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Over the years I made many friends. Some of those people stayed throughout the entire eight years, some moved and attended other schools. newcomers would replace those people who left. One newcomer was Clifford G. I met him as he was registering for the fifth grade. His family came from the Deep South (Georgia) and settled on 183rd street between Bassford and Bathgate Avenues. We became very close friends. Clifford and I eventually formed a boy's club with several other kids. No girls allowed! We met after school in the basement of the private home Clifford's parents were renting. It was perfect for us. This became our clubhouse, our hideaway, where we spent many happy hours talking, playing board games, and planning trips through the neighborhood and other activities. We even did our homework together at times. On one wall, right beside Old Glory, was the Confederate battle flag. It made Cliff feel right at home.
The neighborhood was a close-knit section of the city and typical of most neighborhoods. There were massive apartment buildings, private homes, delicatessens, all sorts of stores. One of my friends Philip A. lived in a private house. I used to go there quite often, read his war comics, have banzai attacks in the local empty lot. I had relatives all throughout the area. Cousins Jerome and John, Aunt Anna, Uncle Vito (every Italian household has an uncle Vito!)This was the Fordham/Tremont/Belmont section of the Bronx. Everyone interacted more in those years before videos, VCRs, the Internet and cable locked everyone indoors. Many people lounged on the stoops, fire escapes,rooftops, alleyways. They were outdoors.
Each year brought new faces, new friends - lenny, Marion, Johnny Boy, Larry, Timothy and Aida, to name just a few. Most of the kids ate lunch in the school cafeteria, but since I lived around the corner, i went home each day to eat lunch. When weren't playing the usual street games like Johnny-on-the-Pony, Ringoleavio, Stick Ball, King-Queen, Skullsies (our version of Skully), and dozens of other games, we went on hikes with the class, one week to the Bronx Zoo or the Botanical Gardens, another week downtown to the UN, museums, the NY Times Building, and other places of interest. After school and on weekends we played football at French Charlie's, a grassy field with a concrete grandstand off Webster Avenue around 204th street. We planned and conducted sham battles (the forerunner of Paint-Ball) and many other activities.
One special day a group of us boys got dressed up in suit and tie, hopped on the Third Avenue El at the 183rd street station (the fare was 15 cents!), took a ride downtown to the connection at 149th street transferring to the subway there. Then it was on to 42nd street and Times Square. We were all of twelve years old (around 1959). We visited many attractions in that part of Manhattan, including Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not. We ate at Horn & Hardart's on 42nd street and Lexington Ave. (How many remember the automat)? We spent an entire afternoon having a grand old time, even taking in a movie. Then back to the Bronx.
On Halloween we went through many neighborhoods. One really favorite trick we pulled on those apartment dwellers that didn't treat us right was - taking a long clothes line. We'd tie the single rope to each apartment door knob. Normally there were five or six apartments to each floor. After securing the line tightly, we'd pound on the doors. The harder the tenants tried to open the door, the tighter the rope got...impossible for them to get out. Then we'd hurl insults, curses and fire crackers. It was pure mayhem.
We'd escape down the stairs or over the roof tops before the people realized they'd have to call for help.
At the local movie theatres we'd always harass the matrons and ushers who would shine those infernal flashlights in our faces. Some kids pretended to throw up over the balconies...by getting a half full tub of popcorn, fill the rest up with water and dump it over the balcony while making sounds of someone vomiting. Really disgusting stuff. By the end of the second feature, the place was a madhouse. I remember years later when we saw the movie House on Haunted Hill, toward the end of the movie when Vincent price kills his wife with a makeshift skeleton, the theater would have a rubber skeleton come flying over the heads of the crowd on a wire strung from the projection boot to the screen on stage. When that thing flew by, everyone tossed garbage at it. Talk about a lunatic assylum.
Other activities filled our days. It wasn't all 'nose to the grindstone.' There were the Boy and Girl Scouts. The meetings were held in the church auditorium. I was, of course, an Altar Boy, getting to hone my Latin skills. I even made it to Acolyte. There were dances, band concerts, we planned trips and retreats to Blauvelt, the seat of the Dominican Order in the Dioceses. Bazaars were held for fund raisers. My favorite game was 'Over and Under.' We performed many plays and other entertainment. I was one of the Barbershop Quartet, with phony muttonchops, handlebar mustache, slicked-back hair, parted in the middle. The four of us wore a red striped shirt with a full-length apron and carried a round beer tray. We sang old tunes like Moonlight Bay, Down By the Old Mill Stream, Harvest Moon. It was great fun.
There was no schoolyard for Our Saviour. The street and sidewalks were our playground. Usually we gathered on the side street - 184th - which happened to be the very block I lived on. Never a dull moment. The children were constantly at play. I really enjoyed recess then!
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The photo above is a snap shot of my graduating class of 1960 and my many friends, all decked out in their maroon gowns. The girls wore white, and they were on the other side of the aisle. This ceremony took place in the church auditorium.
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Next and final Chapter: Graduation Day 1960
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