‘Recession party’ a hit with kids in 1975

From homecoming crowns to birthday hats, celebrations were a running theme on this weekend in history. Two schools crowned their queens in 1975, and a clever mother turned a tight budget into a creative birthday party the same year. In 1925, a woman used a surprise gift to play a prank on her husband.

Other notable headlines include election tug-of-wars, a disastrous street race, and hungry burglars.

No issues available: Feb. 15, 1925; Feb. 16, 1975.

SATURDAY

75 years ago

Feb. 15, 1950

• A Butler County man’s birthday gift to his wife was a surprise...to him.

Rural school teacher Leslie Langley bought a length of dress fabric for his wife, a seamstress, and hid the parcel in their closet a few days before her birthday. He presented the gift at her party, but to his confusion Mrs. Langley didn’t unwrap a sheet of cloth — she pulled out a ready-to-wear dress of the same material.

After having a good laugh at his dumbfounded expression, Mrs. Langley explained she spotted him hiding the gift and decided to have some fun by sewing it into a dress while he was at work, then rewrapping it.

Langley summed up the carefully planned prank with, “It just goes to show, you can’t keep secrets from a woman.”

50 years ago

Feb. 15, 1975

• Recession is no picnic, but it can be a party. That’s what the Saracini family decided when planning daughter Mary’s eighth birthday celebration.

“Because of the economic situation I chose a poverty theme for Mary’s party,” Mrs. Tony Saracini said.

Far from depressing, the party was a fun exercise in crafting, repurposing and generosity. Attendees were asked to bring gifts from their toy boxes, with wrapping and bows made of newspaper and scraps. Their gifts “have a lot of life left in them” despite chipped paint or a few pre-colored pages. In return, some of Mary’s old toys became prizes for games of limbo, bobbing for apples, and pin the tail on the donkey. More newspaper was used to make birthday streamers and party hats. Ice cream and cake were served in wooden bowls with glass jars of fruit punch, and each attendee left with an apple, popcorn ball and homemade gingerbread man.

“The idea was to teach the children the art of giving and sharing,” Mrs. Saracini said.

SUNDAY

100 years ago

Feb. 16, 1925

• Burglars with a sweet tooth stole over $150 of candy from Angelos’ Confectionery in Poplar Bluff. The break-in occurred around 4 a.m. The robbers broke in through the basement door and raided Angelos’ kitchen, taking “the choicest candies, extracts, shelled nuts and other fancies,” The Daily Republican reported. From the volume of goods missing, it’s believed they carted their sugar fix away in a truck.

75 years ago

Feb. 16, 1950

• Wayne County’s proposed stock law is on the ballot for a third time and voting is again locked in a dead heat.

The law would prohibit cattle farmers from letting herds freely roam the Black River and Williamsville townships. The vote tally has changed with each election. This time, poll workers counted 245 votes favoring the law and 240 against it, with seven absentee ballots yet to be tallied.

MONDAY

100 years ago

Feb. 17, 1925

• The Poplar Bluff City Council moved to pay to have all school children vaccinated at the beginning of each school term to head off smallpox.

Dr. A.R. Rowe outlined the city schools’ vaccination program, which has already inoculated around 1,000 students against a smallpox outbreak. Rowe and other doctors volunteered their time and urged the city to cover material expenses — 7 cents per dose. The council agreed.

Rowe also highlighted the efficacy of prior vaccination efforts. The last regional smallpox epidemic was eight years ago and vaccines have prevented small outbreaks from reaching that scale again.

“Through the vaccination plan, we will have headed the disease off, and it will be a long time before we will ever have an epidemic of that nature,” he said.

75 years ago

Feb. 17, 1950

• Three friends decided to race their cars in Pemiscot County last night. Neither driver won, and a passenger lost his life.

Robert Manis, 29, Portageville and Bill Cole of Braggadocio ended up in separate head-on wrecks while racing on the former Highway 61 near Portageville. Manis collided with a tractor trailer near an intersection, killing Cole’s brother James, age 29, who was a passenger in his vehicle. Manis was hospitalized in critical condition.

Cole continued driving and later crashed into a pickup. No injuries were reported.

50 years ago

Feb. 17, 1975

• Three Rivers Community College and Poplar Bluff High School crowned their winter homecoming queens on Feb. 15 at the Poplar Bluff High School gym.

Denise Giambelluca was crowned the 1975 Raiders Homecoming Basketball Queen, escorted by Cary Barks. Attendants were Pam Beasley, Deborah Spicer, Mary Strickland and Beverly Teague, accompanied by Steve Husk, Larry Marshall, John Nations and Alvin Pierce.

Sherri Brookreson was the PBHS Mules Homecoming Basketball Queen, with court Carolyn Ginger, Vicki Riley and Ann Heaton. They were escorted by Steve Caldwell, Keith Richie, Mike Fuller and Richard Clark. The retiring queen was Susan West.