Remember how it was in the late 1940's and the1950's?
This picture is from the PT web site, where there is a story about how Santa came to Powell and opened up the festivities for the Christmas season. My, how things have changed!! Steve called tonight and we had fun talking about our memories of when Santa came to Powell, and Mother would take us in to town for the festivities. Judy, Steve and I spent weeks in anticipation of the day. Santa came in from the airport (go figure!) and that was certainly not the way we imagined it should happen. There would be the trips to Samsels and Bonners, among a few of our favorite places to spend our wishing time. Steve's memories are very vivid about this adventure, mine are somewhat spotty. However, I do remember oohhhing and ahhhing at all of the amazing treasures in the stores that seemed to magically appear just in time for Santa's visit to town. So my question is, did Louise, Dwight and Elizabeth get to go to town when Santa came, or was his visit a creation that happened too late for you to enjoy the magic? I tried to get a picture from the PT web site, but I couldn't figure out how to get into their archives. Maybe Dwight still has some pull and can find a picture from the early days to post.
19 comments:
"City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style...." fit the occasion to a "t". As I remember there was a little parade along with the arrival. And colder than cold.
Absolutely not. We never went to town for anything after school that I can remember. We never had a clue about Santa Claus and such. These events came long after the pioneers (Louise and me), who were deprived of such Christmas jollity, departed. The only time I remember going down town was during noon hour, which I spent at Funk's Pool Hall and Santa definitely did not go in that foul den of iniquity.
Ya ya ya.....But I am sure that Dwight does remember the Christmas action scene that Honeycutt Jewelers had in the window.
I am thankful for the "pioneers" who suffered much, sacrificed immensely and endured all kinds of social injustice so that the younger generation could enjoy such luxuries. Dwight, did you ever go Christmas shopping while you were still home? What gifts were given in your younger years? I think there is a song somewhere about the dangers of a pool table.
Okay, let's set all the records straight! Thre was no Santa coming to town during the years that I was growing up (count me in with the "pioneers"). However, we did take our dollar or so to town, and managed to buy gifts for everyone in the family, be it a 15 cent paper doll book, or a bag or marbles, or salt shakers, etc. And, we knew that Santa Claus would come to our house (the most important factor), because Mother and Dad were absent on Christmas Eve, evidently taking advantage of the Christmas sales, including a Christmas tree. The magic didn't leave - However, I think it is hilarious that Santa Claus came to the airport! In the meantime, we older three didn't suffer at all. I do remember my children when they were little, being terrified of Santa Claus - the reality was hard to take.
I just remembered that the big evet was called "Christmas in Powell". Remember when we got to go a free movie at the theater for Christmas...maybe that was through the schools. No matter, it was a very big deal!
No I don't remember any action figures in Hunnicutt's. I do remember the Christmas I came home from Laramie, I think I met everyone at the top of the hill at the big oil tank, and we went off to the church to see the memorable performance of Franz Gruber which furnished pa with merriment for the rest of his life. Christmas in Powell was a new and modern innovation after we left. All we had was Tony the Cop in his defunct patrol car. Santa, however, did come to the Penrose church one year; Louise was sick and I took her bag of goodies home to her. I was not allowed to go with Mom and Louise when Louise was an elf or something in the school Christmas play in 2nd grade and am still sad about missing that. The pool hall song is from Music Man. The free movie was a big, big deal since we otherwise never got to go to any movies.
Franz Gruber? remember he was played by our neighbor.
And yes, I remember picking up Dwight at the top of the hill. That moment is sealed in my mind and heart forever.
Not only did we see Santa on the back of a flatbed truck, but he also threw candy to us, our grade school teachers gave us a small bag of candy and the bus driver gave us a bag. I remember Louise and mom swinging me up i the air as I walked in between them down the sidewalk. One year we were taken to lovell to a movie, Bambi? Life was good after the pooooooor pioneers.
