Wrestling, Westerns and Smarties

When we got our television set my father discovered wrestling, something he had never seen before.  Remember this was on a black and white television set and the days when Abbott and Costello were all the rage.  When Dad first started watching wrestling he thought it was real fighting.  He had never seen anything like it before. 

            My brother Jens-Ole wasn’t watching wrestling with him so he didn’t know what wrestling was when one of the neighbour boys proposed to him, “let’s wrestle” Ole didn’t know what he meant.  But the boy got him in a headlock and Ole being aggressive began “wrestling” with him, at the same time making a kind of rattling sound in his throat.  He was maybe three at the time; he thought the guy said “rasle” which is rattle in Danish.  So Ole was obligingly making this rattling noise while he tackled the boy to the floor. 

            When my Morfar (grandfather) came to visit many years later he would watch the wrestling on Saturdays and be absolutely amazed.  They didn’t have such programs in Denmark and my father couldn’t help kidding around with him.  Morfar believed to the end that the wrestling was real and thought it should be outlawed!  But every Saturday he had to watch it.

            I’ve mentioned that my mother loved to watch I Love Lucy.  She also enjoyed the old movies that they would run many of which had never been shown in Denmark because of the war.  So she loved Abbott and Costello movies but believe it or not she was absolutely terrified when “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein” came on.  She had all us kids sitting around her on the floor as she watched so all of us had our hair standing on end as Frankenstein got out of the box.  We were as petrified as Lou when he stutteringly tried to tell Bud that the monster was behind him.  I kept looking over my shoulder while my finger nails dug into my mother’s leg.  I had recurring nightmares for years afterwards starring Frankenstein in pursuit of me.  I still remember the dreams!

            In those days television really kept families together.  We would watch I Love Lucy, The Red Skelton Show, Wagon Train and Maverick to name a few of the shows.  Westerns were really big in those days and as my parents loved Cowboy & Indian programs we saw whatever we could get on the TV.  I can still probably name every Indian nation that ever made it on to a TV program!  Part of watching the TV included getting a special treat on Saturday nights.  My mother would usually buy a package of licorice or Smarties and would divide it up for all of us.  Jeanette and I would keep an eye on to make sure we all get an equal amount of the Smarties.  Can you imagine?  We might have got 8 Smarties altogether.  That was it.  Today a kid would get a jumbo bag all for themselves.  No wonder there is obesity in our nation!  And it wasn’t every Saturday that we would get a treat. Sometimes just watching TV was the treat!         

            Oh how the world has changed.