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Kestrel
| | Posted on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 4:59 pm: |     |
deleted for reformatting |
Kestrel
| | Posted on Saturday, September 1, 2001 - 5:24 pm: | |
Reading and adding a few bits to all the postings about Maplewood's Past lately has certainly stirred up some memories. Indulging in nostalgia is a bittersweet thing. While it is pleasurable in some ways, there's no denying the rather regretful tinges of growing old in a world that seems to be so totally celebratory of being young. Nonetheless, I venture backwards in time and remember some things from when I was a YOUNG teen, who spent a lot of time "hanging out" with my friends in Maplewood Village. Specifically, it is the mentions of records and music in some previous postings that sends my mind backwards into the 50's and compels me write.
As hard is may be for today's teens to believe, music was a very big part of teenagers lives even way back in the 50's. For me, it was especially so, since I was completely absorbed with the "new sounds" that would become known as ROCK and ROLL. I bought as many records (78's and 45's!) as I could afford. I also was part of a band that played at school dances, "teen canteens" held at the Civic House, Summer, Friday Night dances held in the park tennis courts and, of course, at local parties. Even more exciting, our band actually made a record for a legitimate recording company that was played on the radio and was available at local record stores! In those days, before anyone had home tape recorders, this was a very big thing. For a short but glorious time, we were minor celebrities here in Maplewood.
In Maplewood Village, kids flocked by the dozens to the Record - Music store that was located where Bill and Harry's is now, asking for "Mr. Cool", by the Leeds. I cannot remember the name of the owners of that store (They were a man and wife team - the man's name may have been Abe?) Nor can I remember the name of the store itself, but I can still picture the people and the store. (It was not Bert Miller's, that store came much later.)
A few stores further south, just past the movie theater, where Roman Gourmet now is, was "Curleyâs Luncheonette". Just like "Happy Days", that's where all the teens hung out after school. It had a juke box and, of course, our record was in it, right along with Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Everley Brothers, The Elegants, Carl Perkins, Elvis and all the rest of the singers and groups that were popular in those days.
The owners of Curley's were also a man and wife team; Al and Bess. They were wonderful people and we kids loved them. They accommodated all of us teens by more or less giving over the dining area; one step down and to the left, where the jukebox was, to the younger crowd. As long as we behaved ourselves with reasonable civility, we were allowed to "take over the place" between the hours of 3:00 and 4:30. After that, unless we were having dinner with our parents, we had to clear out. The arrangement worked very well almost all the time and the few times when things got out of hand according to Al's judgement, he gave one warning. If he had to come back a second time, the culprits were banned for a week.
One afternoon, in October of 1956, things at Curley's were going on pretty much as usual in the teen area, when Al came in and said, "Hey Gang -I'm sorry, but I have to turn the juke box off this afternoon. Some people at the counter are watching the game and they can't hear the TV. If you want to come in and watch it, you can, but you have to be quiet, OK?"
It was the World Series, and Al being a big Brooklyn Dodger fan, had set up a small black and white TV on the end of the counter to watch the games. The World Series were played in the afternoons in those days.
Some of the kids, drifted out and some stayed to watch, but the usually noisy and raucous atmosphere of Curley's on a school day afternoon, had become one of almost complete silence. The only sounds to be heard were those of the game coming through from the little television.
Although I wasn't really much of a baseball fan, I stayed and watched, because I gathered that I was perhaps going to witness something that would go down as one of the greatest achievements in Baseball History.
Al's Dodgers lost that day, but he didnât seem to mind... |
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