March on...

Valentine's day is behind us and we look forward to Spring...stopping along the way for a green beer and collect a few four leaf clovers for good luck.

Our March update features a walk down 1970 memory lane in both our community and the world of advertising. A reminder of a rock star that came home, the realization that Luther Hope didn't have a problem with "Low T", School #1's debut and a step back in time when those carhops wore black slacks, white shirts and an orange paper cap.

Once again, we received many guesses as to our mystery classmate...none successful. If you had only guessed that it was Cindy Hathaway you would have been correct. Try your hand at correctly guessing this month. No clues from me this time around. Compare the kindergarten photo to her senior yearbook picture and they are almost identical, minus the thirteen years and freckles in between.

Enjoy!

Richie got his "way"...

From Smeathers to Sambora...what we knew as Smeathers St., that short little street leading down into the high school, was renamed Richie Sambora Way in honor of the 1977 WHS graduate.

Bon Jovi's guitarist was honored sixteen months ago for his efforts for his hometown. The city honored him for his recent fundraising program “You Can Go Home,” which helped local student Kelly Mahon who suffered from a brain tumor in her senior year.

"The people I met in high school, my classmates, my teammates and coaches, really helped me build a lot of the base for success that we have formed as a band with Bon Jovi. And, if I can do these things to help give back to those kids, and one special kid in Kelly Mahon, it's the least that I can do," said Sambora

At the dedication ceremony, Sambora urged students to use the road "in good health my friends, and win, win, win, win, win." The Bon Jovi guitarist also donated a new weight-lifting room to our alma mater in his late father's name.

"Who Says You Can't Go Home," and do something good?

1970 revisited...

Return for a moment back to 1970 and relive Madison Avenue's advertising style. Here are a few examples of the ads and products we used back then. Take a stab at our 1970 quiz...good luck!

In a commercial for this game, one kid exclaims, "You knocked my block off!" Which game were they playing?
Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. This game was recently referred to in a recent episode of Futurama. In the scene the robot character, Bender is aghast when one robot's head pops up.

In this commercial for sausages, a child calls out, "More ______ Sausages Mom!"
Parks. After hearing from many parents, the commercial was later changed to, "More Parks Sausages Mom... Please?"

Here's an old beer jingle, "They took what nature had to offer, hops, barley, corn and water clear. They brewed natural things into a natural beer, _______ natural beer."
Rheingold. It was the 70's and nature was in. The commercial included photos of fields of wheat, clear streams, etc.

In this commercial one of the kids jumps up and exclaims, "You sank my _______!"
Battleship. I remember a version of this commercial where the kid was playing a man in a Navy uniform who responds by opening his mouth to shout and was drowned out by a foghorn of a boat.

"Once upon a time there was an engineer. Choo Choo Charlie was his name, we hear. He had an engine and he sure had fun." What product did he use to make his train run?
Good n' Plenty. Charlie says, "Love my Good n' Plenty!" Charlie says, "Really rings my bell! Don't know any other candy that I love so well."

"Candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize, that's what you get in _______."
Cracker Jack. These commercials have been recently seen in TVLand's Retromercials.

An older Italian woman pokes her head out of her apartment window and calls "Anthony" and then you see small boy who runs home because it's Wednesday and in this area of town Wednesday is _______ Day.
Prince Spaghetti. The famous Anthony commercial was first introduced in 1969.

"Hurry on down to _______ where the burgers are charcoal broiled."
Hardee's. Long before Burger King used a similar slogan, Hardee's had this little jingle. Wetson's was a New York area burger chain from the 1960's - 1970's era. Their icon was a clown named Sonny Wetson long before Ronald came to town.

"You deserve a break today, so get up and get away." Where is this jingle directing you to go?
McDonald's. This jingle was actually written by pop star, Barry Manilow.

We all know that NBC are the initials of a national US television network. But, at one time another well-known US company used the initials in their advertising and on their logo. What company was that?
Nabisco. Nabisco, originally known as the National Biscuit Company and used the initials NBC in their logo.

This commercial asked, "Would you offer a _______ to a lady?" What product are they talking about?
Tipparillo. The tipparillo was sort of a thin cigar with a plastic tip. This was at the beginning of Women's Lib.

