School was fun and very trying. It was understood that you had to go. That’s just the way it was. You went to school no matter what unless you were really sick. I heard about kids “ditching” or “sluffing” but that never occurred to me. We lived about a mile and a half from the school. Since we all went to school on the same block we all walked together, little kids and big kids. We would walk through the College. My Uncle Reid worked for the College and when it was lunch time we would meet him at the College and hitch a ride home and then back again after lunch. We would all pile into the back of his pickup truck and off we would go. Lunch was an hour then and we never ate at the school. School lunch was for the bus kids. When I was in Jr. High they changed the lunch time to 45 minutes and then it was really hard to get home and back in time. Sometimes if we missed Uncle Reed we would see my Dad on his way home for lunch and get a ride from him. Mother always made a wonderful meal. Much better than you could get at school.
At Halloween we would all dress up, students and teachers. In those days we wore masks. Kids don’t wear masks today. When I was in the 6th grade, our class made a spook alley for the rest of the school. I remember when some of the kids, especially the younger kids, came through they would cry and not want to finish. I think I began to realize that some things are not fun for everyone.
At Christmas time the school would bring in a huge tree and the kids would make decorations for it. They would put lights on it and every day we would go out and stand around the tree and sing carols. We didn’t worry if they were about Jesus or Santa Claus, it was Christmas and it was magic. We would draw names and bring gifts for each other. One year instead of a specific person we brought a gift for a boy or a girl.
When I was in the 6th grade we put on a talent show. One of my friends and I decided to lip sync and act out a popular song. It was about a space man that came to earth and fell in love with an earth girl. He followed her around saying “I love you, I love you, I love you to bits” and she would run away. Finally they were on top of a building and she pushes him off and when she goes down to see he sits up and says “I don’t love you anymore”. After some looking, my wonderful husband identified the song as “The Little Blue Man” by Betty Johnson. This was 1958 and it was a big hit. We’ve put the you tube video at the end of this post if you’d like to listen to it.
I tried to find a copy of the song at the record store but they didn’t have it. I went to a radio station and begged them to let me have a copy of the record. They said I could buy it. I didn’t have any money and so I went to the school principle and asked him to pay for the record and I would work for the school to pay for it. It all turned out fine. When we did the program my Mom and Dad were sitting right up front and my Dad always had this big grin as he watched us. I had a really hard time not to laugh. But they said it was really good.
School was hard for me. As we began learning to read, I don’t know why but I had a very hard time getting it. Words did not make sense to me. I loved the stories and I loved it when my Mother would read to us. As we were required to learn spelling and arithmetic I could not keep up. Spelling especially was a mystery. I remember sitting on the couch as my Mother tried to “help” me. I would soon be in tears of frustration. It was all just a muddle to me. I don’t know how I managed to make it through the different grades. Finally when I was in the Fourth Grade my teacher was Mr. Bauer. He had quite a reputation as being kind of mean. I was a little scared of him. But bless his heart he took me under his wing and gave me the assignment to make a monthly calendar for the class. I could decorate it anyway I wanted. I could use the overhead projector to copy pictures on big sheets of paper to color. I felt very important. He had me help one of the other students with his multiplication tables. I barely knew them myself but now I realize that Mr. Bauer knew that if I helped someone else I would also learn. Then he had me come into school early and stay after school and read to him. He was very patient with me and at least I got some confidence and began to enjoy reading. I will always be grateful to Mr. Bauer for his kindness towards me. Years later Mr. Bauer’s son married my cousin Nancy.
Here’s Betty Johnson
[...] wife writes a blog about her life which you can read here. She talked about a song she sang as a little girl called “The Little Blue Man” by [...]
I loved Mr. Bauer. He is the teacher who convinced mom and dad to have my eyes checked. I got so tall that he moved me to the back of the room and I went home and cried becauce I couldn’t read the blackboard anymore! That is how i came to wear glasses. I sure wish, Sis, that I had been closer to you when we were little kids. I didn’t know anything about your school issues or the fun things you did. I would have loved to see you lip sync little blue man. What a cute song and I do remember it. It is a good thing that we became friends when we were adults because I was just enough older than you and so wrapped up in myself that I missed so much of your youth. I’m sorry! Thank you for writing these stories down so I can get to know more of your past and be reminded of my own memories.
we are trying yo figure out who sang the man’s part on the little blue man. i believe it is Hugh Downs from Jeopardy fame. is it him?