Teen Memories

Februarys main holidays are over. Valentine's Day and President'd Day are gone. 

As usual time is flying by..   I understand that the calendar is off.  I wonder when they will get around to synching it up again if they ever really have, that is.       

Here along the coast we have had a few days of seriously windy weather and on Sunday a big rainy downpour.    It filled everything up to the brim.  In Atlantic City a traffic light was blown down by gusts of 70mph.   So, yeah.. that's windy.

 Hey! Welecome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.

Would you like to talk about some blasts from the past?

You know.. like malt shops, teen hops, proms and rock and roll?      OK, let's do it!

1. Was there a teen hangout in your town or near it where teens seemed to gravitate? What was a favorite place to go?

The school system provided a dance night for kids on Saturday nights every week all year long. The playground of the elementary school had organized games all summer long.

There was a White Castle in the next town over and a big ice cream parlor in another town next to us as well.    In town we had a little diner where everyone went for home style meals or hamburgers.

We also had our own nice movie theatre in town and it was always packed.   

Drag races in another town were big for the more adventurous among us.   There were pickup games of baseball all the time.

2  Did you attend your high school varsity games? What high school activities did you enjoy the most?

Yes.  In high school I went to football games, basketball games and my friend and I at the time went to the varsity wrestling.  We would stop at the Rexall Drug Store to buy sour lemon drops and then walk over the the school.  I loved watching wrestling because of the skill it required.

I liked the Saturday night dances and the after school sports the best.   

And always the beach and the boardwalks were always the most popular hang outs for many of us.   

We went hiking in the Watchung Mountains, to the Palisades for amusement park rides, picnics at the lakes, but always the beach was the hands down favorite and we were there daily.

3. Did you have any teen idols whose music or acting you just really enjoyed? 

 I idolized Annette Funicello who was much older than me but I really thought she was so lovely.

Did you know that as a young woman Toni Taddeo resembled Annette?  

  What  music  did you enjoy most?    I was into many kinds of music including classical music as a teen.    I aenjoyed big bands too.

Theme from a Summer Place was a huge favorite of mine.   I was a little kid when it came out but I loved it.  I saw the movie on TV and thought it was scandelous but I loved it. I still do since I live in a "summer place" and it is a song that fits.

The Beach Boy's Surf City fit well too since we have a Surf City here as does California. But ours was founded in 1690 so we beat them by 300 years.  

 What movies?  I was a big James Bond fan as an older teen.  I was also a big fan of Paul Newman films like From the Terrace, Long Hot Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, etc.  though they were re-runs on TV when I was a teen and hardly brand new.

I also loved old Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto movies on TV.  I liked the quiet dignity of Charlie and Mr. Moto and the comedy of  Mantan Moreland one of the great comedians of all time.   

Here is his classic Vaudeville skit:

 Born in 1902, Mr. Moreland passed on in 1973 after a long career in movies and television.  He made over 310 movies!!

4. Did your school have dances or sock hops and did you attend?

Yes. Dances were held every Saturday night for teens at the elementary school gym.  There were dances for each season and for each holiday and there were the Junior and Senior Proms. 

Yes, I attended most ot them .   For some I was the music MC too.   

My boyfriend and I went to the Junior Prom but, he was broke in our senior year so we skipped the senior prom. We both attended Rutgers U and he was in ROTC there and they had a huge military ball.  He took me to that which made up for the Sernior Prom.   It was a really great experience.