Remembering 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'

 Once reminded of 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn', I knew I wanted to watch it again. I was happy to find it on YouTube. What a great way to spend some Saturday hours! Since I grew up in Toronto, although I lived in a quieter, less busy, residential area than the Nolan family, the city setting made me feel right at home.

So much was familiar, the butcher shop, the junk man with his horse and cart, the kids finding ways to make money, the school classroom with its desks in rows, teacher at the blackboard with pointer in hand, kids playing in the streets with no worries about their safety, the insurance man who came each month to collect the premiums, the rollerskates that meant the world to this little girl. And the tree - the tree, like the people, reaching for the sun and, against all the odds, living a good life.

The world I grew up in was maybe no better, no worse, than our world today but the world I grew up in was very different, and I'm grateful that I have been able to experience and to enjoy the very different, less stressful lifestyle, where Saturday meant the matinee at the Grant theatre with double feature and a cartoon for fifteen cents. With our 25 cents weekly allowance we still had ten cents left over for popcorn and three for a cent candies. Sunday morning meant going to church and Sunday afternoons meant going, nickel in hand for the collection plate, to Sunday School. Weekdays meant walking several city blocks to school where we lined up and marched into our classrooms to the beat of the military band music that filled the school yard through the loud speaker.

There was something called 'service' in those long-ago days. I remember the milkman, the breadman, the coalman, the iceman, the doctor who came to the home when called. I remember city front verandahs where the parents and the grandparents sat and watched the kids playing in the streets. A city neighbourhood much like a small town where everybody knew everybody and kids couldn't get away with anything. There was always someone watching. These are all very good memories.

If you haven't watched "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", I highly recommend it - a very authentic portrayal of life for many in 'the good old days'.