Life without a TV

 

                                                Gentler & Simpler Times

 

What was life like for kids in those gentler and simpler times before the TV age? Kids growing up in the 1940s in the Simons Brickyard had lot of things to keep them occupied during the summers, what with daily chores of taking care of animals, chopping wood for the wood burning stoves, turning bricks to dry. But what did the kids do once their chores were done and no TV to watch? The boys would get a football game going in the big empty field by the pond, most of the time it was the pre-teens against the teenagers, and the teenagers always won. When not playing football the boys with the girls would get a baseball game going, now that was fun! The teams were made up of boys and girls mixed. There was one boy who was not a particular good player, nobody wanted him on their team, but he didn’t care, he knew that in the end he would get a chance to play right field and to strike out, no, there were no dandelions for him to watch grow. There was one girl that everybody wanted in their team, she was a great player and she was gorgeous, she was stacked like a brick outhouse. 

The kids would get one of the local winos, Doñ Blas, to umpire their softball games, and there were lots of winos in the brickyard to pick from, but Doñ Blas in particular loved to umpire. He would get behind the pitcher and with a big staggering flair would yell out ‘stik-a-te one” (strike one) or “bola” (ball). When he would get tired or needed a drink of wine he would say “no mas” and would stagger off into the sunset looking for his twenty five cent bottle of Tokay. With the sun going down and no street lights in the brickyard the baseball games would come to an end. Some kids would head on home to fight for the radio so they could listen to their favorite mystery/detective/comedy/western radio programs, some of the programs were Boston Blackie, The Shadow, Red Ryder, Hopalong Cassidy, Abbott and Costello and the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

Some of the boys would stay out, light a fire and wait for the local chota (cop) to harass them. Kids from that generation did just fine without a TV, of course they didn’t have a choice, but that was to their benefit, they got to experience playing ball with an umpire that was real funny. They also play marbles, spinning tops and yo-yo's. They played cowboys and Indians in the hills of the brickyard. The later generations with their rabbit eared TVs were to become known as “couch potatoes“