Photos of DAHS kids, this time on their precious bicycles

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Before we learned how to drive, children rode their bicycles around the safe streets of Levittown. No one wore helmets, but do you remember any head injuries? Yes, we may have scraped our knees or tore our pants. Occasionally, while not paying attention or showing off, we might bang into a parked car. However, mostly it was reasonably safe to take a spin. Ah, the simple pleasures of our long-lost youth.

Early Levittowners depicted above are:

* Tim Lavey, class of 1963, at age four in Brooklyn in 1949. Biking was safer in Levittown.

* Carol, class of 1964, and sister Kim Binninger '73 in 1958 on Quiet Lane.

* Marilyn Monsrud, class of 1963, giving her sister Susan '65 a ride on a bike with training wheels.

* Leslie Sands Bell, class of 1968, shows off her new ride in 1959. That's her sister Gail (class of 1970) behind her. "Sadly," lamented Gail, "we moved to East Meadow in 1966." Therefore the Sands did not graduate with their friends from Division Avenue High School.

Do you remember those vehicles that delivered food and other services to our doors? An ice cream truck driver named Cosmo was popular.

Cosmo and his Little Blue Bell ice cream truck roamed Levittown streets for decades. Dugan's, Krug and Good Humor were mainstays.

By FRANK BARNING

Most moms were housebound in the early days of Levittown. As a rule, families had only one car and dad drove it to work.

It was a huge help to the homemaker, known as "the little woman" in those days, that trucks delivered food and other products directly to her door. John Kinstrey, class of 1961, remembers a truck selling produce. I recall vehicles (many from Renken) selling milk, cream and butter. Borden's did a lot of business from its trucks. Milk came in glass, returnable bottles. On extremely cold days, milk would freeze and pop out of the top of the bottle, through the paper cap.

Bakery goods were peddled by Dugan's and Krug trucks. My mother, who had an off-beat sense of humor, referred to the bakery trucks as Krugan's. One of them had wonderful cupcakes. I can remember peeling off and devouring the delicious icing before eating the glorious yellow cake. The Dugan's cupcakes came with either chocolate, vanilla or strawberry icing, and the jellyrolls and coffee cakes were real treats.

If she wanted Dugan's to stop, mom put a D in a front window. There even were Dugan's toy trucks for sale, which I do not remember, but have seen offered on the internet.

Fuller Brush men vigorously worked the thousand lanes of Levittown. According to Wikipedia, "During the 1940s and 1950s, the ubiquitous Fuller Brush salesman became a cultural icon, inspiring comedy and jokes, movies, and at least one song." There was a 1948 movie starring Red Skelton called 'The Fuller Brush Man." The company is still in business and has kept up with the times, offering environmentally safe cleaning products that are nontoxic and biodegradable. I have no idea if they still have salesmen trudging door to door.

Since our homes were heated by oil, trucks delivered our fuel. Meenan Oil seemed to have a virtual monopoly and its big green trucks appeared to be everywhere in the winter. I can still smell the stench emitted by the big hose that poured out the precious black gold and can remember the foot prints that drivers left on our front lawn when there was snow on the ground. The company is still in business.

And, of course, Levittown had a virtual parade of ice cream trucks in warm weather. Bungalow Bar was my favorite, many preferred Good Humor, and there were lesser known brands that made a profit primarily on the personality of the driver. Midge Bollinger, class of 1960, remembers the Little Blue Boy ice cream truck driven by Cosmo. He only drove on the north side of Levittown and was around for decades. Midge remembers him from as far back as 1954 and recalled that he was around until around 2003.

After all these years, just about nothing tastes better than those scrumptious Dugan's cupcakes and Good Humor Toasted Almond bars. After a Google search, it was learned that Toasted Almond bars are still being manufactured by Good Humor. Walmart and other retailers stock them.

EARLY LEVITTOWNER MEMORIES

Wally Linder, class of 1961
Cosmo spoke with an Italian accent and was a constant on the north side of Levittown in the 1950s and beyond.

We used to play a lot of sports in the street; football, whiffle ball and even hose ball and Cosmo was always around in the warmer weather. If you were out of the house and roaming around Levittown, you would see him almost every day. He was interested in what the kids were doing and used to talk to us, while most adults didn't. He was a fixture at the pools.

Jon Buller, Al Greengold, Jerry Reichert, Jeff Peyton, John Fitzsimmons (all class of 1961) and I ran into Cosmo at the Azalea Road pool in 2000 during Division's 40th reunion weekend. That's when the above picture was taken. He told us then that when he retired he was going to donate his ice cream truck, to the Levittown Historical Society.

Polly Dwyer, president of the Levittown Historical Society
Cosmo offered his truck with some requests. Wanted it in the Levittown parades and on display whenever possible. Then when we thought about it, who would be the principal driver, where were we going to house it, and the insurance, registration would be costly.

We thought it all through and finally regretfully had to turn Cosmo down. It was such a part of Levittown that we were so sorry to have to let it go. I believe there was a happy ending for the truck though I don't know exactly what it was.

