” It worked … my TV was better than Myron’s. Jack and Joan I loved it too, Chico was not impressed. Jack and Joan went back to Portage after their visit.
Mom said we were having more visitors for Thanksgiving … I sure hope it wasn’t uncle Walt aunt Hazel … it wasn’t … it was my sister Colleen and her husband Chuck Schwanz. Chuck was working for the CENTRAL PETEROLEUM COMPANY … called CENPECO. He traveled around several counties around Portage to sell grease and oil products, mostly to farmers. Chuck had a younger brother called RED, he had red hair … his real name was RAY. Red and Chuck loved to hunt and fish. When Chuck and Sis came to Thanksgiving they brought pheasants and fish fillets that Chuck had got and Sissy brought some pies … it was going to be a great Thanksgiving feast.
We didn’t use the dining room table much, but at Thanksgiving we made the table bigger and Ma put on this big beautiful fancy white tablecloth. Ma made the usual turkey, but we also had ham and pheasant … with mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, a big fresh veggie dish with stalks of celery, carrot sticks, olives and radishes sitting in ice water, yams, fresh baked rolls and, of course later there will be pies … graham cracker pie was delicious! After we all sat down my dad told a funny story about Colleen when she was a little girl at Thanksgiving. This was many years ago before I was born. My family was gathered around and dad asked everyone to bow their heads and he began to pray. My sister was sitting beside him and when he finished Colleen leaned over toward him lifting her dinner plate and said … “WHAT DOES IT SAY ON MY PLATE DADDY?” Colleen had thought he read the prayer on a plate. Chuck thought it was funny. Well our Thanksgiving meal started much the same way. The big table was covered with this huge meal. We were all seated and dad said … “Let us pray”. We all bowed our heads and joined hands around the table. Dad thanked Jesus for our gifts and blessings and the wonderful meal we were about to receive and that Chuck and Colleen were able to join us. We all said “AMEN” and opened our eyes to see Chico had joined us and was taking a bath in the veggie dish … throwing water all around saying, "PRETTY BOY and WANT A KISS?" Chico had to spend the rest of Thanksgiving in his cage everyone passed on the fresh veggies. I had to get some “pearls” off of the white tablecloth … then we had our meal.
After Colleen and Chuck left, Ma said she had an announcement … we were moving to the west side. Ma had accepted a transfer to another A & P on 36th and north. The manager Fred Miller was moving there too and he wanted her to be his bookkeeper. My dad had already been working at KAMPA PLASTICS in Butler which was west of Milwaukee … so I had to change schools. I DID NOT like this idea because I didn’t know any of the kids and the new school year had already started. My dad suggested that I could take the North Avenue bus to the East side to visit with my old friends on Cramer Street, MY street, after school.
We moved to 1937 N. 33rd Street. Another duplex and we live downstairs. Luther got the back bedroom off the kitchen, Chico and I got the middle bedroom off of the dining room and Ma and Dad got the front bedroom. The duplex was larger than the one on Cramer Street. Our new upstairs neighbors were the Spierings … Betty, Jerry and their young daughter Carolyn.
Ma took me to 31st Street School to get transferred and enrolled. The principal Miss Suker had a great hair and a nice smile. She asked me about Marilyn School and we talked a long time while she reviewed my cumulative records. She asked if I would be interested in continuing to be a crossing guard … she also said the school sponsored a Boy Scout troop … interested? I said yes. Miss Suker made more notes. The principal walked me upstairs to the third-floor and introduced me to Miss Melita Barnick. She taught music, English and other things. She wants to be my core teacher. I would have other teachers for other subjects. Miss Barnick was very colorful and stylish. She had her hair all fixed up and wore a bright scarf around her neck. I was introduced to the class and assigned a desk near the end of the front row. The classroom was filled with white from rows of windows that face south and west. At one end of the large classroom was a grand piano, the end of the room was sort of Circular with many built in shelves with records, a record player and a Webcor wire recorder. Miss Barnick also had red geraniums in big pots next to the windows.
Reading books were passed out for a lesson … assignment given and the room became very quiet. Miss Barnick walked back to my desk and motioned for me to follow to the rear of the classroom back to the piano. Miss Barnick sat on her piano bench and asked if I knew a bunch of songs from Maryland school. I knew them all. She said that she was active in preparations for the ALL CITY CHOIR program which was happening later in the school year. She asked if I had ever sung the “YOUNG MOUNTAINEER”. I said yes and that I was a high soprano and knew the song well. She had me sing the scales first, then playing the piano she asked me to sing the Young Mountaineer. I belted it out, full volume. I didn’t need to look at the words or music. I had sung it at Maryland many times. While I sang, I glanced at my new classmates … they had stopped reading and had turned to watch and hear me sing. When I finished the song the whole class stood, cheered and applauded me. Miss Barnick had tears in her eyes … she applauded too. Then she made me turn to the class and bow. I think I’m going to like it here.
I had a couple of more classes then we all went downstairs for lunch which was brown bags with sandwiches and stuff. I met so many new kids with names I had never heard before and they were mostly friendly and curious about me. In the lunch room when we were done we could go outside to the playground, but we had to stay within the fence which was monitored by teachers. Most of the kids from my class ran over to the MONKEY BARS which formed a big open cube with a smaller square cube on the top, we just “hung around” climbing, talking and climbing over the steel pipes. Some other kids played soccer or baseball just like my old school. When the bell rang we went in to our afternoon classes.
