MEMORIES PT20

I think it was while we were living at 18 Evans St that our Mom got her stereo
console cabinet. It was a big cabinet as stereos were back then and it played
LPs and 45 records. Mom was a big fan of singers like Jerry Vale, Andy Williams,.
Nat King Cole and Mario Lanza, and would put a stack of albums on when she
was doing housework. She also had a “Best of The Lucky Strike Hit Parade”
album and I remember the “Shrimp Boats are A-coming” song from it. Another
of her favorites was a Mitch Miller “Sing Along With Mitch” album with the
“Yellow Rose of Texas” .

There was one of those classical music compilations that she’d bought at
the Stop and Shop so we listened to “Flight of the Bumblebee” and “Sabre
Dance” and there was a kid’s song album too with “I’ve Got Sixpence” and
other songs.

But there were two albums that were never played when we kids were present
or at least not until after we had been sent off to bed. This usually happened
when there was some party or get-together going on. The artist in question
was a female comedian named Rusty Warren whose routine was a bit...adult.
Unfortunately, despite being sent to bed and having  our bedroom doors shut,
we could still hear snatches of her routine, and one of us one day surprised
Mom by singing some of the lines to one ot Rusty’s songs, “Roll Me Over in the
Clover!”

That stereo was one of Mom’s proudest possessions and she had it for years.
Even after it had seen better days she still couldn’t part easily with it and talked
about tearing the stereo equipment out and making a planter out of the cabinet!  
In the end after about twenty years it was replaced by a Curtis Mathes Console
that had a tv, radio, turntable and 8track player which in turn lasted for another
twenty five years.

((330 words))

Written for the Family History Writing Challenge