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In Alderson, about 1948 I took the
money I had received for Christmas and went to Cliff Withrow’s Valley
Clothing store on Main Street just above the Post Office. I had about 25-30
dollars, which for me was a vast amount of money!
I had played baseball for Cliff’s Alderson team the previous summer and
Cliff and I were “tight”. Not sure many of you remember, but the same
building had been in the depression of the 30’s, a music store selling
instruments, radios, sheet music and records. The teams uniforms were stored
in the back room along with a barrel containing old, un-played records of
that era. Cliff allowed me to rummage and buy those I wanted at 2 for 25
cents. It is there I found a 12 inch recording of Bix Biederbix playing
“Dardanella” with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Another gem was 2000 male
voices, in as I recall, Madison Square Garden singing “The Creation Hymn”. I
loaned it to Miss “Ossie and some student broke it. I bought a lot over the
next few months, still have a few of them. I would have liked to have
bought them all!
But I digress, I had inherited a Camels Hair sport coat from one of my
uncles and needed a pair of brown pants, I knew just where to go. Cliff had
a revolving pants rack containing both dress and work pants just inside the
door. I was really taken with two pair, soft wool flannel, one light brown
and the other dark brown. They were $12.00 each, and I was limited to one so
I choose the darker of the two to go with my new/old coat. I recall I also
bought a pair of Jarman shoes for another $12.00.
My wife, Pearl, and I moved back to Alderson in 1954 and again I needed
trousers, and again I went to the Valley Clothing Store first. Inside the
door was the same rack, hanging on it was the pair of light brown trousers I
had wanted seven years prior, $12.00 still, a little dusty and probably
faded from sunlight, I bought them.
But darnit, the record barrel in the back room was gone! |
