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BACK IN THE DAY - 09/07/2008
(by Bryan La Placa - Webmaster and Argus Managing Editor - September 10, 2008)
Whacking Day, Labor Day, a local odyssey and murder at the drive-in
NORTH JERSEY – Here’s a look at what was published in Suburban Trends around every kid’s favorite time of year.
Sept. 5, 1963 – Whacking Day
One of the best episodes of “The Simpsons” is about the people of Springfield celebrating “Whacking Day” – a fictional holiday where the citizens drive all the town’s snakes into the town square and then club them to death.
But that’s just a cartoon, right?
The top story in the Sept. 5, 1963 edition is about killing the dangerous snakes around here. Fear and violence sells newspapers.
The big picture on the front page shows a policeman holding a dead copperhead snake.
“One potential danger eliminated,” says the caption underneath. “Oakland Police Chief Joseph Wood Jr., holds a dead copperhead snake which was found and killed on Skyline Drive. Frank Scardo, forest fire warden for the area, saw the 41-inch long poisonous reptile crossing the road and killed it with a stick. It is now on display, preserved in a jar of formaldehyde at Police Headquarters.”
That’s really big for a copperhead. It would have warranted a “Crikey!” from the late Steve Irwin, who died two years ago on Sept. 4.
Another picture that takes up half the front page shows the police chief pointing out the differences between harmless and poisonous snakes on a color chart that looks like it was made by hand. It has a big skull-and-crossbones over the “dangerous snakes” section.
It was reportedly an “annual ritual” to hang up this poster in the police station at the end of summer – next to the dead snake jar, I suppose.
Wood said that this time of year was “especially dangerous” when dealing with snakes because the snakes were shedding their skins and were relatively blinded by the process.
“As a result, they will strike at anything,” warned the caption.
You thought going back to school was most dangerous thing about this time of year? No way, it’s the snakes!
“Killing of Seven Copperheads, Five Rattlers Points Up Menace With Advent of Cooler Weather,” warned the headline.
“Many of the reptiles come out of the mountains at this time of year due to the dry conditions. Many of them invade suburban backyards and woodpiles,” it was reported.
Scardo, the forest fire warden who had killed the long copperhead, said that he had personally killed seven copperheads that year, but considered that a normal amount of dead snakes.
“He said that he sees a number of reptiles in the course of his rounds as a forest fire warden,” it was reported.
“A check of area police departments revealed that the blue coats had dispensed with a number of snakes. The top score goes to West Milford where police have killed five snakes. Several of the snakes were killed in the highly populated Lakeside area. All of the reptiles were rattlers,” according to the old article.
Reportedly, “all authorities agreed that this is the time of year when snakes are very active.”
“The best advice given by snake killer Scardo was: If you see a snake and he's not too close, get out of there or get someone who knows how to handle them. If you are within striking distance, freeze where you are and he'll go away, that is, if he's a copperhead. If you are too close to a rattler, you are already bitten,” says the old article.
Sept. 1, 1963 – Easy Rider
“Four Boys Take 50-Mile Bike Trip, Declare Area a Place of Beauty,” ran the headline underneath a photograph of four boys on bicycles.
“We would never move to the city,” they said after their tour. The boys were Calvin Deal, Andy and Gary Gambrino, and Richard Schilling.
Frequent readers of this column may recognize at least one of those names. Cal Deal later became one of the best reporters this newspaper ever had when he was not yet even out of high school.
The 50-mile bike trip wrapped up the summer for the four boys. Brothers Andrew and Gary were 14 and 10. Richard was 13. Cal was 14 at the time, and a carrier for this newspaper.
According to the boys, they were sitting around discussing things about our area when they decided to go on a bike trip and “see what was going on.”
They started at 9 a.m. and concluded their trip at 4:45 p.m. that same day.
The Gambrino brothers missed supper, but said that was OK.
“It didn’t matter, anyway. We really had such a good time, and we had too much lunch anyway,” said Gary, who was reported to be the “self-appointed spokesman for the group.”
The best part of the trip, they said, was along Ryerson Road in Pequannock.
“It was all nice little farms,” said Cal. “I didn’t know we had so many around here.”
Gary said, “Yeah, you know the road was kind of twisty, and there are all these little places. I never saw the road before.”
The boys also stopped at the Dey Mansion in Wayne but weren’t allowed in because they had no adult with them. They vowed to return with a grownup in tow. They didn’t go home empty-handed, though. They were allowed to take pamphlets.
