Bye Bye Birdie!

  My wife and I joined my daughter and grand
daughter in Mountain Top last night to enjoy
the Crestwood High School's presentation of
Bye Bye Birdie!
   I remember first seeing the play preformed
by a local group in Hazleton back in 1961.
   The kids did a great job and I really enjoyed
watching them.
    I also enjoyed watching my 11-year-old
grand daughter!
    You see the play hasn't changed in the 51
years since I first saw it. But a couple other
things have!
     For instance, you don't see too many girls in
Poodle skirts these days!
     Then there's the main plot. A Rock and Roll
star is being drafted! Kids today might think it's
about a singer standing too close to an open
window!
     I think the thing that really threw her, however,
was the song they call "The Telephone Hour."
     In it, teens from all over town are glued to
their telephones gossiping over a guy and girl
who "got pinned."  I suspect gossip is still around
but I'm not so sure about getting pinned.
     But forget the "pin plot." That's a whole other
subject! She notices that every body's talking to
one another on telephones that have WIRES!
      I'm trying to explain that the first phone I
remember had wires.....but no dial. You just
picked up the receiver and a voice on the other
end would come on and say something like....
"Operator......number please."  You'd tell her
the number you were trying to call and she
would ring it for you! And, by the way,
there were no area codes or 7 digit numbers.
      Like our home number...1515.
      My wife grew up in an area with a party
line. We had to explain that it wasn't a direct
link to people planning parties.  Several homes
shared telephone lines and each had its own unique
ring!
      It's hard to explain the advance of dial or
push button telephones to kids who are used
to using cell phones to check the time, connect
to the web, take pictures and, yes, even make
calls to other cell phones!
     Of course there's another song in the play
called "Kids." The lyrics include the words....
"Who can understand anything they say.?"
     Maybe some things never change?
     Hope you've put on a happy face and that
all your NEWS is good!