A Hopalong Cassidy Christmas........

[JB(MS)]

The only shoes I had until Christmas day of 1950 were what everyone around here called brogans, work type shoes with ankle high tops that were stiff leather with hard soles. We got a pair of brogans every fall after the crops were gathered that had to last until the next fall and dad always bought them a couple of sizes too big so I wouldn't outgrow them before it was shoe buying time again. They were stiff, heavy and always wore blisters on the back of my feet. My number one wish for Christmas was that Santa bring me a pair of cowboy boots.

Christmas of 1950 was really a great Christmas in north Mississippi, the weather was mild and Santa brought me exactly what I wanted. I was seven years old and up until then my sisters and I only got one present each and a few pieces of candy from Santa, but that Christmas I hit the jackpot. I got a Hopalong Cassidy hat, two Hopalong cap pistols that had steer heads on the handles, matching fancy gunbelt and holsters and best of all a pair of honest to goodness authentic Hopalong Cassidy cowboy boots!

<img src="http://jb-ms.com/images/hoppystuff.gif" align="left" vspace="2" hspace="4"/>I was in hog heaven, and couldn't wait until we went back to the country school I attended so I could show them off. Pine Grove was a sharecropping community and except for four or five kids who's parents worked at factories all the other boys wore the same type brogan shoes as I had been wearing. None of them had real Hopalong Cassidy cowboy boots and I was the center of attention ever recess after school started back. A few boys paid me from 3 cents, that's what a big glass bottle of chocolate milk cost at school, to a nickel to let them wear my boots for a few seconds. It just didn't get any better than that. The photo from an old Alden's catalog page is of actual Hopalong Cassidy stuff just like what I got.

Then it started raining. It rained nonstop for five or six days, the creeks overflowed, lakes went over the levees or washed them out and all bottom land was under several feet of water. No school, buses couldn't travel any roads except the main highway and water was over it in places. Then it turned cold. Cold really isn't a good description, it was still raining and in the 50's when we went to bed one night but well below zero the next morning when we got up. To make matters worse the rain had turned into ice before it stopped and there was a three to four inches of ice on everything. It stayed below freezing for over a week with temps at night going down to around or just below zero. There was woods on two sides of us and the sound of trees and limbs breaking from the weight of the ice was nonstop for two weeks. That was in early February of 1951 and every ice storm we've had since is compared to that one. It's called the Great Ice Storm of 51 and no ice storm since has matched it, or even come close. The old house we lived in wasn't insulated, and had no sub floor, so it was about as cold inside as outside but country folks got by and we managed. Barely.

When it started warming up into the 30's it snowed, but the ice didn't melt. We had 6 inches of snow on top of almost that much ice and mom would only let us go outside for a little while at a time. We built snowmen, had snowball fights, slid down a hill just east of our house and didn't pay much attention to the cold and would stay out until Mom or Dad made us come inside. Mom wouldn't let me wear my Hopalong Cassidy boots outside, I had to wear the brogans. I hated that, and would beg her for a few minutes every time we went out but didn't complain much as that would have got me an arse beating and I would have been made to stay inside.

There was a lake in the pasture just east of our house that was frozen over and my sisters and the Todd kids wanted to go skating on it. Mr Todd cut through the ice to see if it would support us skating and said the ice was 6 inches thick. We bundled up, like Ralphie in the movie Christmas Story, and to my surprise Mom said I could wear my Hopalong Cassidy boots. We skated, actually it was just sliding around, on the lake, wallowed in the snow and had a great time, but when we went in my boots were wet inside and out from the snow. Mom pulled them off me, sat them near the big potbellied wood heater and said they would be dry by morning.

When I got up the next morning and dressed I made a beeline for my boots. The boots were toasty warm from sitting by the heater but when I pulled them on they fell apart. Literally. My Hopalong Cassidy boots were made from some kind of cheap vinyl or plastic, had been glued together and the wetting and drying made the glue turn loose. I was devastated. That was a tough blow for a seven year old but I was just about over it until I did a search a few minutes ago and saw where one Hopalong Cassidy cap pistol, belt and holster with box was auctioned off for $2,200 and other Hopalong Cassidy memorabilia sells even higher.

