DOGTOWNERS WHO HAVE WORKED IN FOREST PARK

In early June 2004 Nina Kassing Bryans wrote to my e-mail list asking: who had worked in the park, and starting us out with her own expeience. Below are the replies I have received

We certainly have enjoyed all the narratives and discussions, etc. I was wondering how many of your readers were employed in some capacity in Forest Park. I know that some of them were caddies.

I had my first job at 15 at the refreshment stand at the bottom of the him at the St. Louis Zoo. Anyone else?

Nina Kassing Bryans

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From Bob Corbett: I will follow up to Nina. From the end of the 1940s and for the first several years of the 1950s I was a caddie at Triple A Golf Course. I came to absolutely HATE with a passion, the Jewel Box's chimed bell rendition of Beautiful Dreamer, otherwise a lovely song. But it was at the 6th hole, the far western end of Triple A. By the time I got there, often carrying "doubles" (2 bags), I was hot and tired and those damn chimes were giving me "beautiful dreamer, da, da, da da." I hated it.

In the early 50s the first three-wheel pull carts came to be. Triple A got some and they were replacing caddies. (An early version of "outsourcing.") We caddies fought back and led almost exclusively by Dogtown caddies, we would go to Triple A at night, take off the wheels and throw them into the Jefferson Lake! That only lasted about 3-4 "raids" and they started keeping the carts INSIDE the club house -- it had never occurred to anyone before that labor dispute to do such a thing.

Ah, we lived in innocent times......

To caddy one had to be there very very early. I often got up quite early and would go by Kies Bakery. For 25 cents I could get a WHOLE apple crumb cake, pipping hot. I would eat the whole thing while walking over Hampton, past the tennis courts (at the corner of Hampton and across from the zoo), and on to Triple A. Some mornings some of us would go by the lagoon below the Art Museum and pick up any abandoned boats and take them back to the boat house. They knew us and would give us free rides later one. Now and again, but not often, we would luck out to get a motorboat!

Good times. Very good times.

Bob Corbett

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Like Nina my first job was at the concession stand near the sea lion pool. I worked there for several summers. I had to live up to Nina's reputation though.

Sharon Kassing

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I worked there for 4 years at the Monkey Show. There was a refreshment stand up there and I was known as the Snow Cone Queen. That's what the announcer would say as the crowd piled in. Of course I had on big crush on him.

When the show was over I would sit on the benches where the people sat for the show and rest a while. Mike Kostial, the monkey trainer, would sneak up behind me with a monkey and put him on my back.

Before the show would start Mike would bring one of the monkeys over and have him put his hands on the counter and I would think it was a kid and lean over to help him. The monkey would jump up and scare me to death.

I also got to eat delicious fruit that they fed the monkeys. The bananas and oranges were delicious. It was a very fun place to work and many great memories. I often thought of going over there after I retired and volunteer my services. Instead we volunteer to help with the Meals on Wheels.

Gerry

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Lou Schmidt's grandfather was an elephant tamer

I never had the privilege to work in the zoo, but my grandfather did. He came to the zoo as the trainer with Miss Jim. He worked with a lot of the animals. I have lost track of a picture of him sticking his head into the mouth of a hippo. He stayed until he couldn't put up with Vierheller, I think. He was a good trainer and didn't like how things were done. His name was Erich Taenzer.

Lou.

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My summer employment was initially at the Zoo selling refreshments at the monkey show. I later graduated to peddling lemonade at the Muni Opera. Great jobs for a young man going to high school!

Mike Johnson

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I didn't work at the park but my sister, Mary, did and met her husband there - he was a mounted policeman. They've been married over 25 years.

Kathy Bohler Gallina

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My dad's parents met when his father worked at the Highlands as a lifeguard. Later, my dad met my mam when he worked at Steinberg Skating Rink. I now work at the Zoo for the gift shops. This is my fifth summer there and I'm still searching for my husband... Just Kidding!

Lucy Owen =============================

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I was a soda-jerk at the Forest Park Highlands and Ken Fieser also worked there the same time I was there. A family by the name of Lewis was the owner-operator of the Ice Cream concession stand. It was located just inside the entrance on the right (west side) as you entered, and just east of the entrance to the swimming pool.

I believe we worked there the summer of 1947 or 48.

Bill Vorbeck

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My Uncle William S. [Mack] McKelvey's had the concession for the pro golf shop the Forest Park Field House. I worked for him during the summer of 1951/52/53. I ran the shop when he was out playing or giving lessons.

I also retrieved golf balls from the Grand Basin and other water holes on the 18 hold course. I wore high top waders and used a rake my father made specially for retrieving the balls.

We used to clean the water marks from the balls with oxcellic (spelling) acid I got at Dougherty's drugstore at Tamm and Clayton.

I can truthfully say I would retrieve about 75 to a little over 100 balls per week from the water holes on #2 -- #3 along the wall on the North side of "Art Hill or #4 hole [you can't imagine how many people could slice the ball into the Grand Basin there, and #16 and # 17 holes.

It might interest you to know the deepest water was on #2, it was close to 5 feet deep there. The shallowest was on #16, which didn't reach as high as the waist. The other holes were about waist deep.

We (my father and I) would use a large pickle jar fill it 1/3 full with water and added two large soup spoons of ocellic acid then put in about 18 golf balls and shake them up for about three minutes. All the mud stains would devolve very quickly. We used heavy rubber gloves to take the balls from the jar and wash them off in the sink in our basement on Tamm, set them out to dry. We often had up to three 50 gallon drums filled with golf balls. You'll remember how expensive golf balls were in those days 1.25 for a Spading Dot and the same for Wilson and Dunlop balls. They were all soft covers and cut very easily. Only about 15% were resalable.

