Day 4. I'm going to be rich!

Since a young age I've always bought into the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland theory of 'hey! we have a barn, let's put on a show!'

And for some reason I have always been surrounded by friends who I could convince to do just that - I really would have been a great snake oil salesperson. Well, up until the point it came to actually be paid. I did have one draw back. I seem to hate to make people actually pay for what I bring to the table. Well - most of the time.

This post is going to span a number of years, a number of friends, and a number of get rich quick ideas. But I guarantee you, every single one of these stories is true. I really did this and I am amazed that Hollywood hasn't already signed me to a lifetime contract.

Growing up in Cudahy was a great time in my life. Our houses were huge and our yards were small, which meant that we spent a lot of our time in earshot of neighbors who would be destined to be audience members to the greatest shows on earth!

On Cudahy Avenue I lived across the street from a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Ackers. They sort of adopted me(7) and my sister, Judy(10), after our mother died. 

They became sort of grandparents, audience and the people that would teach me that tea wasn't all that bad if you added enough sugar. Mr. Ackers taught me how to eat apples correctly (from the bottom, not the sides), how to play drums - ok, how to hold drum sticks and bang on anything that would allow me to make noise, and how to see the heat coming off the street on summer days and wonder if it had a deeper meaning.

Mrs. Ackers had a great smile, warm hugs, and the patience of a saint. She made baked goods daily, which Judy and I were happy to sample. They had a little dog, Trixie, who loved when we visited because we shared said baked goods with her.

For all of this love and attention we repaid them by dressing them up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus and their reindeer (Trixie) - they laughed and seemed to enjoy the gentle abuse. 

I loved spending time with them. Mr. Ackers smoked a pipe and to this day when I see one at an antique store I have to pick it up and smell it. The scent brings back so many wonderful memories.

Van Norman Avenue (where we moved when my dad remarried) had a family across the street that became great friends and the members of my acting troupe. Chris F. and her brothers and sisters would join me as we choreographed dances to the latest 45 record they would play on their porch; learned new magic tricks (Chris had a magic kit); and did double dutch stunts. Yup - I used to be quite good at double dutch.

We would put on shows for their next door neighbors who would watch from their porch. Sevlin was an usher at our church and he lived with his sister, her friend and Mike (I think he was the friends son). It was as close to a boarding house I would ever come. But they would sit happily on their porch and watch our shows. They graciously paid us 10 cents a piece for the performance. We would turn around and use that money to buy ice cream from the Good Humor bike. In those days, we didn't have a truck - we had a teenager (usually) riding a bike down the street ringing bells, but we would still give chase holding our dimes high above our heads so the vendor knew we were serious customers. 

Parkway Estates in Oak Creek brought a new set of friends eager to join in my shows, well at least, that's what I assumed. Lori, my best friend to this day, and her brother, John, fell to my stories of greatness and helped put on a carnival one summer. We pulled together all sorts of trinkets to give out as prizes and made a huge snake like 'chair' that we stuffed with polyfill that we bought from Drews. That is until we realized that we needed more fill. So we finished it off with a bunch of old clothes. Lori's mother made us put on the carnival that we advertised even when I wanted to back out, and donate the money to Jerry's Kids. Jerry Lewis would put on a yearly marathon to benefit Muscular Dystrophy and putting on carnivals was one way families could help out - it was a good idea. Her mother (whose name is also Carol - no 'e') was very smart and made sure we followed through on our promise.

Another idea I had would have me, Arlys and Liz caroling door to door holding out a can for tips. That was probably one of my favorite ideas since I do love singing. And sometimes we actually got almost an entire dollar each for our efforts. We carried a tape player and sang along to songs we recorded off the radio.

I also talked Arlys and Liz into helping sell Current stationery to our neighbors. We went through the catalogue and wrote over the prices, jacking them up so we could keep the difference. It wasn't until I went to sell to my friend (and babysitting employer) Blake that we found out the prices were already set so you could use it as a fund raiser. Blake helped us place the order, and when it arrived, made us deliver and give the people back the additional money we had charged. Surprisingly the people didn't let us keep the difference, they really wanted that extra $1 back! Huh. 

Jenny and Rachel (Blakes children) became my next actors and we put on dances and shows that we rehearsed while I was babysitting. Blake and Bob graciously applauded and laughed at jokes.

Moving away from my friends one final time ended my 'play for pay' efforts and I went into the real world of minimum wage jobs - one of which was as a drama instructor for Oak Creek Parks and Recreation. That was a great job and I was finally getting paid for putting on shows. I always wanted to teach and combining that goal with theater was a bonus. I held onto that job until I was in my mid 20's. My final show I produced for the program was "The Wizard of Oz" with my niece, nephew and oldest son in the cast. My Aunt Pat helped me direct and wrangle the 60 kids I had enrolled in the class.

I'm still waiting to be rich - maybe I need to go find a barn that I can use to put on a show. 

Footnote - when I was in my senior year of Oak Creek High School, Lori,  John and I finally starred in "Babes in Arms" - if you look it up, the broadway show featured Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. It's the story of two friends putting on a show, in a barn, to save the day.