November 6, 2014 (Thursday)
When I was growing up during the 1930’s, almost everyone I knew learned to live without the luxuries of life. As kids, we learned to play games that did not require expensive props. On some days, we played baseball without a ball. Instead we used rocks. And the bat? A broomstick. Our ball diamond was a gravel street in front of our houses on Elysian Street near Quitman on Houston’s near Northside. We had fun.
We had fun playing “Good Guys and Bad Guys.” Each day we would agree anew on who would be “good” and who would be “bad.” We made the sounds of guns shooting with our mouths (sounded sort of like a sneeze). We used trees and poles for forts. Our play guns were getting worn out but we continued to use them after the “pearl” handles fell off.
We had fun.
One of the best toys I had was a small step stool that folded up like a step ladder and had a seat that could be used as a stool when it all was unfolded. I laid it on the floor and used the legs as steering mechanisms for my make-believe airplane. I had fun.
When I was in the Fourth Grade, after school I would go horse riding without a horse. I used the front fender of my father’s 1938 Chevrolet. Like Roy Rogers, I would ride and sing Western songs. The lady next door said I should go on “Major Bowes Amateur Hour” radio talent show. When I tired of riding my imaginary horse and singing myself hoarse, I folded sheets of notebook paper into paper airplanes that soared above our yard again and again until supper time. I had fun.
When the economy finally improved, and parents started buying manufactured toys for their kids, I actually felt sorry for them. The toys were better, but what of the imagination? Did they have fun? I’m sure they did, but not as much as all the kids my age did. We had fun.
I’m sure the psychologists would say that learning to use one’s imagination is worth more than all the toy electric trains in the world. Poverty had its perks.
Our Gang Comedies Typified Kids In The 1930’s