Info on the ice storm of 1951:

<b><i>The most severe ice storm on record for the US occurred Jan. 28-Feb. 4, 1951 and affected Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia,Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New England. Ice accumulations for the most extensively damaged areas ranged from 4 to 8 inches. It caused $50 million damage in Mississippi, $15 million in Louisiana, nearly $2 million in Arkansas and also caused 22 deaths in those states.</i></b>

 

[Ron J]

a pair of cowboy boots,every Christmas for years,from the mid to late Fifties.Got them at the Owens Shoe Factory,in Salem,Massachusetts,(next town over)till it burnt down. Its odd you mentioned how terrible that ice storm was that winter. The shoe factory i mentioned,burnt in winter,Feb.i believe.It was a lasting impression,mainly cause of no more Cowboy Boots,but secondly it was so cold outside,by the time the fire was out,the firetrucks were in a foot or so of ice.They were all frozen in the parking lot!I remember this,because my mother had an early movie camera,so we were there watching it.Was it ever cold! The burnt factory,was loaded with huge icicle's.Guessing 1958 or so. We also had the twin pistols,and holsters,may have been Hoppy or Roy Rogers? We always had gunfights! Now? forget it! Hey! Remember "Have Gun,Will Travel"? Richard Boone,played Paladin? Now adays,a toy gun,can land you in the pokey! Thanks for jarring the memory banks!

 

[Royal]

blizzards and I have been through many ice storms but we are equipted for it. Well nobody is ever ready for an ice storm like that one! We have snow removal equipment though.

Hoppy, or is it Hoppie? was pretty popular back in 51. I remember him well. I was about 11 then and he was the first TV show I ever saw. A neighbor kids parents bought a TV and if we kissed Skips arse all week we might, just might, be invited up to watch Hoppie. It is my first memory of TV.

We too got one pair of shoes a year. In fact my brothers got hand me downs but me being oldest, I got new shoes every fall. We didn't wear shoes all summer though unless we were going to a dentist.

Different days back then

 

[Micheal_R]

Anywhere we went, it was bare foot. But all in all, I would not have changed a thing.

I can remember once ice skating to school....... we did that for about a week and there were no cars on the roads. It was great!!!

calm seas

M

 

[Jbird]

Im a little ahead of your time, young feller. My eighth birthday was in 1940. Affording shoes for fast growing kids was a huge problem back then. I just now remembered that seems like everyone kept a supply of shoe tacks around for shoe repair and knew a little about repairing shoes. My Granny Sims had a big box of shoes under the bed in her middle bedroom and the whole family, 9 boys and one girl, would dump their old kids shoes in there when their youngest ones had outgrown them. At some point at family gatherings, Uncle Harold would drag out that box of old repaired shoes and see if he couldnt match a pair to some fast growing feet. My uncle Harold had always been sickly and unable to do much outside physical labor but he prided himself on doing a lot of little things, like repairing shoes. He or they had somehow come up with one of those metal shoe "lasts", like the shoe cobblers had, (I think thats what they were called) that was mounted on a heavy piece of tree stump and was always sitting there at one end of the back porch where uncle Harold would sit and repair shoes during family get togethers. It was his way of contributing what he could. Thanks for an old memory. Maybe if you be good, your wife might sneak you a new pair of cowboy boots under the Christmas tree.

 

[Sunny]

getting a new pair of black and white saddle oxfords every year, but instead of Christmas, I would get mine around Easter. Mother always made me a pretty little dress for Easter since I was the only girl, but then I had to put those clunky saddle oxfords on with a frilly dress! And those saddle oxfords had to last until the next Easter. I hated those things, but you know something funny? I own a pair today that I bought a few years back from a catalog "Granny's Attic". They were the authentic oxfords that wore blisters on my feet, just like when I was a kid, but once broken in they fit fine. And now they are one of my favorites pair of shoes. I can see my mom laughing at me now!

And like the others, in summer we went barefoot alot, just out of preference. We all had pretty tough feet, and I still walk around the house barefoot in warm weather! If we were lucky, tho, we would get a pair of rubber "flip flops" as they are now called, but back then they were called thongs. Not like Willy's!

