Small Town Memories
Growing up in the 30's and 40's and the Family Secret
by
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DIME STORES
St. Joe, being bigger than Atchison, had two "dime" stores. A Woolworth's and a Kresge's. These stores were fun to go in because of all the nice things a boy could buy if he had any money. They had a series of books called "Big Little Books." (BLB). These were a combination of adventure stories and comic books, made to look like little books. Whenever I needed to make a book report for school, I read an interesting BLB in about 30 minutes, and wrote my report. If no BLB was available, I'd report on one of the short stories in one of Dad’s cowboy books he kept in the bathroom.
Another item I liked in the dime store was the hair oil. Boys always splashed a lot of oil on their hair to plaster it down like Rudolph Valentino, George Raft, and other "sleekest". The oil I liked best was red in color and smelled like roses. I would saturate my hair with the oil and comb it "back and flat," as we called it. "Jackie," Mom warned me, "You’re overdoing it. No one’s going to come within 20 feet of you because of the smell."
Well, I knew better. I knew the girls would like it. I hoped.
The best times in the "dime store" were when the Yo-Yo "Champ" of the world came on one of his visits to demonstrate how to Yo-Yo. (It seemed he, the Champ, was always from Hawaii.) The tricks he could do were unbelievable. If you bought a Yo-Yo (for about 15 cents), he would carve a palm tree, his personal logo, on the wood. Carving the tree wasn't hard. First he made a vertical cut with a knife, for the trunk. Then a curved or drooping cut on each side of the top of the trunk extending outward for the branches. The three cuts were supposed to resemble the Hawaiian pineapple tree.
One day one of my friends asked, "You want to sell that ‘Champeen’ yo-yo?"
"Yeah, you can have it for 20 cents. I’ve got another one," I lied.
I then started a Yo-Yo business of my own. Buying cheap Yo-Yo's for 5 cents each, I carved the palm trees on them. Then I sold them as the "real thing" for 15 cents to the guys who hadn't bought one from the "Champ." I probably sold about 20-25 of them. A few weeks later I was at Woolworth's in Atchison and made a startling discovery. I saw another Hawaiian selling Yo-Yo's. He said he was the "Champ". It didn't take long for me to realize there were a bunch of Hawaiians who were all "Champs", or they were liars selling Yo-Yo’s to suckers like me.
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About the Book
This is a true account written with humor, insight and at times, pathos, of growing up in the 30's and 40's in Atchison, Kansas and St. Joseph, Missouri.. The author wanted his children to know what was happening during the 30's and 40's when he was growing up. The Great Depression was beginning. People were out of work and struggling to exist. Times were hard and tough. His family struggled to exist, as did others. They worked hard, made do, and managed to survive as thousands of others did. The author says, "I grew up in a poor family, but I didn't know that we were poor. I grew up being greatly loved by my parents, but did not know how much until about 18 years later. It was then I realized how much my parents had sacrificed for me; sacrificed when there was no need to sacrifice. There was a family secret. No one talked about it in front of me." Some of the chapter titles that tell the stories and will be reminiscent to readers of that era include: Sleeping in The Car, Sometimes It’s Better to Obey Dad, A Suit Doesn’t Make a Player, Hallowe’en Corn, Lard Sandwiches, The Ghost House, Wash Tubs, Used School Books, World War II Cigarettes. Again, the author: "My relatives were probably typical of most people--.(one person) planned for the future, not the present. On the other hand, (some of the others) thought primarily of surviving the present moment. During the Depression, their plans followed the majority of that time - to survive the moment, find a job, and worry about the future later."
About the Author
Jack Hopple was born on November 8, 1928 and spent most of his growing up years in Atchison, Kansas, thinking it was the most famous place in the world. The family lived in St. Joseph, Missouri for a few years and Hopple enjoyed conversations he had with old-timers about Jesse James and his guns. The events in Small-Town Memories took place in these towns. Upon graduation from high school, he enlisted and served in the Marines for a year. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he served in the Army Veterinary Corps. His civilian career was as a regulatory officer in the U. S. Department of Agriculture and he lived in Fairfax, Virginia for thirty years. Hopple wrote Small-Town Memories so that his children could know something of his childhood and how the Depression years were experienced by his family, and most families. He reminds us that people were out of work and struggling to exist. His parents worked hard, made do, and managed to survive as thousands of others did. He relates events "back home" during World War II when he was a teenager. He includes reminiscences about ration books, gas shortages, experiences working for his uncle in his store and potato chip factory, and an interesting FBI investigation of his uncle’s telegrams.