Mr. Lloyd Fraser was a veteran, an army officer who still had his G.I. haircut. He taught math and geography. In his class if you were a goof-off you sat in the front row so he could keep an eye on you. I was assigned to a desk in the second row in the middle. We were doing the same lessons that I had at Maryland. When school was over my crossing guard post was on Brown Street. When I headed home I noticed that one of the boys from Miss Barnick’s class was walking the same way. I caught up with him and we began talking. His name was Teddy and he lived on 33rd Street too, so we walked and talked then I went South and Teddy headed toward North Avenue.
In Miss Barnicks class the next day we received WEEKLY READERS which we were to read and then Miss Barnick was to ask questions.
.webp)
Well it was the same issue that I had just read last week in Maryland, I knew ALL of the answers! I raise my hand and after getting the first four questions right, I stood and confessed that I had done this last week at another school. My classmates thought this was funny and so did my teacher, I didn’t raise my hand again that period.
In Mr. Frasers’ math class we were learning to multiply fractions. After explaining how to do it on the chalkboard Mr. Fraser asked a big boy named Bobo in the front row if he knew how to invert a number … he didn’t get it. Then Mr. Fraser said “Bobo stand up in front of your desk”. Bobo stood up … Mr. Fraser walked up and said “I’m going to INVERT you” … Bobo looked a little alarmed. “Put your hands on the floor”. As soon as Bobo did Mr. Fraser grabbed his ankles and turned him upside down. Marbles and coins cluttered to the floor, the class gasped, then cheered when Bobo said “I get it!” … “invert means you flip it around, top to bottom!”
And so it went, new kids, new teachers and new friends. After a couple of bus rides back to Cramer Street I decided that my new home was just another adventure and should be enjoyed and remembered.
Everyone in my family liked oour new place. I met a boy a couple of houses down named Donnie. He goes to a parochial school and we were about the same age. Donnie and I got along right away. He asked me if I ever went to movies. He liked Abbott and Costello and Red Skeleton movies. He said there was a movie about parakeets at the Park Theater over on Lisbon. “ Bill and Coo” was its name and all the actors were birds, some just like Chico. I saw some birds in costume and decided to see if I could make some hats for Chico to wear … he could be a movie star!
.jpg)
Next door to Donnie’s lived a girl named Mary Davis who goes to 31st School. She was born in Wild Rose Wisconsin and played piano. She has dark hair and a pretty smile, Donnie introduced her to me. We were both a little shy.
One night at supper my dad showed everyone some books he got from the library about raising parakeets. We all loved Chico … he was so smart and can now wear a hat! Dad had asked the new landlord if we could keep and raise parakeets in the basement … he said yes. Dad drew up some plans to make a big flight cage, nursery cages and nesting boxes. I helped clean up the basement along the south wall. We were starting our own little business.
Dad found some wholesale pet breeders in Chicago. We got our stock of healthy birds and a variety of colors. We also found that Kellogg’s had a bulk seed distribution center in Milwaukee. Dad and I kept records on each bird starting with a numbered band we put on the birds leg. Chico was very interested in all the birds, but seem to prefer people to birds. We darkened the basement windows and set ups and lights with timers that went on and off at certain times. The birds always stopped making noise after “sundown” in the basement.
Things at school were going well until Miss Barnick remind everyone that we were going to have SQUARE DANCING again on Friday. Some of the kids cheered … I raise my hand because I didn’t know ANYTHING about square dancing … but no one called on me. At school the upstairs third-floor hallway was very large and everybody except me knew what they were doing. The kids all formed into groups … I got pushed into one. They had learned square dancing last year. The music started and I panicked. The kids tried to guide me through it. Miss Barnick what is the “caller” so she couldn’t help me … HONOR YOU’RE YOUR CORNER … DOESEE DOE … ALAMAND LEFT … I was a disaster! Some kids were teasing me. I mostly just bumped into people. Kids pushed me back-and-forth as I tried to make sense of it. I wanted to leave RIGHT NOW. Miss Barnick suddenly passed the microphone to another teacher and came to my rescue. She had seen everything. She pulled out the kids who were teasing me … there is NEVER to be teasing. She spoke quietly and friendly to them. She move some kids around and she became my “partner”. I needed a lot of help and had to learn square dance language. The kids said that next year we were all going to learn ballroom dancing. I didn’t know about that … it sounded like something to dread.
The annual Milwaukee All-City Choir show downtown was coming up and Miss Barnick could only take eight kids from our school. She sent notes home to say that there would be after school rehearsals and to invite parents to attend the show. The Milwaukee auditorium was huge. All the singers were white shirts or glasses and black pants or skirts. I saw some old friends from Maryland school, but there wasn’t much time to talk. The conductor tuned us up before the audience was allowed in. I never saw my parents until the show was over. They were very pleased. The Milwaukee Journal had a long story and pictures the next day in the paper.
Back at School Mr. Fraser passed out some different geography books that covered Central and South America. He told us the names of the countries and a little about their history. We were starting with south America first and then work our way north. He had a big pull down map in the front of the room. SOUTH AMERICA, with his pointer and then named all the countries … when he got to Peru and Bolivia he said that the two countries shared a large lake in South America, it was called “TITICACA” … there was a gasp … then laughter from the kids and Bobo flew out of his desk saying “OH NO! You can’t say that” … “That’s dirty words” … “That’s our privates”. The class exploded shouting “TITIES” … “COCKA” … it was chaos! Mr. Fraser raise both arms and made a sharp whistle … everyone went quiet. He walked over to Bobo and helped him back into his desk. Mr. Fraser explained that when we learn about other places and cultures in the world will learn many things. Their languages will be different from ours. The meaning of words may be different too. He told us about the Greek people, that lived in a country called Greece. He wrote GREECE on the blackboard and then the word GREASE and explain the difference. He said that TURKS live in TURKEY in some countries have a different name for themselves. We all quieted down but later you would still hear a snicker when we learned about the reed boats on Lake Titicaca. I also thought back when I learned years ago how to identify Nazi and Jap planes. There is one called a FOCKE-WULF that caused a lot of smiles.
