The Talent Show
This is my class reunion weekend! Reposting this memoir from 1956...Enjoy!
It was the summer of 1956. I was almost five years old. My siblings were six, seven, eight and ten. We lived in a house on 26th Avenue, with a big backyard, detached garage, patio, barbecue pit, and a playhouse that my dad built for us, which had a cement foundation, and dutch doors.
We kids loved to put on little “shows” for our mom, and sometimes our dad, too. We lip-synced songs and had “fashion shows” using the dog as our model. One morning, we had our own little “Truth Or Consequences Show” when my mom was trying to sleep in her room. It turned out to be a bit of a mess, with our own version of a consequence, being a pie in the face, only we didn’t have pie, so we used toast with peanut butter and jelly.
Anyway, that summer we were bored (not a good thing for any kid, but especially for us). I don’t know who’s idea it was. perhaps my mom’s, but the decision was made to put on a “Talent Show” for the neighborhood kids. It was free, and we even provided a “gallery” of pictures we drew, and taped onto the playhouse walls, and Kool-Aid for the kids. None of us was very talented, really, but we had aspirations.
My 6-year old brother “tap danced” on a dirt mound, giving him a Charles Shultz “Pig Pen” character look. My seven-year-old brother and I “played” the old piano that was behind the playhouse, by running our sticks back and forth across the keyboard, my 10-year-old sister twirled around and around and….around. My 9-year old sister was shy, and I don’t recall what she may have done, but she may have been in charge of the Kool-Aid.
Luckily, there were no critics from the local paper in the audience. However, I’m pretty sure the kids loved the Kool-Aid!
I love this! I was also a kid in the 50's and we also use to put on shows with neighborhood kids. We mostly did renditions of our favorite movies or Saturday morning cartoons which of course looked nothing like the originals, ha! And, yes, we were outside most of the time, no matter the weather. I am still outside most of the time. Thanks for sharing your memories, it made me reach back into my own. Lovely!
Ah... kids in the fifties! We knew how to entertain ourselves. There was nothing electronic, certainly, and I don't think we ever even had toys that plugged in! No bells, no whistles, no flashing lights. Maybe a wind-up or two. We DID have wild, creative imaginations. Thanks for the memories, Sharon