The Glorious Adventures (and Misadventures) of Ray and Joe

“We had a lot of fun. Those were the days.”

I grew up listening to my Grampy, Raymond, tell stories about what it was like to grow up in Lawrence, Massachusetts during the Great Depression. He and his brother, Joe, were two mischievous, resourceful young boys whose adventures have become legends in my family. Anyhow, when I told him about my writing he wanted to be a part of it; so one day at lunch I brought out my little tape recorder and said to him, “Tell me a story.”

            “My brother Joe and I used to go to the movies and the way we did it we’d pick a quart of blueberries in the morning, each one quart, and we’d sell it locally to the moms. Twenty-five cents a quart, and that was just enough money to get on the bus, go to Essex Street, get off, and go to the movies,” he began. One time they tried to raise the price on blueberries from twenty-five cents to thirty, but the moms “didn’t want to have anything to do with raising the price of blueberries.” They lowered the price back to twenty-five cents and learned never to raise their prices again.

My Grampy and Joe loved going to the movies, either to the Strand Theater (which they called the “ranch” because they showed all cowboy movies,) the Broadway, the Modern, the Palace, or the Victoria. All the movie theaters were in a row on Broadway in North Lawrence with the Victoria right across the street. Sometimes they wouldn’t have quite enough money, so they would have to get a little creative.

In order to get a free bus ride, they would go to someone’s door and ring the doorbell until a mother came out and ask if she was done with her bus pass. Usually she would give hers to the two boys, but sometimes she only had one bus pass. Always resourceful, my Grampy would get on, have the bus driver punch a hole in it, sit down quickly, and throw it out the window to Joe. Joe would catch it on the other side and get on before the bus drove away. One time, though, the bus driver saw the spectacle unfold from the rear view mirror and told them to get off. Undeterred, they simply waited for the next bus to come around. “We had all kinds of tricks,” my Grampy said, laughing.   

They certainly did have their tricks. Sometimes, to get a little extra money they would go down to the soda factory and fish around in the barrels by the docks until they found a soda bottle that was in good condition. Then they would go to a little store down the street and cash it in for five cents. As for the storeowner, “he never knew!”

One of the greatest stories my grandfather told me was about when his youngest brother, Bob, was born. At the time, Grampy was 10 years old and Joe was 8.  One day. he and Joe were playing outside when their mother called them upstairs, saying that she wanted to show them something. They went upstairs and sat down at a table in her bedroom when their mother came out with a little baby and placed him on the table. Grampy said to his mother, “Oh he’s very cute, but who does he belong to?” When his mother told him that the baby was theirs and that they were keeping him, Grampy said, “Ma, that baby belongs to somebody, you’d better return it or they’re going to be awful mad at you!”

“Joe and I had no idea where babies come from, not even the slightest inkling. Apparently my mother was pregnant, but we didn’t notice anything!” he said, looking back at the whole affair and laughing.

Ray and Joe were quite the pair, clever and thick as thieves as they innocently enjoyed their practically worry-free childhood.

My name is Jillian DiPersio and I am a sophomore at Windham High School. After learning the stories of my own grandparents, I have been interviewing the elderly. Through my research and interviews I have been able to dig up some incredible bits of history from the lives of local residents, as well as learn about people who are the products of a different generation. If you or someone you know would like to share your stories, please contact me at jillian@dipersio.com