Susan Weldon, class of 1960
Yup, Dugan's. Yup, Meenan.

We had seltzer delivered in real glass spritzer bottles
and I named a cat after Cosmo.

Barbara Wittenberg Taylor, class of 1960
I remember Meenan Oil dominated Levittown, and their number one repairman was a very overweight man named Vito. When my Mother called for a repair, she always demanded Vito. I would sit in the kitchen of our Cape Cod home, 41 Sugar Maple Road, and watch in fascination as Vito would slowly squeeze his 300 pounds in between the stairs and the Bendix washer. There would be a moment when he seemed stuck, and then, "Plop!" he disappeared under the stairs. He oozed out the same way. It was a great show.

I remember the radiant heat in the concrete slab, the concrete weight on the trap door in the attic, the sound of "Cosie's" ice cream truck, the scissor sharpening truck with the loud cow bell, and the lingering smell of Honeysuckle that was all over the neighborhood in the Levittown of my youth. What a grand time it was, and will always remain in my heart.

Marilyn Monsrud Frese, class of 1963
Remember the glass milk bottles that had the top of the glass bottle shaped like a ball for the cream to rise into? My sister and I used to race for the new milk delivery to drink the cream out of the top of the bottle! UGH- sounds awful now, but we sure loved it! But then again, I also liked the cod liver oil my mom gave us every morning- we called it Fish Oil.

June Johnson, class of 1963
We had Dugan's delivery and also dairy delivery. I was a skinny kid and my mother would order "Golden Guernsey" milk that was thick with cream for me. I always loved milk and looked forward to the deliveries. Like Marilyn, I never had a problem with cod liver oil.

I had a crush on the kid who delivered Good Humor in the summer and would buy ice cream at home and then run to my friend's house to buy more!

Larry Bory, class of 1960
There were also cleaners who picked up and delivered clothes and a guy who sharpened knives who had a really creepy bell, not like the friendly Good Humor jingle.

Roanne Debbins, class of 1975
I still have a seltzer bottle delivered by Pinky! His name is on base of the spritzer.

Renee Howard Cassese
WOW! I remember Dugan's Bungalow Bar and Good Humor. And milk delivered to the side door, the Fuller Brush man and Beauty Counselor. Kids today don't know what they're missing!

Lilette Levy Bagwin, class of 1960
I not only remember Good Humor and Bungalow Bar, but I also remember Howard Johnson's coming in a truck that looked like a little house but fancier than the Bungalow Bar truck. Their ice cream had a special taste that was different than the others. I also remember Charles Chips delivering potato chips. My mom always felt they were
unhealthy but I used to eat them at other people's houses. They were so thin and delicious and fresh. Do they still come around?

Arnie Galeota, class of 1961
I remember seeing a diaper cleaning service picking up, taking and cleaning cloth diapers. General Diaper Service was the name of one company. Naturally this was before disposable diapers came in. Even the pharmacy would deliver prescriptions in special circumstances. There was the ever present insurance salesman usually by appointment in the evening hours when the man of the house was home from work. John Hancock was my parents' choice.

Toni Crescenzo Gelfer, class of 1968
The strongest memory I have of all those delivery men was Dugan's. When that man came by with a selection of baked goods, he had those delicious chocolate cupcakes with the marshmallowy filling. I thought I'd won a prize. Many days he was sold out before he made it to my house. I believe that those cupcakes were a precursor to the Devil Dogs I was addicted to in my teens. Loved those days!

Beth Cummings, class of 1960
We mustn't forget the Avon Lady. As I recall the radio jingle went like this:
(Doorbell) Ding-Dong
(Spoken) Avon calling

Song:(music in a dreamy, syrupy waltz style, arranged as if for, say, Doris Day or Patti Page)
Avon calling
Let beauty come in, let beauty begin
When your Avon representative brings a
Marvelous, glamorous, in your home collection
From the beauty-filled Avon collection
Avon calling
Avon calling on you.

Part 9 - Photos of DAHS graduates when they were children

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This is the ninth in a series of posts featuring pictures of Division Avenue High School graduates when they were children.

Depicted are:

* Cliff Fromm, class of 1960, age 10 while in the Cub Scouts. Ten years later he was wearing another uniform, that of the United States Navy.

* Toni Crescenzo Gelfer, class of 1968, age seven or eight. "For my birthday, mom always made a tin foil crown for me."

*Sandra Kelly Mincher, class of 1961, the ballerina at age five in 1949.

* Carol Binninger, class of 1964, and her brother Linc (1963). The photo was snapped in 1948.

* Marilyn Monsrud, class of 1963, with her mom and sister Susan (1965) in their backyard on Boat Lane in 1950.

Woof, woof .. Photos of Division Avenue graduates when they were children, this time with their beloved dogs

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By FRANK BARNING

Dogs were popular with early residents of our town, probably because there were so many children. Kids usually want pets and dogs are often the first choice.