In this famous commercial an injured football player is leaving the field and a young fan sees the footbal star struggling in the vacant hallway. He offers the player his drink. At first the player tries to shake the kid off. But then accepts the drink. What drink was it?
Coca-Cola. The football star was Mean Joe Greene and the drink was Coca-Cola. After gulping down the soda, Mean Joe calls out to the kid who was sadly walking away and tosses him his jersey. This commercial later became the basis for a movie.

Complete this list: "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and _______."
Chevrolet. It was Chevy's jingle in the years leading up to America's Bicentennial.

Complete this final jingle, "When you've said _____________, you've said it all!"
Budweiser. It was the widely used jingle of the early 70's.

Numero uno...

Construction began on School 1, a centralized school in March of 1876. The location was on School Street In downtown Woodbridge, The same building that now houses the administration was originally 71 X 112 feet, 2 floors, 6 apartments and accomodated 400 students. The cost to build was $25,000. School 1 was dedicated on January 6, 1877. The first graduating class was In 1884, where 13 girls And 1 boy recieved their diplomas.

Many of us started our school experience with kindergarten through third grade in that very building.

What's in a name?...

How many of us growing up thought it was odd to see Hopelawn streets named May, Loretta, Juliette and Clyde to mention a few? Turns out, Hopelawn was the homestead and farm of Luther M. Hope in the 19th century. After its incorporation, the original streets were named after Luther Hope's children (Juliette, Loretta, May, Luther, Lee, Warren, James, Howard, Clyde, John, Ellen, Charles, Herbert, Erin, Emmitt, William)...yes, you're correct; sixteen kids. Originally called Hope's Lawn, it was later shortened to Hopelawn.

(click on the group photo for a larger view)

It's also home to many of our friends and classmates.

Back in the late fifties then Massachusetts Senator John Kennedy visited Hopelawn's Majestic Lanes. Although the picture quality is poor, I wonder if any of our Hopelawn parents are captured in this photo.

got milk?...

How many of us remember our very early elementary school days when the lunch milk cartons were flat topped as opposed to the later designs using a gable top carton? In addition, many of us grew up with home delivery of our milk...pictured above is some of the bottle caps that sealed the bottles.

Classmate spotlight...

This classmate of ours is no dummy...he designs them, he restores them. In fact he does a whole lot more than that! Alan Semok has enjoyed an amazing career in the entertainment field.

We should have realized that Alan was destined for impressive accomplishments when he handled the lead role in our high school play, The Education of Hyman Kaplan, with ease. Alan’s performing career includes live theatre, film, series television, commercials and promos, standup comedy, and both character and straight voiceover work.

In 2003 Alan lent his internationally recognized expertise in the field of ventriloquism to a variety of film projects, including one entitled DUMMY. In addition to designing and constructing the film's title character, he served as the ventriloquial technical advisor on the project and spent several weeks personally coaching Adrien Brody in the techniques of ventriloquism and puppet manipulation.

Alan (wearing his "other" hat as the internationally known "Dummy Doctor") appeared as a "guest expert" on an episode of the PBS series HISTORY DETECTIVES. The program segment revolves around an interesting search concerning the origins and provenance of a 90 year old ventriloquial dummy, purporting to be directly related to Edgar Bergen's famous "Charlie McCarthy".

Alan's AMERICAN EXPERIENCE episode entitled The Duel, continues to air on PBS stations around the country in frequent repeat showings. (July 2004 marked the 200th anniversary of the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr). The film has also been picked up by many schools around the country and is shown in the classroom as a faithful depiction of events surrounding the infamous duel involving two of our founding fathers. In this film (shot on location in May of 1999), Alan portrays Vice President AARON BURR in re-enactments of the events leading up to the famous duel (as a result of which Hamilton died)

Alan has also recently been on television with three commercials: the first is a commercial for Wendy's restaurants, in which he portrays a corporate C.E.O. with stage fright attempting to give a company report to a group of perplexed employees. Alan has also been featured on television and in movie theatres across the UK and Europe in a commercial spot for M&M's, appearing with the commercial's two stars, RED and YELLOW. Throughout most of 2007, Alan was featured in TV commercials for Levitz furniture The spot was shown in the New York area as well as the Pacific Northwest and California.

