The Council Room

[Jim Culleton]

In this day and age of cell phones, pagers and instant email communication, I can only remember 2 telephones that one could use at Camp during the late '50's and early '60's. One was located in the camp office on the 2nd floor of the Boyden Chapel and one located on the dining hall wall just outside of the door adjoining the midget dining area and the porch. I don't think that there was one in either the Cabintown, Jr. nor Sr. camps. I could be wrong on that.

I can remember that one would have to get the local operator to place the call since Wolfeboro at the time didn't have dialing service and many lines were "party" lines used by 2 or more people. Not even sure if we had "area codes" back then! I don't think we did.

Just one of those little things we didn't worry too much about back then when life was simple, but probably couldn't do without today. I miss getting that "live" operator on the phone, and at no charge.
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[Mike Freeland]

Hi Jim.

I forgot about the phone in the dining hall. I seem to remember now that it was in a kind of box which you could access from either the veranda or the Midget dining hall. Was it over near the Bentley's table? And was the box locked?

Speaking of that area of the dining hall, does anyone know what happened to the meal/fire bell?

One place that didn't have a phone, which always amazed me, was the infirmary. As I recall, there was a concern that it might be used for personal calls.

You're right about it being a simpler time. Look at the DVD -- there wasn't a hint of floatation devices in the canoes and rowboats (those cushions sort of qualified, but not these days. And back then, you didn't have to wear them. Just have them somewhere around within view). We really didn't worry about much then, did we? Maybe we worry about too much today.

Back to phones: When Garth and I took our first independent mountain trip in 1964 into the Pemigewasset Wilderness, we called our folks from Crawford Notch, at the Crawford House. The Crawford House burned down many years ago, but the phone we called from was actually like the one Jan Clayton (Jeff's Mom in the original Lassie) used to call "Jennie" to get ahold of Ol' Doc Jones. Jeff got bit by an adder. Please hurry, Doc. Anyway, it was the thing with the crank. "Jennie" took forever to get on the line, and then it was about 15 minutes before she called back with our (collect) connection to faraway Pennsylvania. Even in 1964 that phone was old fashioned, and I was amazed that I actually got to use one of them for real.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Jim Culleton]

Hi Mike

I think you are right about the dining hall phone being built into a box that could be opened either from inside the midget dining hall or outside on the veranda near the Bentley's table. It could have had a lock on it but it seemed to be available during the early evening to make local calls, i.e. to local girfriends for dates back in '63 and '64. I can remember picking up that phone on a couple of occasions and having Brad be on the line. So all the phones at camp back then must have used the same line?

The only other camp phone locations would have been Red Roof and perhaps the Guest House? I never thought about it back then but the nearest "pay phone" had to be downtown Wolfeboro!

The reason I thought about this last nite was that almost 100% of communication with parents was by mail. Remember the Camp Wyanoke stationery that one could buy at the camp store? I guess it was a good thing that there were very few camp phones! Parents couldn't bug us, and we, them!

I do remember as a JC and Councilor having to write "mid-term" evaluations on each one of my campers, which were then sent to the camper's parents. I don't remember whether this pertained just to Cabintown or whether it was camp wide. The parents appreciated those letters.
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[David Bentley]

Okay, okay, do you remember that you were supposed to make long distance calls collect, or, if not possible, you were supposed to make them from the desk in the Office and then have the operator ring you back with the time and charges and you were supposed to record this in a roll book for phone calls so you could be back charged for them against your pay check. (How about that for an opening sentence ?) You are all basically correct - only phones in camp Office, BMB office, lillte guest house, and Red Roof. Second year seniors doubled up as phones as needed.

One summer a camper named Fred Kuhns brought his short wave radio system to camp and set it up in the roll top desk in the balcony of the Chapel. He was granted persmiision to stay up past taps to "talk" with some contacts around the world. Dot - dot - dash - dash - plop - plop - fizz -fizz oh, what a wonderful Camp this is. My apologies to the ASCAP world and to Fred.

Times have change, duh, particularly in the communication methods around camps. Several years ago when I was in the dreaded work force, I spent several days as part of an installation team installing and repairing intercom horns and paging stations at a local camp. We also set up several locations from which tapes of bugle calls could be played, followed by voice over announcements of impending events. Oh, the shrill cacophony of too treble electronic bugle noises !! Yuk !

During the late 40's and through into the early 60's (I think), the camp bugler used to stand on the roof of the dining room and bugle into a large (really large) metal megaphone dangling from a harness system. The bugler could rattle the fillings of the soundest sleeper in Cabintown without being anywhere near cabintown. I also remember most of the buglers risked being "fired" on the last day of Camp by playing a rather razzle-dazzle version of reveille, sometimes with the assistance of other brass instruments. I also remember the spiritual effect of Saturday night echo taps fading from Cabintown to Lands End as the camp population drifted off to sleep. To this day I have a hard time staying composed if I attend a funeral for a veteran and taps is played.