Some of us got stuck with goldfish, which often died within a few days, if not hours, of arriving home from Woolworth in a plastic bubble-like bag. My home usually had a parakeet which we pretended could talk. The one we had the longest was named Gilly, after Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

My mother had a friend with a thick Scottish accident. Mary Fleming's parakeet was named JoJo and he could say his name, "Wee JoJo" with an accent resembling Mary's. Or so my mom and Mary thought.

Many Levittowners had parakeets. They were inexpensive to buy and feed. I don't remember any that were taken to a vet, which was costly for dog owners. Occasionally a parakeet would escape a Levitt home and it was not rare to see one in a tree. Unlike homing pigeons, parakeets never returned to their cages.

As I recall, and this was more than 55 years ago, most of the dogs in Levittown were mutts. There were few high-class dogs of pure breed. Maybe the pooch population was a reflection of Levittowners, and I mean that in a kind way. One of the charms of our town was that there were hardly any people who put on the dog, just hard-working moms and dads, with sons who delivered newspapers and shoveled snow for spending money.

I also remember that if a family let it be known that it wanted a dog, a neighbor or three would advise them to go to the Bideawee because it had plenty of canines for adoption and the price was only a few dollars.

Sadly, I report that the venerable Bidawee now offers "Yoga with Your Dog" as well as "Mutts and Mimosas" and "Reading to Dogs". And don't get me started on the subject of pet cemeteries.

According to the kennel's website it was "Founded in 1903 by Mrs. Flora D'Auby Jenkins Kibbe. Bideawee, which means 'stay awhile' in Scottish, is one of the oldest humane organizations in the United States."

It might cause you to wonder if Bideawee was in Wee JoJo's vocabulary?

Early Levittowners depicted below with their pups are:

* Marilyn (class of 1963) and Susan Monsrud (class of 1965) in 1948 or 1949 with their dog Sparkey. Marilyn wrote: "My dad was in the Army Air Force in WW2 and found him as a little pup in an airplane hanger. He brought him home hidden in his flight jacket for the whole flight. Such a great dog."

* Marilyn Monsrud, class of 1963, and her dog Teddy in 1958 when she was 13 years old. What happened to Sparkey?

* Toni Crescenzo Gelfer, class of 1968, about four years old with her big brother Jimmy who graduated from Levittown Memorial High School in 1959.

* Tim, class of 1963, and Mitch Lavey (wearing hat) with Sarge, circa 1955. According to Tim, "I was about 10 and Mitch was eight. Sarge was a stray my dad found on a roofing job. The picture was taken on the front lawn of our 173 Orchid Road house."

Part 7 - Photos of DAHS graduates when they were children

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This is the seventh in a series of posts featuring pictures of Division Avenue High School graduates when they were children.

Depicted are:

* Beth Cummings, class of 1960 at age five in 1948.

* Toni Crescenzo Gelfer, class of 1968 at about age six. "I lived on those swings."

* Roslyn Haberman, class of 1961 in 1945.

* Steve Mohr, class of 1960 at age eight. He lived at 103 Kingfisher Road.

* Marilyn (on right), class of 1963 and Susan Monsrud, class of 1965, at Eisenhower Park in around 1952. It was known as Salisbury Park back then.

Do you remember Harold Fricke and Leila Ettenson? They were at Division Avenue High School for decades.

Click on pix to enlarge

By FRANK BARNING

Approximately 18 Division Avenue High School faculty and staff members from the late 1950s and early 1960s were still working at the school in 1975. Larry Loewy, class of 1975, provided photos of the DAHS old timers that appeared in the 1975 yearbook. We've included shots from the 1960 yearbook. This is the sixth installment of "Do you remember . . .?

Mr. Fricke was a popular art teacher who encouraged and influenced numerous students. The school nurse, Mrs. Ettenson seemed to always be there when one of us had a health crisis.

A previous blog story by Tom Paturzo Baker, class of 1960, was a tribute to Mr. Fricke. The headline read "Thank you Mr. Fricke for helping to mold my development". It can be found in our blog archives under the heading "Harold Fricke". It was posted on March 14. Tom wrote, "His class was a form of emotional therapy; he influenced my appreciation for the finer things in life. More importantly, he helped me understand myself."

A person identified only as Susan commented, "I knew the man later on in his life and he was wonderful. He loved his children and found tremendous joy in his grandchildren. And they learned from him everyday."

Part 6 - Photos of DAHS graduates when they were children

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This is the sixth in a series of posts featuring pictures of Division Avenue High School graduates when they were children.

Depicted are:

* Frank Barning, class of 1960, at age two.

* Vivian Barning, age two in Brooklyn. She is not a Levittown girl, but she is your blogger's squeeze.

* Marilyn Monsrud (left) 1963 and her friend Linda Morris going off to kindergarden in 1951.

* Franne Newman, class of 1960, at age three.

* Tom Filiberto, class of 1963, at age two and a half, at a New York City park water fountain.