Forty Years Ago
Editor Claude Walker, playing William Safire, devoted a paragraph to something we use every day”words. Words and geography. Everyone knows, he said, “Y’all” denotes Southern speech. “Cubar” confirms that you’re talking to a downeaster, “mah-velous” means that you’re talking to a person from la-la land, and “down yonder” probably comes from a cowboy. However, Walker said, he was stumped when a fellow he met used the term, “dassn’t.” He didn’t know. I don’t know. Do you?
In the mid-’60s, like now, television was really grinding out the commercials. Then, as now, the word “exciting” was used whenever possible. Walker wondered just how many breakfast cereals could be exciting … and speculated on just when would cemetery lots be sold on the basis of their excitement.
If you wanted to rent rooms in Forest Park you could choose from these four ads in the REVIEW on Feb. 25, 1965: Four rooms, One bedroom apt. Second floor. Stove and refrigerator. $100 month. Three-room modern apt. Second floor. Stove and refrigerator. Close to Hines and Naval Ordnance. $125 per month. Two-room furnished apts. Modern tile bath. All utilities included. One block to Congress “L” station. Ultra modern, two-bedroom apt. Range, refrigerator and sheltered parking. $160 and $175 per month. Near Lake St. “L.”
From the Feb. 1965 issues of the Forest Park Review.
Thirty Years Ago
A lot got covered in this letter to the editor (Larry Kaercher): A.M. Scheibel wrote that the last few issues of the REVIEW emphasized the reasons why Forest Park was gaining a fine image. The writer cited improved cooperation between our police department and that of our neighbors and praised a recent game in the newspaper inviting readers to identify past photos of the village. He/She disagreed with Steve Olderr’s thumbs down of the “Smiley” water towers. A.M. missed the dropped garden column and hoped the clean-up-after-your-dog effort would continue. Scheibel requested Community Center self-defense classes for senior citizens. He or she was delighted with the village’s new street lighting system.
Definition of a practical nurse: one who marries a patient who is both rich and old.
From the Mar. 1975 issue of the Forest Park Review.
Twenty Years Ago
Herta Laszlo, 74, was driving southbound on Marengo Avenue at 7:30 p.m. when she hit the brakes to stop at Madison Street. No brakes. Her vehicle continued across Madison Street, over the curb and through the plate glass storefront of Rainbow Videos, coming to rest against the rear counter. All this amid a trailing shower of video tapes, recorders, store fixtures and surprised, but unhurt, bodies.
Follow up to last week’s report on a lose-weight contest for charity. Denis Moran and Fred Ehringer both punished the Todedos, although hardly an ounce was lost between them after week one. The pair had eight weeks to go. We’ll keep you posted from time to time.
It’s the baseball season”in Japan as well as here. Twenty years ago the REVIEW carried a story on Japanese baseball featuring ex-Cub third baseman Steve Ontiveros. He found that there was surprisingly little about the game that was constant in both countries.
Far from being the pampered object of fans affections, a player there (though well-paid) was expected to put in a 12-hour day. If there was a rainout you took extra practice or watched videos of opposing pitchers. He said there was a floating strike zone that seemed to expand when an American was batting. Seven- or eight-hour workouts were common. The season started Feb. 1 with a month of training, then a month of exhibitions, the season itself, a month of rain date make-ups, then the Japan Series.
From the Mar. 1985 issues of the Forest Park Review.
Ten Years Ago
Who Remembers? D.J. Rick Dees … Michael Eisner and Robert Igor (which is which?) … Paul Winter … Jerry Springer … Donna Summer … Robert Falls … Yma Sumac … Tennessee Ernie Ford … Roe v. Wade”always at odds … Bergen Evans … newspaperman John Justin Smith … Lt. William Calley.
The Bronze Age continued at Forest Home Cemetery. The most recent in a rash of thefts of bronze vases, decorations and statuary from graves and mausoleums was reported to police. This activity, taking place in other cemeteries as well, had been going for nearly a year.
Police Chief Gary Leisten went bowling. His mode of transportation was a Forest Park police cruiser. A WMAQ television camera”whatever it was doing there”caught him and other bowlers in the police officers league.
As bowlers are wont to do Leisten [had] “a beer or two.” NBC saw fit to televise this on the 10 p.m. news. It raised the question of whether police officers should drive government owned cars for recreational purposes.
“Was I impaired? No,” Leisten said. “I’ve got too much to lose to be stupid. I do not think anything I did was wrong. My boss (Mayor Popelka) is going to deal with it. Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it. Popelka said that disciplinary action would be taken and could include an oral reprimand.
From the Mar. 1995 issues of the Forest Park Review.
