Hooky.
“Playin’ hooky”.
Somehow the very phrase seemed to be made for the ‘50’s.
Innocently naughty. Sneakily mischievous.
(Not to be confused with the somewhat more naughty “Nooky”.)
I mean it does begin with playin’!
Interestingly, when I checked with today’s generation,
it seems the term lives on,
although now it is used more for skipping a monotonous workday.
One thing I do know…
is that as a kid in the 50’s,
playin’ hooky was regarded by my parents
as just below a major felony.
Thus, my hooky playin’ was limited to a handful of occurrences.
This was less because of any “high moral ground”…
and more because of my Mom’s warning ringing in my ears:
“If you do something wrong, someone will always be watching”.
P.S. I still leave in fear of that!
Nonetheless, my “rap sheet” notes 3 instances in which I “strayed”.
1. “PEPITONE” (Wednesday, 5/23/1962)
You might wonder why I remember the exact date of this hooky happening.
Well, it just so happened to be a particularly lovely day in the Bronx.
And it just so happened that my beloved Yankees had a day game.
And it just so happened that I had a rather boring school day ahead.
So, a couple of buddies and I just so happened…
to head up to “the Big Ballyard in the Bronx”…
to see the Yankees play the Kansas City Athletics.
(Yes, that used to be a team!)
We each spent our $1.40 and were able to purchase seats
in the lower deck in right field.
(That $1.40 could now get you ¼ of a Stadium hot dog!!)
And of course, while the “suckers” sat in class
learning about the Pythagorean Theorem or some other junk…
we watched the Bombers trounce the A’s 13-7.
Now, that wasn’t historic…
the Yankees always beat KC.
However…
Brooklyn’s favorite son, Yankee first-baseman, Joe Pepitone, hit a homerun. Nice…but not “historic”.
In fact…Pepi hit TWO homeruns!!
Impressive. But still not “historic”.
What WAS “historic” was that he hit two homeruns…
IN THE SAME INNING!!!!
And…not only was I there to see it…
but, his second homerun grazed off my fingertips!!!
HISTORIC!!!
It would be in all the papers…
with pictures!?!
UH OH!
I could just see the caption…
13 YEAR-OLD BRONX BOY, PLAYING HOOKY,
JUST MISSES CATCHING PEPI’S SECOND BLAST!
My Mom’s words echoing..
“Someone’s always watching”.
That night I made very sure my Dad never looked
at the sports page of the Daily News.
Escaped.
And the Yankees won .:)
1. “ORANGE JULIUS” (1964)
A second “hooky escapade” was not quite as dramatic,
but newsworthy on its own.
I was in high school.
Struggling mightily with my grades.
This particular day, I had a report due…that I didn’t do.
Rather than facing the music…
I opted to mention to my best friend, “Heintz”…
that perhaps I was coming down with “hooky fever”.
I didn’t have to say another word.
Heintz and I were soon barreling “downtown” on the IRT subway.
What was the plan?
There was none.
We simply had to fill several hours and arrive home
in time to appear to have finished school.
But that was no problem…
Hey, we were “DOWNTOWN”!
Times Square. Skyscrapers. Arcades.
And lots and lots of people…girls too!
So we wandered aimlessly…
pretty much staying out of trouble.
And then we were approached by a very attractive young lady.
With a very provocative smile,
she offered to buy us a drink…
well actually give us a drink…
“Have you tried an Orange Julius?”
With that, she handed each of us a tiny plastic cup,
filled with something that looked like foamy orange juice.
We took a sip…and…
OHMIGOD!
It was like nectar from the heavens!
Heintz and I agreed…
It was one of the most amazing things that ever passed our lips!
Like a whipped Creamscicle!
“Want another?,
our Orange Goddess asked.
“Uh, yes please!!”
Soon a crowd was forming, all sipping from their tiny cups.
We panicked!
What if there was a limited supply in the world???
Then we noticed that directly across the street,
there was another young girl handing out tiny cups
filled with OUR Orange Julius!
