Did you? I did. Before G.I. Joe, and waaaay before X-Box and G.T.A., when it was still cool to clothespin playing cards on our bikes so the spokes made them sound like we had a motorbike, or to play cowboys and Indians, or battle in the yard, with those drawing the short straw having to be the Japs and Germans, there was also some Texas pride going on, as Davy Crockett was on TV and the ballad of Davy Crockett, was on the radio. Fess Parker, the man who embodied that hero for us on TV as kids passed this week. I hope it didn't go without notice for many, as he was in real life, a good man, and a gentle giant as well.
In addition, a master singer/songwriter, Alex Chilton, who went largely unnoticed beyond penning and singing "The Letter", and "Soul Deep", as the founder of the Box Tops, also passed.
These passings may not mean much to a lot of people, but they were both part of the input that influences who I and probably a lot of other boomers are today. They will be missed.
Pain in many forms
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Today, I needed a very painful procedure. I knew that it would be so
painful; in fact I was worried that would scream, yelp or make lots of
noise. So, t...
4 years ago
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I also had a sword that I a piece of chalk on the end and a black mask. I was Zorro and would leave my mark Z on all the basement walls. Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers were also my heros.
Childhood was spent with innocent games and "pretend" was priceless while at the same time it was FREE. No electronics, except for scratchy transitor radios that we hooked up to our metal bed springs so we could receive scrathy transmissions of baseball games at night.
Comic books, mud pies and tea parties nourished our young souls and minds.
No other generation learned to "duck and cover" in case of THE BOMB while being thrilled with THE BLOB.
For my ninth birthday I remember I received a double holster gun set that had "turqouise" jewels on the handles and gun belt. Loved that gift and treasured the games we played. Tomboy? Nah, just loved the fantasy of the bigger than life characters on TV and movies. Okay, so maybe I was a tomboy, but I didn't want to be left out of all the rough and tumble activities of the children in my neighborhood. When needed, I did have huge petticoats and skirts to wear (schools did have dress codes back then, too.)
What happened to my 'coon skin cap? Where did it go?
Oh, wow! Just recently my precious Baby Jake had his first birthday, and we, the old people, were all sitting around bemoaning the sad state of kids toys! You cannot get the giant METAL Tonka trucks like I had as a child. Everything is plastic.
But my older sister had a coon skin cap. There's a picture of us sitting on the couch and she's wearing it. My younger brother had the 12" G. I Joe.
It is kind of disconcerting that, as we get older, we are seeing those icons of our youth passing on.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Wow, Pilot, what a flood of nostalgia you have started. Although I didn't grow up quite within the "coon-skin" cap generation, be assured that Fess Parker, Alex Chilton, and the other things of which you speak will indeed be missed.
A good friend of mine (he is of your generation) and I were discussing just these things and people last night, so it is quite a bit of deja vu today (yeah, by the way, we played that song too). We discusses Senor Wences, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Sid Caesar, and so many others. The shows I grew up with in the seventies were not the same shows he grew up with in the fifties, but still the generation gap does not seem to exist between good friends. We have fond memories that coincide and overlap and intertwine, and isn't that a wonderful thing?
My mother said Roy Rogers was always her hero too, Ferret. And even I had an old transistor that I cherished. Toys and pleasures were simple even for my generation. How much has been lost throughout the years?
My little brother wore one for quite a while, I do believe it was the very same Davy Crocket inspired thing too. My Dad loved this so much it was adorable! I know just what you are speaking of and my Mom would probably tear up with the cute memories of this I'm certain.
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