A Note from Jon "Birdie" Ames
Well, well, well!!! Not
sure why I was drawn to Google “
Cherry
Lawn
School
” the other day but when I did……I’m sure I had the same feelings many of
you did. All of a sudden memories
started flooding back of my two years at CLS ’67-’69.
I discovered a few things. First
thing I discovered was that I was missing. Who
knew? I have taken care of that
misfortune with an email to Mike Manners. So
now consider me ‘found’! If I
had known of my state of limbo I would have rectified it a long time ago.
Sorry.
I was afraid that nobody would remember “Birdie” until I was looking
at the posted messages and discovered that Laura Schoen actually mentioned my
name a while back in one of her posts that also hinted at my disappearance.
Thanks, Laura. At least I
know one person remembers me.
I also started remembering things about that period.
So many things began flowing through my head that I don’t know where to
start.
What do I remember?
I remember not wanting to be there when I first arrived.
But then I was made to feel very welcome by all of you.
I never felt like I fit in in Public School and didn’t feel it would be
any different at CLS. I was wrong.
I remember having to wear a tie to dinner and I still can’t stand
wearing one now even though I have to every day.
I remember sitting in morning meetings and other times out on the benches
and whistling bird calls that, because of the acoustics, sounded like they could
have been real birds. Could that be
why people started calling me ‘Birdie’?
Maybe…..
I remember
having the munchies so bad one night and all that was left in Eugene
Haberman’s care package was a can of asparagus spears and a tin of
Vienna
sausages. We started to eat them
but couldn’t finish; they were so bad. To
this day I still can’t stand the idea of asparagus on my plate.
Eugene
didn’t know we took them but I probably owe him a buck or two plus interest
for the canned goods violation.
I remember playing a baseball game on the athletic field when I hit a ball
into the tree in deep center field; across the driveway coming in from
Brookside Road
. Several people said the ball was
still climbing when it hit the tree. Wow!
You probably don’t care about that but I think it was pretty cool.
I remember the night of the fire(s) in Stein House.
I remember running the gamut of emotions that night watching from the
safety of Boy’s House. I remember
being afraid for those in the building and when the fire was supposedly put out
and everyone was okay, it mysteriously started again.
Now I was really scared. What
the hell was going on here? I
remember that all of a sudden the commons was filled with people who didn’t
know what to do or where to go.
I also remember the people from the neighborhood standing across
Brookside Road
who didn’t seem to be too upset at the situation.
I could swear I heard some of them cheering on the flames.
I remember a day or so later being volunteered by Mr. Cosby to go with him
and four others (I can not remember who the others were) in a flat bed truck to
some camp in upstate New York to pick up a load of bunk beds and mattresses that
would be used to set up a makeshift dorm in the commons for the displaced boys
from Stein House. Two guys sat up
front with Mr. Cosby and three of us sat in the back of the truck. To call this
trip wild and woolly is an understatement. It
started off simply enough but when we ended up driving on a runway at
Danbury
airport it should have been a clue. We
eventually got to this camp (in
Brewster
,
NY
, maybe?) and began stacking the mattresses on the flat bed truck until they had
to be at least 12-14 ft high. Only
problem now was where were those of us who couldn’t fit in the cab going to
sit? The answer was laying down on
top of the mattresses. That’s
right! Three of us on top of the mattresses 14 feet above the roadway.
Not strapped down in any fashion; just clearing overpasses by what seemed
like inches. Holy mackerel!!!
Around curves the guy on the inside would have to lean over and grab the
guy on the outside by the back of the jacket and hold or he’d have flown off
the truck. AND THIS WAS WINTER!
Have no idea how one of us didn’t get killed.
We used to play stickball on the side of Boy’s House and try to hit the
ball over the little house that was down the little hill there.
Susan Dube seemed to be the head cheerleader.
I remember
being one of the first guys suspended for refusing to get a haircut.
What a rebel. I needed a
vacation anyway.
And I’m still waiting for Dave Pearl and Hope Americo to
pick me up in a borrowed (stolen?) motor home to go to
Woodstock
.
Pearl
’s comment? “We didn’t think
you wanted to go!” Oh, brother!
Anyway, I heard it rained the whole time.
I probably didn’t miss anything.
I’m sure I could go on, but I’ll move along.
I went back to
Long Island
and graduated from Commack South in 1970. Then
off to
Franklin
Pierce
College
in
Rindge
,
NH
for some more educational fun. I
lived in
Boston
after that from 1976-1981 when I married Cynthia and moved to
Los Angeles
where I still am.
It was unintentional but I ended up pursuing an acting career which then
also led to some 15 years working free-lance in film and TV production as an
assistant director and casting director. Along
the way I spent 5 seasons as a stand-in and glorified extra on the 1980’s TV
series “Moonlighting” with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.
By glorified extra I mean that basically I was featured as part of the
on-camera office staff but they let me talk once in awhile which was a lot of
fun. If you follow this link:
http://www.davidandmaddie.com/exclusives/dan-jon.htm
you can read an interview that I did for a
“Moonlighting” website a couple of years ago.
It has some stills from the show and also a more recent pic of me.
Be nice, I’m not as young and cute as I used to be.
As I was getting older it was becoming harder and harder to find work in
show biz and I was forced to finally accept that it was a youth oriented
business and since I was no longer considered such I decided to try and get a
‘real’ job with paid vacations and benefits and such, so for the last year
and a half I’ve been working in the operations department of a Merrill Lynch
brokerage office in L.A. It’s a job but it’s nice to be getting a regular
paycheck. I could probably
stand it for 10 years or so.
So here I am almost 54 years old (Yikes! Remember when that seemed so
old?) and I find my mind wandering
back to a time that was really pretty special.
A time when the past 35 years was still ahead of us.
It is certainly within the realm of possibility for me to attend a
reunion next year (2006). As I said
I now have paid vacations. Wow! What
a concept !
Anyone who wants to email feel free. My
home email is mrnoodles@earthlink.net
Regards,
Jon “Birdie”
Ames
Submitted 12 - December -2005