.jpg)
After lunch one day, out on the monkey bars I notice a girl who didn’t ever seem to talk to anybody. Her name was Veronica. Her clothes didn’t seem to fit very well. She was sort of like some of the orphans at Marilyn’s school. I talked to her a little, but she was very shy and told me most of the kids would tease her and she would feel bad. I tried to talk with her each day without making her uncomfortable. I also talked to Miss Barnick cause I know she doesn’t like kids to tease each other. One day I noticed Veronica had some new shoes … she said Miss Barnick got them for her, MISS BARNICK is something else!
One day walking home from school I ran into Teddy Kawamura. He had to stop at a little grocery store on 32nd Street to get some German bakery for his family. I had never been in the store before. They had lotsa treats for kids, snacks and candy. At the back of the store was an old man with the white hat and white apron. Teddy picked up a STREUSEL … it was all wrapped in white paper, tied with string, it smelled terrific!
I told Teddy about my parakeet and he said he would like to see them, so he stopped for a visit. He met Chico of course who sat on his finger and pooped on his hand. Birds didn’t seem to know anything about good manners. We went into the basement to see the other birds too. I took a couple of baby birds out for Teddy to hold. He really liked them.
The next week Teddy and I both picked up a STREUSEL at the bakery. I had talked Ma into trying one, everyone liked it. Teddy had also talked to his parents about getting a parakeet … they said no, but aunt Dorothy had called to say Joan wanted to pick one out during their next visit.
I was invited to spend part of the weekend with Uncle Micky and Aunt Pokey. Micky was a physical education teacher and coach at Pius XI High School. They lived upstairs in a duplex near the school. Uncle Micky's football team had a game against Saint Catherine’s high school of Racine. It was the “Popes” against the “Angels”. Before the game Micky had to get some stuff at BURGHARDTS SPORTING GOODS store in downtown Milwaukee.
.webp)
I got to go along. Uncle Mick liked Buick’s and he had a black and white hardtop convertible. He put all the windows down and away we went. Micky had a lot of stuff that he talked to the owner about and I just walked around the big store. I found a display of weights that you can lift and exercise with to build up your muscles. Uncle Nick had played football for Layola of Chicago and was very strong. He walked up to me when I was looking at the steel bars and round weights, “hey Butch do you want to learn about weightlifting?” He asked and before I knew it he had slid a chrome tube over the steel bar and put several round steel plates on each end and secured them with locking collars. Then he squatted down … told me to “step back” and said, “watch this”. He grabbed the bar and weights off the floor and lifted them over head and one quick fluid motion … until a collar fell off of one end and broke the glass display case while Mickey struggle to keep his balance as more of the loose weights fell to the floor. Mr. Burghardt came running over and started laughing and helping my uncle pick up the mess. Mickey got a bag of stuff to carry back to the car and Mr. Burghardt gave me a new basketball and went to me saying “have your uncle show you how to shoot baskets instead of weightlifting”. It was a quiet ride home.
Aunt Pokey made sandwiches for lunch and Mickey left to get the team ready. It was a great game. Pius won by a lot and I got to ride on the school bus with the team after the game to where the nuns lived. The post players got off the bus and lined up on the front lawn of the convent … then kneeled and struck the ground 14 times in unison to let the nuns know they won the game by two touchdowns. When I got home that night I had to explain how I got a brand new basketball … oh and the weightlifting lesson.
When we first moved into our house on 33rd St. I met an old lady who lives next-door named Loretta. She would rent out rooms to people to stay in her home. She had a big back porch and a fenced in yard with a pretty big tree. Sometimes at night I could hear someone calling when I was inside my house. One night Ma asked me to take out a bag of garbage to put in our round metal garbage cans near our back fence in the alley. As I opened the can I heard someone call “GUSTAVE” … I froze … I walked quietly back toward the house. No one was there! I asked my parents if they had heard anything and they had not. A few days later in the evening I heard “GUSTAVE” again and it sounded like the voice came from Loretta’s back porch, but no one was there. The next day I saw Lorreta getting her mail and asked her if she had a roomer named GUSTAVE … she said “yes, but he died” … I about had a heart attack, and I told Loretta about the voice calling Gustave … she laughed and said “oh, that’s Henry” so I got me another neighbor … a big green parrot named HENRY who's owner died … so Henry, the parrot called his name sometime when he was out on her back porch … mystery solved. I decided NOT to teach Chico the names of anyone else in my family … that would be too creepy especially late at night.
During the daily P.A. announcements at school, I learned that Boy Scout Troop 52 was having their first meeting on Wednesday at 6 PM down on the first floor. Boys 11 and older were invited to attend. I went and met some boys I didn’t know. One was Ray Maas, he lives on 29th St. east of the school. Troop 52 was very active doing projects, raising money, paper drives and other interesting things. Ray and I signed up and by Saturday we were on our first paper drive. Our scoutmaster had been doing this for years. He had a Chrysler convertible with green paint in real wood sides. The interior was in a tartan plaid.