I do remember the Christmas treat from the school bus driver. The bus smelled like popcorn balls for the next month. I did not remember that we saw Bambi at Christmas time. I only know that I was really scared in that movie and had a recurrent dream for the next 25 years about being chased by mad dogs on the road that went by the wood pile in Penrose. I would wake up shaking and crying, even as an adult. That dream only disappeared after Paul and I took our kids to see Bambi and I saw the dogs chasing Bambi through the forest. I recognized the source of my dream, and haven't had it since.
Take it back, Dwight. We did, too, get to go to movies - not often, but we did go. My first movie was "The Wizard of Oz" in Lovell, then "Pinocchio" in Powell. How can you forget movies like the westerns we went to on Sunday afternoons? Perhaps those movies weren't at Christmas time, but we did see movies. I wish I did remember the scene in Hunnicutt's window. I remember how wonderful Ben Franklin and Bonner's was at Christmas time - but I found the best gifts in scary Miss Heasler's shop.
beg pardon, but the only two movies I saw were Wiz of Oz and Pinochio, and both of them scared the heck out of me, along with Brigham Young, which also terrified me. We did get turned loose at the Teton for the annual kiddie movies which were dippy old cartoons. And we got to see They Died with their Boots on for collecting junk for the war effort. Until high school that was about it, but that was 1945. of course Franz was our neighbor. That's the point. And Christmas in Powell la-de-da was a modern innovation that came after our departure. We had Christmas in Penrose instead. Or Ralston.
The Sunday movies came in high school days before Mother repented and became gospel doctrine teacher. A few others come to mind: a Wallace Beery western; Brother Orchid (Edward G. Robinson, a movie I hadn't seen for 100 years until a couple of years ago). Bambi was a fraud, promoted with cutesy little deers and skunks and butterflies and then scaring the stuff out of you with fires and guns and such. I felt betrayed.
I guess if you change the "la de da" to "Fa-la-la-la-la" I would think you might be getting into the Christmas spirit. It would be fun to see what Louise remembers. When SC came to Penrose (the church that is), do you know who played the part? Did we all go over for the festivities, or was it just for the grownups? Dwight, I thought you were one of the grown ups who took us to see Song of the South and/or Cinderella. For some reason I have a memory of playing in the park after church until it was time to go to the movie and you were there. Bad memory??
Good memory, Ann. Mother and Dad were gone somewhere,and I got to go, too. Louise probably remembers every movie you guys ever saw. What did you see when I was in the 4th grade and had my tonsils out, so Uncle Norman took Louise and Dwight and gave me the book, "Freckles" to help me feel better. The history goes on!
This has been the funnest conversation. I'm a little late getting into it so I hope you all haven't given up on checking for comments. It was amazing how we could take $1.00 and we were as excited and secretive as though it were $100, and we learned the joy of gift giving with our little 10 or 15 cent gifts. I had forgotten about the window display in Hunnicutt's but now I remember that we looked forward to going to look at it. As to the Christmas play, I was in the third grade, it was the first year I had not been sick with tonsilitis as Christmas time. I was a reed in The Nutcracker, and Mother made this ridiculous costume of green material and the sleeves had to come down to cover my hands in a point, and there was a brown hat of some kind. Wally Graham was the Prince, and I had a major crush on him. As to movies, I thought we actually saw quite a few for our circumstances. Or at least I did, just ask Elizabeth, I would recite them to her scene by scene. We saw some Sat. matinees - how do you think I came to have a crush on Roy Rogers? And Dwight, I remember you had a crush on Judy Garland in her shows with Mickey Rooney. I could name a lot of shows we saw, admittedly many were when we were in Junior High and High School. Memories, aren't they fun.
Louise, I knew you would rescue all of us. Thanks for joining in. Now we have "the rest of the story". So much of Christmas is about memories - and they do become sweeter as we get older.
Glad you joined the group - you were certainly the queen of telling me about all the Maria Montez movies - we could string out those exciting stories forever! Dishes got really lively when we re-lived the movies that I couldn't see because I was considered too young.
Holy Cow! I made a stop to see Santa tonight and I found all of this extra dialogue! Wow....
I will tell you that when I went out to Aunt Fannie's for the last time on a cold, crispy Christmas Eve, I always looked and found The Christmas Star and my imagination went from there. Good Night and Merry Christmas.
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