In addition to the original vintage puppets, in the early 1990's Alan (at the request of Bob Smith) created several exact replicas of Howdy including (thanks to improved materials and new moulding techniques) a more exact marionette replica than had been produced in the past, as well as a new Photo Doody which Smith used in personal appearances until the time of his death. One of Semok's marionette duplicates appears on a 2005 cover of TV Guide magazine as part of a series recreating classic covers from the magazine's history; the cover featured Howdy with Conan O'Brien standing in for and dressed as Buffalo Bob Smith. Another of the Semok duplicates resides in the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, the private museum owned by renowned illusionist David Copperfield.

This very multi-talented classmate of ours is someone we are proud to call "fellow alumni".

Fifty plus...

Two Amboy Avenue institutions throughout most of our lives have been Mauro Motors and Provenzano's Hair Stylists.

Mauro Motors, a family-owned car dealership with a downtown Woodbridge presence since 1951, had been running on fumes since Chrysler dropped its franchise back in June 2009. Last month, the Amboy Avenue property, which had been in the family since 1929, was put up for sale. The lots and showroom are empty and stand as another example of what's happening elsewhere in the country as more and more small dealerships close up shop.

At Mauro, for example, sales of Chryslers had dropped to 45 a month by 2009, down from 50 to 70 cars the dealership once sold monthly before the recession took hold in 2007. Mauro's initial plans to stay in business, first as a used dealership and service station, and then as a seller of Mahindra vehicles from India, were not successful.

Provenzano Hair Stylist on the other hand continues to succeed. The business owned by our former classmate Andy Provenzano has weathered the recession as his clientele has stayed loyal to the business that his older brother, the late Gus Provenzano, started over a half century ago. How many of us guys over the years have sat in the chair where Amboy Avenue meets St. Georges Avenue to have the Provenzanos clean up our act. Andy, your WHS friends wish you and your family the very best along with continued success.

WHS buses circa 1970...

Like a fine wine...

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN'T LOOK THAT OLD. WELL . . . YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE.

MY NAME IS JANE, AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST. I NOTICED HIS DDS DIPLOMA ON THE WALL, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME.

SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK-HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS SOME 40-ODD YEARS AGO.

COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?

UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER, I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT. THIS BALDING, GRAY-HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS WAY TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE.

AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED WOODBRIDGE HIGH SCHOOL . 'YES. YES, I DID. I'M A BARRON,' HE GLEAMED WITH PRIDE.

WHEN DID YOU GRADUATE?' I ASKED. HE ANSWERED, 'IN 1970. WHY DO YOU ASK?' YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!', I EXCLAIMED.

HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.

THEN, THAT UGLY, OLD, BALD, WRINKLED FACED, FAT-ASSED, GRAY-HAIRED, DECREPIT SON-OF-A-BITCH ASKED,

"

"


'WHAT DID YOU TEACH???

A step back in time...

If Little Leaguers of today were afforded the perks of lavish player contracts, one demand would certainly include Stewart's hot dogs and cold root beer after each game. As a kid myself, we always begged our folks to stop at Stewart's after our games. Growing up in Woodbridge we all enjoyed this iconic eatery once located on Amboy Avenue.

The first Stewart's Drive-In was opened by Frank Stewart in 1924 in Mansfield, Ohio. Stewart opened up a small stand to make extra money in the summer to supplement his income as a school teacher. The restaurant was originally a west coast style fast food eatery serving only root beer and popcorn. He added extra salt to his popcorn to boost his root beer sales. He eventually opened up more locations, many of them with carhops.

Our Woodbridge franchise served the community until the mid eighties; demolished and replaced with a Wawa mini mart. Recently, Anna Ladjack shared with me her fond memories of when she was in charge of the kitchen for fourteen years. A period of time that she recalls with great admiration for those that she worked with, calling them all "her kids". "Each and every one of them was polite, respectful and responsible" recalled Anna. Many of them were our fellow WHS classmates that signed up for part time work in the kitchen or as the infamous "carhops".

Back then, on a typical summer day, Stewart's would sell in excess of six hundred hot dogs.

Call it nostalgia, however for me, root beer and a good chili hot dog has never lived up to those we once enjoyed at our own orange drive-in haven called Stewart's.