I think Perry Mason‘s theme is the trigger for many of my memories. I hadn’t given much thought to my childhood. I grew up on a dusty gravel road that had few residents and was little traveled. The mailman was the only constant. Sometimes the county sent a grader to even out the ruts and, even less often, a load of gravel was dumped on the road and leveled off. School and church were our outlets. Choir practice on Wednesday and church all day Sunday.
I read a lot. On really hot summer days, we would play in the coolness of the woods. I remember there was a mudhole filled with cattails that the pigs wallowed in. In the woods were pawpaw and persimmon trees. On a hill of red clay, wild roses grew. There were grapevines to swing on and a dried up streambed to explore. However, if there had been a heavy rain, the stream flowed. I found out later that the stream was mostly underground. That’s where a neighbor got his water. I think the middle of the streambed was the property line.
In those days there were a Woolworth’s and a McClellan’s–those were the two five and dime stores. That’s where we bought candy on the weekends. For us, candy was a weekend treat. We bought the straws filled with grape, orange, etc. flavored powder, the candy cigarettes, the jawbreakers, and other candy that I don’t remember. Outside or inside some stores were the dispensing machines for penny and nickel candy. I think we bought most of our candy at Woolworth’s.
Most of the candy I have pictured was mostly sugar. I grew out of the Sugar Daddy, the caramels, etc. when I was about ten.They were way too sweet. I still liked the Babe Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars, and sometimes a Payday. I liked the peanut butter candy bars, too, but we only had those at Christmas, at my Grandmother’s house–that was always in her candy bowl, along with some yucky liquid filled hard candy and the maple nut candy which some years I liked and some years I didn’t. ( I do understand why my grandparents had the softer candy in their candy bowl. They all had dentures and dentures could not handle hard, chewy candy.) I liked tootsie roll pops or rather tootsie rolls for the longest. I haven’t bought any candy in years, if you don’t count the dark chocolate bars I acquired a taste for and even those have fell out of favor..
I didn’t like chocolate filled with cherries, chocolate creme drops, orange slices, any type of filled candy, licorice, horehound, coconut bonbons. I never could eat a lot of jelly beans and I avoided the licorice flavored jelly beans. We used jelly beans in elementary school one year to decorate something–a branch placed in a pot like a tree. Was it the prize won for finding the most eggs at the Easter egg hunt? I don’t remember.
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We didn’t drink that much Coke. We kids would drink the Nehis and Seven-Ups. The adults would drink the RC Colas, the Tabs, and the Diet Rites. But “pop” was a treat. We usually drank Kool-Aid. And, I remember, at every water dispenser would be those flimsy cone shaped paper cups.
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Games we played–paddle ball, badminton, croquet, jacks, baseball. I think my mother taught us how the game of croquet. We had a field that was large enough to play baseball and sometimes we had a bunch of kids over to play. Jacks and paddleball were games we could play solo…to amuse ourselves when nothing was on television and no one wanted to play checkers, etc.
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More candy!!! Some I didn’t really like, but, at one time or another, I ate them. I cannot believe that the wax bottles of flavored sugar water is still being sold or the straws filled with flavored powder. And cotton candy…how could anyone eat that spun sugar? Toasted marshmallows…double yuck! But, like any kid, I ate my share of candy!
Season Seven of Perry Mason–I’ve seen a Black male and an Asian woman in the courtroom as observers. There was a show where a Black male and a white male switched identities. And another show where there was a Black male who operated a bar in a mining town…the only Black person in that town. There has been a show where there was a Black police officer. And the Black expert witness who has been in a couple of shows in previous seasons was in a show. So, far I have recognized Billy Mumy and Mark Goddard from Lost in Space as guest stars. Also, there has been a show that featured Chinese actors.
Perry loses a case in this season. This is the first time I’ve really watched the show, so I thought Perry had never lost a case. Of course, in the end, Perry’s client is exonerated, but all the courts, including the California Supreme Court, ruled against his client. One fact to be sure of in this series is that Perry’s client is not guilty. Another fact, there are so many red herrings that it is difficult to guess the culprit. I have found that the guilty party is usually some peripheral character that might have little or no interaction with the victim on the show.
I forgot to mention that Bette Davis starred in an episode in Season Six as a female attorney. Other than the judge in an earlier season, the only female lawyer, so far, featured in the series. In Season Seven, there was a female who had passed the bar, but who was not a practicing attorney.
Nostalgia–a form of escapism when one’s world is all confusion and the devil is laughing at one’s discombobulation. Me
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