Arvin Cowboy
Life in Rural Arvin in the 50's
Real Name: David L. Norris Gender: male Member Since: June 17, 2007 Last Signed In: April 21, 2009 Profile Views: 410 Blog Views: 1518 Walking to the Library Mr. Barle and the Hearing Aid Trick-or-Treat The El Rancho Theater The Law of Supply and Demand The Contact Lense Locking your Doors Arvin's First Community Center The 500 yard Dash Accident Momma and the Pillsbury Poppin Biscuits July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 
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Walking to the Library
The schools now are often criticized for their lack of physical exercise programs. There was no shortage of such programs in the 50’s. Not only were there sports and classroom athletics, but also twice per month, every class from the Haven Drive Elementary School made the trek from the school to the Kern County Public Library on the North end of “A” Street at Fourth Avenue, which was just south of the Arvin Volunteer Fire Department facility. Usually two classes would go at one time, so you had two teachers supervising the outing. We would walk up “A” Street like a line of ducks, lead by our own mother duck teacher.
Wooo-be the student who got out of line or misbehaved, because you might be sent to the principal’s office, where it was rumored that they had a “Automatic Spanking Machine,” where they would just strap you in with your bare butt pointed up in the air, turn it on and leave you there for hours on end. (So to speak) Now mind you, no one you knew had ever seen this machine, or even received a spanking by it, but one of your close friends, had been told by one of his friends, who had heard it from a reliable playground source, that he knew of a guy, who knew someone, who had a friend, that had a buddy, who had pissed a teacher off so bad, that they did not come back to unstrap him for TWO HOURS. We were all kept quite-in-line because no one wanted a closer relationship than that with THAT machine, so everyone minded their p’s and q’s.
At Haven Drive and South “A” Street intersection, the traffic was always controlled by Mr. Harley Smith; our School Crossing Guard, so that the class could cross. Mr. Smith’s hair was as white as snow and he wore a kahki uniform. Everyone loved him and we would give him Christmas Presents the same as we would our teacher each year. He would always have scraps of Cedar wood retrieved from Mr. Earl Catlett’s school woodshop and he would carve small hearts during the time that school was in session. If you asked him nicely, he would carve a heart for you and even cut your first name into the face of it. Somewhere I still have my heart that I got from him. At the Bear Mountain Blvd. intersection the teachers acted as crossing guards so that their line of ducks could cross the street then on to the Library. This is where they also set up and gave us our Salk Polio vaccination sugar cubes so that we would not get Polio like my brother, Leo had, several years earlier.
The Librarian was a very energetic lady, who took the time to learn each of our interests. She would then introduce you to books that we liked to read. First, I read and studied every airplane book I could get my hands on and could identify any plane that happened to pass over on their way to Edwards AFB. She then introduced me to a series of books about an outdoorsman and a family of Grizzly Bears. I became so paranoid that someone else was going to check out the next book in the series that I was reading that I use to go over to the Reference Book section and hide the next book behind the taller books, so that they would be there, when I wanted to check them out on our next visit.
When we returned to school, the teachers would march us down the 8th grade hallway, down the ramp, onto the playground and then dismiss us just as the recess bell was sounding. The problem was that this was not our playground and if the 7th and 8th graders caught you on “Their Playground” you would be pushed around or harassed, so we would run back over to the eastside playground to play on our swings and slides.
I was always the long-legged, lanky kid who was the fastest runner of the group, so when we were dismissed, I sprinted off towards our playground as fast as I could, so that I would be the first to get one of the chain swings. As I ran, I was looking back over my shoulder, nanner – nannering everyone, as I left them in my dust. I noticed that everyone was shouting and hollering at me, but I could not hear what they were saying because I was so far ahead and the recess bell had begun to loudly ring. I turned my head foreword just in time, to see the tetherball pole about four inches in front of my nose.
I was later told by one of the students that saw this, said that I was just like Wile E. Coyote in the cartoons. My arms went straight out horizontally in front of me, as did my legs, while my body attempted to conform to the shape of the pole. I then slid down the pole and smacked my butt on the ground and flopped backwards, totally unconscious. I awoke, surrounded by a mob of kids, with several teachers shaking me, while calling out my name, trying to wake me. I got up and had no idea what had happened and alas, all of the chain swings were taken.
I instead got to go to the School Nurse, Mrs. Eleanor Phillips office, where she slathered all of my wounds, and scrapes with the magical green antibiotic soap that stung like the dickens, while I waited for my mother to come and pick me up. Finally mother arrived and took me directly to Dr. Hotten’s office, where I got a stern lecture about how I should be more careful with the playground equipment, since it cost so much to maintain. I did not understand why he kept winking at my mother, as I was spending so much time wincing as they were washing all of the green soap off my wounds with Isopropyl Alcohol. Then he dabbed a liberal dose of mercurochrome onto the wound and put a small bandaid over all of that.
We got home just in time for my favorite show, the Don Rodewald’s Afternoon Show, complete with Deputy Howie to come on KERO Channel 10. I even got to lay on the couch in the living room and watch it. Next was The Cousin Herb Country Music Show where my next door neighbor’s daughter; Rebba Harmon, often sang and played guitar.
I was positive that I was going to have an extended session with the infamous Automatic Spanking Machine that we all knew about, when I returned to school. But fortunately that pole was so well anchored, that I did not cause it any damage. The mercurochrome and bandaid made me quite the war hero, but just to make sure, I always gave those poles a wide berth from then on, just in case they might have reconsidered my attempt to knock down their pole.
The End
4 comments from 4 users
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posted by
Linda_Alvarado
on Feb 28, 2008 at 07:18 AM
Wow, thanks for the walk down memory lane. :) Do you remember the Top 10 Platter Den? posted by
sagefever
on Feb 28, 2008 at 07:41 AM
sloigo~ great tale! I especially like the chain of reliable information that led to your knowledge of that machine...funny.I think this one is my favorite of all you have posted here. posted by
robbwillis
on Feb 28, 2008 at 08:03 AM
Mrs Tim's first-grade class at Ekstrand elementary would also walk two miles to the little library in downtown San Dimas. After a few trips, I got my first pair of All Star high-top sneakers to avoid getting "flat tires" from my friends. That was where someone behind you stepped on the back of your shoe and the top would stick under your heel. This was a big problem for me since I hadn't learned how to tie my shoelaces yet. I used to get David Santillanez to do it for me and he wasn't too keen to do it more than once a day. David and I would seek out our favorite book at the library: "What If Everybody Did It?" From repeated use, the book would unfold to a picture of a big striped housecat with its middle squeezed down to practically nothing and the caption read "What if everyone squeezed the cat?" Thanks for the memories, Davids posted by
Sloigo
on Feb 28, 2008 at 08:42 PM
Wow Linda, you have brought back your own memories. Back then the TV programing as very basic. They had a whole bunch of hours to fill, although local TV was basically from 7am till 7pm and then the National channels took over til 10 or 11 pm with Milton Burle, the honeymooners and Ed Sulivan, but I remember the dance contest that they had on the Top Ten Platter Den. I remember Arvin High School Cafeteria with the juke Box SO LOUD that you could see 300 kids mouth's move talking to each other, but I am not sure if anyone EVER heard what the other had said. I am glad you Guys and Dolls likes the story, I had fun writing it but my forehead still smarts thinking about it.
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