Authors: James Frishkey
Their “formal” dates usually were a movie and burger and her dad got his chance to interrogate Joe when he came in to pick her up. After several of these discussions he learned that Joe was an only child (BAD), from a Catholic family (GOOD), whose mother worked at Hudson’s department store (BAD), he was half Italian (NEUTRAL), worked at the Food Giant (NEUTRAL), and wanted to attend college (VERY GOOD). All and all, the scales weren’t tipped against him but barely.
As Joe’s birthday in October approached, their dates moved to the local drive-in theater where the windows of the ’57 Chevy would steam up so bad no one could look in or out. Good times. On Saturday’s, Mary would visit Joe at the Food Giant if she could get use of the family Rambler. When Joe would look up and see her standing there it was all he could do to keep from hugging her right in front of everyone. The store manager took note of these visits and would make sure he strolled by after a few minutes to send Joe the message to get back to work.
Mary earned pocket money by babysitting and Joe would show up with pizza and beer after the kids were asleep. These clandestine “dates” were under her parent’s radar which reassured them that she was keeping this boy at arm’s length and maintaining adequate time and attention to studies. Because Joe’s car was so conspicuous, he took care to park it as far away as was practical in case her parents were out and about.
Mary’s best friend, Joyce, was an underclassman and lived right around the corner. She also attended French class with Joe and she became his friend as well. One evening after work, Joe had two tires blow-out in a pouring rain. The closest safe harbor was Joyce’s house and she welcomed him in and they ordered pizza and teased each other all evening. Joe was never sure if she had any feelings for him but he sure enjoyed her friendship and even got her a prom date the following year.
As Joe and Mary’s relationship was heating up, he was becoming less and less acceptable to her dad. Joe didn’t help his case any, one night after work. Cruising down her street, his normal route from the store to wherever, he dropped a cigarette just as he was approaching her house. As he reached down to find it, he had to divert his attention from the road and ended up hitting a car parked directly in front of her house. Because he was going so slowly, the impact hardly made a sound but, his front bumper became locked with the other car’s rear bumper. As silently as he could, Joe tried to dislodge the bumpers and get the hell out of there. He checked his integrity at the door as he jumped up and down on the locked metal without success. Finally he had no choice but to go to Mary’s door for help.
Her dad was unsympathetic, particularly when Joe found out the car he hit belonged to the family’s insurance agent. Luckily, the insurance man was a lot more understanding than her dad and together, he and Joe were able to dislodge the locked bumpers. Neither car had any damage and Joe was able to bug out of there without further discussion with Clarence. For the next week he stayed away from her street and she understood why.
By now everyone at school viewed Joe and Mary as a couple…going steady! Joe was a generous guy and bought her gifts for no reason and they became legendary exchangers of notes so that even when they were apart, they could read short love letters to each other. In fact, exchanging notes became the most common way to make it through a boring class and Joe had a long list of buddies that used this protocol.
While society was just beginning to opt for large, enclosed shopping malls, that phenomena had yet to descend on Lansdale where the “Wonderland” open-air mall was the only real place to spend a day strolling among the various shops. Next to the drive-through burger joints, Wonderland became the most popular place for Lansdale teens to hang out, even in the coldest days of winter. Joe and Mary were no exception. With Mary’s birthday a month to the day after Joe’s, this is where Joe shopped for the perfect gift. He chose a diamond heart-shaped pendant which wiped out his modest savings but she was his girl…HIS girl and the sky was the limit.
Mary was scheduled to sing with the Concert Choir the week before her birthday. Joe decided he wanted to see the sparkling symbol of his love around her neck against the blue velvet choir robes they would be wearing so he gave it to her just before the performance. Damn she looked good, he thought and through eye contact, he knew she was singing to him.
A couple of days later, Joe had walked Mary back to her class after lunch and was racing to study hall when the intercom cracked with the announcement…”the President’s been shot!” Joe was late, as usual, but no one cared about anything but the words trickling in from Dallas. Less than an hour later it was official, President John F. Kennedy had been gun downed in the streets of Dallas. For Joe and Mary, it was the end of innocence.
It was also Joe’s dad’s birthday and his parents wedding anniversary. Joe and his mom had been planning a surprise party for weeks. The events of the day, however, clouded whether they should go on with the party. They weren’t even sure if all of those invited would bother to come, but they decided to go on with the event and Joe picked up the food on his way home from school. Unfortunately he had to work that night but hoped to get off a little early to join the party which would be in full stride if everyone showed up. Phil and Larry would also be at the party.
Although it had been sunny all day, the rain rolled in around 7 PM and would last throughout the night. Joe got home around 10 PM and the party was roaring. Everyone invited came, including Joe’s friends from school and the boys proceeded to indulge in beer, wine, rum and coke, you name it.
By midnight the party was still in full force but Joe and his buddies came up with a special way to acknowledge the loss of the president. The three well oiled amigos piled into Phil’s VW and headed to his house to retrieve a very special item…his dad’s bugle. Fortunately his parents were fast asleep and he snuck in and returned with the treasured horn.
With the moon roof open, impervious to the misting rain, they proceeded to Mary Lou’s neighborhood to herald a unique and totally irreverent version of Taps. Up and down the streets they drove, taking turns trying to blow something identifiable…a lost cause. Finally, as the booze began to wear off they decided to call it a night. As they passed the Food Giant heading to Joe’s house, Phil noticed they had acquired a follower, trailing close behind them.
Joe told Phil to turn and head into the park, hoping the tail would not follow…but he did. The boys new it would be impossible to out run the large sedan behind them and it eventually caught up and cut them off, forcing an immediate termination of the chase. The three boys sat in silence, watching as the driver of the chase vehicle got out and slowly walked up to their car.
