” BEEN THERE, DONE THAT”
Age 10, I worked at a morning paper route with the Times Union in Albany, NY.
Age 10 to 14 years of age,(1942-1946)from 4 to 6 PM, I would buy the Knickerbocker News paper for a penny and a half and sell them for three cents each (most of the times receiving a hard nickel. At different times I worked all Four Corners of State and Pearl streets in Albany, Albany, NY. I have very fond memories of working the corner that had a Walgreen’s Drug Store standing so elegantly on it. In the middle of a very hard, cold, miserable wintry day being so happy to get my first quarter which allowed me to go inside, set myself down at that very large food counter and order up one piping hot cup of coffee and four (count em, yes! four) slices of fresh out of the toaster, warm to the belly, toast...What a way to fight the cold.
Ages 14 to 16 often found me working a variety of ways. A message boy at Dearstyne's Company. A soda jerk at a drug store near the corner of Clinton Avenue and Pearl Streets. Stock boy at F.W.Woolworth on Pearl Street. Disc Jockey, on a show I called, "Teen Time" at WOKO radio stations and a quick stop off as a teen age disc jockey at radio station WPTR. In between I would win money at talent shows through out the Tri City Area doing comedy bits, or as a singer, and at times doing pantomime of popular records. These events were held on the radio and as part of the dying art of Vaudeville at the many stages of the Palace, Strand, Grand, Ritz, Leland, Paramount, Eagle, and Madison theaters that populated the Albany, NY area.
During my early 10 to 16 years of life there were many ways to work and raise funds for the necessary items of life with a few pennies being used wisely for items that made it all worth while...like penny candy. Yes! There once was such an item to enjoy. Scrounging up soda bottles to regain the two cents they would bring at the local grocery store. Going down back alleyways of local stores, locating a very large cardboard box into which all types of goodies would be placed and some value for them would be redeemed at the scrap yard. Items like other cardboard boxes, paper of any description, metal of any kind, clothing being discarded by others had excellent value for resale to second hand stores. I could get a dime for an untorn jacket; even a man's shoe had value at a shoe repair shop for it's still usable sole and heel.
Those same years saw me, mom and grandpa George Alexander Morgan climbing into his very dependable truck and traveling anywhere from five to 30 miles around the Albany, NY area to visit homes and especially the many campground areas during the summer months. There mom and I would carry our baskets full of goodies to sell to the tourists and homeowners. We had lifesavers, candy, gum, sewing kits, packaged handkerchiefs, sun oils, all being desired by the buyers. Grandpa would be cleaning out the basements, attics, garages, taking whatever the folks wanted to get rid of. Each and every item would find it's way to the salvage yard or into the many rooms or small buildings that were at his house where he ran a secondhand store.
Years of 16 to 18 were indeed strange in comparison to what other teenagers wanted to do. Boys wanted to brag about their latest conquests. Girls wanted to prove that they were as good as any 21- year -old. Me ? Just wanted to make it through the day and on to the next one. I had to many places to go, to many things to do, to get all cought up in their doings. Not that I did not have buddies, plenty of em wanting me to play ball, go hunting, do manly things. I spent my days and early nights working or at the movies. I must have worked every job I could find and saw every film made in the 40's. That was basically my life, at work or at the movies.
Work wise there was time spent at Hires Root Beer factory, in the bindery section of a book company, factory work at a glove manufacture in Amsterdam, NY, also maintenance worker at the F. W. Woolworth store in Amsterdam, NY. Age 18 found me as a grill man at the White Tower hamburger joint on the corner of Clinton Avenue and Pearl Street in Albany, NY. It was while working there, in the front window where the grill was located, that I spotted the sign across the street at the enlistment office of the United States Army. Uncle Sam was pointing his finger directly at me. It was on the 4th of July weekend and all day long while looking at that sign again and again all I could think of was going over tomorrow, on the 5th and signing up. Korea had just broken out in March of that year and I had asked mom the year before, when I became 17 to sign the papers that would allow me to go into the Army, but she talked me out of it. Without her signature I could not enlist at that age. But NOW I was 18, did not need her signature and so without mentioning it to her the very next day, the 5th I was down at the enlistment office signing up for the Army.
