La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
The film “Journey to the Center of the Earth” was the first (only) time I saw the American singer Pat Boone shirtless. I was 5 years old and I know now I had a crush on him. White buck shoes were popular at the time and Pat Boone added to their success. He even had an album called “The Kid in The White Buck Shoes.” I got over my Pat Boone crush. There really was nothing to crush on in the first place. And he turned out to be a narrow-minded ass, who uses god as his excuse to judge everyone else.
The shoes, usually made of suede, were called bucks because they were sometimes made of buckskin. They were one of those trendy, preppy, elitist styles popular among teens and university students, and were also worn by men with mad drip (see yesterday’s post). Of course my mother had me wearing white bucks at the age of 5. I remember polishing them myself. They had reddish soles but the liquid shoe polish would make a mess of them, so I would just polish the entire sides. A purist wouldn’t have used liquid shoe polish in the first place.
The reason I thought of this is because blogger Jon of Give ’em the old Razzle Dazzle recently shared a video from 1964 of television’s Hollywood Palace. Pat Boone was the host. After having an exchange with Jon about Pat Boone and white bucks, I went in search of a photo I knew I had of me in my bright and clean shoes in 1959.
We were on our way to dinner while spending some time at the Commodore Hotel in Swan Lake, New York. My mother was pregnant with The Kid Brother, and I think my parents chose the place because it had a day camp and Dale and I would be out of their hair for a few hours every day. There were swim lessons. And tennis lessons. And baseball. Every game was a team game. I hated it all and was not cooperative. But Dale and I did have mad drip as you can see.
Alden S. Swan arrived in what was then called Stevensville from New York City about 1895. By the time of his death in 1917, he owned much of the land and all of the lake. The hamlet and the lake were renamed Swan Lake in his honor in 1927. It has nothing to do with the ballet.
I went to the National Police office yesterday. I bypassed the cop standing at the door because he was smoking a cigarette. He was annoyed. I peeked in the security office and another cop came out. I showed her my form, told her I had been unable to make an appointment online and hoped I could make one in person. I told her I received a message that there were no appointments and to try again letter. I had tried again later, later, and later. She said, “That’s very unusual.” I asked again if I could make an appointment in person. “No, that’s not possible.” What the…?!? She told me to try again at home. I tried a total of ten times yesterday afternoon, twice for each of us, over the next 4 hours. Linking from one page to the next kept going into a loop. The ninth time was the charm. I made my appointment. I held my breath on the tenth attempt and I had another success. So, we’ll be there (again) Friday morning and will be told what else we did wrong. I’m not optimistic.
P.S.: The leak does appear to be repaired. I saw it for myself. We had coffee outside this morning. Temps were in the low 20sC/low 70sF. Highs will only make it to around 33C/91.4F today.
La película “Viaje al centro de la Tierra” fue la primera (única) vez que vi al cantante estadounidense Pat Boone sin camiseta. Tenía 5 años y ahora sé que estaba enamorado de él. Los zapatos de cuero blanco eran populares en aquella época y Pat Boone contribuyó a su éxito. Incluso publicó un álbum titulado “El niño de los zapatos de cuero blanco”. Superé mi enamoramiento por Pat Boone. Para empezar, no tenía nada que me gustara. Y resultó ser un imbécil intolerante que usa a Dios como excusa para juzgar a los demás.
Los zapatos eran uno de esos estilos modernos, preppy y elitistas, populares entre adolescentes y universitarios, y también los usaban los hombres con “mad drip” (un estilo desenfrenado; ver el post de ayer). Mi madre me hizo llevar zapatos de cuero blanco a los 5 años. Recuerdo haberlos lustrado yo mismo. Tenían suelas rojizas, pero el betún líquido las ensuciaba, así que simplemente lustraba los laterales. Un purista no habría usado betún líquido.
La razón por la que pensé en esto es porque Jon de Give ’em the old Razzle Dazzle compartió recientemente un video de 1964 del Hollywood Palace, presentado por Pat Boone. Después de hablar con Jon sobre Pat Boone y los zapatos, busqué una foto mía con los mios en 1959.