The man was in his pajamas and robe but his FBI credentials gleamed in the moonlight as he held them up for Phil to see. Phil rolled down the window to accept whatever fate had in store. “Do you boys know that our President was killed today? Is this how you honor his memory?” His voice was tempered but he did not want to hear any lame ass excuses.
Phil saw his dream of Annapolis fading fast. He begged the FBI Agent to forgive them for their stupidity, using Joe’s dad’s birthday as the backdrop for their actions. If he called the police they would surely end up in jail and who knows how that would play out. Fortunately, he was satisfied that he scared the living shit out of them and sent them on their way…sober as a church mouse.
No one left their TV sets the entire weekend following the assassination. Joe talked to Mary on the phone and did his best to hide the tears streaking down his cheeks. Incredibly they were on the phone when a figure emerged from the shadows as Oswald was being transported and they actually witnessed Ruby firing the shot that opened the door to decades of debate over who really was responsible for Kennedy’s death. Watching little John-John salute his father’s casket was an appropriate ending to the darkest days of Joe and Mary’s lives.
CHAPTER 6
A
s December unfolded, Lansdale embraced all that was Christmas. Homes and parks were lit up with festive lights and the Wonderland Mall became a real winter “wonderland” with loads of people descending on the shops and department stores, sloshing through the snow without complaint.
As was often the case, Joe and Mary were wandering the stores in search of gifts and inched their way into Woolworths to check out the new records on sale. Many of these records were being played over the store PA which certainly could stimulate sales. Joe was looking for the latest Ventures album when the air exploded with sounds he had never heard before. He and Mary stood frozen as they heard…”Oh please, say to me, you’ll let me be your man.” The Beatles had landed…at least their music had, with them to follow in February.
Just as Kennedy’s assassination had changed lives forever, so did the Beatles change the music world…forever. Their songs slowly invaded the radio turf previously dominated by Motown and the Beach Boys. Hair grew longer almost overnight and teen boys rushed to get a pair of “Beatle Boots” the minute they hit the stores. Music stores sold out of guitars instantly, with every pimply kid looking for a Gretsch, Hofner or Rickenbacker electric. Johnny Vincent drug out his little used silver Stratocaster and began learning the early Beatle tunes.
Around the same time, class rings began to arrive. Joe was eager to follow tradition and give his to Mary to wear as the official symbol of their going steady. Mary had picked a similar style as Joe and picked hers up first. Joe followed a few days later and while huddled in his Chevy at the drive-in, he asked her to wear it. Her response was a strong hug and kiss and she was now branded as his for all to see…including her parents.
The following school day, Mary was sporting his ring on her finger. She achieved this by wrapping the ring with yarn to match the color of her outfit that day…yellow. This was the accepted protocol of those going steady, and every morning the color of the yarn changed as did her outfit. She liked to wear black or navy knee socks so those were the dominant yarn colors in her ring repertoire.
Joe’s parents asked Joe to invite her for Thanksgiving dinner and she accepted. Joe was not at all disappointed that her family did not reciprocate…anything to avoid the tension of one on ones with her father. Joe’s dad was a heavy drinker, pretty much an alcoholic, but was able to stay reasonably proper if he didn’t start too early. Today he was trying his best to be funny and attentive to his guest but it did not come naturally. Joe’s mom was covering Mary up with attention and, if she was good enough for Joe, she was good enough for her.
Joe’s dad had a new Super 8 movie camera and used it liberally before, during and after dinner. The light was blinding but necessary to illuminate the frame and Mary didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, she was able to get Joe to eat beets, something he detested, and it was all captured on film. Clearly Mary hit a home run with Joe’s family and they would love her just as much as their son did. She was perfect.
During the weeks leading up to Christmas, the young couple were now madly in love and had no reservations saying those words to each other every chance they could. Joe was forcing his friends to the sidelines but they understood and remained loyal. Even Larry, the store manager, gave them some space when she visited.
The biggest event of each year for the church was Christmas and Clarence was spending every waking minute in preparation for the holiday services. Mary wanted Joe to attend Midnight Mass with her, and her dad had too much on his plate to say no. As it would turn out, this would be the last time Joe was a welcomed part of the Donaldson family.
On Christmas day, Mary was again a welcomed guest at Joe’s house and Joe presented her with a blue star-sapphire ring. It had two little diamond chips on either side and she was overwhelmed with his thoughtfulness and generosity. Little did she know he opened a line of credit at the local jeweler which was a very uncommon achievement for a high school kid. He would be making payments for six months but he was getting all the hours he could handle at work and would have no difficulty paying if off. Her gift to Joe was an opal tie pin, opal being his birth stone. Naturally, he wore it as much as possible and knew she had limited funds to work with.
The New Year brought with it the cold hard reality of college planning. Mary’s path was clear. She would attend State College even though she could easily get accepted at any Ivy League school…if her parents could afford it, which they couldn’t. She would have to work full time during the summer to help out with the tuition and dorm costs. Joe’s chances of accompanying her were slim at best. With work and his love life taking priority over studying, his grades were barely passable. He would apply but his SAT score would have to be pretty damn good to open any doors.
By spring, Joe was driving Mary home from school every day. They would spend hours talking about their future together, number of kids (six), and a life where material things would be unimportant but Joe would be able to provide whatever they would need. They rarely double dated, primarily by Joe’s design. His best friend Johnny was too much of a predator and Joe didn’t trust him around Mary. Phil and Larry really didn’t have a steady at that point so school concerts and plays were the only events they shared with their peers.
At home Mary was waging a war with her dad over Joe, who had no idea what was going on. From Clarence’s perspective, going steady with Joe was an anchor on Mary’s future. Her wearing his class ring was like a stake in her dad’s shallow heart and it was clear this was a war she was going to lose. Her only option was to give the appearance of breaking up with Joe to her parents.