Buddy's Blog

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BUDDY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Thanks for your comments about my father. He was quite a character. He was born in 1901 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Had to drop out of school when he was 8 and go to work shoveling coal at the old steel mill in Marcus Hook. When he was 16 he joined the navy. My grandmother lied about his age so he could join. After the war he went all around the world as a merchant seaman.He went to California three times after the war in a Model T. Worked at the movie studios mainly for Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle. I remember him telling me “Buddy, Charlie Chaplin was the funniest man who ever lived.

During the 1920’s he was the leader of a gang of toughs known as the Bald Headed Nine. Not only did they play sports, they raised a lot of hell. And he loved to fight. I remember him telling me that when you’re in a fight and you knock the guy down, don’t pick him up like the cowboys in the movies. Kick him. My mother told me that twice he beat men up in her presence. The first time two men sort of looked at my mother and grinned. They didn’t know that Bud was right behind them. The second time was in a pool hall. Some man said something rude about my mother. My old man took him outside before he beat him up. Once during the Depression he stole a crate of eggs to give to his neighbors. A policeman caught him an hit him with his night stick. Big mistake. I’m not sure how long he stayed in jail after he took the stick away and beat the cop. My dad wasn’t a big man. About my size. 5 foot 9 inches and about 165 pounds. But he never lost a fight. Once about 20 years after his death, my mother met a woman from Chester who was a little girl during the 20’s She said her mother would make her go to bed by saying “If you don’t go to bed right now, Bud Grace is going to come and get you.”

When I was very small he worked as the boilermaker foreman at Sun Oil in Marcus Hook. That’s just south of Chester on the Delaware River. About 25 years ago, one his brothers who worked under him at the plant told me the details of how was so badly injured. One day my uncle came and told him that there was a crane holding up a bunch of iron pipes, tied with rope instead of a chain. My Father went to see. The rope broke. He was very badly injured. Sun Oil said that he could keep working as a night watchman. He declined. They gave us a couple thousand dollars and $50 per week to live on. He was in so much pain he bought a little 25 foot Alma trailer, and we went to Florida to get away from the cold, damp winters. We didn’t have toilets. We had to poop in pots. The drinking water stunk so very badly from the sulphur in the ground water. The trailer park had little block buildings with pipes that aerated the water thinking that would improve it. It didn’t. Slime hung from the pipes. Mosquitoes were a constant cloud around you. AC didn’t exist. In 1958 he died. Sun Oil stopped giving us the $50. My mother had to go to work scrubbing toilets to put food on the table. I don’t buy Sunoco gasoline.

I’ll write more next week.

This is from 2006…

Gary E sent me the photo of my old man’s football team, the Bald Headed Nine. He took my B&W photo off my blog  and colorized it.  Thanks, Gary! The year was 1926. That’s a hundred years ago. The BH9 were a bunch of toughs, and you can see it in the photo. My father was born in 1901. He’s the one in the front row. He was the captain of the team, and he never wore pads or a helmet. My Uncle Chisel is on the right top row wearing the plain jersey. Uncle Chis gave me his old baseball glove from the 1920’s that he played with. It’s the only one that I had when I was growing up. He also gave me one of his homing pigeon trophies. I still have both.

Considering the cost of healthcare nowadays, this strip from 2004 is appropriate. Sid and Enos are doing their part to help.