Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

STAN'S LOOKOUT

'Newsreel shows Stapp family in action - circa 1932

By Stan Stapp

(Editor's note: The following column by Stan was originally published in the Oct. 6, 1960 edition of the Outlook. Stan thought present-day readers of the Seattle Sun might enjoy reading what it was like to be a student in the Wallingford neighborhood back in the early 1930s.)

ONE OF THE EARLY and persistent memories of my life was hearing my Mother call out: "Stanley, throw back your shoulders!" Although I never quite figured out what she meant, I did try to straighten up a little. But a minute later, she would have to remind me again, her words apparently having little practical effect at least in the beginning.

That my posture was not of the best when I was a kid can be verified from the report cards in my scrapbook. Adelle Wheeler, my third-grade teacher at Interlake Grade School (now the Wallingford Center shopping mall), noting that my posture was poor and my writing nearly unreadable, handed me "U's" the first semester. However, I made some improvement in the last half of the year, moving up into the "S-minus" class for both. In Mildred Spear's fourth-grade class, my posture went from C to B to A, but my writing remained at a steady C each quarter.

At about this time, I came into the possession of a second-hand "Magic Lantern," a device that looked like a miniature stove, and got as hot as one from the light bulb inside, but was designed to project pretty colored pictures on the wall from lantern slides.

Tired of always looking at the same pictures, I found that I could add my own features by drawing with pen and ink on thin strips of bond paper, and projecting the results, generally "newsreels" of neighborhood doings.

A few typical news events: Art Stapp, my brother, listening to his crystal radio, wearing headphones; Local girls in contest, Patricia Stapp and Cleo Watts, tie for last place in a recent contest to find the smartest girl in Seattle. They were each awarded a bottle of ketchup to aid them in any future contest they might enter.

Spud was played quite a bit, a picture showing the kids batting around a big ball: Harold Moffet, Peggy and Virginia Hayseth, Betty and Cleo Watts, Bill Finlay, Alvin Whalen, Bud and Betty Neil, and my sister Pat and I. However, I don't remember how Spud was played something like soccer, I guess.

Another game, In the Frying Pan, I've also forgotten. But Kick the Can, which was very popular, I remember vividly. That's because one time the can hit me in the face and slashed my cheek.

My Magic Lantern newsreel also disclosed that the first meeting of the Alley Club was well-attended, but that no one showed up for the subsequent meetings.

My last two report cards at Interlake revealed quite an improvement in every subject. Fifth grade teacher Aileen O'Neill awarded me 12 C's the rest of my 58 marks being A's and B's. And Lulu Shafer (sixth grade) gave me only four C's out of 61 marks.

I'm sure my parents must have been proud of me by then, having nearly given up hope in my first several years of schooling.

My scrapbook began to be dotted with photos taken with my new Kodak camera, one of 50,000 given away by Eastman Kodak to youngsters who were 12 years old in 1930. It was a good investment for Eastman, for since the day that my Dad accompanied me into their downtown store to pick up my camera, I hat probably purchased several thousand dollars worth of Eastman products.

Some of my first photos were of: My nieces, Brownie and Louise Stapp, "smelling flowers"; My Dad climbing the bluffs at Golden Gardens; and the dirigible Akron when it appeared over Wallingford.

One picture with my sister Pat shows me sporting my first suit, complete with four-button vest, open coat, long pants, wearing a bow tie and a satisfied smile, as my neatly combed hair was starting to slip down my forehead. Pat was wearing a white dress with puffed sleeves, and what looks like ruffled panties showing beneath the skirt, which she held daintily with each hand. Her socks came up just below the knee and were white except for three bands of color near their tops. Her hair is trimmed with a bang. She wears some beads, and a proud smile.

Clipped to one of my scrapbooks are a few pages from a Cash Book that I started in January 1932, having printed the rules portion myself on the Outlook's small job press down in our basement.

I gave up keeping this book the first of May, after having improved my cash position from $11.08 to $21.52. Typical income type entries were: Outlook pay $7.13, errand 5 cents, found 1 cent, stamps sold to Bob Alfares 2 cents, Mother returned money I lent her 65 cents.

Expenses included: book fines Room 315 (Hamilton Junior High) 2 cents, candy 5 cents, wood for fork box (woodworking project) 35 cents, cloth for pajamas 40 cents, stamps 10 cents, Current Science subscription 35 cents, haircut 25 cents, shoe strings 10 cents, missing 8 cents, show 10 cents, Kodak film 50 cents, pants $2.95, lunch 15 cents, carfare 25 cents, telephone call 15 cents, lent Dad 25 cents, shoes $1.00, tie 35 cents, lent Gordon Baxter 5 cents.

I note now that my Mother returned the loan I made her, but did my Dad ever return the two-bits I loaned him?

Let's see now, 25 cents compounded semi-annually for 28 years would be how about it, Dad?