THOSE FABULOUS FIFTIES – GETTING TO KNOW YOU

It was 1957. I thought I knew everything there was to know about everything. As a freshman in high school, we tend to think that way. My dreams of running away with the circus would be put on hold. I was about to embark on my high school years and so was he. We met, we became friends and since that first day, we’ve become friends forever. We attended a Christian High School in Milwaukee, which was on its structural last leg, but we would spend three years in that dilapidated building, which housed guard dogs during the evening hours. It was the same high school Paul’s father attended, so it had been through many years of teenage pranks during its history. There was an extension to the old, brick building called the “annex.” It was much like an old army barracks, unheated and furnished with old school desks. To think, my parents paid tuition so I could attend this place. It took me a long time to realize it, but some of the greatest friendships of my life were formed in that rundown edifice. By the time of our graduation in 1960, a new school was built, and we were part of the first graduating class.

Getting back to 1957. There were two groups of kids in our class – the preppies and the greasers. The preppies were those who planned to go on to college, become teachers or pastors and followed the dress code to a tee. The greasers were those “Fonzie” types, with greased back hair, leather jackets and attitude. The girls were just like you see in those old period movies about the 50s. Actors like Marlon Brando, James Dean and Tuesday Weld were greaser role models, while Pat Boone and Sandra Dee were definitely preppies.

It was the first day of English class with a new teacher, who just got his education degree. I was particularly excited, because our first assignment would be to read from some scripts from the “I Love Lucy Show.” Everyone had a chance to read, but I was paired with a skinny, yet adorable, brown-eyed fellow with a short haircut. His name was Paul. He would read the part of Ricky Ricardo and while I read Lucy’s part. I was in my element of course. We connected instantly – not only as the characters we were reading, but as fast friends who would one day fall in love.

We spent three full years in that building. Our gym was located across town at the Lutheran Center. The only way to get there was to take a city bus, or drive, if you had a car. One of our classmates drove a VW Beetle. No, we didn’t try to all squeeze into his vehicle, but being the only one with a car, he always was the first to arrive. When the bus arrived with the rest of us, he was already dressed for gym. Some of the guys, including Paul, thought they would teach this fellow a lesson. They somehow moved his car to the top of the steps leading to the building. That was the day when they arrived back at school, before the Beetle driver.

There were always adventures going on during this time. Chemistry experiments that went bad and caused the school to be evacuated – time in the student lounge where kids got to know each other – after school events, football games, building homecoming floats – all contributed to our years spent in that part of our education.

Finally, our senior year arrived. Paul was dating one of my best friends. We often went on “group dates.” By this time, he had the use of his father’s car to take all of us home. The car was also used in the transporting of the dearly departed from time to time. It was necessary for Paul to check in with his dad while using the car, in case a call came in at the funeral home. After one of these school events, Paul dropped my friend off first and then me. It was then that our friendship turned into more than that. He asked me to go steady a few weeks later. I accepted.

In those days, it was customary to exchange class rings. Girls would usually attach their steady’s ring to a chain and wear it around their neck. I was on the chubby side, so his ring fit perfectly on my ring finger. Girls would often wear the letter sweater of their steady. The sweater of course would be much too big and baggy. When I received Paul’s, I couldn’t button it. It must’ve been true love, because both of us were focused on the inner rather than the outer appearance. Those early days were about to open new doors and experiences as we graduated. He would go on to the Art Institue in Chicago to study art. I went to the Milwaukee Institue of Technology to work on a career in journalism and work for the school TV station.

The next episode will include the time between 1960 to 1964.