Íbamos de camino a cenar mientras pasábamos un rato en el Hotel Commodore en Swan Lake, Nueva York. Mi madre estaba embarazada de El Hermanito, y creo que mis padres eligieron el lugar porque tenía un campamento de día y Dale y yo pasábamos unas horas sin molestarlos. Había clases de natación. Y de tenis. Y de béisbol. Todos los partidos eran de equipo. Lo odiaba todo y no colaboraba. Pero Dale y yo nos llevábamos un “mad drip”, como pueden ver.
Alden S. Swan llegó a lo que entonces se llamaba Stevensville desde la ciudad de Nueva York alrededor de 1895. A su muerte en 1917, poseía gran parte del terreno y la totalidad del lago. La aldea y el lago fueron rebautizados como Swan Lake (Lago de Swan) en su honor en 1927. No tiene nada que ver con el ballet.
Ayer fui a la comisaría de la Policía Nacional. Pasé por alto al policía que estaba en la puerta porque estaba fumando un cigarrillo. Eché un vistazo a la oficina de seguridad y salió otro policía. Le enseñé mi formulario, le dije que no había podido pedir cita en línea y que esperaba poder pedirla en persona. Le dije que había recibido un mensaje diciendo que no había citas y para que lo intentara más tarde. Lo intenté más tarde, más tarde, y más tarde. Dijo: “Eso es muy raro”. Volví a preguntar si podía pedir cita en persona. “No, eso no es posible”. ¡¿Qué…?! Me dijo que lo intentara de nuevo en casa. Lo intenté un total de diez veces ayer por la tarde, dos veces por cada uno, durante las siguientes cuatro horas. El enlace de una página a otra se volvía un bucle. A la novena fue la vencida. Pedí cita. Contuve la respiración en el décimo intento y tuve otro éxito para SG. Así que estaremos allí (de nuevo) el viernes por la mañana y nos dirán qué más hicimos mal. No soy optimista.
P.D.: Parece que la fuga ya está reparada. Lo vi con mis propios ojos. Pero ahora hay un sonido extraño, como aire en la tubería. Tomamos un café afuera esta mañana. La temperatura rondaba los 20°C/70 °F. Hoy, las máximas solo rondarán los 33°C/91,4°F.
• “Viaje al centro de la tierra”, 1959. Pat Boone, James Mason, Arlene Dahl.
• “Los grandes éxitos de Pat”, 1958.
• Doing Swan Lake, 1959.
• Haciendo Lago de los Cisnes, 1959.
I was about 12 when white bucks became a big “thing.” I really wanted a pair because all of my friends had them, but the ones for women started at size 5 and I think I wore a 4, so I missed out on that trend. And yes, Pat Boone at 91 is still a narrow-minded ass.
TexasTrailerParkTrash:
It’s funny how I remember adoring those shoes. I even remember posing for a photo next to the car and proudly displaying them freshly polished. I can’t find that photo! Boone the Ass is still going strong (I mean wrong).
I need to read more thoughtfully. I read it as buckets, and wondered about the leak in the apartment. Which proves I’m scattered but trying.
Pat Boone is such a twit. I saw him long ago on
BBC tv jabbering on in an unintelligible to brits accent about what I eventually realized was surfing. The interviewer kept trying bravely to find out what surfing was (serving? Tennis?) and Boone never explained!
Boud
Boud:
Yes, it turns out Pat Boone is unkind and an idiot.
How adorable are you two in that photo!! White Bucks and all!
Here’s hoping Friday will be the day you become legal residents once again.
Jim:
We’re already legal residents. Believe it or not all this is simply to change our address on our ID cards and then at the post office, etc.
