Telling memories triggers more memories

Do certain moments of your life stand out? I know the most common question I have been asked is, “Where were you when you first heard that John F. Kennedy had been shot?” I have reached an age that sometimes I am the only one in the circle who was alive in 1963!

I recall being with a group of fellow employees during the 1980s when I said, “I remember how excited I was when the Beatles came to America.” At that point the entire group was buzzing and one of the kids said, “You were alive when the Beatles came to America?” It had only been a little over 20 years but you would have thought I said I remembered the dinosaurs or something!

Do you recall your first time to try a hula hoop? Or how about one of my favorites: did you ever get to try Fizzies? They were little tablets you dropped into a glass of water to make a flavored carbonated drink. Awesome! (My daughter recently bought me a box of Fizzies at Dick’s Five and Dime in Branson.)

When I was a kid, almost every restaurant had a juke box and a pinball machine or two. They served you a bottle of ice-cold soda pop with the glass turned upside down over the top of the bottle… no ice.

Mom had a restaurant on Madison Street called Jerry’s Cafe in the early ’60s. It was just a small place but what an atmosphere as teenagers would fill it. They would start up the juke box and someone would start dancing. Mom would have to remind them that she didn’t have a dancing license.

Do you remember when you first tried to blow a bubble with your bubble gum? How many times did you have to peal the bubble gum off your face? It took a lot of practice!

How about your first television set? What was your favorite television show? I got to stay up late on Tuesday nights so I could watch Red Skelton… and his trademark closing line, “And may God bless!”

Captain Kangaroo was my morning entertainment on the television. I thought he was so cool, along with Bunny Rabbit, Mr. Green Jeans, Grandfather Clock, Tom Terrific and Dancing Bear. They were my friends!

Where were you the first time you had a watermelon spitting contest? Did you ever go on a scavenger hunt? I connect those two events because they always asked for a watermelon seed, which we’d get from the watermelon stand behind Keller’s Barbecue at Seventh and Maiden Lane. That was kind of neat. You could go out for a cold slice of watermelon on a hot summer night, just like going to the ice cream stand.

One of my childhood memories was going to the Cold Spot on 10th Street in Joplin, the only place open late. You could go there for soda pop, ice, chips, etc. (Most stores closed down at 6 p.m.) A few decades later, there were convenience stores everywhere doing what the Cold Spot had been doing for years.

Do you remember your first circus, rodeo, state fair, or carnival? There was something exciting about being out at night with the neon lights on the scary rides. The Scrambler and the Tilt-a-whirl were my favorites.

Remember when you were able to buy big candy bars for a nickel? Or a 5-cent fountain drink at the drug store? A penny in the gum ball machine might get you a spotted ball that was worth a nickel? Those big Hostess Cup Cakes that had the white and the pink covered chocolate cakes were only 12 cents. Grocery stores had charges so you could charge all week and pay on payday.

Remember cake walks at school carnivals? Or even a jail house where you paid to get someone arrested, and then they had to pay to get out. Quite a money maker!

Did you ever get to walk down Main Street in the evening after the stores were closed and you could stand for as long as you wanted looking in the windows of the Otasco store or the Western Auto Store? Or how about those who used to stand at the window of the Spille’s TV and watch the television. If it was late, all you could see was the Indian pattern as the stations were off the air.

Do you remember your first taste of Marshmallow Crème? I had a neighbor who worked for a bottling company, and he brought home the first bottles of Squirt, which tasted like lemon lime.

Did you have a Betsy Wetsy doll? What fun! I remember the neighbor boy taking me for a ride in his Red Flyer wagon, up and down the street. Another neighbor had a unicycle with a cord going across the drive way so we could hold onto the cord as we rode on this one-wheel contraption. They also had one of those big heavy medicine balls that would knock you over if you tried to catch it. I never understood that one.

It’s fun to try and remember your lifetime firsts. It is especially fun if you are with a younger crowd and they stare at you as they try to understand why you did some of your firsts! Some of you guys who have written about your firsts were pretty daring.

Thanks for letting me share a few memories, and I hope they triggered some for you!