Da Shlub
I take the time now to, once again, interrupt my life to go back to a pleasant –as well as a not-so-pleasant time– for the then eight-year-old Harvey Kalmenson. It was a Sunday, December 7th, of the year 1941. I returned home from whatever I had been up to and found my fourteen-year-old sister Ruth sobbing as I had never seen her do before.
- At 7:55 AM, the coordinated attack on Pearl Harbor began.
- At 8:10 AM, the USS Arizona explodes.
- At 8:17 AM, A World at War.
- Three scheduled NFL games were underway when the Japanese first attacked Pearl Harbor at 12:55 PM Eastern time on Sunday, December 7, 1941.
"Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day) would officially be celebrated in the United States on the day formal surrender documents were signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay: September 2, 1945."
Our country’s greatest generation was born and unaware of their great world junction; it had set a never-to-be-forgotten example for the world to remember with reverence, perhaps forever.
Harvey Kalmenson was twelve years of age. Everything began changing. Our boys and girls began taking on more responsibilities than ever before. We didn’t have a schlub or a schlep in our crowd.
Just a day later, we kids were all back in our schoolyard at P.S. 233. None of us had any thoughts of how our families would be affected during the course of the next few years. We learned quickly.
Language of the yard
The last kid ever to be picked to play in any of our games was unusually labeled "schlub".schlub (noun)
a talentless, unattractive, or boorish person
The poor dumb shlub just didn't get it.
ORIGIN: the 1960s, Yiddish shlub, perhaps from Polish
If you were deemed to be "not too bright", you were considered to be a schlepp (another bad connotation).
schlepper /ˈSHlepər/ (also shlepper) (noun)
an inept or stupid person
ORIGIN: the 1930s, Yiddish, from schlepp
If you were referred to as a "schlub", or "schlep" by anyone in our neighborhood schoolyard, there was a good chance a fistfight would have followed.
Early on in my life, as a frequenter of my neighborhood schoolyard—that would be P.S. 233—located in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. In our borough (that would be Brooklyn), we were all Dodger fans, circa 1943.
I was there rooting for the Dodgers in 1947 when the one and only ever black man named Jackie Robinson stepped forward to forever change our Major League way of life. Jackie and Pee Wee Reese crept, jumped, and surged forward into all of our lives as kids of P.S. 233.
"On April 15, Jackie Robinson was the opening day first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first black player in Major League Baseball. Robinson went on to bat .297, score 125 runs, steal 29 bases and win Major League Baseball's inaugural Rookie of the Year award. The Dodgers won the National League title and went on to lose to the New York Yankees in the 1947 World Series. This season was dramatized in the movie 42."
My dad and I shared many great happenings together. Movies, food, and sports headed up the interests of this very active father and son team. Some of dad's last words to me still remain the most formidable echoes in my extensive memory bank. But, to this day, nothing has surpassed my experience of seeing Jackie Robinson play baseball, especially at the one and only Ebbets Field.
So, Harvey Kalmenson went through WW2 beginning at age eight and then described the thrill and excitement of experiencing the greatest personal in-person event taking place right before me and my dad’s eyes. I remember my father's words to me: “Things are never, ever going to be the same again, Harv.” It was dad’s greatest under-evaluation of all time.
I was there rooting for the Dodgers in 1947 when the one and only ever black man named Jackie Robinson stepped forward to forever change our Major League way of life. Jackie and Pee Wee Reese crept, jumped, and surged forward into all of our lives as kids of P.S. 233.
"On April 15, Jackie Robinson was the opening day first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first black player in Major League Baseball. Robinson went on to bat .297, score 125 runs, steal 29 bases and win Major League Baseball's inaugural Rookie of the Year award. The Dodgers won the National League title and went on to lose to the New York Yankees in the 1947 World Series. This season was dramatized in the movie 42."
"Ebbets Field: The Old Days"
1943
My dad and I shared many great happenings together. Movies, food, and sports headed up the interests of this very active father and son team. Some of dad's last words to me still remain the most formidable echoes in my extensive memory bank. But, to this day, nothing has surpassed my experience of seeing Jackie Robinson play baseball, especially at the one and only Ebbets Field.
So, Harvey Kalmenson went through WW2 beginning at age eight and then described the thrill and excitement of experiencing the greatest personal in-person event taking place right before me and my dad’s eyes. I remember my father's words to me: “Things are never, ever going to be the same again, Harv.” It was dad’s greatest under-evaluation of all time.
Jackie Robinson was the equivocation of what the words 'world class' really mean. But I’ll tell you this from the heart, so were the Brooklyn Dodger fans. I was there as a participant. Kids and parents alike stood behind Jackie and his exploits.
And here’s a quote from my mother, as told to my dad, with me listening in along with a few of our neighbors, who had to be put in place: “Anyone who doesn’t like Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn is a real putz!”
Not to worry…next week I promise to get back to my world of voiceover. But one more little aside from who I am as da harv today. I can’t help myself— from my earliest days as a little kid, I had the kind of mom and dad who were proud of who they had become as Americans. I was about ten or eleven years old when I watched my mother smash a woman in the face with a lemon pie because she didn’t like the way the woman was talking about the United States of America.
I’ll be telling you about a Ford casting we did many years ago. Those were the days before the queen of casting came into our lives.
And here’s a quote from my mother, as told to my dad, with me listening in along with a few of our neighbors, who had to be put in place: “Anyone who doesn’t like Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn is a real putz!”
putz
(noun) a stupid or worthless person
(verb) no object
vulgar slang
a penis; engage in inconsequential or unproductive activity
Too much putzing around up there would ruin them.
ORIGIN: the 1960s, Yiddish, literally 'penis'.
Not to worry…next week I promise to get back to my world of voiceover. But one more little aside from who I am as da harv today. I can’t help myself— from my earliest days as a little kid, I had the kind of mom and dad who were proud of who they had become as Americans. I was about ten or eleven years old when I watched my mother smash a woman in the face with a lemon pie because she didn’t like the way the woman was talking about the United States of America.
I’ll be telling you about a Ford casting we did many years ago. Those were the days before the queen of casting came into our lives.
Harvey Kalmenson
Image Source(s): Google
No comments:
Post a Comment