1. A
memoir written by
Robert Paul Smith and
illustrated by
James J. Spanfeller. Originally published by
W.W. Norton & Company in 1957. Currently
out of print in
hardcover form.
Written from the
perspective of the
author as a
middle-aged father, this
unconventional autobiography is a
non-linear chronicle of the experiences,
games,
superstitions and
beliefs of a typical
boyhood spent in the early part of the
twentieth century. It is particularly admirable for the
author's keen ability to capture the often strange
relationships between children and
those who inhabit the strange realm of
adulthood. Smith is disturbed by the increasing
obligation of
parents to
regiment and
formalize the
play time of children. This
nostalgic exploration of his childhood is typified in the brief
conversation in the title, which conveys the
freewheeling lassitude and creativity-spurring
freedom that he sees as lacking in the lives of his own children.
...when we were kids, we had the sense to keep these things to ourselves. We didn't go around asking grownups about them. They obviously didn't know...I think we were right about grownups being the natural enemies of kids, because we knew that what they wanted us to do was to be like them. And that was for the birds. "Pop, look at this. It's a pollywog, look at it." "Um," said your father. Another kid said, "Jeez, where'd you get it? Are there any more? What'll you take for it?"
"Hey, mother, you know what? Ted Fenster's kid brother eats dirt." "Well, don't let me catch you doing it," said your mother. "Go-wan," a kid would say. "Eats dirt? You mean, really eats dirt? Yer full of it." "He'll do it for a penny," you said, and you went off to find Ted Fenster's kid brother, and by God, he ate dirt, lots of it, spoonfuls of it, for a penny.
(p. 40-41, 1957 ed.)
2. A four-minute
black and white film produced by
Charles and
Ray Eames for
CBS in 1960. Based on the
book of the same name.
3. An
album by
The Serenaders. A
song from this album is extant on a
Hanover Records 45 entitled
Alaska (Catalogue number 4514).