He had a trailer hitch for pulling a big four wheel trailer and sign that said BSA TROOP 52, MILWAUKEE. He had put out flyers the week before and people had set out grocery bags and tied up bundles of newspapers for us to pick up. We worked all morning and then went to a junkyard to sell our trailer full of papers. Our scoutmaster was named ROBERT (BOB). He always had a busy agenda for earning badges, learning about camping and scout craft. Ma got me a scout uniform shirt, blue neckerchief and sewed scout patches on my left sleeve. I passed my tenderfoot exam and worked on my second class ranking in a matter of weeks.
Our first camping trip was mostly for new scouts. We had to sleep in pup tents … two boys to a tent and we camped in some farmers field near a stream. We had to demonstrate knot tying skills and our ability to start a fire. We also tried to identify some birds and then there was the “SNIPE HUNT”. There was something fishy about the snipe hunt. The oldest boys were not being very HONEST (which is part of the Scout oath) when we asked questions. The older scouts got a big fire going where they were singing camp songs and fooling around … the newest guys were divided up into teams of two. One guy got a burlap bag and the other guy got a pot and a stick. We were told to hit the pot three times in a row and then call … “HERE SNIPE, SNIPE, SNIPE.” Each team was walked way out into the farm field like the points of the compass. The first team to catch a snipe was to run back to the campfire and the hunt was over. It started to rain a little and Ray and I took turns holding the bag and hitting the pot. After a few minutes we figured out that this hunt was phony. We decided to crawl back toward the fire. We were about halfway when Ray said “CRAP”, he had crawled into a fresh cow pie. I tried to wipe it off the best I could with the burlap bag. Well, we got the dummy award. Where were the last team to figure out the SNIPE HUNT was not real. Everybody had a good laugh on us … but when we went to our pup tent, Ray put our cow poop burlap bag into Bob’s big tent … everyone slept well.
Our second camping trip was to MAUTHIE LAKE STATE PARK in the Kettle Morraine. We packed the big scout trailer with our gear, backpacks, food and water. Bob had two large army surplus tents that you could stand up in. There was a wood-burning stove with a metal smoke stack pipe that went through the roof of the tent. All the scouts could bring cots if they had them and I had one from uncle Mick. I also brought his web belt and Marine knife. No snipe hunt this time. We were all going to plant seedling White Pine trees which were native to Wisconsin. There were several troops and the leaders had put stakes and strings in the huge field. Teams were made up to pace so many steps then stoop down on the planting bar … make a hole. Another scout took a little tree and got the roots in the hole and stomped the dirt to cover the roots. Another team of scouts pulled a water wagon and gave each seedling a drink. The water wagon looked like a water heater with four spoked iron wheels. There was a lid on top where scouts would refill the water tank and a spigot in the back where you could pour the water into metal pails.
Two scouts were in front of the water wagon to pull and steer it between the stakes and strings. The DNR wardens showed us how to do everything. We spent the whole day starting a new forest. The next day we were going to go swimming in Mauthie Lake, but we had a snowstorm overnight so we ended up coming home early. Ray and I fell asleep in the back seat of Bob’s Chrysler.
Ray’s dad was a station master at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Depot. He asked if Ray and I would like a part-time job at the depot moving mail bags. We could catch a bus to get to the depot after school. The work was because he was having union problems about bags of mail needing to be moved from one side of a caged room to the track side for pick up by the trains. The canvas bags were heavy, Ray and I could drag one at a time across the concrete floor. After a few weeks the union had another solution and we lost our jobs, but we were both interested in making money when we could.
I knew another boy named Lanny. He was a paper boy for the Milwaukee Journal. His route was between Branch Street and Lisbon. He didn’t live near me but he found out my dad had a garage near his paper truck. So Sunday mornings I would get up early and Lenny will come by with his big coaster wagon for newspapers to be subbed in the garage. Subbing was the assembly of the different sections of the newspaper. Then they would be rolled, sometimes a rubber band was used to hold it all together. Then off we would go. Lanny knew the route and delivered the papers, I just pulled the wagon. Lanny’s dad was black and his mom was white and he was something in between. He also was funny and knew lotsa jokes. He split his salary with me when I helped him.
My dad showed me a story in the Milwaukee Journal that one of my heroes from WWII, General Douglas McArthur who is going to be in a parade on 35th St. Well, I lived on 33rd St. and I would get to see him. Lanny had some customers on 35th St. and he made arrangements for a bunch of kids to use the big front porch to view the parade. On the day of the parade the street was mobbed, police officers had to hold back the crowd. We filled the porch and use the porch step as seats. Everyone was very excited. Police motorcycles with lights and sirens blasting were first. We had small American flags to wave and shouted greetings … then a big Cadillac convertible slowly drove by with General MacArthur in the back seat. He looked from side to side with his stern face saluting and waving to the crowd. He helped win the war and had the Japanese sign the surrender documents in Tokyo Bay. McArthur was on his way to the Marquette Stadium where he was to address another big crowd. I didn’t know that General MacArthur was from Milwaukee, what a great guy … I am from Milwaukee too.
At school a few days later the kids were still buzzing about McArthur as we hung around on the monkey bars. We got to talking about other heroes. I like soldiers, Marines, sailor’s, cowboys and indians. One of the girls, Nancy Stuart liked Cowboys and Indians too. I told her about my visit to Montana, she had never been there and wanted me to tell her all about it. I talked and she mostly listened. Nancy was one of the girls on the porch that saw General McArthur. She had relatives in service during WWII too. She said she liked real western movies and thought Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were “MOVIE COWBOYS”. She went to the movies last year to see “SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON”. John Wayne was a “REAL” Western Calvary Soldier in the movie and she thought John Agar was “cute”.
