By John Babina, Edison (55), Hall (56), Notre Dame (61); Success Park
Ice cream vendors with refrigerated
push-carts in Beardsley Park selling "Eskimo Pies". Kids putting a
trading card on the forks of their bikes so they would vibrate on the spokes
and made a loud buzzing sound. Sitting in the street next to Hall School with
a portable radio and listening, in disbelief, to the Yankees losing the '55
series to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Playing stickball at the Success Park power
house. Orcutt Boys Club "summer camp" - boys still swam au natural
at the indoor pool! The Orcutt baseball team traveling to the North End Boys
Club for rivalry games. Cub Pack 230 at Summerfield Methodist Church taking a
road trip to Camden NJ and appearing on the Saturday morning Sealtest Big Top
TV show. Viewing the animated mechanical toy collection at the Burroughs main
branch public library. Memorial Day (used to be called Decoration Day)
ceremonies at the soldier's and sailor's monument in Seaside Park, ending with
a 3 gun salute. The fence at the GE plant surrounded with flags on every
support post, at half mast for Memorial Day. The Gold Star mothers riding in
the parade. The big train wreck in Bridgeport (early 50's) at the
"Jenkins' Valve curve" which tore down all the catenaries and
suspended service. The engineer died and the cause was never determined. The
big light stanchions at Hedges Stadium lighting up the night sky on Mill Hill.
The last 4th of July when CT allowed legal personal fireworks. Success
Park sounded like a war zone and our ears were ringing for hours afterwards.
We were only allowed to have sparklers after that date. After that fateful
4th, some kids made fireworks "runs" via train to Chinatown in NYC
to bring back "bootleg" fireworks. Remember when some automobiles
were around that still had running boards and rumble seats . . . split
windshields that opened at the bottom and one taillight! Remember when radio -
heater (R/H) was still an option and featured in car ads! Two-tone cars became
a fad. Swinging around the flagpoles at Edison School, Bullard Havens and the
power house (after hours, of course) using the flag rope to swing in a huge
arc high off the ground. Going to the Jane Street library after grammar school
on the Greyline Bus, (known locally as the "GE bus"), and not
needing a parent as an escort. Getting a job as a snack vendor at Hedges
Stadium at age 11 and making a "fortune" ($11) in 2 ½ hours. That
was big money in the early 50's. (Bunny's had the stadium food franchise.) The
opening of the A&P on Boston Ave., which was a huge supermarket for the
times. Hiking through the woods at Fairchild Memorial Park with our war
surplus "army" canteens and knapsacks. Listening in shock as
socialist Mayor Jasper McLevy lost the '57 election after 24 years in office.
The national uproar over the destruction of the Wheeler mansion. The local
uproar over the RT 8-25 connector cleaving Beardsley Park and shaving off a
chunk of Bunnell's Pond. (By the way . . . Remember in our day that ponds
routinely froze over solid all winter). The opening day ceremonies of the
Highway theater with live performers ('52), the last movie theatre built in CT
to include a live performance stage! JFK landing at Bridgeport airport to make
a campaign speech ('60). Airplane "skywriters" making campaign
messages in white smoke over Pleasure Beach & Seaside Park. (Blimps were
used for public ad messages, too!) The ethereal wailing of local air raid
sirens taking part in national air raid tests during the cold war - CONELRAD
triangle logos on radio dials (on radios manufactured in the '50s) so you
could find the emergency message stations, all other stations had to go silent
(this was before we had the EBS, and now EAS, systems). Having to duck your
head down during the air raid tests. Going to the health building emergency
room at "Bulls Head" with a cut. Remember when you had to get
"working papers" at 16 and a chest Xray if you were going to
"handle food". Going to the GE sponsored Boy Scout "shack"
on the GE property off Asylum Street. Going to the Sideshow at the Barnum
& Bailey circus at Seaside Park. Watching the roustabouts use the
elephants to erect the big top. Opening of the first Dairy Queen on Boston
Ave. and getting the soft ice cream with a "brown derby" topping
(crisp chocolate crust). Standing in lines, by academic grade, on the cinder
covered playground at Edison School before the opening bell. Boys and
girls were in separate lines, monitored by patrol boys. We then marched in, in
order, at the opening bell. [The old Hall School had Boy's Entrance and Girl's
Entrance cast in the cement over the doors]. Suburban Nike missile bases
ringing the city (Westport, Shelton, Ansonia, etc.) to protect the
industrial might of the Bridgeport region from Russian bombers. We were not
allowed to wear "dungarees" and "sneaks" to school. Making
schoolbook covers from brown paper bags. Selecting a live chicken from the
chicken market on Barnum Avenue, which they would "dispatch" in the
back room and then de-feather with boiling water and live steam. Mom would
then singe off the remaining pinfeathers at home over the open flame gas jets
of the kitchen range. Truck beds stacked high delivering the live chickens in
these wooden cages. Your grandparents with gardens in the back yard and some
even raised chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits! Hooking up the rolling washing
machine [equipped with "safety wringers"] to the kitchen sink faucet
with a rubber hose. Monday was laundry day. Remember the advertising
"soap wars" claiming your wash, hung on the line, would be
"whiter than white!" (Soap makers actually doped the soap with an
ultraviolet triggered phosphor so sunlight would "juke up" the white
appearance). Mom making homemade jelly and used hot paraffin wax as an
airtight seal. Putting a card in the window for the ice man to bring ice.
Speaking of door vendors: We had an egg man, a Dugan's Bread man, a milkman, a
postman, vegetable vendor, Fuller Brush man, a cutter-grinder, and an Avon
Lady. We had real paperboys. A family of kids named Sikorsky had a newspaper
delivery "dynasty" in Success Park. They were used as examples of
hard-working and enterprising young citizens by the teachers. Bringing in 50
cents per week to "bank" in school. The teacher wrote it right into
your Mechanics & Farmers Savings Bank passbook! Remember when Mom went to
Tupperware parties? There was an itinerate organ-grinder with monkey that
collected coins in a cup. The monkey would tip his hat when he got a coin. An
old crow (or was it a magpie or raven?) at the Beardsley Park aviary that
would say "Aw shut up" when prompted. The huge garbage dump fires at
Seaside Park that would burn out of control for days. The distinctive sound of
the mechanical calliope at the Pleasure Beach carousel. Pulling the brass ring
and getting a free ride. Touring the visiting Naval vessels that would tie up
at the Buckley Brothers Dock. Visiting the ice cream factory in Bridgeport
with the Cub Scouts and getting free treats. (We also toured the Borck &
Stevens Wonder Bread bakery and got cupcakes.) Ballpoint pens eliminating the
big tipped "scratch" pens and inkwells in school! Remember the three
color ballpoints!
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