I can't believe the summer is nearly over - here in Wolfeboro things are slowing down dramatically. The weekends will be active through foliage season, then only the hardiest of the fool hardy will visit during the winter.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[Jim Culleton]

Hi Dave

Great post! I had forgotten about the "crazy" reveille on the last morning of camp! What fun that was. Steve Hood, a bugler for a few years, was my JC in J4 . . . . great guy but he always woke us up early as he got up, dressed and out the door to play reveille.

In my 9 summers at Wyanoke I don't think I ever made a long distance call, which sort of amazes me. If Camp were in session today I wonder how many kids would have cell phones . . . . . . . . where would we plug them in to recharge?

It's been a while since I have been up to Wolfeboro. Will give you a call the next time I'm up that way!
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[DavidAyars]

More than a few overnight camps now, Jim, even if they have cabins with electric outlets, have rules prohibiting cell phones or iPods or handheld video games among campers. Wisely, they still want kids experiencing the woods and not the wires of home, and they don't want to have to worry about the stuff being lost or stolen. But most of those camps have more access to phones than Wyanoke had.

I do remember the log book on Bea's desk in the office, for recording late night phone calls. It's easy to forget now, but long distance calls were quite expensive even in the last ten years of camp-- maybe $2 per minute or more in today's money, for 1960s calls. There was just one line in and out of camp, I think, so we were also advised to keep calls short and to remember that others could be listening on another extension, and there were rumors about that happening. Sometimes there would be late-summer announcements at staff meetings about calls on the phone bills that were not in the log book and admonishments to take responsibility and pony up the dough. Occasionally I can remember a city and town and frequently called and unreimbursed number being read aloud along with a muttered threat that if no one claimed the charges that Bea would call the numbers back again to see just who was responsible.

Yes, every parent was supposed to get a personally tailored letter from their son's councilor, early in the summer.

Campers' parents were only rarely called and mail was used more often for routine stuff. A mimeographed blue-ink-on-white-paper Bulletin, summarizing the week's weather and news and reminders for parents, written by a staff member (me in the last few years at Wyanoke) and proofed by BMB Sunday morning went home inside each boy's Sunday letter home. (Not surprisingly, when I first started writing the Bulletins, Mr. Bentley would cross out a lot of what I wrote and want redos, but I gradually learned how to do it his way and changes were thereafter rare.)

Parents were told to call camp on a boy's birthday if at all possible at lunch or dinner time. Everyone would be told to shush in the Midget Dining Hall while the hapless soul struggled to hear his parents on the phone. If I remember right, the phone in the Dining Hall had no dial (and certainly no buttons). You had to go the office or LGH or RR to dial out.
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[David Bentley]

I must say, in all due respect, David Ayars certainly paid attention while he was at Wyanoke (I had no choice) !).
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[Jeff G]

I can still remember the look BMB gave me when I asked him if it was ok to call my 1st girlfriend. "What was wrong with the mail?", he asked. "I think that she is breaking up with me" I replied, and held up her last letter, as evidence. BMB gave me one of those classic BMB looks (this will be a milestone in your life, but you'll get over it), and told me to be quick.

Anyway, the phone call lasted about 20 minutes, and yeah, she was breaking up with me. I think I was more upset when the operator called back and told me of the number of minutes, as I realized that I had to pay for the call on top of everything else.

Sigh..


Jeff G.

[Mike Freeland]

That's amazing, Dave (A). You really did pay attention. I was working this afternoon setting up a "shopping cart" for a local merchant's web site, and I took a moment to read your posts about the phones as well as the food, and was taken so intensely back to Wyanoke I could almost smell the mimeograph ink.

I don't remember using the phone at Wyanoke at all (for personal calls). I had to talk to the AMC or someone about trip business occasionally, but frankly, I didn't want to have much to do with the outside world (except maybe the Wolfeboro Inn, Father John's, the General Wolfe and Bailey's).

The most memorable thing about the phone at camp to me was the sound of the outside bell which was mounted over the chapel porch. It had a raucous sound, which can be heard on one of the old recordings I have of an indoor campfire. With long distance charges the way they were, the poor callers must've blown a ton of dough when some Aide had to run to Cabintown to tell a guy he was wanted on the phone. Incoming calls were discouraged, as I recall, for that very reason.

