HOW I JFK USED TO BE:
MEMORY STILL LIGHTS THE CANDLES
ON YESTERDAY'S BIRTHDAY CAKES
By HAL BOYLE
NEW YORK l/F — You’ve blown
out a lot of candles on a lot of
birthday cakes if you can look
back and remember when —
It was a compliment to be called
square'.
Wives tried to look their best at
breakfast, so husbands would go
off to work with a pleasant pic
ture of them.
You could buy a pair of shoes
f >r what two haircuts cost now.
It was widely predicted that the
end of prohibition would wipe
out gangsterism in America be
cause there would be no other
major source of profits for crim
inal mobs.
Every genteel family had an
umbrella stand in the hallway.
It was part of chidhood to have
your picture taken atop a donkey
led around by a traveling photog
rapher. (Don’t you still wonder
now and then whatever happened
to that poor, patient, sad-faced
donkey?t
Only bankers and big business
men wrote checks. Ordinary folks
paid their bills in cash or stood
in line at the post office to buy
a postal money order.
The streets of Manhattan were
alive with the tinkling music of
hurdy gurdies, and the monkey
doffed his hat if you gave him a
nickel.
It was romantic to snuggle with
your best girl on the top front
seat of a doubledeck Fifth Avenue
bus. These lumbering vehicles also
were the delight of sightseers, but
the Irish conductors hated to climb
the stairs for the fares.
People waited until Thanksgiv
ing was past before thinking about
buying Christmas presents.
Every workman's lunchpail car
ried a liverwurst sandwich and a
slab of home-made apple pie.
A juvenile delinquent was a boy
who spent all his coins looking at
the naughty-girlie machines in
the penny arcade — and then
bragged to all the other neighbor
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hood kids how much he knew
about women.
If you said a bad word, your
mother promptly washed your
moulh out with soap instead of
worrying about whether she should
take you to a psychiatrist.
After calling on his patients in
rural areas, the doctor came home
with empty pockets but with his
buggy loaded with fresh tomatoes,
potatoes, watermelons and maybe
a couple of live chickens.
The most popular form of so
cial security was a large family.
Parents took it for granted that
their children would be glad to
care for them in their old age.
It wasn’t a question of whether
you’d have to have your tonsils
taken out; it was only a matter of
when.
The most terrifying chore of
childhood was having to bank the
furnace fire at night. Ghosts and
horrible monsters menaced from
every dark comer of the cellar.
Most Americans have never seen
a live elk, but all had seen an
elk’s tooth on a gold watch chain.
A woman hadn’t reached full
maturity until she owned a whale
bone corset.
A real dude was a fellow who
wore spats and patent leather
shoes.
Saloons had separate entrances
for the ladies, who always drank
in a back room.
It took more than your first pair
of long pants to prove you were
a real man. You also had to be
able to light a kitchen match on
the seat of them.
An immigrant’s greatest joy
came from the day he was first
able to send $5 to those he had
left behind in the old country.
When a man reached the point
he no longer read the fine print
in the mail order catalogs, he knew
it was time to go to the dime
store in town and buy himself
a pair of spectacles.
It was considered physically
weakening to take a hot bath more
than once a week.
Those were the days. Remember?
AFL SETS NEW DATES
NEW YORK UP> — The Amer
ican Football League, which post
poned Sunday’s four-game sched
ule, will extend its season one
week until December 22. The ex
tension means that the league’s
championship game, originally
scheduled for December 22. will
be moved back. An exact date for
the title game and new dates for
current games will be announced
1 as soon as they are decided on.
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‘Once ami For All’
Comedy Entrances
Theater Crowd
“Once and For All,” a delightful
three-act comedy was enjoyed by
a capacity crowd at the Nome High
School auditorium last Thursday
night. With a cast of 19, and a set
which was in every way profes
sional, the play unfolded and went
its course in a manner fully ap
preciated by the audience.
The story was written around
the domestic life and problems of
three families and a couple of
working girls who all lived in two
apartment buidings facing a com
mon court. The touch of drama was
provided by the involvement and
arrest of a son of one family who
had “fallen into bad companj'.”
Much comedy was enacted, and
the antics of Demetrio, an Italian
produce peddler, played by Lloyd
Hardy, kept the audience enter
tained in many laugh provoking
scenes. Laura Walker, playing An
na, his wife, and again acting with
an Italian accent, was also given
many plaudits by the audience.
Several others of the cast had
long and difficult speaking parts
and handled them perfectly.
