Memories of the 50s

by Mark Crowel
(Near Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Sandra Lee Smith Triggered My Memories

I was reading Sandra Lee Smith's Memories of the Good Old Days, and the good old memories in my head were set off like a string of firecrackers. (I was born in 1952).

Watching Sergeant Bilko, Alfred Hithcock Presents, Captain Kangaroo, Superman, Sergeant Preston, Dragnet, Rin Tin Tin, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Buffalo Bob, the Mickey Mouse Club, and local stock car races on TV.

Our 1956 Pontiac Chieftain four door hardtop, (red and white!) while it was still in the showroom in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I was four years old, dancing around it, exclaiming, "It's red like a fire engine!"

That pretty blonde-haired fourth grade girl, Ruth, who thought I was cute, and walked me to school often, when I was in the first grade.

The time I got lost on the way home from kindergarten, and two nice teenage boys showed me the way home. (It was a safer world in 1957).

Seeing Sputnik move across the night sky, at my grandparent's house, in 1957.

Spending a week in bed with the chicken pox, in 1957, listening to that new "rock and roll stuff" on the radio.

Going to see the "New 1958 Edsel" at the local dealer.

I have to stop, or I'll be at this all night.

Ahh...I never completely left the '50's.