Let’s welcome 2023 with hope and gratitude!

To our followers and subscribers: Your presence at our blog is the present, 365 days a year. Thank you for your continued interest in the Muro and Serrapede Family History Project. We wish you a healthy, safe and prosperous 2023.

–EmilyAnn Frances May and Sam Serrapede, Jr.

Snow birds sing a song to you
For your gift my
thanks sincere,

A heart full
of good wishes,
A very bright
New Year.

---

Postcard circa 1910. From EmilyAnn’s collection.
Greeting written by: M.H.S.
Postcard published by: F.A. Owen Co., Dansville, N.Y.

84a-Serrapede Family 1950s: Junior becomes a teenager (part 1)

Introduction

Junior (Uncle Sammy) entered his pre-teen and then his teenage years during what we now consider the Golden Era of the 1950s.  There is a great deal of nostalgia and sentimentality created around the adolescence of that era.  In the United States, part of this phenonmenon is due to the enduring appeal of novels and movies set in fictional small towns of that bygone era. 

The stories of this time period follow a narrative that usually involves teenagers with some minor difficulties at home and big problems with a clique at school.  Or there are two rivals in school who vie for awards and memberships and sometimes even compete for the love of the same person. Then there are coming of age stories about winning and losing a sweetheart, graduating school and moving to another town to get a job. 

At the other end of the sweet and nostalgic is the image of the lonely teen who was marginalized by the townspeople as well as other teens.  Often there was something “different” about the loner who did not fit into the conformist society of the time.  The stereotypical loner, however, soon turned rebel.  Here popular culture found a vehicle to impress upon young people the dangers of going away from all accepted norms.  Movies and pulp novels depicted the daring and scandalous behavior of girls who refused to date just one boy or come home on time.  The image of the rebel boy who smoked, cut classes, rode a motorcycle and longed to leave town was the complement of the daring girl.  

In between these two extremes were the real life teenage  boys and girls who danced on American bandstand and who had many choices ahead of them after graduating high school.  They could enlist in the military, go to work, plan for marriage, or move to a big city to make a new life.

Where, though, did the young person growing up in the Italian-American community of Dyker Heights fit in?  As we researched the topic of the pre-teen years and adolescence in the America of the 1950s we did not find anything that addressed what the youth of our own heritage experienced at this time.  Outside of some online bios and essays about Italian-American actor Sal Mineo, who became typecast during the 1950s as a rebel boy, there was little we could draw on.  So, we decided to use the results of how teenagers were depicted in American pop culture and use that as a comparison and contrast with what we saw in our own Italian-American community. Uncle Sammy shares his memories of being a teenager during the 1950s and early 1960s.  I share my observations of the teenagers around me from the time I became more aware of them after the age of 7 through 10.

Relationship Notes

Junior (Sammy)was born in 1942 to Sam and Josie (nee Muro) Serrapede.  He lived in an apartment house on 66^th Street in Brooklyn along with his big sister Emily Leatrice.

Josie and Sam were born in the town of Agropoli in Southern Italy.  Josie was born in 1909 and came here when she was 3 years old.  Although she was raised in a thoroughly Italian home with the spiritual and moral values of her ancestors, her outlook on life and attitude towards education, work and finances was very influenced by her American education.  She raised her children to complete their schooling, consider higher education, develop good habits and skills to secure a steady job, and make wise choices with spending.  Sam was born in 1900 and immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1920s.  He was a hard worker and lived a very simple life.  He left the raising of the children and running of the household to Josie.  Sam was most involved when a serious development arose and his participation was required in making a decision.

Junior and Emily Leatrice spent their teenage years in the company of the friends from the block and their cousins.  Everyone knew each other and the families often socialized.  This created a very different world from the one often presented in Hollywood films and later on TV where the family structure was more nuclear and the family members were highly individualized rather than being aware of their ethnicity, ancestral heritage and membership in a collective, community grouping.

Topics Covered

Our readings in preparation for this posting took us on a long journey across the internet to find just the right material to help give shape to what we wanted to express.  News coverage on the topic of adolescence and teenage life was not as vivid as that provided from educational films created during the 1950s for use in teaching various subjects in high school such as home economics, family relations and future job or educational planning.  We have integrated these clips into our research results and provided links in the Resources section.  By viewing and using period educational films and movies we got a better sense of understanding the forces in popular culture and the Cold War that operated in the background of American teenage life during the 1950s. 