The entire morning of the 5th of July 1950 was spent with the recruiting Sargent and I going around the city locating the people I needed references from and filling out the paper work. About 3PM, after the physical and completion of all paper work plus the swearing in, Sarge said, " Well, recruit you have 3 days or 3 hours, there is a train leaving at 1815 hours for Fort Dix, Trenton, NJ today". "No problem sage", said I, "I'll be at the train station in plenty of time", and off I went to get a change of clothes. Mom was home and very surprised to say the least. But since I was somewhat on my own since the age of 10, doing what needed to be done for myself, there was very little offered by her to prevent me from leaving on time. With a small paper bag containing just the basics I arrived at the train station. There was the sergeant and 16 other male forms that all looked somewhat in a daze, much like me. Briskly Sarge walked up to me saying, "since you have some experience, being in the national guard for awhile, you are in charge of these men, here are their papers, get them there on time". Those few words reminded me of the time my cousin Bobby John Winslow and I went down, at the age of 16 and signed up for the National Guard in Danville, Illinois. When I returned to the Albany, NY area, I transferred my status to the NY guard. What I had pushed into my mind while in the guard served me well as I began a new venture in my life.
After Basic Training I became a member of the Army Security Agency with training in criptogrophy etc. at Carlisle Barricks in Carlisle, PA. On to continued education in St. Louis, MO. and Financial training at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Indiana. It was while stationed there in Sept. 1951 I received orders for Korea, shipped out on Christmas Eve. 1951 out of Seattle, Washington. Korea Jan. 1952-May 1953. Hon. discarge in NJ in Jul 1953. At no time while serving in what the goverment called a "Police Action", did I see even one Policeman...IT WAS A WAR no matter what the damn politicians called it..................
Stateside. Out of the Army July 1953. Sales at Pittsburgh Paint Company, sales at Men's dept. Montgomery Wards, sales/stock at Albright's Hardware Store, wholesale sales at a paint/hardware store on upper State Street, payroll with the Division Fire Safety with the State of NY, elevator operator at the Capital Building with the State of NY, ballroom dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studios in Albany, NY, Troy, NY, West Palm Beach Florida and Evanston, Indiana. Delivery with furniture company in Danville, Illinois. Stock work in a paper company in Danville, Illinois. Usher at the Radio City Music Hall in NY City. Fuller Bush salesman, Watkins Home Products dealer, sold encyclopedias, hair tonic, magazines, all door to door. Gave "Home Parties" for no doubt every product sold that way. Wholesale toys and novelties for Miller Merchandise Company. Mershaw Record Company, shipping section. Rates clerk for Interstate Motor Freight Lines. OS&D (over, short and damage) section for McLean Trucking Co. Most of the above were in the Albany, NY area, except where mentioned.
In Arizona area, sales in a sign company. Kittchel construction company doing home remodeling. 3 years with market research at Quick Test Company, doing one on one survey in local malls.
In between all of the above there was always a way to earn a few bucks in show business. Many of the years were spent as the villain in melodramas at Gaslight Village in Lake George, NY, at Storytown, same area. A couple of "Flags over America" spots. A few movies, TV shows, and some parts in stage work. Between the years of 1974 and 1984 work was a combination of acting and running a jewelry business at local, state fairs and rodeos all over the United States. Just some of the towns were, Las Vegas, NV- New Orleans, LA- Amite, LA- Baton Rough, LA-Hammond, LA-Buffalo, NY-Danville, IL-Sterling, IL-Waukeegan, IL- Chicago, IL- DeKalb, IL- Springfield, IL- DuQuoin, IL-Mt.Vernon, IL- Refugio, TX- Longview, TX-Abilene, TX- Ft.Worth, TX- Dallas, TX- Arthur, TX- Beeville, TX- Corpus Cristi, TX- McAllen, TX- Nacogdouches, TX- Waco, TX- Austin, TX- Pascagula, MS- Biloxi, MS- Hattiesburg, MS- Mobile, AL-Birmingham, AL- Live Oak, FL- Gainesville, FL- Lakeland, FL- Orlando, FL- Brooksville, FL- Inverness, FL- Panama City FL- and about eleventh hundred more in every state. Those were the places where "Mr. Pockets" and the forever scary, "Man-E-Ken" came to life.
This brought me to 1984.
