Locked up in our lockdown, we have reviewed and organized family photographs that have lain dormant for a long time. I wondered if readers might indulge a personal note on one photograph (below) that I don’t even remember seeing before. I must have retrieved it from my parents when I cleaned out their apartment after my mother’s death. It depicts me with my younger brother (Dan) on the steps of our house in Moorhead, Minnesota. The year must have been 1954.
The photograph caught me by surprise. It elicited long-buried memories. It also made me laugh. I have a few notes and queries.
Recalling my beloved collection of six-shooter cap guns, I wonder if those things are even permitted nowadays. I guess they are, but can boys still play like boys? I have three daughters. I’m not entirely sure. The left seeks in part to extirpate the natural distinction of the sexes. Wherever the left holds sway boys would probably be well advised not to play like boys.
My wardrobe in the photograph reminds me how much I loved the television Westerns that filled the networks’ Saturday morning lineups in the 1950’s. I remember watching Fury, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, and Sky King on Saturday mornings from about 1955 on. Of the three, Rin Tin Tin was my favorite. I dreamed (literally) of being in an episode side by side with Rusty.
Similar shows that I watched regularly back then included The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Andy’s Gang (with Froggy), and Zorro. In addition to my collection of cap guns I had a Zorro sword with chalk on the tip with which to mark Zorro’s telltale Z on the walls. My mom certainly appreciated that.
Having said this much, I would feel remiss if I failed to note Pinky Lee’s daily television show. It was also a favorite. My grandfather Paul Johnson took me and my cousins Linda and Nancy, I think, to see the show broadcast live from Hollywood in what must have been 1955. Students of ancient television history may recall that we would have sat in the Peanut Gallery and received Tootsie Rolls handed out by Pinky himself.
With all that television viewing, it’s a wonder I had time for nursery school and kindergarten. I attended nursery school at Temple Beth El in Fargo and kindergarten at what was then Moorhead State Teachers College in Moorhead. They were both excellent. I remember watching Captain Kangaroo every morning before heading off for kindergarten.
My nursery school classmate Maimon Schwarzschild, by the way, has gone on to a distinguished career teaching law at the University of San Diego School of Law. Maimon’s television viewing was not as deep as mine, though I remember that he reported one morning during show and tell with Mrs. Mullenbein that he had watched test pattern. Maimon was the smartest student in the class, smart enough to profit from watching test pattern.
Jeffrey Hart titled his account of American life in the ’50s When the Going Was Good! He didn’t cover child’s play or children’s television, but I think the sentiment applies.