The Cold War played no small part in the heavy handed conformity imposed not only on adults but teens as well, during the 1950s.  To get a better idea of how Junior’s older sister, Emily, viewed the social pressures this caused please see our postings 81c-Serrapede Family in America 1950-Sunday, June 25, 1950 and 81d-Emily and Frank-Life on Colonial Road 1950-What the neighbors had to say.

These are the topics we present:

–From this point in time:  A Nostalgic View of 1950s Teenagers

–One perception of adolescence from the early 1950s:  The Innocuous Teenager

–Realities and Influence of the Cold War:  Rules, Rules, Rules and…Conformity

–1950s Teens Rise up:  Rebellion, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Juvenile Delinquency

–To what extent was the experience of the Italian-American Teenager different?  And if so why?

83c-Walter Podolak, the Golden Superman and Neighbor of the Serrapede Family 1950s

Introduction

Sometimes a family story contains a mention of a neighbor, acquaintance or friend from days passed that strikes us in some way as memorable.  This person appears only once but is frequently recalled when the bigger story comes to mind or we find ourselves in a situation or setting that is similar to that in the family story.  This happens to me whenever I pass by a health food store, a farmer’s market, a gym or the vitamin aisle of the supermarket.  At these times I remember the neighbor from a family story my Mom shared with me when she brought home her first vegetarian cookbook in the late 1970s. 

Uncle Sammy remembers this neighbor, too.  He was known in the U.S. and Europe as The Golden Superman and that is how my Mom referred to him in the story.  She never told me his real name.  It wasn’t until Uncle Sammy and I began discussing The Golden Superman that I learned his real name and colorful history.  Thanks to a few more details Uncle Sammy provided we are able to present this good neighbor.  He was not only famous in his youth.  In later life became an advocate and promoter of a healthy lifestyle.  He also supported and encouraged young people into activities that promote a healthy lifestyle and fit body.  The Golden Superman believed such activities can be a deterrent to juvenile delinquency. 

Relationship Notes

Emily Leatrice Serrapede was the daughter of Sam and Josie Serrapede.  She was born in 1931 and began dating her future husband, Frank, in 1947.  She lived with her parents and brother Junior (Sammy) on 66th Street in Brooklyn. 

Emily and Frank were EmilyAnn’s parents.

Walter Podolak Jr. was the real name of the Golden Superman.  He was the good neighbor mentioned in the family story.  Walter and his family lived the same apartment house on 66th Street as the Serrapede family when this story took place. 

Family Storey:  Frank meets the Golden Superman

Emily and Frank began dating in mid-late 1947.  As time progressed, their dates changed from group outings with Frank’s family and friends to more time spent together as a couple.  Emily said that Frank liked her parents very much and would linger in the hallway with Emily after he brought her home.  He hoped to be invited in so that he could listen to Sam’s humorous take on current events as well as find out what Josie had to say about happenings in the Serrapede family.  If Junior was home he’d spend some time talking with him, too.

Emily took advantage of those times when Frank wanted to spend a little more time with her family.  Even after they became engaged Emily sometimes felt a little competition from a young woman Frank mentioned whenever the subject of his service in the Navy during WWII came up.  During his assignment in Corpus Christi, Texas he met a young woman named Ann.  Frank usually mentioned an evening when she wore a pretty blue dress and how easy it was to talk with her and her family.  He made this comparison often because he said that being in Texas was the first time he felt accepted for who he was.  Back home in Brooklyn, NY where neighbors knew his mother Blanche was Jewish Frank was often treated poorly by girls he asked out for a date.  To get the reassurance she needed, Emily would ask Frank if he was really sure he wanted to be with her rather than re-enlist or return to Texas where he had been so happy.

It was during one such conversation about Ann that Frank had enough and told Emily he was a one woman guy and she was the gal for him.  He then gave her a kiss.  At this point the front door opened and in walked a tall, muscular middle aged man whose presence made Frank break his embrace of Emily and apologize for blocking the hallway.

He looked very tough, Emily said. And his presence filled the small entrance to the hallway. But the neighbor did not make a fuss.  Instead he said, “Oh, I’m so sorry!”  and chuckled as he went down the hall.  When Frank asked who the neighbor was Emily told him “That’s the Golden Superman!”

When Frank said he did not know what Emily was talking about, she explained who the Golden Superman was.  Frank couldn’t get over that a well known wrestler was living in a 4-family apartment house in what was then a part of Dyker Heights where mostly working class immigrants and their second generation children lived.  Emily told Frank that the Golden Superman was a good neighbor and got along well with the other tenants.  He had no pretensions and was easy to talk to.

