Fall of '53 I entered high school as a sophomore. Because Stuyvesant High School was an old school in downtown Manhattan and had twice the number of students that it could handle, they had freshmen and sophomores start at 12:30 pm and go to classes until 5:00 pm (six classes @ 45 minutes each), no lunch period; you ate before you came or after you left. This was the only year that I did my homework in the morning. I was overwhelmed by school that year. My favorite class was chem lab; also took electric wiring, mechanical drawing and my third year of French.
The afternoon schedule sucked though. When I got home every day about 6:00 pm it was time to eat. I didn't get much time to hang out. There was a dance almost every other week at the 'Y', that was the YMHA, and boys and girls danced together but never committed to anything. I envied the guys that would just go up to a girl and ask them to dance. I found a little courage now and then. After my first year in an all boys school I went on staff at the Boy Scout Camp Ranaqua for the whole summer. I don't think that there was even one female in the camp. I looked forward to the coming year; things couldn't get worse so they had to get better. Cigarette pack size transistor radios were the rage; everybody had one. That summer it was:

Fall 0f '52 I entered my senior year in Jr High. This was the year that I learned why I was so unsuccessful in gaining the attention of girls that I liked. They all liked guys that were older than them. Okay, change of tactics; where to look? I was a member of my church's youth group, something our new pastor initiated. We were all 10-14 years old; I was second oldest. There was this girl, Helen Bresnahan, who was really cute. I tried to arrange a date but she kept putting it off. I found out later that it was her brother Jimmy that sort of threatened her if she dated me. Jimmy and I were never friends. Oh well, there were plenty of Jewish girls in my school who did not know or did not care if/that I was a goy.
Jessica Paloma was one of them; she was years ahead in development over her classmates. I actually got to touch them once. We remained friends for years. Then there was Barbara, Brenda, Eleanor, Sheila and Toby. We just sorta hung together at dances but without commitment. I really liked Toby (Klein) and followed her home from school one day only to see where she lived (1600 University Ave). I sent her a 'secret Valentine' It went nowhere.
Spring of '53 we took entrance exams to go to the many special schools that NYC had established. These were based on merit, not on geography. My score was 87% when the cutoff was 83%; I had decided to go to Stuyvesant High School, an all boys school, because of its reputation for graduating top notch college material. I never thought that I had put myself into an even more hopeless situation datewise by going to this school; it was 10 miles from where I lived. I still met new girls at the skating rink near Fordham Road which we went to about twice a month. One girl (Eileen Iskowitz) which both me and my friend Bobby Weiss were interested in asked her out on a date. She accepted both offers but after our second date she asked me if I was Jewish. I think Bobby threw me under the bus. Dating then was just a means of telling your buddies that you would not always choose their company above all else; you were saying that you were growing up. Girls enjoyed receiving compliments; they would even blush occasionally. When I received one I was totally unglued. I thought I was in love every other week.
June of '53 I turned 14 and was eligible to work on staff at our church's camp. I worked there for six weeks for $4 a week digging out a tennis court, then I went to Boy Scout camp for two weeks to unwind. It was a very good year.

I think that the years in Jr High were so crammed full of activity that I will never forget them. My 7-8th teacher was Mrs. Walker, a very tall and good looking woman. She rode to school with the gym teacher, Mr. Stafford. We made up stories about them. During a softball game a pop fly hit right to me got lost in the sun; it landed on my foot. I was never forgiven. After school we played Box Ball and Captain. In the evening we played Hide and Seek and Ring-a-lievio. Saturdays I worked for my father mopping floors, sweeping the sidewalk and backyard and polishing brass in the apartment house that he managed; I got $10 a week for my labor, no allowance. I ate lunch with my buddies at the Deli; always ordering a Hot Pastrami sandwich with a pickle and a hot cherry pepper, all for $1.75. In the afternoon we would play stickball in the street or street hockey on roller skates that clamped on to street shoes with a skate key.
Two girls were in my life that year. Miriam Havre (Mimi) who lead me to believe that I could actually get somewhere with her - NOT!!! And then there was Ellen Harvey with whom I had my first real date at the movies. After three dates my mother found out about her and prevented me from ever seeing her again. The summer of '52 I went to Boy Scout Camp at Narrowsburg, NY. The application asked if I required kosher food; I check 'no' not knowing that the rest of my troop checked 'yes.' I spent 2 weeks with a bunch of Irish Catholics who liked me well enough until the next Sunday when we all had to go to Mass. When it was obvious that I didn't know what to do or say, I explained that I was Lutheran. Freeeeeeze out! What a miserable time. However strange, I got to like one of the songs my parents listened to. I think I liked it because there were so many words that I did not understand.

In 1951 when I was in the 6th grade all the students were given an IQ test. The top 25% were give the opportunity to participate in a new program that the NYC School Board thought would help advance smarter kids by challenging them to absorb more material sooner (and get them out of the public school system one year earlier). My IQ was 138. So, in the fall of 1951 I was enrolled in 7SP3 which was one of three 'Special Progress' classes, (they were populated by alphabetic order, not by IQ scores). We completed the 7th, 8th and 9th grades in two years. It did not appear to me to be intense which was why they started the program. This was back in PS82 which was right next to our house. I could walk out of my door and be in the schoolyard in 30 feet. I was late a lot.
I began to pay more attention to music at this time because it was something that boys and girls could share without committing to anything. Our parents were listening to Hank Williams and his ilk but we were listening to Fats Domino, Lloyd Price and Les Paul and Mary Ford (he's the guy who invented the electric guitar). Hormones were just starting to kick in. The most beautiful girl in the world was my classmate named Susan Schlessinger. I admired her from afar for two years; I never thought that I would have a chance with her, so I never asked. I guess that I learned a lesson the year before when I was pursuing Betty Eisner who was cordial but not interested.
I could not find a decent recording of Les Paul and Mary Ford singing their greatest hit "How High the Moon" but this is just as classy.