Yesterday afternoon, my grandson was eating a popsicle and asked me if there were popsicles back when I was a kid. This is the same grandson who asked me what cars were like back in the olden days. I told him that most definitely there were popsicles back in my olden days.
I can still hear the sound of the bells on the Good Humor truck as it approached the neighborhood. The bells were the signal that I had just a few minutes to get a nickle from my mother for a popsicle. With the neighborhood kids gathered, the Good Humor man would pull his truck over to the side of the road. He would then open a small door on the side of the truck where he would pass out the frozen treats to the waiting kids. The truck was painted white with colored pictures on the side of all the possibilities of frozen treats inside. The Good Humor man wore a white jacket and a jauntly little white cap on his head.
I usually got either a banana or a blueberry popsicle. But if I was lucky enough to get a quarter from my mom, I could buy either a fudgesicle, creamsicle, chocolate covered ice cream bar, or my favorite, a toasted coconut covered ice cream bar. The Good Humor man usually came around in the evening. A popsicle was a great after dinner treat especially when you could eat it while sitting on the curb with your friends.
My grandson was amazed about buying ice cream from a truck and wondered how the ice cream was kept frozen. That led to a discussion about refrigeration and whether or not there were refrigerators back in my olden days.
There was a brief period in my sister's history when she was quite a naughty and wild little kid (maybe 7-8 years old). I recall catching her hiding in some bushes that lined the front of our yard. Curious, I continued to watch as she waited for the passing of the Good Humor truck. I then watched horrified as she jumped onto the back bumper of the truck, opened the little latched door and retrieved a handful of ice cream bars before jumping off.
ReplyDeleteI reported to Dad, and I do recall he got after her for stealing and endangering her life, all to no avail. SHe was back to robbery within a few weeks. (Some neighbor kids were now egging her on and she was collecting quite a crowd of viewers.)
Spankings (we never got them--and this was Deb's only spanking except for the time Dad caught her smoking cigars) didn't work, nor did any other punishment.
But one day Dad asked if she ever thought about who had to pay for all the missing ice cream. Why, the ice cream man. And who went without clothes and toys because his pay had to go for all that missing ice cream? THe ice cream man's children.
And that got her. She ended her life of crime then and there.---And she did grow up a very honest, non-smoking woman.
Did you have the Helms Bakery trucks back east? They operated just like ice cream trucks. When the truck stopped and the side panel was raised, the wonderful smell was enough to knock you over.
No Helms Bakery trucks where I grew up. But that sounds divine...or rather smells divine.
ReplyDeleteThey must have raised the prices by the time you were old enough to pay by yourself, Connie. I remember when popsicles were a nickle and everything else was a dime.
ReplyDeleteLinda, again your memory on this is probably correct. Sometimes, I just pulling facts out of the air.
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