I did have a radio at camp. Six transistors! There was absolutely nothing on the air through most of the 60s during the day, (but then a local FM station popped in with "Beautiful Music...All the Time" some time around '65 -- something, I guess). It was oly at night that I could pick up WQXR in NYC (occasionally), and WMTW on Washington. Seems to me the latter signed off at midnight, just when I needed them the most for a little classical music fix. The kids didn't even bother to bring a radio to camp in those days. They became much more common toward the end.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Harry Sloan]

I also remember the phone in the dinning hall I think I only used it once, because it was an in coming call from my mother. I still think that the camp policy of avoiding such communications still stays with me. Once every summer I take 3 days off to remote camp with friends, we have rules: 1 No cell phones, 2 No radios, 3 No watches. After the first day you gain a sense of time. It is in my mind the only way to camp.
_________________
68 S-6 ( Jon Crane ) 69 S-6 ( Kent Newby ) 70 JA-2 ( Dan Mannis )

[Jim Culleton]

I remember Mike that it was difficult getting any type of good radio station locally during the day at Camp. Most everything up until maybe '58 or '59 was AM.

I still can remember having a "portable" Philco radio when I was a Senior ('59 & '60), before the advent of the transistor radio! It was a "tube" radio that ran off of a 12-volt Eveready battery, which maybe lasted 3-4 hours max . . . . . . . and weighed 2 lbs. itself! Maybe we could pick up WBZ-Boston on a good day.

We finally figured out if we could attach a wire to the radio's antenna and connect it to the pipe leading out of the pump in the Senior Camp, we could get all of the great NYC, Boston, Chicago and other stations at night! All the great Rock & Roll stations of the time. It was sort of like magic back then, being able to listen to some of our favorite home stations in the middle of NH.

Just a fond memory of the good old days! I think my 1st transistor radio was a 7-transistor SONY that I bought in '62 or '63!
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[Mike Freeland]

You guys are bringing back some great memories and images.

The wire to the pipe! I did the same thing, running a wire out to the pipe! I completely forgot about that. Strip about six inches of insulation, wrap it around the pipe and twist it tight. Why is it so much fun to remember how tough we had it? It seems nowadays that nobody has to be inventive any more. It's all right there for us, and I guess that's good. Isn't it? Yeah, ev ou could listen to Chicago at night after the skip kicked in.erything was AM then. No reception to speak of during the day, but you could listen to Chicago at night after the skip kicked in.

Jim, do you remember the little battery-operated record player Pat and I brought up to Cabintown for a couple of years ('63/64 at least). We played a lot of Kingston and Chad Mitchell Trio albums on that thing after Taps. That thing used about 50 D cells as I recall.

I had a flashlight which used a 6-volt anchor about six inches from front to back, maybe 5 inches high and 3 wide. The flashlight was a tin plate with a headlight mounted on it, that just screwed onto the threaded studs on top of the battery. It was great fo the first two weeks of camp, then the battery died. NO place in the Wolfeboro vicinity sold those damn things (we went looking on visiting days my parents came up), so I flapped around in the dark from that point on.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Jim Culleton]

Yep, Mike, I do remember that battery powered record player you and Pat had! I believe we also had a "plug in" one that sat on the long table near the front entrance to the Midget Chapel. We played those things incessantly it seems . . . . . after the afternoon swim and after taps in '63 and '64.

My favorite tune was "Golden Vanity" by the Chad Mitchell Trio and "Jane, Jane, Jane" by the Kingston Trio. I hadn't heard "Golden Vanity", a song about a ship, since '63 or '64 until I bought the Chad Mitchell Trio Collection CD a couple of years ago. "Zombie Jamboree" was another tune we just about wore out!

Great memories. Does anyone remember the "piano smash" that we had at the Cabintown Fair in '61 or '62? I can't remember where the piano came from? I do remember that one ticket allowed two hits with a sledge hammer on that poor thing! I can't believe we did such things back then!
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[Mike Freeland]

Dave, I think that FM station was WMTW, broadcasting from high atop beautiful Mount Washington, with studios in Poland Springs Maine.

I remember everyone gathering around the sparsely located radios for Red Sox games, and around someone's little B/W TV which was set up on the midget slide in the dining hall when the All-Star game was on. Everyone, that is, except Pat and me.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Jim Culleton]

That is so interesting Dave (A)! I'm sure Pat and Mike brought those records back to Camp after I left at the end of the '64 season.

It's interesting that the PP&M version refers to the enemy as the "Spanish Enemy" and the Chad Mitchell Trio version refers to the "Turkish Enemy". Great tune!

http://www.songlyrics.com/song-lyrics/Chad_Mitchell_Trio/At_The_Bitter_End/The_Golden_Vanity/23595.html

Thanks for the hyperlink, Dave!
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor