The Campton Gym - Shot Clinic and Dance Recital

Good, Bad and Ugly - the Campton Gym was a universe in itself.  One memory - lining up in kindergarten to enter the gym at Campton.  Then, smelling something strange - alcohol fumes.  It was a shot clinic - maybe booster shots for whooping cough and diphtheria or possibly polio shots - before it was oral vaccine.  In any case I had forgotten about that slip of paper pinned to the front of my dress, a permission slip signed by my mother that I could receive the vaccine.  I had no idea why we were going to the gym that day.  But I felt bamboozled.  I hated shots.

One of my better memories of Campton is a dance recital, first or second grade.

Cheryl Thompson is at the left of the photo, I'm next to her.  We must be figuring out what we're supposed to do next.  The girl next to me appears confident, that she knows exactly what she's doing.

Our dance teacher was Mrs. Baum.  She lived on Horn Blvd., I think.  Mrs. Baum put an ad in the Silver Bay Shopper.  She taught gymnastics, tap and ballet.  In the photo above we younger students are doing a dance with an Asian theme - our mothers made black pants and the shirts were blue - both of a shiny acetate I believe - something to give a hint of silk.  Our fans were cardboard, covered with the same fabric as our mandarin-collared shirts.  We wear white socks.

Mrs. Baum only taught for a few year, then became ill.  I think she died very young.

I want to express my gratitude that she shared her joy of the dance to young girls in Silver Bay.  I used what I learned from Mrs. Baum when I was in my twenties and a chorus girl in Moorhead State's GUYS AND DOLLS.  One of our Moorhead friends recently mailed us a CD with some of Bill's sets and a few of my stage pics. This photo has both - Bill's set of the musical and me, standing far right.

Flap, flap, flap, ball-change, Hop, shuffle, step, flap, ball-change. Those tap combinations were still in my muscle memory all those years later.. "I love you a bushel and a peck... " Hey, they're still with me today.

Charles Circle, NBC and the Three Stooges

Today - a little more about watching TV oh so many years ago.  In the last blog I wrote about my first color TV experience. My family lived on Banks.  Now, I'll go back to second grade when we lived on Charles Circle, our first house in  Silver Bay after leaving the trailer court.  (I will no doubt write in the future about why I lived in not one but three Silver Bay houses.)  Oh, how joyful it felt to be in an exclusive club because I had watched the Cartwright family in color.  Oh, but when you're not in the TV club.. what sorrow!

Now I'll take you back to 1959-1960. Here is one of the few pics I can find that shows our home at 37 Charles.  It was located - and I assume still is - at the corner of Banks and Charles nearest the shopping center.  The other end of Charles was nearest Campton.

The Tweeto family lived next door and the Varneys were across the street.  I think that Harold Varney (my class) or his brother Mark (one year older?) might be the boy on the bicycle.

But back to my sad story about television at 37 Charles. No matter how many times Daddy adjusted the aerial on the roof, we could not get reception from Channel 6, the NBC affiliate in Duluth.  We only had two stations in Silver Bay then.  The WDIO tower in Duluth wasn't built until later.

So, I would go to second grade, Mrs. Sarf's class.  And my classmates, especially the boys, would be goofing around like the Stooges and I did not know who these Stooges were!  Captain Q. included short films with the Stooges on his show - and this was on Channel 6 which we did not get at my house.  Of course I pretended to know all about the Stooges.  I did not know how to put it then, but certainly I felt culturally deprived. Simply put - I was out of the club. And when you're seven, it feels awful. Which Stooge is your favorite? someone asked me. I could barely swallow from fear that the truth of my Stooge ignorance would be revealed. I think I said Moe because it was the only Stooge name I could remember.

That's all for today.  Cheers to all and a special thanks to Silver Bay friends who have e-mailed.

Color TV and the NBC Peacock

Update 2021: 

The peacock lives as the corporation uses it as the name of their streaming service.

I do wonder if TV watchers today realize what a joy it was to experience those first shows in color. 

Update: 3/12
Comcast seems to have kept the peacock at least for now.  And haven't read otherwise, but I'll keep an eyes out for the famous feathers...

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I see on the Web that NBC's famous logo with the peacock feathers is going the way of the dodo bird.  Ah, me... This all due to the fact that NBC is now part of Comcast.

Today I'll share some memories about the early days of color television.

In 1959, NBC color broadcast a new western, Bonanza, designed to promote sales of RCA color television sets (RCA being the parent company of NBC).  Bonanza was originally opposite the popular, black and white CBS offering Perry Mason.  I remember watching Perry with my family. But in September1961, NBC moved Bonanza to Sunday night and its popularity grew.

I lived on Silver Bay's Banks Boulevard then, close to Campton school but on the other side of the street, near the end of Charles Circle. The Preston family were next-door neighbors on Banks.  I think they had two boys and one girl, Judy, a year older than me.  Just before school started that year, 1961, the family bought a brand-new color TV! Whether it was an RCA or not, I didn’t notice. On several Sunday evenings I was invited to join the Prestons as they gathered around their new TV set to watch Ben Cartwright and his sons Adam, Hoss and Little Joe.  (I like to think that Mrs. Preston popped corn and poured tumblers of Kool-Aid for us, but I can't say for sure that she did.)  We thrilled to the adventures at the Ponderosa.  But it was amazing just to watch the NBC peacock unfurl its splendid tail.  Sigh...