Yes, you and Dale had mad drip indeed! I see Dale was wearing white bobby socks and black patent leather Mary Janes that were de rigueur at the time. When my Mom dressed pre-schooler me for Sunday School, I wore those too with a similarly puffy-skirted dress — but mine was pink, I’ll have you know, as befitted girls. Hahahahaha! I should do a post with a couple of incriminating photos of me in girly-girl drag.
Debra:
Yes, yes, yes, I want to see those photos! Interestingly, now that I think about it, my mother rarely dressed Dale in anything pink. It wasn’t my mother’s taste, I guess. But Dale did have a pink leather-look jacket when she was little.
Pat Boone and Anita Bryant. Two peas in the narrow-minded ass pod.
Love the photo of you and your sister. I always think of seersucker, bowties, and mint juleps with white bucks.
Kelly:
I had seersucker. You see a bowtie and the white bucks. But I have never in my life tasted a mint julep. We were Yankees. (Although, admittedly, I love grits and hush puppies.)
Pat Boone’s still alive and Arlene Dahl’s dead? – proof that there is no God. Jx
Jon:
Exactly. What an asshole.
I can’t remember what it was but some years ago Pat Boone was in the news. One of the coolest, nerdiest, beautiful-souled, funny guys I ever knew and who was a musician, wrote a reply to whatever had been posted about Boone on Facebook by saying, “Your cover of Tutti Fruitti f*cking sucked.
Truer words were never said.
I don’t think the white bucks thing made it to Roseland, Florida. Kids there were lucky to have three-times-passed-down tennis shoes. But your description of that white shoe polish brought back two memories- one of me using it on my saddle shoes and trying not to get it on the black part, and the other of me using it on white Keds which we all did then.
Glad those days are over.
That picture of you reminds me a bit of my August. Both of you cuties.
Ms. Moon:
Do you remember his heavy metal album? Even his MAGA Christian fans hated him for it. I never polished my Keds (or Converse). When I got them home I immediately went in the dirt with them so they wouldn’t look brand new.
I’d forgotten about the heavy metal album if I ever even knew about it. I suppose there was no popular style or artist he didn’t feel as if he could appropriate.
Boy was he wrong.
Mrs. Moon:
The heavy metal album was an enormous flop. So satisfying.
Pat Boone never did anything for me … even though I once owned a pair of white, well, beige, bucks.
Now, Rod Taylor sent shivers everywhere when I saw him in the old movies!!
Fingers crossed bureaucracy works.
Lastly, yeah that is some mad drip by the Block siblings!
Bob:
Oh, dear god. Yes, Rod Taylor. I was a bit older then and much more discerning. Remember Glass Bottom Boat?
How could I ever forget a shirtless Rod Taylor. :::suh-woon:::
A crush on a man when you were just five? Same-sex attraction didn’t kick in for me until I was in my teens. Before that it seemed just as natural for me to like the opposite sex as it does for any heterosexual. Your way is probably better. An early start leads to much less sexual confusion later on.
Kirk:
I had no clue at the time. But, yes, it was definitely a crush. I didn’t do anything about it until I was 27!
You don’t know how relieved I am to know you got over your crush of Pat Boone. And white buck shoes!
Mistress Borghese:
Oh, I still love those white buck shoes! But, yeah, I got over Pat Boone very quickly and THEN I learned what an absolute asshole he was/is.
I have a pair of so-called “dirty” bucks (made by Bass) that I still can wear, but I don’t remember the last time I did. I’ve had them for a very long time and they look almost new. They’re just like the white bucks in your photo, but tan where the white is. They’re a little bit furry, not shiny. Just a slightly darker shade of the background color of your blog.
Walt the Fourth:
I would love to have a pair of dirty bucks now. Have thought of buying a pair of Chukka boots, but certainly not for summer. Bucks are never shiny. Nice soft suede.