“Boy, that’s a nice, big place with lots of stuff to see,” said Richard.
Cal said that all the people along the way were nice and helpful.
“One boy even went with us to show us where Kiel Avenue was in Butler. I’d never been there before,” he said.
The boys made up much of the trip as they went along. Their original plan was less ambitious. Cal had an odometer on his bike, and after the boys had completed their original trip, it only showed that they had gone 20 miles. So they ventured into Wayne to put on 30 more miles.
There was originally five members of the group, but as they put it, “one guy chickened out” and left after the first 20 miles.
Their route was Pompton Plains via the Newark-Pompton Turnpike and the Boulevard; the Pequannock section of the township via Lincoln Park Road; Wayne via the Newark-Pompton Turnpike; Pompton Lakes via Black Oak Ridge Road; Haskell via Ringwood Avenue; Bloomingdale via Union Avenue; Butler via Hamburg Turnpike; and Kinnelon via Kiel Avenue.
Then the boys traveled down Route 23 back to Pompton Plains and into Lincoln Park on Hollview Road. They went across the Boonton Turnpike to Mountain View, and along Totowa Road into Preakness. Then they went across Ryerson Road in Pequannock and home again via the Boulevard and Route 23.
The boys said the points of interest along their trip were Kinnelon High School, Dey Mansion, “two guys from Harrison,” Lincoln Park Airport, Pompton Falls and Totowa Airport.
All the boys were students at Kinnelon High School except for little Gary who was a fifth grader at St. Mary’s School in Pompton Lakes.
Cal Deal now lives in the City of Fort Lauderdale and has had a long and celebrated career in newspapers.
Sept. 2, 1973 – Labor Day 105 years ago
A story was published about what Labor Day was like in Pompton Lakes in 1903. The article is difficult to make out because it has degraded.
On Labor Day back then, the Pompton Lakes firemen were awake at the break of dawn to erect tents and prepare the grounds for the day’s celebration that included a clambake.
It was a clear and cool Labor Day in 1903. The celebrators began to arrive in the early morning hours by horse, horse and buggy, and trains.
The houses and stores of Pompton Lakes set the tone with flags and other patriotic decorations.
The festivities began with a parade that formed “at the depot” and followed a route that took the marchers through Riverdale and then back into Pompton Lakes where the parade ended at the Lenox School campus.
The parade was led by Butler’s 24-piece band, including firemen from Butler, Ramsey and Pompton Lakes. Civil War veterans, the German Artistic Weaving Union and the Newfoundland band also participated.
After the parade, there was a baseball game between a Pompton Lakes team and a team from the Oranges. Pompton Lakes won 18 to 12.
Then came the clambake and bicycle and foot races.
Then they played another baseball game, and Pompton Lakes won again by a score of 14 to 8.
There were also several horseback riding competitions, as well as a Victoria Cross Race in which the riders performed something of a relay on horseback.
Then they had a silly race in which the contestants carried a dress suitcase around a track, dismounted, took out a nightshirt and sewed on a button, lit a cigarette, put on a hat, mounted their horses again, and headed back.
The games just went on and on. There were also egg-and-spoon races and an apple-picking contest. They also danced.
A horse race for a $200 purse (about $4,500 in today’s money) was canceled because Mayor C. C. Romaine was thrown from his cart and injured while trying to pass a woman who had crossed the road in front of him.
Sept. 4, 1968 – Movie murder
“Police Seek Movie Murder Witness,” ran the headline on the front page.
This story too is hard to make out, but apparently during a Friday night showing at the Anthony Wayne drive-in, the manager was shot and killed while hundreds of patrons were laughing at the movie “The Odd Couple.”
The occupants of a white older-model car parked near the manager’s office were being sought by police to question what they may have seen around midnight when the murder happened.
The article repeatedly begs the occupants of that white car to come forward to the police.
The manager, Frank Yennie, was in the process of entering his car with another employee. He had the night’s receipts in his hands – $1,300 ($7,500 in today’s money) – to deposit in the bank.
The robber reportedly grabbed the bag of money and shot Yennie in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
Then the robber forced the other employee into his own car, a newer tan Cadillac, and took off at high speed and apparently knocked over a wooden traffic barrier.
The robber fled along Route 46 and then let his hostage go at a gas station. He abandoned his car less than a mile away and it was unclear if he had another car waiting for him there or just hoofed it.
He was described as being a white male with dark hair between 25 and 29 years old and weighing about 160 pounds.
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