Boys’ Life

When I was a little girl my ‘big’ brother was in Boy Scouts.  It seemed like an exciting and mysterious organization to me.  They camped, they made things, they wore patches that indicated they had learned interesting things, and they got a magazine each month that was just for boys.

When Boys’ Life arrived at the house, I would try to read it, or at least the interesting parts, before he got home.  If my Mother caught me, she would put it away so I wouldn’t get the first read.  She always said he should have first chance with it, then he could share it with me.  Of course, if he did get it first, he didn’t want to share it with me.  After all, it was called Boys’ Life, not Girls’ Life.  And, I got Humpty Dumpty so I should be content.

Well, Humpty Dumpty was fine and I liked it OK but Boys’ Life had neat stories and best of all, a whole page of jokes on the second to last page.  I loved the jokes and the cartoons.  Not all of the cartoons.  Some were just for boys.  Pee Wee Harris was a great multi box cartoon about a boy scout and Millicent was a one box cartoon about an elephant. Very funny stuff to a 7 year old.

You might wonder how I remember the details of the magazine.  I didn’t really until last week.  My husband was cleaning up some of his stuff in our basement and he found a copy from February, 1964.  The picture on the cover is priceless.  It’s a Norman Rockwell.  I can’t remember if all the covers were done by him but I do recall many that were.  Reading the magazine I have been reminded of so many things.  There’s a page with record reviews, “Platter Chatter,”  that includes records by Les Paul, Cal Tjader, Lena Horne, and Johnny Smith and Stan Getz.  Jazz was very big at the time.  This was pre-Beatles and a little post-Elvis.  There is also a page with book reviews and a page about stamp and coin collecting.   

As I look at the magazine now I can’t see too much a 7 year old ‘girly’ girl would enjoy except the cartoons and jokes.  Perhaps what made it so appealing was that it was for boys, not girls.  Or just maybe it was beating my big brother to his magazine.