Dinner in the 40's

When you had guests to dinner you like to have something specdial and when I was first married we were still under rationing so when you had guests you served a good dish xcalled "Tuna Fish and noodles" I have not had any for a long time but remmeber it was good. It took a can of tuna, cooked noodles, cream of mushroom soup and something grated over the top. I think you either served canned peas or green beans. It was very festive and I have not had any for a very long time. Do you suppose it is still good or I just have pleasant memories of the meals with friends. I know I enjoyed it with my sister Helen and her husband Roy. Maybe it was the fellowship or my dessert was good.

oatmeal

I love to have oatmeal for breakfast and never mess around with anything else unless I am out. When we traveled Ray tried to get us in Sheraton Hotels as they always have oatmeal. Mr. Sheraton liked it so insisted they always servr it in his hotel chain. Even in Peru when we stayed in a Sheraton they had oatmeal. They liked to put my milk on it in the kitchen which I did not care for and told them so. When we went to visit our daughter Susan in Wichita we always tried to stay in the Sheraton there. One time they did not have Oatmeal so I wrote the headquarters and complained. The next time they had it. Sometimes I will eat Shredded Wheat but perfer oatmeal.

The Prom

I notice in the news they are giving away prom dresses. When I was in high school back in the 40's only popular girls got to the prom. I knoe my husband to be went but girls did not go without a date. However the Junior class put on a play before the dance and the year I was a Junior I had the lead. It was the story of the old woman in the shoe. That was me. I had fun practicing and being the lead but after the play I just went home unlike some of the cast members. Now girls can go anyway. I don't know if they are asked to dance or not. I expect they are. I think it is better that everyone gets to go. Girls can always dance with each other.

Movies and admission

It says on the news this morning that tickets have gone up $4:00. When I was growing up that was a high price. Maybe it was because they were still silent. In Topeka we had many theaters. I use to baby sit so I could go to the movies. You got thirty five cents unless you sat until midnight and then it was fifty cents. The Grand and Jayhawk were our first run movies., The Gem was twenty cents and you could go to the Crystal or the Cozy for a nickel. At the Gem they gave a dish away on certain nights. Who cared what the movie was. My best friend, Martha, had a grandmother who loved to get a free dish. She would take Martha and I out to eat at the "Chocolate Shop" and then to the movie. We had a local theater calleds the "Coed" that was about twenty cents. We had the "orpheum" which was right by the Topeka Daily Capital and there was another theater down on Quincy and 8th Street. Black people had their own two theaters which were on 4th and Kansas Ave and they could sit in the balacony at both the Jayhawk and the Grand. When Shirley Temple movies came to town there was a ticket line that went clear around the block. Just before school started they had a movie you could get in free if you brought a school book. They had that every fall they had a schoolbook movie you could get in free if you brought a used schoolbook. They discontinued that after they had a movie that scared all us kids. It was a doctor that every moonlight night went out and strangled someone."Gone With the Wind" cost more. My father always set in the back row. I remember the first talkie. I saw it at the Jayhawk. The Newsreel was good.
When they used our car for the pallbearers at vice-president's Curtis funeral we went to the movie so we could see it.

Haircuts

When I was growing up girls always wore bangs at least us beauties did. We had our hair trimmed every two weeks at a barber shop located on 5th Street in Topeka a shop under a bank and across the street from another bank. I read all the signs from "Lucky Tiger" while I was waiting. Later when Ray was in College the football team did not like one of his editorials in the school paper and cut off his hair. He soon was in the army and they cut it off again, Then when our first son, Steve, was born I took him to barbershop in College Hill near my parents house and they used bad combs and his hair fell out. I went to the doctor and they suggested I change barbers as the barbers evidently had bad combs. His hair grew back very fast. After I was married and went to a great hairdresseer he cut Ray's hair every six months whether it needed it or not. It was a great occasion every time. He just never liked having haircuts after the barbers he had in college. He wrote an article called "Haircuts are Free".

Ray and being president of an organzation

Ray loved joining groups and eventually he always became president. One of his first was when we were first married and he joined the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He loved the orgazation and when he became president at his first meeting he started it out by pulling a cap pistol and shooting it off and stated "My administratiion may go out on its back but we are coming in with a bang. He eventually became a member of the Board of Directors and we attended many conventions. Evey PTA he was a president except I'm not sure about Shawnee Mission North or Shawnee Mission West but he was the first president of Shawnee Mission Northwest. After he started writing a daily column he would end up joining the groups he wrote about so we became Japanese, Welch, Sister Cities to name a few. The Chinese Society they made him tresurer. He never knew how to balance a bank statement so I became the unofficial treasurer. He never understood money or where it came from so ended up having to take bankruptcy. I think he liked to sit at the speakers table as the service is always good there. Some organizations he would remain as president for three years I went along to everything and took notes as he seldom trusted the groups secretary. Consequently when he died I attended many things in his honor. The Rotary planted a tree in his honor at their camp and I made the mistake of asking what kind was it and found they really did not know. I have maany plaques he received and some pictures. He was a fun person to be married to. He was on the board of the theater leaque so we got to meet lots of stars who appeared in plays. He was crazy about fireworks and made friends with the wholesaler so we always had a family fireworks display. He would get a permit from the city so it was legal but they would never give me one. I have just been thinking about him today and remembering all the things he liked to get envoolved with so a blog lets me share and you are not required to read this it was just fun to write.

ST Patrick's Day

This is a day that I made sure I wore green so I would not be pinched. My sister Helen, taught first grade and always had her pupils make green shamrocks to wear on St Patrick's Day so they would not get pinched. My husband, Ray, loved the day since he had an Irish mother. On the Sunday before he volunteered to do the children's conversation at church and rented an Irish outfit. I don't remember what he spoke about but he had great fun doing it and we have pictures of him in his outfit. I'm wearing my green blouse tomorrow so I will be ready and to you all Irish and non Irish "Happy St Patrick's Day".