I want it to be clear that I'm not ashamed in the least about my childhood. I loved my family! My Father was a very hard working man. My Mother took care of her family and loved each one of us. We never lacked for food or clothing. We were never mistreated in any way. We had fun and enjoyed what we had, although we had little. Our conditions were not uncommon for most of the people in the early 1940's. It was war time. Food and many necessities were rationed to everybody, not just us. I would never intentionally embarrass myself, family or friends by recalling my childhood life or boyhood pranks. That being said, what and how I describe my memory is how I remember it and I share with you for you to enjoy.
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Growing up in our small town was like having a very large family. Everybody looked after everybody's children. Just because you didn't have professional or educated parents did not make you any different from those who did. We all went to school, church, sports events, etc. together and when we graduated, we either went off to college or stayed in the town. I don't remember any incident where I was treated differently from the other students. That's the beauty of small towns.
At one point during high school, a good friend of mine needed a place to live during the school year so he could finish High School. My uncle's family had moved out of the other side of our house and we took the whole house so had a lot more room. Momma gladly took in John H. so he could graduate while his family moved away to Louisiana. John wanted to learn how to operate a projector so he could get a job at the other new drive in that opened on the other side of town. I took him out to my place, and showed him everything I knew and sure enough, he got a job at the new drive in.
Another friend, Jack D. got in on the idea and asked me to teach him so he could get a job at the theater down town. So, I did the same thing with him. Bingo, he got a job at the Dixie Theater. Now there were three of us cavaliers who knew how to do something nobody else our age did. We decided it would be a good idea to make our own movie.
Now the movies would come in a a huge reel - all the news, comics, previews, and featured movies would come on one reel. I would watch as I played the reels for good spots to clip for our movie. Jack and John would do the same thing. I showed them how to cut out a strip about two feet long and splice the film back together, hoping the next theater that got the reel would ever know the difference. Then we'd get together out at my work place in the afternoon and splice them all together and we had ourselves a pretty good movie! You'll have to use your imagination here, but remember this was the 1950's so there wasn't anything like you would see today.
John stayed with us, I believe until he graduated and moved to Louisiana to be with his family. I don't remember seeing him again, but have thought of him many times. Tragically, Jack was killed in an airplane crash before he graduated. John and Jack were great friends and I was lucky to know them and have them in my life. We shared many boyhood experiences together.
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