Special note: This is intended to jog the memories of those who were in high school in Vicksburg during the late 50's and early 60's. If you are not familiar with Vicksurg, some of this will be foreign to you.Every family had a radio and very few had televisions.
You could hear shows like “The Shadow”, “Sky King”, “Ladies Fair”, and “Queen For A Day” on the radio.
All the stations were on the AM band and Vicksburg had WQBC (1420) and WVIM (1490).
The Birthday Club came on WVIM.
WLS in Chicago was a clear channel station featuring Dick Biandi.
Listening to KAAY in Little Rock, WRBC “Rebel Radio” in Jackson, or WWL in New Orleans.
Do you remember when you got your first portable radio for your very own.
Can you remember when all the bicycles had just one speed and big tires? The only bicycles with narrow tires, gears and hand brakes were called English Bikes. And remember that with some old cards and a couple of clothes pins you could make them sound like a motorcycle? Remember the Mo-Ped motor bike and the Vespa and Cushman scooters?
Remember when you had to have a skate key to put your skates on? Remember playing dodge ball, ring a round the roses, and mother may I?
Have you ever played Monopoly all afternoon, or Canasta, or maybe Chinese checkers, Clue, Checkers, or with doll houses?
Have you ever hula hooped, played jacks, or hop scotched?
Do you remember riding the city bus to go downtown or to the swimming pool at City Park? When city children rode the city bus to school and school buses were only for county schools? Maybe you can remember when most cars had manual transmissions; three forward gears on the column. Only the larger cars had automatic transmissions. Remember when a bumper was really a bumper and we would ease up to the car in front of us and gingerly bump them with our bumper? Have you ever used your arm to signal a turn? Did your folks ever have a car without air conditioning or a radio? Remember those air vent windows in cars? Or when cars had rubber floor mats and most homes didn’t even have carpet?
Did you ever ride in or see a Nash Metropolitian, a Nash Rambler, a Plymouth Valiant, or Studebaker Lark. Remember when more people rode in cars than in pick up trucks? Remember when cars had fins, dual antennas, dual carbs, dual exhausts, and four headlights and all the windows operated with a hand crank? And remember when you first had radios in cars it took about three or four minutes for the tubes to warm up?
Can you remember going to D&F Music on Washington Street to buy 45 rpm records? Did you ever drink a cherry Coke at the Vicksburg Hotel Soda Fountain? Remember when Vicksburg had three hotels downtown and no motels? Or maybe you can still remember the Vicksburg Motor Courts on Clay Street. Did you ever climb an observation tower in the National Park? Were you ever wicked enough climb it a night with a member of the opposite sex?
And don’t forget the memories made at Fort Hill, the Circles off Washington St. There were rules. You had to have your parking lights on and your heads above the seat. And who could ever forget Johnny’s Drive In?
Do you remember when the polio vaccine first became available? Did you ever go to Dr. Jarrett or Dr. Horn at the Mercy Hospital on Crawford Street? Can you recall those monsters we referred to as iron lungs? Do you remember when the Vicksburg Hospital was on Monroe Street and the Vicksburg Infirmary was located on Harrison Street?
Remember going to dances at Amanda Swett’s School of Dance or the KC Hall on Cherry Street? Or maybe your first dance was in the cafeteria at Carr Central. Perhaps it was a sock hop after a football game in the Gym at Cooper. Did you ever go to a Sub-Deb Ball at the BB Club? Or maybe it was a dance at the Teen Center featuring the Red Tops or the Corvettes.
And what about prom? Those fabulous evenings we prepared for all year. A wonderfully decorated gym, a band, sparkling teenagers in evening gowns and tuxedos and sophisticated refreshments including finger sandwiches and punch. Then there was the after prom at the city auditorium and usually a breakfast following at someone’s home. And sandwiched in between those events a few of us would go skinny dipping in the city pool.
Do you remember when TV Stations actually used test patterns so we could adjust the horizontal and vertical controls on the TV? When the stations available included WLBT (3), KNOE (8), WJTV (25) and WSLI (12)? Did you ever watch Pinky Lee, Howdy Doody, the Mickey Mouse Club, or Fury? Remember when Badge 714 was the name for “Dragnet”. Did you ever watch “Amos & Andy”, Our Miss Brooks, Life With Father, or the “Toast of The Town” hosted by Ed Sullivan? Do you recall when Bonanza was one of the first programs in color but we had to go to a neighbors house to marvel at it?
Do you remember when we only had one TV in a house, one bathroom without a shower, one phone, and one car? Remember when you picked up the phone and told the operator the number you wanted her to dial? And all the phones were heavy and black? Remember when Vicksburg first got a rotary dial system?
Did you ever go to a movie at the Saenger Theater? How about the Alamo, the Strand, or the Joy? Who could ever forget the drive-in movies, especially if you were on a date? Have you ever seen the Little Rascals, or Bud Abbot and Lou Costello on a movie screen? How about James Dean, Connie Francis, or Sandra Dee? Remember when Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were the new comedians on the screen?
Remember when Cokes were a nickel and went up to six cents? Did you ever drink a Grapette? Remember the Orange Crush in the brown bottle?
Can you recall that a “church key” was not used to open a church?
And who can ever forget girls wearing two, three, four or more petticoats under their dresses with white socks and white tennis shoes? Remember when all the tennis shoes were Keds and our choices were high top, low top, black or white. And girls wore pony tails, boys wore duck tails, or flat tops. Guys wore blue jeans with rolled up cuffs and later with no cuffs and no belt loops. Girls wore Chanel #5 or White Shoulders while guys were keen on Old Spice and Aqua Velva. Then in college we learned about English Leather and Canoe. Remember the sack dress?
Can you recall when Hi Fidelity sound preceded Stereo? When manual typewriters had a bell to remind you to push the carriage return lever? Have you ever used carbon paper and typewriter erasers? Do you remember when there were no “Xerox” machines and adding machines had a lever and operated without electricity. And who in their right mind would have ever envisioned homes equipped with computers, fax machines, and copiers? Or communicating via computer?
Remember going to the Valley to see Santa? Christmas parades downtown? Christmas Tree Lane at Koestler’s Bakery on Clay Street? When people dressed up to go downtown? And there were no malls? When there were actually traffic jams on Washington Street? Remember when people actually lived on Clay Street?
Do you remember when Vicksburgers would catch a motor ferry across the Yazoo Canal to go to the “Showboat” on the Louisiana side to gamble and dance? Remember the houseboat shanty’s along the canal north of town? When Union Avenue wasn’t paved but Confederate Avenue was? When the county had Jett, Redwood and Culkin high schools?
Do you recall Burger Chef as the first “fast food” place in town? And “Shop-A-Minute” was a new concept that basically put the little neighborhood stores out of business? When Jitney Jungle, A & P, and Piggly Wiggly were the big grocery stores in town?
Remember the “Living Picture” programs at the schools? When the food at school consisted of real vegetables, real meat, real potatoes, and real milk? And at morning break at Grove Street they made the best damn peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ever!! And you could go to a neighborhood store and get a huge dill pickle for a nickel or just about any candy bar made at the time. Bubble gum was a penny.
And then there was Crowley’s Pool Hall where the guys gathered to wage a quarter or two on a game. Ever say, “Rack Lloyd !”?
Senior plays, the “Tattler”, Latin classes, the sand bar, Spanish class trips to Mexico, senior portraits, class rings, going steady.....aaahhhhh, the times were good, the living was easy, and the kids were kids.
