Arthur, that dude from New Zealand via Illinois, wrote a post recently titled “One of my origin stories.” He noted, “’There was also a cookbook for kids in our house’, and that cookbook, first published in 1957, was called Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.”
Moreover, he was motivated to “buy an authorised ‘facsimile edition’ that was a faithful reproduction of the original.” I recall that book, and we may have even owned it.
However, my wife DEFINITELY owned and owns it. She even imagined being in the cover tableau. In fact, she may want a new one because the original has grease and other stains. Maybe a gift idea?
Music
This story reminded me of a similar item. From this blog in 2006: “At school, we had music class every day with Mrs. Joseph, starting in 4th grade. We used what I knew then was an ancient music book.” I do not recall the title. (Any of you, Daniel Dickinson school chums from Binghamton, NY, remember?)
I wrote: ” I wish I could find a copy of that book; I really liked most of the songs.” At some point in the past half-decade, I found a reasonable facsimile. America Sings Community Song Book from 1935. It has many of the same songs: Americana, religious, et al. It’s even in the same font. The fact that we were using a 30-year-old book absolutely tracks. I even sent a copy of America Sings to my sister Leslie, who would have used the same item.
Actually, several similar books were published. A Capital Ship, the first song alphabetically, which I well recall, was in:
| Songbooks: |
The book didn’t have Shortnin’ Bread, which I didn’t particularly like. (I can’t find a book with both A Capital Ship and Shortnin’ Bread.)
THAT song
But it did have another song. As I wrote:
One day, when I was in the 5th grade, Mrs. Joseph announced that we could sing anything we wanted. One kid asked for an unfamiliar page. I turned to it, and, of course, it was that Stephen Foster classic, Old Black Joe. I had no idea the piece was in the book! What would Mrs. Joseph do? What would I do?
Quickly, I decided that if we sang the song, I would walk out of the room. (To go where, I had no idea.) Mrs. Joseph gets to the page, and she says, “Hmm, let’s sing something else.” Walkout averted.
That said, I loved that book. It reminds me of a specific timeframe and place, and having a great deal of affection for it.