DAY ON THE PIER

It’s Memorial Day and the start of another summer…always makes me think of my summers growing up and then I am back to 1955 and we pile into my grandfather’s giant Buick for our annual pilgrimage to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier.  We actually dressed up for this trip – an idea so foreign for today’s holiday travels. 

Also, my grandmother made lunches for our trip. Get out.

The trip was a trek in those days – years later I would commute twice as far to work every day.  First stop after parking for a dollar was the rooftop picnic area – the Pier allowed you to bring in your own food.  Ham salad on white bread.  We bought Cokes from a refreshment stand nearby.

 

And then our adventure began with two fun-houses.  The first had two floors of scariness with one below the wooden deck.  The other was not scary - for the "little ones" which I definitely didn't feel a part of at 10. After a few screams we visited a "grave" exhibit - under a massive headstone that read R.I.P was a horizontal glass box a bit bigger than a phone booth where one could view a “live” person in his underwear.  Supposedly there all summer, being fed through a small window.  It looked hot in there and I was mortified at the idea.  My grandmother reported that, "some people would do anything for a buck, ask Crazy Had Elliot who sat on a flag pole atop the Levoy theater for two months!" We moved on as watching this guy who was oblivious to those peering at him read the newspaper wasn't very exciting.

For one price of admission there were two movie theaters.  A vaudeville show with show biz stars - on today's bill - a new singer named Como.   There was also the Tony Grant Stars of Tomorrow show with my cousin Eleanor Haley with a girl named Merle and the two Kirby brothers all from Millville dancing as the "Hicks from the Sticks" 8 shows a day.  (And all in the future proved Mr. Grant to be wrong in his prediction of stardom in their case).  We sat through this show out of family duty - but I really couldn't wait to get to the end of the pier. 

What seemed far out to sea was the main attraction - the "Water Circus" with a seal that played bicyle horns, a team of diving clowns, a daring high diver and the great Diving Horse as the finale.  (The dive actually looked more like the horse reluctantly fell into the large tank - the bally-hoo promised much more than this act actually delivered. But this was the highlight of my day as the clowns belly-flopped into the sea far below and the high diver timed his jack-knife to at the high point of a swell. All this accompanied by the Steel Pie 4 piece band.

We slowly made our way back toward the shore.  Past the "Diving Bell" a ride made world famous by  a newsreel of a couple getting married "on the bottom of the sea",  I had ventured aboard this one floor elevator ride and frankly, once was enough. The "Captain" touted the thrill of seeing the underwater sea-life from the portholes that ringed the chamber - in reality I could only see a cloud of sandy green.  Once again the reality paled in comparison to the hype - I would learn in later life this was usually the case in show biz and many other aspects of "real" life.

We had cotton candy, popcorn and created a "sand sculpture" in a bottle for a buck.  My mother kept it on her chest of drawers for years.  We visited the GM exhibit on the way out.  Sitting in the new Cadillac was the best of the dozen cars on display.  The scent of a room full of new cars was intoxicating to a boy my age. 

And then home to sleep after a day of walking the pier.  A full day for the cost of a cup of coffee today.

The 50's were the salad days for Atlantic City and the Steel Pier – it indeed was the Queen of the Jersey shore - wearing a crown that has tarnished so much with age.  Those days will never return, no matter how many casinos survive there.  And the days of simple fun have disappeared too - along with the Steel Pier and my summer Sunday adventures.