I recall when Boone was HUGE, almost up to the Sinatra, and even Elvis, level – and I (whisper it!) was one big fan! – ‘I’ll be Home’, ‘Friendly Persuasion’, ‘Love Letters in the Sand’, ‘April Love’ – then ‘Speedy Gonzales’ which resurrected his reputation after several years of lull. I loved them all. After disappearing for another while he came back, in the 70s, I think, with a ‘Jesus-all-over’ complex – and has remained so. He’s now 91, and as far as I can see, just will NOT shut up, as though he regards it as his ‘duty’ to convert the world to his own. May he now soon return to his maker – and get the shock of his….well….life!
Btw: ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ was/is one of my all-time favourite films. I remember at the time it was being made in England he appeared on our TV’s ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’, and sang a song he’d himself written with that very title – because he’d been asked to do it – and vowed that he’d never ever try to write a song again. Don’t know if he’s held to that.
Anonymous:
Yes, he was huge. I think Elvis even liked him. What an awful human being. And he took many black musicians songs and made them white bread.
Sorry, Mitch (again!) That was MY posting, which you just by chance may have guessed.
Back in the day (I’m talking the 1950s) his impeccable and warm singing voice used to send goose-pimples right through the younger and teenage me, like no other singer of that period – and, I have to admit even now, when I only have to remember how it did, the memory still does to an extent. But I haven’t heard anything at all of his since maybe the late 60s when I first found out what he was REALLY like – nor do I still wish to.
Raybeard:
I’m not even sure what message you’re apologizing for. Shame Boone is such a jerk. He also turned American black singers’ and songwriters’ music into pablum.
Raybeard: OHHHH. Now I know. It didn’t appear in order in my in box.
I had a pair of bucks myself. I had forgotten that Pat Boone even existed much less that he was still alive, so I went on an internet dive to read more about him. And yes, he was an A1 ass. I love the photo of you and Dale!
Michael:
Yeah, and still is an A1 ass. I, too, love that photo of us.
I don’t think I ever owned a pair of white bucks, living the country, white shoes were not very practical, and my mother was practical to the point of pain.
You have never had a mint julep! The classic is made with spearmint, tolerable, but I think spearmint smells like cat piss. Good bourbon and good peppermint schnapps over ice is my version. There is a great German peppermint schnapps that is 100 proof. It adds a nice kick.
David:
I LOVE spearmint. Too bad my Mint Julep days are over.
CRaaaazy about this appointment nonsense. I can’t wait to hear the good news after Friday’s appointments 🙂
Thanks for teaching us about mad drip because I just saw it in use elsewhere, and I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea why it was being said if it weren’t for your language lesson 🙂
Judy C:
Stick with me and you’ll know how to talk like GenZ. Never mind. That’s all I know!
Pat Boone was cute in his day, but ugh. (As you said in your subsequent post.) I’m not sure I’ve ever known what white bucks were — beyond shoes in a general sense — so thanks for the photo!
Steve:
Yeah, you missed out on the white bucks trend. Poor you. I thought Pat Boone was cute but knowing what I know I now seem him as hideous even in his younger days.
You know he is 91 now. Cute does not equal to nice or open minded.
larrymuffin:
And cute becomes ugly without kindness.
My Dad really liked Grossinger Catskill Resort
larrymuffin:
My parents went to Grossinger’s once or twice. I was never there. But it was famous.
I cannot help but giggle when I see the infamous swan lake movement as more times than not I have seen it done by men in drag.
Urspo:
I’m with you. How can you top Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo?
I remember those white bucks, but they were suede-like, so liquid polish would have ruined them. Mine came with a small cloth bag of white powder that you could dab on the shoes to freshen them up.
A few years ago I came across a book by Pat Boone from the early 1960’s–hardback, mint with dust jacket, and autographed by him. I bought it for about a quarter because I thought it might have resale value, but apparently people are smarter than I gave them credit for, and even autographed Pat Boone books are worthless.
–Jim
Parnassus:
Exactly. The suede is not meant to be polished. But I was 5 and only cared that my shoes were white and not scuffed. I don’t know if mine came with a powder, but my mother would have definitely removed it. Good to know even Pat Boone’s autographed books are worthless. He must have produced millions of them (or at least thousands).