CHILDHOOD MEMORIES--FIRST SCHOOL PLAY, SHIRLEY TEMPLE CURLS & CORNBREAD & BUTTERMILK MIDNIGHT SNACK....
By Olivene Godfrey
When I was in the first grade at a Chattanooga, TN school in the 1930s, my class presented a play that was set in a doll store. I was very shy and didn't want a speaking role. Since I was blonde and tiny, for no other reason, I was cast as a Shirley Temple doll who stood still during the play.
However, my mother was excited about my role in the play and set about making me a pretty pink dress like the one my Shirley Temple doll wore. In those days, the child star's tight curls had mothers of other little girls pinning their hair in ringlets.
My mother decided that was a problem. I had no natural curl in my hair and wore it in what was known as a "boyish bob"
well, Mother decided, that problem could be solved by getting a permanent wave for me. In 1906, Charles Nestle invented the permanent wave. An electric machine was attacked to the hair pads protecting the head and curled the hair. The beauty shop where Mother took me still had machines that had cords suspended from the ceiling. It was a scary looking contraption and while my memory isn't vivid about the incident, I do remember it was a long, uncomfortable experience. But, in the end, I had pretty, Shirley Temple curls. Incidentally, I remember the perm was on sale for one dollar which pleased my mother.
A studio portrait hangs on my home office wall that was taken following my performance in the play, wearing the pretty, pink dress with a matching ribbon in my blonde, curly hair.
While thinking of my childhood, I remembered when I was about four years old, my mother gave birth to twin girls who took up most of her time, but, my daddy, bless him, saw to it that I didn't lack for attention. Right up to his death, he would often tell the story of how some nights back then, I would wake up hungry, and would ask Daddy for my favorite midnight snack.
He would get up and take me to the kitchen, often on cold nights, and fix me a big bowl of cold buttermilk with crushed up cornbread which was left over from supper. He was always good natured about it even though he had to get up at 5 A.M to go to work.
On those early mornings, Mother would make buttermilk biscuits every morning for breakfast which Daddy called, "Cat-heads", I don't know the origin of that description but since then, I have heard other people use it.
Later, we bought a new house with a couple of acres of land.
Daddy would have a big garden and built a little barn and bought a cow for milk and he would buy baby chicks and raise them for us to eat. I remember that almost every Saturday morning we would have Mother's delicious fried chicken, with white, milk gravy and buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. Since then, I have never tasted food as good as those breakfasts.
We are having beautiful weather this week, with cold nights and warm, sunny days with plenty of sunshine. The recent rains we have had with the sunshine has all the trees and grass greening up, making northwest Georgia a pretty world.
See you next week.
By Olivene Godfrey
When I was in the first grade at a Chattanooga, TN school in the 1930s, my class presented a play that was set in a doll store. I was very shy and didn't want a speaking role. Since I was blonde and tiny, for no other reason, I was cast as a Shirley Temple doll who stood still during the play.
However, my mother was excited about my role in the play and set about making me a pretty pink dress like the one my Shirley Temple doll wore. In those days, the child star's tight curls had mothers of other little girls pinning their hair in ringlets.
My mother decided that was a problem. I had no natural curl in my hair and wore it in what was known as a "boyish bob"
well, Mother decided, that problem could be solved by getting a permanent wave for me. In 1906, Charles Nestle invented the permanent wave. An electric machine was attacked to the hair pads protecting the head and curled the hair. The beauty shop where Mother took me still had machines that had cords suspended from the ceiling. It was a scary looking contraption and while my memory isn't vivid about the incident, I do remember it was a long, uncomfortable experience. But, in the end, I had pretty, Shirley Temple curls. Incidentally, I remember the perm was on sale for one dollar which pleased my mother.
A studio portrait hangs on my home office wall that was taken following my performance in the play, wearing the pretty, pink dress with a matching ribbon in my blonde, curly hair.
While thinking of my childhood, I remembered when I was about four years old, my mother gave birth to twin girls who took up most of her time, but, my daddy, bless him, saw to it that I didn't lack for attention. Right up to his death, he would often tell the story of how some nights back then, I would wake up hungry, and would ask Daddy for my favorite midnight snack.
He would get up and take me to the kitchen, often on cold nights, and fix me a big bowl of cold buttermilk with crushed up cornbread which was left over from supper. He was always good natured about it even though he had to get up at 5 A.M to go to work.
On those early mornings, Mother would make buttermilk biscuits every morning for breakfast which Daddy called, "Cat-heads", I don't know the origin of that description but since then, I have heard other people use it.
Later, we bought a new house with a couple of acres of land.
Daddy would have a big garden and built a little barn and bought a cow for milk and he would buy baby chicks and raise them for us to eat. I remember that almost every Saturday morning we would have Mother's delicious fried chicken, with white, milk gravy and buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. Since then, I have never tasted food as good as those breakfasts.
We are having beautiful weather this week, with cold nights and warm, sunny days with plenty of sunshine. The recent rains we have had with the sunshine has all the trees and grass greening up, making northwest Georgia a pretty world.
See you next week.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home