Nancy asked me if I ever went to the movies … “Well of Course” I said … “I’ve gone lotsa times to the EAST and the ORIENTAL … and since I moved to I’ve gone to the PARK and the RANBOW theatres.” She said "there’s a movie coming out that I would like to see called, "Across the Wide Missouri" with Clark Gable. Would you like to see it with me?" “Sure,” I said. Then she asked if I had gone to a movie with a girl before. I paused and said “I went to the Oriental with a girl … her name is Colleen, but she doesn’t live here anymore”. I didn’t say she was my sister. I had never been on a date before so I took a bath and cleaned myself up. I was too young to shave and besides, my dad had a straight razor, which is very sharp and dangerous. I did use a little of his Old Spice lotion. I was off to meet Nancy at the bus stop.
The movie was at Riverside which was a hotsy-totsy downtown theatre on Wisconsin Avenue.
Nancy and I had to take the 35th Street bus and then catch another bus to go downtown. We met at 35th and Lisbon … the bus finally came. We hopped on, the bus was very crowded. We found a single seat next to a fat guy who was sleeping next to the window. Nancy sat down next to him and I stood in the aisle holding onto the handle on the top of her seat with other standing passengers. The bus kept going to other stops with people getting on and off. Suddenly Nancy sneezed and a huge wad of ugly snot landed on the sleeping mans right hand resting on his stomach. Nancy looked at me and then whispered “do you have a hanky?” I shook my head no. She panicked and said softly “we have to get off the bus”. She got up and push me toward the door. We hopped out and then she said “OH MY GOD! That was so embarrassing!” Then she said, “you have to promise me that you’ll never tell any of the kids about what happened.” I said “I won’t” … then she said, “cross your heart”, and I replied, “cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye!” Then we had to run a couple of blocks to catch the Wisconsin Avenue bus to the show.
We got to the Riverside in time. I bought us some popcorn and took a huge handful of napkins which made us laugh as I pushed them into her jacket pockets. The movie was about Clark Gable who was a French fur trader who met and married the daughter of an Indian chief. Nancy thought it was pretty good and so did I.
My sister Colleen and her husband Chuck moved to a different house in portage on Wisconsin Street which parallels the Wisconsin river levee. She and Chuck had some little boys. The oldest was Dicky then Danny and David was the baby. Dicky being the oldest was the most fun. Sis asked Ma if I could stay with her and help out with the boys after school was out for the summer. I thought it would be fun so I got to stay with my sister for a few weeks in a place I liked a lot, PORTAGE. Little boys can keep you busy. I thought Dicky might like to learn to catch bees like I did when I was small.
Colleens house had a big garden in back and a row of Hollyhocks grew next to the house. Hollyhocks are great for catching bees. I got some antique glass jars when I helped with the dishes. I took Dicky outside and showed him how to watch for when a bee lands on a flower … then to quickly cover the bee with the jar and wait for it to fly into the jar. Then you clamp on the lid. Dicky started at one end of the row of hollyhocks and I started at the other. There weren’t many bees … but then Dicky ran up saying “I got one” … I said “where is it?” Not seeing his chair. He said “it’s in my pocket” and he put his hand into his pocket and screamed! I forgot to tell him to leave the bee in the jar. So I didn’t start out too good at babysitting and Dicky got his first bee sting.
Chuck’s Schwanz spent his days driving all around Columbia, Marquette and Sauk County trying to sell CENPECO Products in his NASH sedan.
Some nights he also worked at a bar in portage called The FORT. Some days after work he took me fishing at a lake or stream. We fished on Duck Creek from a small rowboat. Chuck was bait casting, I used a long bamboo pole with a red and white plastic bobber and some nightcrawlers I had caught in the yard. Suddenly a big fish swallowed my bobber and got tangled up in my fishing line. The line was wrapped about it gills . Chuck got out a net and landed the big dumb smallmouth bass. Chuck weighed it … it was almost four pounds … it was Crappies and bass for supper that night along with potato pancakes. I like having a brother-in-law almost as much as a great bunch of cousins.
 |
| Chuck fishing with his bamboo pole |
One warm summer evening Colleen and I were sitting on a lawn chairs in the front yard and Chuck was at work. Danny and David and their dog Taffy were asleep inside. Dicky had a little tricycle that he would race on the sidewalk against cars on Wisconsin Street that drove by quickly. He would lean forward over his handlebars, his feet a blur of motion and energy. A hot rod came rambling down the street. Dick saw it, heard it, and took off … the race was on. Near the end of the block something happened, Dick flipped over and screamed. Colleen and I flew down the block. Dicky was covered in blood with a yellow pencil sticking out of his mouth. He was really hurt. He could hardly speak because of the pencil protruding from his mouth and all of the blood. Colleen and a neighbor rushed Dick to the hospital and I stayed to watch the little boys. Dick liked to put things in his mouth, a stick, pencil or crayon to mimic a cigarette. Colleen and I didn’t see the pencil earlier when he was riding his tricycle. The doctor had to remove it from the soft palate in the back of his mouth and Dicky got his first stitches. Kinda reminded me of my trip to the hospital.
