For those of you not familiar with the show, it's about a couple of guys and a highly tattooed woman who find antiques and collectible treasures throughout homes and farms across America. This particular episode had Danielle, she's the tattooed woman, getting an appraisal on a stack of 78 rpm records that her cohorts Frank and Mike had found. She went to see an old-timer in Chicago who was the country's highest authority of old 78 albums.
And of course that triggered the memory
For some reason, mom and dad had a collection of 78s stored in a cardboard box upstairs in our converted attic which served as Ricky and my bedroom growing up in Dayton, Ohio. The box was stuffed back behind the paneling which also kinda created a secret place that "The Jer", my notorious (if someone could be notorious at that age) friend. and I would do many of our "secret things". ...Those stories are for another time).
Since the records weren't being played and simply gathering dust, "The Jer" felt we could make good use of them.
We had a small window upstairs that looked out on our street, Sandhurst Drive in Dayton. This window had provided us with many hours of entertainment including dropping water balloons on people coming to the front porch as well as a launch site for us jumping out the window while holding a large towel over our heads hoping this makeshift parachute would break our fall and not our legs when we jumped from the window.It also became the launch pad for what would result in yet another Skeeter and "The Jer" escapade that would have given my sainted mom more grey hair had she learned of what had transpired ........sailing 78s out the window and laughing as we watched them shatter in pieces after gliding sometimes for over a 100 feet . I guess we went through about 10 of them as we challenged each other to see who could sail their disc the furthest.....
I know at the time it seemed pretty cool.....and of course we didn't get caught...but, my oh my, I would give anything to have known what songs were on those 78s and of course if there would be any value in today's market.
As some of you know I now have a immeasurable love of music...all kinds....and in all formats, 45s, 33 1/3rds, CDs, MP3s and of course the wonderful 78s, that sailed so smoothly thru the air.
To this day, even though I can't remember where I put my car keys, I can still remember the first 45 I bought in 1957 for under a dollar at a record store in Northtown Mall...."All Shook Up" by Elvis and I didn't purchase my first album until 1963 when "The Beatles" released their first album in the U.S. "Introducing the Beatles" in 1963. I can remember Eddie Stout and me singing cuts from that album like "I saw her standing "there" as we walked to Loos school to play baseball.
And now some 50 years later it breaks my heart to know I sailed those 78s out the upstairs window.....but gosh they sailed so good.
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