When Emily told EmilyAnn this family story she also said that at some point the Golden Superman had a health club and promoted the use of vitamins and a simple diet as a way to stay healthy and fit.  It was the first time she had ever heard about using different kinds of vitamins and minerals but did not take it very seriously.  During the 1940s and 1950s the ideas of what constituted a well-balanced meal were very different from the ones we have today thanks to ongoing research into the relationship between diet and health.  Emily thought vitamin pills were for people who had some type of deficiency and were not something she need be concerned about.  She was to change this point of view once she decided to take control over her fluctuating weight gains in the late 1960s. 

Why the Golden Superman matters in our family history

When the Back to the Earth movement of the late 1960s through mid-1970s occupied a place of prominence in American pop culture, Emily had enough familiarity with the concepts of vitamins, natural foods, organic vegetables and the need to consume less red meat to take an interest in changing her own eating habits and that of her family.  Some of this awareness also came from her parents, Josie and Sam who grew their own vegetables in the garden of the home they bought in 1960.  Emily’s husband Frank was still a believer in the more conventional American diet of that time.  It promoted heavy intake of red meat, potatoes, and vegetables.  Vegetables did not have to be fresh and neither did the meat.  Frozen and canned foods were promoted for their convenience and nutrition. 

Because of the influence Frank’s parents had over his life, he followed the eating patterns he grew up with and brought up his children with the same nutritional standards in mind.  Emily, Frank and family had beef in different forms at least 4 days a week.  Vegetables were not always fresh or served raw.  If they were fresh they were often baked or boiled.  A salad was sometimes served consisting of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions and dressing from a bottle or packet mix. 

It was a diet that Emily wanted to change but had difficulty doing because of Frank’s resistance.  Added to this, Emily’s in-laws were very vocal about their concerns for the Grandchildren growing up on a diet that favored the fresh vegetables, pasta dishes, seafood and poultry Emily’s family had raised her on.  It was a clash of family cultures and also a point of view limited by what was considered the right way to eat during the Post WWII period.  EmilyAnn was especially impacted due to poor digestion whereas her sibling thrived on this diet.  Each child became an example used by Emily and Frank in their ongoing differences about what constituted good nutrition.  These differences were not arguments but did express a changing awareness and outlook more on Emily’s part than Frank’s.

Emily bought her first natural foods cookbook by the time natural foods were becoming more available at grocery stores in Brooklyn Heights starting in the mid-1970s.   Emily began introducing meat-free meals whenever she could.  After her divorce in the early 1980s she switched over to more fresh produce and meals that consisted of no red mean but sea food and poultry.  Then eventually meat free meals after consultation with her doctor.  Whenever she discussed how easy it was for her to accept the relationship between nutrition, health, vitamins and exercise she cited the Golden Superman.  He was her first contact with an advocate of the fitness and health lifestyle so familiar to us today.

Topics covered in this posting

The subject of Walter’s career in wrestling would require an entire series to cover the evolution from his hometown of Syracuse NY to his evolution into the Golden Superman.  That kind of presentation is in the best hands when the blogger has solid knowledge of professional wrestling.

Instead we have gathered together documentation from Ancestry, news reportage from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and The New York Times, and a 1975 interview Walter gave to create a brief overview of his life.  Most of the information that we fount focuses on Walter’s public life.  We could not find anything about his married life in Brooklyn.  As things happen when researching a person’s family history, some bits and pieces came together that may relate to Walter’s marriage and who his wife was.  While we are not 100% certain about the marriage certificate we found we present it as a possibility since the event fits into a timeline of where Walter was in 1937. 

Not having the specific year in which the family story took place did not prove a problem to our research.  The time frame from when Frank met Emily and when they married (1947-1950) proved enough to get us started in terms of date ranges of the time before and after Walter Podolak came to live on 66th Street in Brooklyn, NY. 

Emily related the events of the family story to EmilyAnn during the latter period of her stay at Lutheran-Augustana where she resided for treatment of Parkinsonism.  The finer details of who Walter’s wife and children were had slipped away.  Yet, from the details she provided we got enough to start our research.

A major source of information which helped us put all the pieces together is available at the blog “The Tight Tan Slacks of Deszo Ban”. A 1975 interview by Fred Howell is reposted in its entirety at this blog.  We have provided the link in the Resources section.  From it you will get a good idea of who Walter was.

83a-Serrapede Family in Brooklyn 1950s: Junior goes to Ebbets Field

Introduction

Local and national history plays an important part in the telling of any family’s narrative.  For the Serrapede family in Brooklyn, this was especially true during the heyday of Ebbets Field and a team that became known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Junior was a big Dodgers fan and with his friends worked very hard to obtain tickets to their games played in Brooklyn.  In this posting we’ll present some background information about the team and the stadium so that readers can better understand the specifics in the family story shared in this posting.  Our goal is to present a fun-filled assortment of facts and trivia so that even readers who do not know the sport or the local setting will come away with a general overview about this part of our local and family history during the 1900s through the 1950s.

