A couple of quick flashbacks...out Hwy 80, near the lake, the highway ran down a small hill with the lake on one side and Rose Hill Cemetery on the other. Before we started pairing off with the girls, a group of the guys often went out on Friday and Saturday nights to pass time and see what kind of mischief we could stir up.
Two small, yet memorable activities were to go signboarding along the highway. There was a large beer billboard on the south side of Hwy 80, that McCoy, I think, thought would be fun to pantomime. The premise was that it was a shame for the beer to spill out of the glass or pitcher, so we should try our best to keep it from spilling. Up the ladder we go, out the walkway, and the animated pantomime began. Most times we did that, a dozen or so cars would screech to a stop, pull off to the side and watch. When the crowd built up enough, we would climb back down and drive away before the cops came.
Almost across the road was Rose Hill, so either on other nights or maybe those same nights we would sometimes go into the cemetery and see if the place could scare us...most nights it did. Those days were before Lee Harvey Oswald was interred there. J.W. is there now but he wasn't with us those nights. Names like Cooper, Dillard, McCook, Shields, McCoy, Koebernick, Means, Scott, Tate, and Helmericks come to mind.
Adios
3 comments:
There was a professional wrestler of some note (maybe (?) it was Farmer Jones) who did some of the security and landscaping of the cemetary at that time. My wonderful Grandfather knew him, I would go there occassionally to take (permitted to do so)cuttings off plants for use in my grandfathers nursery for propagating. He was salty enough that the adventure must have been level with 'yee haw'.
I am glad you city boys had plenty of 'no harm' fun -- also. boys boys boys
As a side note, it could be fun to know, Bud Smith (of our class) made a perfect score of 500 on the military PT test in Sept of 1963. Whooa. It was a big deal. I witnessed each event. He was a Cracker Jack prize right out of Coach Graves PE class. Cheers to him. Cheers to all of you young friends.
Just Sayin' by Danny McCoy
Never did we deface the billboard.
Sign Boarding was a creative competition. And with gas at .26 per gallon it was a cheap diversion. We would leave one of us on the billboard as the others would go up the highway and turn around to get the full dive by effect. If your pose was good or funny, you could let you get back into the car. If it was dorky, we just drove on by and let you hang out for a while. Yes, we put our small mouths under a pouring pitcher of beer; we stood in front of a new Chevy convertible on a fake highway; we got our hands stuck in a buttered slice of Mrs. Baird's Bread and there was no mooning except from the moonlight.
At Rose Hill, we did take the R & the O away and move the S to the end of Hill so it read E Hills, but the letters were too heavy to do it again.
Just Sayin’ – Danny McCoy
With gas at .26 per gallon signboarding was a cheap, harmless diversion. We never defaced the billboard. It was a creative competition. Participants would preselect their billboard. Yes, we did open our snarky mouths under a pouring, pitcher of beer; we placed ourselves in front of a speeding Chevy convertible on a fake highway; we got our hands stuck on a buttered slice of Mrs. Baird’s Bread; we would pretend to be in the same bathtub of an attractive model selling cigarettes, etc.
To get the full effect, we would drop the first person off and go further down the highway and turn around for our billboard drive-by as they struck their pose. If we thought it was good or funny, we would stop and let them back in. If it was considered lame or dorky, we just drove on by and let them hang out for awhile. There was no mooning, just the midnight moonlight.
At Rose Hill it was too inviting to take away the R & the O and move the S so that it would now read E Hills. We only did it once because the letters were too heavy.
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