A school mate from Pennsylvania posted a couple of 8mm transfers to YouTube this week. What a time capsule treasure of fashion and location.
In one of them, I found both myself (age 10) and my sister (age 7). I had to watch a few times to be sure that girl on the film was me. Was I really that tall? Did I have a coat like that? I couldn’t remember. Eventually I gave myself away with my awareness of the camera and by tripping over my own feet. I recall being embarrassed that was captured on film.
I recognised Jenny right away, though.
It was hard to recall anyone from that long ago. A few faces flashed on screen and names I haven’t thought of in decades popped into my head – Jonathan Miller, Brian Bertoli, Debbie Foose, Heather Hauck. Most everyone else was misty at best and unrecognisable at worst.
Though the film is faded, the fashions are memorable. Those fur-trimmed coats, pompom hats, mixed plaids, bold patterns. I still love plaid pants.
The delight of our play! We had the liberty to burn off energy so that we could return sweaty and damp to our math, handwriting, and geography. And we did it every day before school started and at lunchtime.
The antics on the icy slide were too robust for me. I remember being simultaneously impressed, anxious, and envious of the brave kids who slid down like a ski slope. Wow.
We all had our turn crowding on the cold metal merry go round with its weathered board seats. The bigger kids, like me, would get it going fast by running inside then lifting our feet onto the bar – suspended as the centripetal forces pushed at our guts.
We had a huge dirt lot for play behind the red brick WPA era school. Running footballs around was a favorite past time of the boys. We also played kickball, jumprope in the parking lot (though not in the winter), walked along the edge of the woods, and climbed around on the monkey bars.
I’m grateful to Stephen Gudich for sharing this film; it brought back a lot of memories. His brother, Larry, who was in my class, says there are are more to come. I’ll be watching.