Relationship Notes

Junior was Sammy’s nickname as a boy.  He was born in 1943 in Brooklyn to Josie and Sam Serrapede.  Sam’s name was anglicized from Sabato.  Sammy’s name is actually Sabbatino, which means something like “Sam, Jr.”.  Hence everyone called him Junior when he was growing up.

During the 1930s and 1940s Brooklyn was being developed more and more as each year passed.  There was still a small town feeling to the borough, though, because there wasn’t the kind of crowding experienced in Manhattan.  There were still many open lots where boys and girls could play in their neighborhoods.  And sports such as baseball played at Ebbets Field had a distinctly local feeling to it.

Emily Leatrice was Junior’s sister.  She often remarked that she felt lost in the way Josie got involved in all the sports Junior took an interest in.  Baseball and basketball were the ones she became familiar with so that she could enjoy discussing the teams Junior was most enthusiastic about.

Topics Covered In This Posting

We have used a variety of sources to create this posting.  They include blogs, books and news reportage. When assembled by decade, we can see how the sport of baseball in Brooklyn and the Dodgers changed with the passage of time.  Specifics are provided in each section.

It Started in Brooklyn:  How the Ward Bakery Company sponsored a team called the Tip Tops and brought about needed improvements at Washington Park as attendance at games grew.  During this period Washington Park was the place to play baseball in Brooklyn.  (1890s to 1920s)a

The Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field:  The early years of this team and the new park, Ebbets Field, where they played. (1910s to 1930s)

Ongoing improvements to Ebbets Field:  The management of the Brooklyn Dodgers devised ways to increase the number of games played and availability of tickets.  To meet the demands of increased attendance improvements to the stadium began.  (1930s)

Long Lines, Overnight Vigils and Complaints From Residents:  The mystique surrounding the Dodgers and Ebbets Field expanded beyond the confines of Brooklyn and New York City.  Fans from out of state joined locals in the long lines for tickets and bleacher seating days before a scheduled game.  Not all residents were happy about the crowds.  (1940s)

Brooklyn Dodgers, Neighbors and Family Men:  Memories shared by fans who lived in the same communities the team members did.  (1940s to 1950s)

Outgrowing Ebbets Field and Moving to Los Angeles:  The inevitable passage of time and the ongoing evolution of the sport and needs of the team and fans led to the demand by the Dodgers for a brand-new stadium.  When politicians and budgeting offices in New York failed, the team followed through with plans to relocate.  (late 1940s to late 1950s)

It Started in Brooklyn

We begin our look at the early years of baseball in Brooklyn with information gathered from a series at the Brownstoner blog.  Added to this are some tidbits from Lost Brooklyn by Marcia Reiss.  (see Resources).

—Baseball as we know it today began in Brooklyn during the mid-19th century.  Some of these teams were named after local settings.  The Atlantics got their name from Atlantic Avenue.  Another team, The Brooklyn Tip Tops was named after Tip Top Bread.  The owners of the Brooklyn Tip Tops were members of the Ward family who owned the Ward Baking Company.  The Ward brothers’ manufacturing facilities and offices were located in The Bronx and Brooklyn.  One of the products Ward made was Tip Top Bread. 

—James Ward was the founder of The Ward Bakery Company.  His grandsons, Robert and George, also worked in the family business.  Both young men were as devoted to their family and business as they were to baseball.  When they were approached by James Gilmore of the Federal League of Baseball clubs, they decided to support a local team that they hoped would stir things up.  This led to the formation of the Tip-Tops in 1914. 

—The Ward Brothers and Gilmore acted this way as a protest of the American and National Leagues which had imposed limits on clubs. 

—To make sure the Tip Tops had a stadium in Brooklyn, Robert Ward bought the old Washington Park located on Third Street and Fourth Avenue and had it completely rebuilt in 1914.  The problem Ward had was not in the attendance at the games.  It was just a simple fact:  The Tip-Tops were not a good team.  They often lost more games than they won. 

—A new team was on the horizon, one that played in a brand-new stadium that was built in 1913.  That team later became known as the Brooklyn Dodgers and the stadium was called Ebbets Field.

—The Tip-Tops played their last season in 1915 which was also the last year baseball was played at Washington Park.  The park was used for high school and college sports after 1915.  In 1926 Washington Field was taken down.