By John ‘Butch’ Dale
Guest Columnist
When visiting the Darlington drug store as a youngster in the 1950s, I followed my usual routine … slurping down a glass of “green river” or “cherry phosphate,” and then heading to the magazine aisle, with ice cream cone in hand, to sit and read the comic books while my father finished his cup of coffee. This would often take an hour or so, as Dad needed refills while chatting with his friends.
I don’t believe I ever purchased any comic books, as they cost a dime (eventually rising to 15 and 20 cents). After all, I needed that money to buy Topps baseball cards.
Another place to read comic books was just down the street at Slim’s barber shop. There was always a pile stacked up on the front window shelf, and I read these while waiting my turn. Slim stocked all of my favorites …. Archie, Jughead, Sad Sack Sarge, Tom and Jerry, Richie Rich, Betty and Veronica, Little Lulu, superhero comics such as Superman, and many westerns such as The Lone Ranger. Sometimes there were “Classics Illustrated” comics, such as Ivanhoe, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, and other condensed versions of famous novels.
If a comic book became tattered and torn, Slim gave them away to me and other lucky kids. After Slim passed away and the barber shop closed in the early 1970s when I was a teacher, I purchased all of the comic books, many of which were from the 1950s and ’60s. I donated these to the library museum, and they are still there today for visitors to enjoy.
Not only did I enjoy reading the comic stories, I also read the ads for crazy toys, silly products and gadgets. Remember “Grow Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys: Just Add Water and You’ve Got Instant Pets!”
Did you ever spend your hard-earned money on X-ray glasses, magic cards, joy buzzer, secret spy scope, skin head wig, smoke clouds, hot pepper gum, see-behind glasses, silent dog whistle, or any of the other goofy items?
Did you fellows order any Charles Atlas or Joe Weider “muscle-building tools?” How about the Junior Sales Club of America, in which you could join and then sell greeting cards or Christmas cards, with the benefit of receiving “fabulous” prizes such as a poodle radio, a Voit skin-diving outfit, a strato-matic baseball game … or if you were a super salesman … a bicycle. It might take you a few years to sell hundreds of packs of cards to earn enough “prize requirements,” but what enterprising young businessman couldn’t resist?
As a youngster, I enjoyed reading books about famous people in history, published by the Bobbs-Merrill company in Indianapolis. By the time I was 12 years old, I had read almost every one of those books in the Darlington library. I also enjoyed the classics, such as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn,” and “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.”
Sadly, very few children read these types of books today. However, they do read books called “graphic novels,” which are stories written and illustrated in the style of comics, with short texts and in a series of panels … action novels or funny stories …. “Dog Man,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “The Baby-Sitters Club,” “Big Nate Adventures,” and “Hazardous Tales,” just to name a few. Well, at least the kids are reading something, other than watching TV, playing video games, or texting on their phones.
Now at age 75, after my evening meal, I still enjoy reading biographies of famous people. My wife thinks I should read fiction once in a while. To make her happy, perhaps I will take some old copies of Archie and Jughead home this week … Hey, works for me!