Among these were Richard Sack
ett as Michael Webb, a newspaper
man, and his wife, played by Alice
Arnold. Nicola Benzetti, played by
Richard Young, Pietro played by
Joel Craft and Christene played
by Mary Lou Couch.
Sven Svenson, the janitor,
played by Wendell Smith, provided j
the audience with a good number
of laughs as result of his “women
problems.”
All of the cast, some with long
speaking parts, some with those
more brief, definitely contributed
to a fine and entertaining stage
performance. The comedy was di
rected by Mrs. W. H. (Stuby) Cam
eron, who has directed many i
school plays over the years, and j
who has contributed so unselfishly |
of her own time in these pursuits.
Other members of the cast were
Catherine Scheulke, Michael Blan
ning, Carrie Ann Ullrich. John
Towner, Gloria Carlson, Catherine
Walsh, Kathleen Mclver, June
Oman, Stanley Walker, Edna Ah
masuk and Donald Young, all of
whom turned in fine performances.
Sue Deems was in charge of
make-up and James Gillis was
stage manager and prompter. Prop
erty managers were Alice Arnold
and Richard Young. Richard Foster
was in charge of lights.
Creative Writing Course
Begins Weekly Sessions
The adult education course in
Creative Writing will hold its first
meeting Wednesday, Nov. 27, at
7:30 p.m. in Room 2 of the High
School. Mrs. Alice Osborne, in
structor of the course registered 8
persons last week, and more are
expected for the first class.
The fundamentals of newspaper
and magazine writing is the ob
jective of the course. The fee for
the 10-week course is $7.50.
Those interested in writing arc
cordially wcclome to enroll.
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i
THE GIANT
A STORY FROM UNALAKLEET
(From the 10th Annual BAE Report)
One dark winter night a woman j
ran through the village of Nikhata
and out on to the snow covered j
tundra; she was fleeing from her
husband whose cruelty had be- ,
come unbearable. All through the
night and for many days after
ward she traveled on toward the
north, always going around the vil
lages she came near, fearing that ;
she might be pursued.
Finally she left all signs of human i
life behind, and the cold became
more and more intense; her small
supply of food was exhausted and j
she began to eat snow to lessen j
her hunger.
One day as evening drew nigh, ;
she was in such a wind-swept j
place that she forced herself to go !
on. At last she saw before her
what seemed to be a hill with
five elevations on its crest; when I
she came to it she saw that it j
looked like an enormous foot. Re- j
moving the snow from between j
two elevations, that looked like
huge toes, she found it warm and
comfortable, and slept there un
til morning, when she started and
walked toward a single elevation
that showed in the snow level.
This she reached near nightfall
and noticed that it appeared to
be shaped like a great knee. Find
ing a sheltered place by it she
stayed there until morning, when ■
she went on. That evening a hill ;
like a huge thigh sheltered her for :
the night. The next night she was :
sheltered in a round pit-like hol
low, around which grew scattered
j brush; as she left this place in the j
■ morning it appeared to her like a
great navel.
The next night she slept near
two hills shaped like enormous
breasts; the night following she
found a sheltered, comfortable
hollow where she slept. As she
was about to start from there in
the morning a great voice seemed
to come from beneath her feet
saying; “Who are you? What has
driven you to me, to whom human
beings never come?’’ She was
very much frightened, but man
aged to tell her sorrowful tale,
and then the voice spoke again:
“Well, you may stay here, but you
must not sleep again near my
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mouth or my lips! For if I should
breath on you it would blow you
away. You must be hungry. I will
get you something to eat.”
While she waited it suddenly oc
curred to her that for five days
she had been traveling on the body
of the giant, Kinagak, or Kinak.
Then the sky became suddenly
obscured, and a great black cloud
came swiftly toward her; when it
was near she saw that it was the
giant’s hand, which opened and
dropped a freshly killed reindeer,
and the voice told her to eat of it.
Very quickly she got some of the
brushwood that grew all about,
made a fire, and she ate heartily
of the roasted flesh. The giant
spoke again: “I know you wish a
place in which to rest, and it is
best for you to go into my beard
where it grows most thickly, for I
wish to take breath now and to
clear from my lungs the hoarfrost
which has got adhered there and
which bothers me; so go quickly.”
She barely had time to get down
into the giant’s beard when a
furious gale of wind rushed over
her head, accompanied by a blind
ing snow storm, which ended as
quickly as it began, and extending
far out over the tundra, and the
sky became clear once more.
(To be continued)
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a claim for car, home, or business
insurance. Get your insurance
through an independent agent.
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insurance Agency
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