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Written by Ron Mortimer
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Wednesday, 01 June 2011 13:02 |
Once upon a time in the “land of milk & cookies”, when each baby boomer was about knee-high to a noisy cricket, groups of youngsters were enjoying the good life of the Leave It to Beaver world.
 It was the best of times and never the worst of times for the first wave of post-war boomer kids. It was a time to grow up slowly, when the young people did not have to worry about the economic struggles of their parents. Kids were free to roam because every adult knew the identity of the neighborhood gang. Watchful eyes were always on the potential little boomer hooligans. There were few televisions and no computers or video games.
Playing games outdoors became the passion of the booming moppets. Sandlot games without parents were in vogue when it came to baseball and football. Usually two of the biggest guys chose up the sides, and the skinniest runts were the last to get picked. Cracked bats were often donated by the neighborhood adult teams, and old, used baseballs and softballs often found in the weeds became treasures for the fledgling future baseball stars. It took a few little tacks and that sticky black tape to repair the damaged bats for some future Mickey, Willie, and the Duke to get on with their games.
As luck would have it, some local school districts decided to hire teachers or college students during summer vacation to work at the playgrounds. They taught the kids how to play, and most of the instructors made sure everyone participated. Most importantly, they made sure the kids had fun. Female teachers were also hired to teach the girls arts and crafts.
A basket nailed to a pole on some lightly traveled street could become the nightly hangout for groups of children. Basketball was played all year round, even if it required shoveling the snow off the streets. Those same streets became the scene of other games such as kick-the-can – a variation of hide-and-seek in which the unlucky hiders, who were caught in their hiding spot, could be freed by an uncaught hider who kicked the can away before the “it” kid could tap the can.
Another source of leisure was the theater. Many of the communities in Northeastern Pennsylvania had a theater. “Theater going” was the favorite Saturday pastime of the younger set because plenty of children matinees were showed that included the Bowery Boys, Three Stooges, and a whole host of cowboys such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, the Durango Kid, “Wild Bill” Elliott, Tex Ritter, and Johnny Mack Brown. It cost parents a quarter to send each boy and girl off to the movies, and that whole quarter was the price of admission, a couple of cartoons, a soda, and a box of popcorn for each little urchin in a seat.
Hangouts were important landmarks for the Happy Days set. Mom-and-pop stores were found on almost every block with plenty of opportunities to seek refreshment with ice-cold Coke and Pepsi in glass bottles.
Of course, growing up in the “age of Ike” was not without its dangers. Gangs of kids from other neighborhoods could mount rock-throwing assaults at any time. The older guys might even decide to grab the smaller kids and give them “pink bellies” on any given day– holding down the victim and slapping his belly until it turned pink.
Some of the more agile boys were adept at robbing cherry and apple trees. The more inept and clumsy had to await the return of the fruit pirates, who were usually willing to share the precious booty.
Bike riding was another passion of the boomer brood. Everyone had some kind of bike on which to travel the local streets and parks. The English racers were the Cadillacs of the bike-riding set.
Ice and snow were no obstacles to roam the streets. It did force the kids to replace their bikes with sleds and skates until the spring returned.
Among the great treats in life were those rare trips to Rocky Glen, Hanson’s Park at Harvey’s Lake, San Souci Amusement Park, or Nay Aug Park. These primitive amusements were as exciting to kids as Disney World is today.
Unfortunately, youth isn’t eternal as the first-wave boomers were married, went to college, joined the military, had children, spoiled their grandchildren, worked, and retired. Despite the aches, pains, and wrinkles, the boomers can always live with the smugness of knowing that when they were kids, they had it all.
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