The next day Jack and Joan called Colleen to see if I could come over for a visit. It was a pretty long walk, but I wanted to see Bob Heberlein’s new SHELL OIL STATION which was along the way to Heberleins. It was across from the Portage Theatre that I liked and Ports Funeral Home which was spooky. The new Shell Station was a lot bigger than the old STANDARD Oil station. Bob also sold Firestone tires. He was glad to see me and gave me an ice cold Pepsi from the vending machine. I sat at Bob’s desk and looked at some pictures of his family. Dee his wife and two pretty daughters Julie and Jan. My mom was Jan’s godmother. Bob asked about Colleen and her kids, he had heard about Dicky’s accident. He said that he and Colleen were very close … they had both lived with grandma Arn when they were little kids so that their mothers could work. Chucks Nash was often at the Shell station, Bob said it needed a lot of work because Chuck drove it all the time for his job. Bob didn’t like Nash’s much because something always needed to be fixed.
When I got to Jack and Joan's everyone was outside and the small garage was open. Jim was busy working on this little Motor scooter. Everyone said “HI” and Jim told me the scooter was a DOODLE BUG.
He had bought it used and was trying to get it to run right. Jack, Joan, and I went inside to play Monopoly. I wanted to hear them play their piano in the music room. Jack had grown taller than me. Joan and I were about the same size. Jack gave me some fake vomit. It was plastic and look very realistic. He said he used it so many times that no one was fooled by it anymore. He suggested then to make it look even realer I should splash some water on top of it. I love having cousins of all ages and sizes.
Chuck took me fishing again, this time on the Wisconsin River. He had an aunt Marie who lived
in this beautiful old house on the river. We used her dock and boat to go down stream. Chuck would let me explore some of the sandbars and islands. Famous explorers like Father Marquette and Louis Joliet pass through here hundreds of years ago to find the Mississippi and adventure. Time flew by and soon it was time to head back to Milwaukee for my final term in elementary school. As I was leaving with my parents Chuck asked my dad if I could come back for the bird hunting season in the fall … I looked at dad and he nodded “yes” (yippee!)
Back in Milwaukee my friend Roy Lease wanted me to see what they had done to his grandfathers green Lincoln. They had gotten it earlier in the year and had taken it to the hot rod shop in Lisbon to put on some glass pack mufflers and some chrome stuff on the engine. It looked and sounded mighty good. Ray’s grandfather was a great old guy, but he had to use a cane and his hearing wasn’t good on one side.
They were going to Gilles Drive In one night and asked if I wanted to go along … ABSOLUTELY!
.png)
Driving there I got caught up on all the neighborhood news and we talked about everything. Roy knew Ray Maas told me that Ray had bought a bunch of old ice cream tricycles … the kind that had an insulated box in front between two wheels and one wheel and seat and back. Ray wanted to start a business.
When we arrived at the Drive In, where Grandpa Lease had to punch the engine once to get everyone’s attention. We placed our order and Grandpa Lease paid for our treats. Minutes later a great big shiny black Cadillac Fleetwood rolled in right beside us. The drivers electric window rolled down and there was A.C. Valdez. He was a TV preacher.
.jpg)
My mom had watched him on TV so had a Grandpa Lease. On TV, Reverend A.C. Valdez would hold his hand in front of the TV camera and tell the watchers … “PLACE YOUR HAND UPON THE SCREEN AND FEEL THE HEALING POWER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST” … well my Ma and I tried it a couple times and thought it was fake. Grandpa Lease said he had driven to Oconomowoc for a tent revival with A.C. Valdez, but couldn’t get in. Ray said “are you sure it’s him?” I got out of the back seat of the Lincoln, took two steps towards the Cadillac and said “Reverend A.C. Valdez, my friends grandpa tried to see you in Oconomowoc, but couldn’t … he is here right now.” The Reverend closed his window a little and said “GO AWAY.” I said, "he needs a little help … Jesus wouldn’t say GO AWAY.” Grandpa Lease had gotten out of the Lincoln with his cane and said, “GOOD EVENING” and A.C said, “DAMN HOODLUMS” … Grandpa Lease said, “No, no! I’m a veteran.” A.C. closed his window … so I put my hand on the Cadillac window and said, “PLACE YOUR HAND UPON THE WINDOW AND FEEL THE HEALING POWER OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.” A bunch of other people at the drive-in saw and heard all of this and began to gather around the big Cadillac pointing and saying “Hey, ITS REVERAND A.C. VALDEZ!” The Cadillac started up, slowly backed out and tried to lay rubber getting away. The crowd went back to their cars … we need to find another way to help Grandpa Lease.
The final Elementary season for me started at 31st school. If all goes well my class would be done near the end of January when we will graduate and go on to junior high school. I’ve got one different teacher this time. Mr. D.R. Miller who teaches history and sorta looks like Abe Lincoln. Mr. Fraser was back and announce that we are doing a study of Wisconsin geography and Miss Barnick said that there were going to be tryouts for a class play called “THE KING OF THE RADIO FAIRIES” … all these school events sounded the most interesting of all the classes. Mr. D.R. Miller started us in the Civil War, but said that we would learn more than just about battles and military actions. America was at war again in KOREA with the Commies. Mr. Miller thought we needed to know about the causes of war to stop our country from being in war after war … we will learn about slavery and propaganda. Mr. Miller had lotsa humorous old sayings like … “all the great men in history are dead … and I feel a little ill myself.”