We ran over to her and calmly asked…
“May we try that?”
Gulping it down…
Heintz grabbed my arm…
“LOOK!”
And there, at the corner,
was an entire crew of “Orange Juliets”,
surrounded by a crowd of eager sippers.
And a TV crew covering the promotion!
It seems that this nectar from California was named
The “Official Drink” of the New York World’s Fair!
Happy Julius-filled drinkers were espousing the glories
of this new-found wonder as local news reporters were drinking in every word.
And there was Heintz and I,
mugging it up for the cameras as we grabbed every filled tiny cup we could.
And then…
once again…
I heard in my head…
“Robert, when you do something wrong…”.
Oh no! Now the whole world would see me playin’ hooky! Alas, our mugging never “made the cut” for the 6 o’clock News
No one saw us missing school.
Like the devil on the logo…
escaped again.
AND in a few months…
an Orange Julius outlet opened up in The Bronx.
1. “LITTLE LEAGUE LOSER” (3rd grade)
My most painful hooky memory was the first time I ever played hooky.
And I believe that time I had a justifiable reason.
But that time I didn’t “escape”.
And to this day, I feel the punishment greatly outweighed the crime.
I was in 3rd Grade.
And only weeks before I had finally signed up for Little League.
I was baseball crazy…
and actually felt that this would be my first step
to becoming Centerfielder for the New York Yankees.
But my rise to stardom didn’t get off to a great start.
Sure, I had my uniform, a brand new glove, and new pair of sneakers…
but turned out that I was the youngest kid on our team
and instead of having a grown-up (or even a teenager) as manager…
we were managed by the oldest kid on the team,
who was intent on playing all his buddies,
while “benching” some skinny, little 8 year-old punk.
However, on this day,
some of the “starters” wouldn’t be at the game…
Chicken Pox ! :)
This would be my big chance.
I DID go to school that morning.
I lived right around the block from PS 91.
Like every morning, I’d walk to school with my sister, Ellen,
(a 6th grader),
then meet her to go home for lunch,
and return for the afternoon session.
So my my plan was at 3:00,
I’d run home, get into my “uni”,
and head to the field.
But not so fast.
On this particular day,
my 3rd Grade class was “acting up”, “misbehaving”, “causing mayhem”.
So our teacher, Miss Coyne, (who I was usually in love with),
informed us that the entire class would have to stay after school!!
OH NO!!! My road to the pros would be put on hold.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Could I?
So my classmate/teammate, Steven S. and I decided
to do what we had to do…
we made the bold, (if not well-thought-out) decision…
that we would not come to class for the afternoon session!
Instead we would return to our respective homes
at the normal 3:00 dismissal time…
put on our uniforms, grab our gear…
and Play Ball!
No one would be the wiser.
Right?
So what would we do for those few truant hours?
Hmm, how ‘bout exploring a recently demolished building?
Also, not a well-thought-out plan.
The ruse was on.
After nearly breaking our necks climbing over ruins…
at about 3:15, I arrived at home, ready for my pre-game prep.
And there was my Mom waiting for me.
“Hi Rob, how was school today?
With my heart beginning to beat a bit faster,
I mumbled…
“Um, O.K.”.
My Mom had a strange look on her face,
“Really? That’s funny…Because Miss Coyne called Ellen down to see why
you weren’t feeling well, and didn’t come to class.”
DUM DA DUM DUM!!
Someone’s always watching.
I had nothing.
Speechless.
No escape this time.
Now for the punishment:
Because I played hooky to go play baseball…
I had a LIFETIME ban from the Little League!!!
LIFETIME!!!
Honestly, it was one of the few times in my life
I thought my parents were being unfair.
If it was no TV for a month…
or no friends allowed in the house…
or even a spanking…
I would have understood.
BUT…putting and end to my professional baseball career???
I blame them to this day or my not making the Majors.
Someone’s always watching.
Would love to hear any tales of your playin’ hooky.