Thanks for the walk down memory lane, and I know how broken your little heart must have been when they fell apart. Strange how important things like this were to us when we were children!

 

[JB(MS)]

My Grandpa, mother's dad, could repair shoes pretty well. Well enough he got us by most of the time but he had a stroke not long after the ice storm in 1951 and died the next year. Don't seem that long ago does it?

 

[JB(MS)]

That ice storm was tough. We've had some since, including a couple that were bad enough they shut down everything for a week or so, but the 51 storm taught folks a lesson and we were better prepared. Most of the kids here went barefoot from the time it got in the 50's on the themometer until our parents made us put on shoes but I cut a foot so badly the summer I was 12 that I never went barefoot outside the house again. I also wouldn't let my two daughters go barefoot outside.

 

[Wayne in BC]

enjoyed the story for sure!
Hoppy was the first and best for kids.

 

[david(tx)]

your boot story brought back a memory,just like your brogans,i remember a few kids wearing them in elementary school,but i got a pair of cowboy boots one winter when i was about 13,they had rough leather tops and everytime i walked they rubbed the calves of my legs and rubbed then until they bleed.
needless to say i didn't wear them very much,and i think i had one pair in my twenties but didn't wear them much,i just never liked wearing cowboy boots.

we get a little electric co-op magazine every month and they had a story about a guy who had a cap gun collection,your story made me think of that.

 

[Jbird]

And to this day I dont know why but I would walk barefoot to my cousins house over 2 miles away. The road was asphalt and the blasing east texas sun would melt it in places and you had to watch close and not step in that melted tar. The road itself too hot to stand for more than a minute or so and then I would hop over to walk in the grass burrs on the side of the road. But put on shoes? Who, Me?? aint no way.

 

[VT Dave]

your momma had a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing the ice storm!

Dave

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

But what a memory that is to savor ! Before I even reached the end of your story, I was envisioning what an intact set of pistols c/w holster and cowboy boots would go for today. That's a double whammy !! All in all though JB, your story couldn't have a price tag put on it. Every summer we received a new pair of PF Flyer running shoes. We'd put them under our pillows and sleep with them the first few nights. That's how much they meant to us. As I sit here typing, I'm looking over at my youngest two girls shoe collection. Makes me wonder how this generation coming up can ever learn to appreciate anything. Whatta ya do ? Great story JB !!

 

[Royal]

getting a bad infection, I would not tell my mother about them until they got bad, but a couple times I would get so bad a red streak would go up my dang calf. Blood poisoning!

The home rememdy then was a bread milk poltis and it worked great. Before I would go to bed at night my mother would clean the wound, take a bandage and put some bread that had been soaked in milk on it. Usually by the next day the red line was gone.

We used to use it on boils too. Speaking of boils. Does anyone get them any more? They were common back then but I don't remember my kids ever getting one, anyone else for that matter

 

[david(tx)]

his arm about 6 months ago,my dad got them as a kid under his arms,i've never had one,my dad said they use to eat raisins to help get rid of them,or at least thats what they were told.

 

[Royal]

They are disgusting and very painful. I had a buddy that always had at least one. He would get those carbunkles. They are a boil with three or more cores. He had a lot of them on his neck and a carbunkle on his face once.

 

[david(tx)]

my buddy had some sort of cystic acne,guess some outgrow the problem.

 

[Royal]

n/t

 

[Royal]

Boils are round, red, painful, pus-filled bumps on the skin that are caused by a bacteria infection. When a staphylococcus aureus (staph) infection infects a hair follicle it develops deep in the root of the follicle and works its way to the skin's surface, forming a boil. Most people will notice mild pain, itching, and swelling at first. Usually within a day the boil becomes red and begins to fill with puss and becomes increasingly painful.

When a boil first begins to develop, it is small, red, and tender. After a few days the boil begins to collect pus, which is actually a mass of white blood cells that your body's immune system has sent to fight the infection. The center of the boil begins to take on a whitish color.

 

[Piperboy]

n/t