THE ROCKAWAY I KNEW
By Matthew Bashie
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE TOY I JUST HAD TO HAVE!
Have you ever had the feeling that you were being watched? Ever have the feeling that you are being followed? The very two feelings that I had whenever I shopped at my favorite toy store.
Obviously as a youngster, I had a very dishonest face.
In the small Far Rockaway village back in the early 1950s, there were eight stores that sold children's toys but the premier shop was located on the east side of Central Avenue, about mid-block between Mott and Cornaga Avenues. The store was known as Neveloffs and although it claimed to specialize in stationery items, it had two large display windows out in front that were crammed with toys that would appeal to every age and every sex.
I noticed early on that every time I went into this lovely and well-stocked store, either the owner (or his wife) or one of the sales clerks would follow me around - at a safe distance - I assume to be certain that I didn't steal anything. I never asked any of my "little friends" if they had the same uncomfortable experience in that store, but I know that it always bothered me. However, they DID have the "best stuff' in town - albeit at the highest prices, but if you wanted assortment, selection, and quality, Neveloffs was definitely the place to shop. So it was no surprise to me that one late afternoon I discovered a new item in the display window that I just had to have!
Basically what "it" amount to was a "junior" planetarium - a dark blue sphere - mounted on a gray plastic stand which allowed for adjustments to recreate months and days of the year to aim "make-believe" stars at the ceiling of a darkened room. The electrical toy involved a tiny light bulb at its inside core which when illuminated, would cast small pin-heads of light around a room which gave the appearance of being outside on a very clear and starry night.
To me, this was an educational toy! To my father, this was just another toy. Now perhaps YOUR parents would buy YOU anything you wanted at any time YOU wanted it - but not mine. I remember showing the boxed item to my dad via the showroom window and he was not really impressed - but I just had to have one of these. I had to be "the first one on my block to own the universe" as the box advertised. I have no idea who made this gizmo but the picture on the box cover was exciting and inviting. The cost was $15. plus sales tax. I didn't even have the money to pay for the sales tax.
I pleaded with my parents to buy it for me but the only assurance I received was that I had a birthday coming up in about six months and I should put the toy on my "must have" list. Six months? By that time I could be dead! Isn't that the way we thought when we were kids? At that point, I wanted the toy so darn bad that I would have sold my soul for the darn $15. and I would have sold my father's soul for half that amount! That is how badly I wanted to "own the universe."
I entered into a one-man campaign to raise the needed funds. The first thing I did was to check the seats of my dad's '49 Studebaker to see if I could find any "lost change" and when I got home, I checked the living room couch as well. I did manage to find a few nickels and several pennies - so it wasn't a total waste of time. I also collected empty soda bottles and took them back to our local grocery store - a food establishment located in our nearest shopping center. The clerks at Food Fair did stop to take the time to give me the seventy or so cents in refunds but they did not encourage the wholesale return of empties by little kids.
My best friend Ralph came up with the suggestion of running from basement to basement in each of the Wavecrest apartment buildings to see if anyone had abandoned quarters in the refund slots of the milk machines that were located in bowels of the complex and believe it or not, we actually came up with an additional dollar fifty. The two of us also scoured the beach under the boardwalk in the amusement area of Beach 28th Street and we found another three dollars in small change - but that was really a lot of work.
A kind lady in the west playground agreed to let us take care of her five year old son one afternoon and we "cured him" of his "sliding pond" fright and she was so impressed with us that she gave us two bucks - a lot of money at that time for two hours of babysitting for a child. All in all, I think I ended up with less than ten dollars.
On Friday evenings, it was our family "custom" to eat "out" at a local restaurant - Bergers was basically a delicatessen which was located on the south side of Mott Avenue between the Beach 19th Street extension and Central Avenue. The place had a lovely large dining room and we had been "regular" guests for almost a year. We had a "regular" waiter named Jack -1 would have preferred the head waitress (Helen) because I went to school with her two twin sons but my father opted for Jack so Jack was our waiter of choice!
That particular evening, after we had dined, my dad took my mom for a stroll down Central Avenue - mother had seen some piece of jewelry in a store (Duffs Jewelers) that she "just had to have" so my (not) wealthy parents went down to place a deposit on it. I guess you could call it "guilt" because as a special surprise, my parents had decided that because I had worked so hard to raise the money for that stupid "ceiling projector" that they planned to add to the funds I had already collected - so I was able to buy the toy - and it was not even my birthday or Christmas! The best gifts in the world are gifts that celebrate "nothing" because those are the gifts that celebrate LOVE.
It is also worthy to note here that when my parents accompanied me into Neveloffs to buy that toy, no one followed us around or "watched us like a hawk."
I got the toy! Of course within two days, the novelty wore off. It could only be used at night - and I seldom had friends over when I was planning to go to bed so - when the thing broke, it sat in its box in the bottom of my closet. The major flaw with the item was the tiny electric bulb. If you moved the projector while the bulb was hot, it burned out! So, the globe constantly required being taken completely apart to replace a bad light bulb.
Years later, right before I moved out of Wavecrest, I "fixed" the toy and gave it to the young son of a relative. He played with it for years and about a decade ago, he gave it back to me. It had sat in the bottom of his closet for over twenty years. After he got married, he gave the toy to his own son and then when his boy was moving out of state, he gave it back to his dad and so the guy returned the toy to me. I bought it in 1953 and I still own it in 2009. I wonder if the thing has any value on eBay as a collector's item? Should I expect to get my $15. back??
If you wish to contact me at any time, feel free to do so through this web site. I always love hearing from my fans and friends. M.B.
I always love hearing from my fans and friends. M. B.