In Mr. Fraser’s class we learned about how the ICE AGE change the geography of Wisconsin. Added to our vocabulary were words like KETTLES, ESKERS and DRUMLIN. We studied maps and learned about all fourteen of the Great Lakes. Mr. Fraser announced that he had arranged for an airplane trip for the class in a Douglas DCA airliner over part of the state that we were learning about in our studies. I had never gone for a plane ride and the class reaction was that it was fine with everybody … there was a lot of shouting and excitement. What a great way to learn.
On the day of the flight a school bus took the class to Billy Mitchell field. A big staircase was in place against the side of this shiny silver plane. The class lined up and went inside the plane. There were two seats on each side of the aisle and everything looked new with blue and gray upholstery. Mr. Fraser got us seated and settled down. We were introduced to the co-pilot who told us about the plane. He asked us to raise our hands if we had flown before, only my teacher raised his hand. We put on our seatbelts and learned about air sickness bags. Then the plane revved up and started to move. We were off!
Mr. Fraser had brought some charts and teaching aide stuff from the classroom. As we flew over where the glacier had been eons ago we gathered around the small windows on one side of the plane or the other as it tipped slightly to better see the ground. It was very interesting and no one got air sick. A Milwaukee Journal photographer took pictures of us after the ride. Learning is FUN!
Another exciting school event was scheduled to happen in December. Miss Barnick was putting together a Christmas play, a musical called, “THE KING OF THE RADIO FAIRIES”. The play was to be held in the school auditorium, which had a small stage about two feet off of the floor with a big burgundy curtain that could open and close. The cast of ten included, The King of the Fairies, a mother and father from our class, two children, a boy and girl from fourth grade and five little second graders who were the fairies. All who were selected could really sing well and loud. Miss Barnick held auditions where we sang Christmas songs. I was selected to be King, Teddy was the father and Donna was the mother. The stage was set to look like a living room. It had a decorated Christmas tree to the left and then a long couch and floor lamp, a fireplace decorated with stockings and candles and a big floor radio on the right.
The story was that this big floor radio not only broadcast programs, but could also listen to things being said in front of it like a telephone. In an early scene the boy and girl were listening to a broadcast from the North Pole and were upset because the bicycles they had asked for from Santa were not going to arrive.
Miss Barnick had the shop teacher build a realistic looking radio with a big yellow dial. In this scene the big radio opens up and out scrambled five little fairies. The fairies are all dressed in red and green with wings on their backs. Fairies will grow into Elves and lose their wings when they get older. The little fairies run around being naughty taking down stockings and ornaments off the tree and wrapped Christmas boxes from under the tree … it was all very chaotic. Then I enter from the open radio blowing a silver whistle and pushing two new bikes that Miss Barnick borrowed from Sears. I had on green tights with a red hat, shoes and vest, but no wings because I was a Santa Elf and King of the Fairies.
I bring order to the little fairies by telling them that we “make gifts” not “take gifts” and run around. They each stop when I point at them and I say “I will tell Santa” … the fairies drop to their knees on the stage floor and covered their little faces with their hands … and the audience laughed. We sang “ O Tannenbaum” and other songs. The boy and girl get their bikes. The final song was “Jingle Bells” that I was supposed to lead like a conductor.
Miss Barnick played an upright piano in the auditorium floor to accompany all of the songs that we sang. The whole cast lined up to sing Jingle Bells with me conducting. Miss Barnick wanted me to swing my arms and be “dramatic and animated” … I was … when one of the fairies jumped up near the end of the song and ran toward me, I didn’t see him … he was supposed to be seated for the finale. I hit him right in the face and he rolled off the stage into the audience. The crowd exploded in applause and laughter thinking it was part of the play.
There was a reception in the big hallway outside of the auditorium with apple cider and cookies that followed the performance. We had parents, teachers and kids all congratulating us in the hall. As the crowd thinned I saw Nancy Stewart, she walked up to me and gave me a hug and said that she thought the play was terrific. She said that her family was moving away after Christmas … and she gave me a note and hurried away. It was a napkin that said she really liked me and although she was moving she hoped to see me again sometime. Miss Barnick came up with Teddy and Donna announcing that she had talked to our parents and she was driving the three of us to KEHRS candy store on Lisbon for an ice cream sundae to celebrate our success. Celebrations can be happy and sad.
Television seemed to be getting better. My family watched more of it, sometimes we would have a regular meal and watch a show together. My parents liked the TEXACO STAR THEATRE with Milton Berle.
.jpg)
He was a very funny guy that started the show dressed up in a wild costume and telling the live audience a bunch of jokes. The show was sponsored by TEXACO GASOLINE. The show opened with four mechanics working out in front of the curtain and beginning to sing, “OH WE’RE THE MEN OF TEXACO, WE WORK FROM MAINE TO MEXICO … THERES NOTHING LIKE THIS TEXACO OF OURS … OUR SHOW TONIGHT IS POWERFUL, WE WILL WOW YOU WITH AN HOURFULL OF HOWLS FROM A SHOWERFUL OF STARS, WE’RE THE MERRY TEXACO MEN, TONITE WE MAY BE SHOWMEN. TOMORROW WELL BE SERVICING YOUR CARS.”
Milton Berle would come back out with skits, jokes and guest stars. The show was fast paced and fun to watch. We also like I love Lucy starring Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnez. Desi had a famous band and Lucy and her neighbor Ethel got into many funny situations … it too was fun to watch.
Two movie cowboys also had TV shows. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. I prefer Roy’s show and watched it more often. He had a sidekick called PAT BRADY, but Smiley Burnett wasn’t on the show. Trigger the horse and BULLETT, his German Shepherd dog we’re on most of the shows I watched. They had adventures like in the movies only shorter and hardly any singing.