Silver Bay Kindergarten at Campton School

If I counted correctly there are 41 students in the photo of Mrs. Firminhac's class.  And I happen to know of another member of the Class of 1969 that moved to S.B. in February - so he would have made it 42 students.  (The photo has Christmas decorations.)  Then, you have to figure at least one student was out sick that day, right?  No doubt about that baby boom.



And does this report card not typify America and the American family in the 1950s?  Below is a photo of the front and back of the card.  I never thought of teachers even having a first name when I was in elementary school, but Mrs. F. has signed her name:  La Jean Firminhac.  ( Man, it's hard for me to get the spelling of that last name right.)

 

I'm surprised at how many days I was absent during the year - 18 the first half and 13 the second.  I definitely remember two particular times I was absent.  The first time I had tonsillitis.  I went to Dr. Bloom at the dispensary - which was in the same compound as the Reserve offices, on the lake side of 61.   Dr. Bloom scared me - probably because I spotted the syringe before he gave me a shot in the derriere. At home I took liquid penicillin that was banana flavored.  I liked him better for that.  The other distinct memory of not going to school was because of the measles.  There must have been other illnesses. I doubt I ever stayed home because I didn't want to go.  There were few things I didn't like about school - gym class was one and that was mostly in fifth and sixth grade.  I'll eventually get around to that agony.

Goats - In Hollywood and on the Farm

Today - a bit about my Hollywood neighborhood and also the first neighborhood of my life.   First about the goats I saw last weekend...

Nearly every Sunday morning we go down the hill from our house to a farmer's market - two blocks running north and south on Ivar and two blocks running east and west on Selma are closed to vehicles.  Our grocery list last week included:  fresh mixed greens, baby beets, Satsuma tangerines, baby leeks, tomatoes and fresh mussels from a Carlsbad aqua farm.  Besides the produce stands there are several that sell cheese.  And last Sunday next to one of the stands that sells goat cheese - they also brought along two baby goats.

The black goat in the top photo was 3 days old last Sunday.

Now about my first neighborhood, the farm.  Our small farm was in Harris, Minnesota about 40 miles north of Minneapolis.  As far as animals went we had cows and a dog that herded the cows.  Plus a bunch of cats and before I came along there were some pigs.  But for a short time we also had goats.  The story goes that my sisters wanted a goat - one goat - but my dad being a softy and probably wanting to keep peace with his step daughters went to a neighboring farm and brought home three goats, one for each of my sisters.  Here's the only photo I know of with these goats.   My mom looks like she's having fun but she's probably worried that one of the goats will eat my scarf.

How many who moved to Silver Bay came from farms?  Besides me, I would guess many of my classmates did, too. Leaving the small family farm and moving to industry was the trend.  Doing a spot of research and reading the graph as best I can,  I estimate that in Minnesota alone the number of farms between 1945 and 1955 dropped from 200,000 to 170,00.  Regarding that, for now I will only reflect that kids who moved to Silver Bay in its beginning years lived the move from agricultural to industrial America.  And then, when Reserve closed - we saw the change from industrial to service economy.

Although I lived on a farm for less than 5 years, I think it definitely influenced my life.  Maybe it's the reason I like fresh produce.  Maybe it's the reason that I had to take a picture of the goats last Sunday with the camera on my phone. Or, maybe I took the photo because I love goat cheese.

Living in a Safe, Beautiful Nurturing Bubble

After losing my high school friend Julie last week I haven't felt like posting anything cheery the past few days. So this post will be more reflective.  A few of my former Kelley classmates have e-mailed me.  Here are two descriptions they used to describe Silver Bay in those messages: microcosm and naive childhood.


I cannot begin to count how many times I heard Mom and my mother-in-law Ruby say that "Silver Bay was a good place to bring up kids." A few years ago I told stories about Silver Bay in a coffee house.  Then I started writing.  As I work on a memoir of that time and place, I struggle with the central point of the venture.  It was in the main such a happy childhood.  So safe and secure. Was it too safe and secure?  Was there a downside of living in a bubble off  Highway 61?  Did Silver Bay's sheltered life prepare us enough for life in the bigger world?  I wonder if any of my classmates have any thoughts on the subject.

The older I get, the more I suspect safety and security in childhood gives a person resilience and, in the long run, a more optimistic state of mind.  A helpful way to begin life. There will plenty opportunities in adulthood to face fear of all kinds.



  

Remembering Friend Julie and Happy Days

Both pictures in Silver Bay - June 1969.  Top one - Julie with many friends.  Julie is down front - in green sweater.   During a Friday night slumber party years earlier ... She laughed so hard she snagged her braces on a pillow case... the next day she had to travel to her orthodontist in Two Harbors.

The bottom photo:  Julie and Susie - both my bestest high school buddies.