Statues! Sure, I remember…
Statues! Sure, I remember that game and loved it. We played it in the 50s and 60s growing up in Queens. I hope kids are still playing it. As for the ball bearing roller skates, they were the best! If you couldn’t skate very well, they had enough resistance to hold you up and keep you from falling on your face, at least long enough to grab onto a fence post, lamppost or side of a building. I loved the sound they made, the little yellow “hubcaps” that were actually the ball bearings, and the ritual of tightening up the clamps to fit just so around your sneaker. I also loved wearing the key around my neck and feeling it swing back and forth as I went.
I grew up in Bensonhurst,Brooklyn…
I grew up in Bensonhurst,Brooklyn in the 40’s and 50’s. Both of these games were played in the middle of the street. There were not all that many cars then. Both boys and girls participated. Does anyone else remember these games and how exactly they were played?In Statues the leader closed his or her eyes and counted to three. The players moved toward the leader as quickly as possible but when the leader looked you had to be frozen as a statue. If you got caught moving you were out. The one who could tag the leader won.I can’t seen to remember Three Feet Off the Ice But I believe we played it on roller skates. Does anyon remember ball bearing skates.
Vandeveer Estates – late…
Vandeveer Estates – late 50s early 60s — all games, no question, Spaldeen…Pennsie Pinky was just a ball you could buy when you could’t get a Spaldeen…but you could always get a Spaldeen, ’cause you just didn’t want a Pennsy Pinkie. But when the ball was dead it was time to use it for ‘Squash’ – you know, handball with tennis raquets – because if a ball had too much bounce, it would move so fast it would be impossible to hit, and when it was on its last legs it was PERFECT for squash.
I grew up in the Bed-Stuy…
I grew up in the Bed-Stuy section of BROOKLYN and when we stoped playing streetgames we went on the roofs to fly pigeons! Tiplets, Bald heads, Tumblers and Homers were some of the birds that kept my head in the clouds when the streets started to get roughf. Did your coop ever get tapped off? Also known as having your pigeons kidnapped.
I grew up on Hancock st….
I grew up on Hancock st. in the Bed-ford stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and yes, I played punch-ball, stick-ball, kick the can, red light green light 123,Ring-o-livio, Johny on the pony, yo-yo’s, spinning tops/crack tops skelley, marbles, jacks, and our neighborhood favorite, run catch and kiss. That was a game that would later lead to hot roof top make out sessions.
How about those little celluloid…
How about those little celluloid dolls that we bought for a nickle at the corner candy store(Berky’s,in my neighborhood ). This was before plastics, can you imagine? they had moveable arms and legs attached by a bit of elastic.We sat on the stoop and sewed clothing for them for hours on end, This was in the N.Bx.in the thirties . Are you out there somewhere Ruth Fox? Your father owned a lingerie factory and you had lovely scraps of silk and satin for doll dresses.
At the age of 76( 2 years…
At the age of 76( 2 years ago) I decided to teach my grandsons to play jacks,(They had no idea that it was a girl game,poor innocents.) What amazed all of us was that I had not lost my skill, after all these years.While they fumbled I went from one astounding manoever to another. I told them I had been block champion and they believed me. I would have been,too, if there had been a competition.Care for a game,anyone?