Living on 33rd St. in Milwaukee in our duplex we had upstairs neighbors. Jerry and Betty Spiering and the young daughter Carolyn. Jerry worked for the CUNEO PRESS. They were nice neighbors, even bought a parakeet from us and called him “LUCKY”. Jerry was very particular about the backhaul that we shared, often sweeping it and washing the staircase … so one day my friend Ray and I decided to do a little trick on Jerry. I put that plastic vomit that I had got from Jack Heberlein in a corner of the Landing and sprinkled it with water … it looked realistic. When Jerry got home from work Ray and I were listening just inside our closed kitchen door. Jerry’s footsteps hit heavy on the first stairs … he stopped in exclaimed “oh no” … and then cursed! He went back down into the basement for a dustpan and a broom. He came back up and tried to sweep the plastic vomit into the dust pan … he almost threw up for real!, right on the joke vomit. Hearing this, I popped the door open and said “April Fool” … well it wasn’t April and Jerry wasn’t amused … Nor were we when Ray and I had to clean it up … it was disgusting … Ray almost added to the mess. He said that the soaked piece of plastic vomit moved when he tried to sweep it up and had made him nauseous. I decided to just throw it all out … there is no humor in real vomit.
For Christmas my parents decide to get me a 410 shotgun so I could go hunting with my own gun.
I had gone duck hunting with my brother-in-law Chuck Schwanz, his brother Red and his dad in the fall. Chuck and Red had built a couple of duck blinds on Dates Millpond where we also fished near Portage. I didn’t have a gun then so Chuck let me use an old single shot 12 gauge.
On the day of the hunt it was very cold and snowing some. We rented two rowboats, Chuck and his dad in one, Red and I in the other. It was still dark as we set out duck decoys in front of our blinds which were about 60 yards apart. The sky got lighter and finally there were some ducks flying. Red started to call them with his duck call … a group started to set their wings to come in. They were headed toward Chuck’s blind so we didn’t fire … the ducks landed … nothing, then suddenly we heard a shotgun blast. The ducks all flew away quickly … “HELP! HELP!” Chuck’s dad had fallen asleep in the boat, when he awoke he accidentally fired his gun and blew out the back of the rowboat. They sank on their blind. Red and I quickly went to the rescue. No one was hurt and no duck was shot. We did manage to scare some ducks, which is not the purpose of hunting.
In January when we return to school all the kids in my class met in the auditorium with other teachers and the principal. This was the last month of school before graduation from 31st Street Elementary school. We were moving on to junior high school. Which junior high school you attended was determined by where you live. I would be going to STEUBEN. Principal, Miss Sieker announce we would have a graduation ceremony. Our parents would be invited to the program. There would be songs, dances and speeches that would demonstrate all the things we had learned. Miss Sieker then passed out papers and pencils and said that our class will now elect our Class President. She said “look around … who do you want to represent you? The boy or girl you so that will speak at our graduation ceremony as your President … choose well”. I WON … I think I was the most surprise kid in the room. I had voted for Teddy. Miss Sieker congratulated me and the class gave me a standing cheer. WOW!
I liked being the King of the Fairies and now a President! I was also Captain of the Crossing Guards! I was really looking forward to whatever is next. We had to attend an orientation at Steuben Junior High. It was right off of Lisbon and 52nd St. near a big car dealership. Took the Lisbon bus pass the statue of General Steuben on horse back at Washington Park.
As we walked together toward the school I noticed that Steuben was a lot larger than any school that I had ever attended. There were three doors on the front of the building and as soon as we entered we all saw two bronze statues … a boy and a girl … they looked just like us!
I had never seen a statue of a kid before, only famous people had statues … I was impressed. We were ushered into the big auditorium. It was dimly lit, but I could see another group of kids already seated. My class sat to the left in front. There was a huge stage with dark curtains open. Far overhead a spotlight focused on the podium and a bright chrome microphone that began to crackle … everyone went silent. Soon the new chapter would begin. Everything starts tomorrow. This is going to be SUPER!
EPILOGUE
Charles N. Kent Jr. Attended Washington Senior high school in Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin where he received a B.S. and M.S. degree. He worked as an art teacher at Washington Junior High School in Racine Wisconsin. Examples of his artwork have been shown in many exhibits including the Wisconsin Designer – Craftsman and the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors shows. His works have also been exhibited at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York. On two occasions his works have been selected by the Smithsonian to be exhibited in year long National Tours.
He was the last directing principal at Washington Junior high and racing later served as directing principal of Walden III middle – senior high school. In 1994 he was one of 28 presenters invited to the 2ndInternational Model Schools Conference in Atlanta, GA. He completed for 34 years with the Racine Unified School District and was recruited by Dr. John Murphy, superintendent of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District to be the headmaster and project coordinator for The Education Village. The complex was later renamed “The Governors Village”. A complex of two elementary schools, and middle school and a senior high school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Originally designed as a National Model of the Walden ?parfacto invalidation? process.
Charles has been married twice and has twice divorced his wife. He has been blessed with six daughters. Robin, Becky, Heather, Holly, Jessie and Jolie. Who continue to individually and collectively add activity, inspiration and humor to an interesting life. Further blessed with amazing grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Charles spends his time in Wisconsin, Colorado and Hawaii.
Chinese proverb: “THE FAINTEST INK IS STRONGER THAN THE GREATEST MEMORY”