LARRY'S RAMBLE: 1951

Sunday, May 22, 2011

1951

A scary year?

Ah, the sixth grade, what better way to waste a year? The situation continued to be tense between Mrs. Bumford and me, she was a fun spoiler, she thought people really ought to study that junk! Of course out of the classroom was where the real fun was. Fun like jumping through the thin ice in a bog and getting muddy wet! Four time - each time after changing clothes, and telling Mom it was an accident! Just how dumb did I think the woman was? She could see right through that kind of action. Another fun spoiler - but this one had a broom (weapon)! And just exactly is wrong with breaking into sheds and blacksmith shops anyway? Ask the York County Sheriff, who paid us another visit. And what is wrong, exactly, with taking a leak in the Town Constables gas tank? I don't have an answer either.
Prices in 1951, and wages, were far lower than they are now, here are some examples:
A new house - $16,000.00, A new Ford $1425.00, a six-pack of Coke 37 cents or a gallon of gas for 20 cents. One of the songs of the year was Hank Williams' Hey, Good Looking; no I never figured out what she was cookin' either. Another big hit that year was Cry, that song also had a lot of critics, I mean a man crying? Hah!
Cigarette Ads were sure different then too, doctors smoking? Of course they did, had an ashtray right on their desk, ashtrays in the waiting rooms too. I think folks smoked everywhere except in church. I tried some of those cigs myself. My brother Lysle and friend Chet, with me tagging along had obtained a brand new pack of Chesterfields, not too hard to do back then. Up in the pasture at David Gales farm (Chets' brother) we were going to smoke, but we only had two matches. The answer, of course, is to light a small bonfire, that's what we did. We each smoked a couple of the butts, put out the fire and headed back to the house. Was the fire really out? Of course not! The fire consumed about six acres of pasture and a few trees, boy! were we lucky.