SKY KING, PENNY, ROY AND DALE

There were several girls in my neighborhood around my age.  Annie lived in the house next door on the right.  Gail lived across the street and Susan lived down the street a few house. Susie lived in the house directly behind ours and Terry lived around the corner.   We would play together often doing girly things.  But I didn't exclusively play with girls.  One of my best friends for several years was Jeff who lived in the house next door on the left.

Jeff's family was one of the few on the street that had a finished basement.  It was done even before ours.  I remember it was finished in the typical decor of the 1950s, including knotty pine paneling on the walls.  Jeff's family was also one of the first families to get a television.

There were several popular radio and television shows back then.  Among them were "The Lone Ranger", "Roy Rogers and Dale Evans", and "Sky King".  Since we didn't have a television until I was in about the 4th grade.  I had to watch these shows at my friends' homes.   At Jeff's house, I would watch "Sky King" and "Roy Rogers".  When the shows weren't on, Jeff and I would play "Roy Rogers" or "Sky King" just like kids today play "Star Wars" and "Transformers".

"Sky King" was our favorite show and the one we played the most.  Jeff was Sky King and I was Penny, Sky King's niece. If Jeff's little brother was around, he would be Clipper, Sky King's nephew.  We'd pretend that the top stair of the basement steps was the cockpit of Sky King's plane.  The fun that we had as these characters was only limited by our imagination. As Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, we would often play outside where we had more room to gallop around on our make believe horses while we were rounding up the bad guys. Jeff also had a playhouse in his backyard that often served as Roy and Dale's house. We would frequently climb up the very prickly cedar tree behind the playhouse when we needed a better view of where the bad guys were hiding.

Those were very good times and a very treasured part of my childhood.  Jeff and his family moved before we were out of elementary school.  I remember being very sad...no more Sky King and Penny, or Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Correction:  It's good to have a younger brother who remembers things a little differently and probably more accurately.  Jeff's younger brother, Timmy, was Alan's best buddy. Al says that Jeff and his family moved when he was in the second grade.  I would have been in junior high by then and probably out grown playing Sky King and Penny a few years before then.