The good balls we kept and sold them in the shop for 25 to 50 cents per ball. Others we painted using white enamel paint. We used our bare hands to roll the ball about in our palm then place them on boards that we had driven nails through to keep them from lying on the flat surface wet. You could hardly notice the pin dots when they dried. Of course you couldn't read the trade mark or name or number on the ball after they were painted.

The cut balls we pitched older balls or off brand balls we hand painted (above) and sold them to driving ranges for 10 cents a ball if they bought fifty or more and 15 cents a ball if they bought less then 50 balls.

Dewey Godfery (not sure of his last name) used to have the concession before my uncle and out bid him for the concession. The City of St. Louis would have interested parties bid on the concession which lasted three years. My Uncle Mac McKelvey was a PGA Professional Golfer and took the position of playing Pro at Westborough Country Gold Club on Berry Road, in Webster Groves.

I used to also caddy for him when he played in, what they called then. Exhibition games, at Algonquin Golf Club, Glen Echo Country Club, Medowbrook Country Club and another off Bopp Road that I can no longer remember. I believe it was Crystal Lake but I'm not ure it's no longer there.

Mack was also half owner of the Mackland Golf Driving Range, with the owner of the Columbia Theater that was on the Hill at Southwest Avenue near Sublet Park. It was located on the West side of Mackland Avenue across the street from the Humane Society. Forest Park Community in now located on that ground.

Bill Vorbeck

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I worked at both. Forest Park Zoo (? Pagoda stand?) out of 8th grade in '51. Worked weekends the summer '52 supporting the the bar at the Highlands icing & stocking soda & beer.

Zoo job was gotten thru Fanny Cuddy, a neighbor of Gene? Nichols on Dale Ave - worked 17 days straight & volunteered to go home on the first rainy day. I think the pay was .50/hr.

Highlands was 10 hours on Saturday & Sunday - 7AM to 5PM with Hank Whitmore (Nashville).

Pat

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To Readers of the Dogtown web page and those interested in the section on Dogtown history:

When I graduated from St. James grade School in 1946 a friend told me there might be a job working at the Forest Park Highlands swimming pool. The pool was at the west end of the amusement park where a large building now sits as part of the Forest Park Junior College. The pool had a large high fence surrounding it with some concrete walkways that held the hot summer heat and because of the fence, there was no breeze.

I recall it was always hot . My job as locker boy was to take a ticket purchased outside at a concession booth and hand a wire basket to the person who then went into a common dressing room (either men's or women's) and after the customer changed they would come back out and take the large safety pin off the basket and go swim. I would put the basket of clothes in pre numbered spaces on the shelf. When the customer came back 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 hours later and surrendered their pin, they got their clothes back and could go to the changing room and that concluded their visit to the pool.

WW II had ended in Aug of 1945 and there were many soldiers who came up from Fort Leonard Wood for a visit to the Highlands. The military conscription was winding down as the USA regained its peacetime footing and fun and a lighthearted attitude was the mindset everywhere. was being paid the sum of .35 cents per hour 7 days per week working from 10 am to 10 pm. I got 1/2 hour off each am and pm and 1 hour off for lunch. I think Mr. Dobbins who ran the pool also owned some of the rides because he encouraged us to take his favorite rides when we took our am and pm and lunch breaks. I think most rides cost 10 cents a ride. The days were long, all for about $25 per week in wages.

It was so hot that summer and we were over heated so after hours we would sneak back to the pool and swim. We were paid in cash once a week and one night after a friend and I got paid we took a dip in the pool piling our clothes in the corridor. We skinny dipped in the pool because it was closed and the regular patrons in the amusement park could not see through the fence. When I came out of the pool I discovered my pay envelope was gone. I told the night watchman and he said it must have been one of the soldiers he had chased out of the pool area earlier that evening. Even my 14 year old ears could detect a liar. What was I to do.?? I went home, told my Dad and he told me that was an expensive lesson about not breaking rules by trespassing after the pool was closed, He went over to 2d district police station and talked to a policeman he knew from the neighborhood and together my Dad and the officer went back to the Highlands where the Night watchman was alone. The Officer and my Dad pressed the watchman who finally admitted that he took my pay envelope because his bookie had pressed him because of a gambling debt. The watchman then in lieu of prosecution said he could borrow some money from his brother in law and the cop. my Dad and the watchman then drove down to the Tower Grove neighborhood, woke up the bro in law and got $20 out of him. The next morning when I woke my Dad handed me the $20 and told me to learn from this stupid trick I pulled and be grateful to get something. When I reported for work that day I was fired for swimming after hours. It was the only time in my life I got fired. Years later I had to make disclosure of this incident in applying for a security clearance in the USAF. I think it held up my security clearance for about 5 seconds. This is a true story that shows how minor crimes were handled by the predominantly Irish neighborhood policemen in Dogtown.

I am sure many old timers in Dogtown would regale the reader with interesting Stories about the Highlands. It was a big part of our lives. The Dogtown experience , whether it was buying 5 newspapers to get into a Flyers hockey game by the newsboys entrance to sell your 5 papers to see a game, or whether it was stealing a magnificent plumage of feathers from a peacock at the zoo and running like hell to escape Mr. Vierheller's clutches, was a magnificent, enriching , educational experience.

Dogtown was a GREAT PLACE TO LIVE....

Ed Cody June 7, 2004