Hello to all from Joey Calig. Well, another Mother's Day has passed, and I do not for a nano-second mean to belittle the mothers, grandmothers, wives, etc. of today. However, today was very different for those of us who remember when.
My mother (Annette Calig, wife of Ralph, son of Joe, father of Joey - that's me) has been gone for 5 Mother's Days and this is the first Mother's Day that I have not had my Dad around to sit and tell stories that always began with Dad saying, "Hey Tott (short for Tottala) do you remember...? Boy did I remember, even if I was remembering Dad telling the story fifty times before as opposed to my actually having been there.
Each and every Sunday my folks and I would always go to visit my Bobby Fagey, who lived with Aunt Tillie Gelman. She was Dad's sister. Usually there would be a mob; Dora and Shep Torin and their son Larry. Aunt Dora was my Dad's other sister. Dad's brother Bill always came alone because his wife Sara Nydes was as strange as a $3 Dollar Bill (that is how Dad described her) and his daughter Phyllis had married a guy from Johnstown PA and they were never around. He was a story that will be for another night when I have a major insomnia going.
But Mother's Day was a whole different thing. The Calig's could have created a monumental traffic jam of their own as everyone went to see their favorites and even their not so favorites. Remember, there were 32 first cousins on Ely and Dina Calig's family tree. It was a whole day event. First, we went to see my Bobby Fayge who had made some cookie strudel known as "Givikelts". To die for with a cold glass of milk, and there was always a shirt box filled (two layers) and some to take home. The kids played in the back, and loved it. You see Aunt Tillie's yard bordered on Rege Cordic's, and he always had stories of his radio characters. My favorite was Louie the Garbage Man.
Then it was off to see Uncle Morris and Aunt Bertha, and we usually found all of his kids there, including cousin Sam and his wife Mabel. Now, there was a character, and one of my all time favorite people, including the non-Calig population of the world. Sam was into race horses and had a farm where he raised them. He and his kids Eliot, Sandy, and Rhoda made sure those horses were living better than the family members. It was on Mother's Day that all the kids would start a season long campaign to find out when can they could come out to the farm and ride. Sam would say "soon; when your father can bring you, and when Eliot is around." Then the big moan, because Eliot was rarely around. He had a major distraction named Ellen, who consumed huge blocks of his time. Aunt Bertha's house was never short on sweets, some home made and some not, but all were top shelf. Uncle Morris would also help to sell Eliot of finding some time to have the kids come out and ride the ponies and horses.
Next stop; Uncle Abe and Aunt Ann where another whole army of people would congregate. George Calig was always around, and gave everyone coupons for his car wash; the first automatic car wash in Pittsburgh. If George was around when you went to the wash, you shoved the ticket in your pocket, and he told the cashier to let you through for free. At one time I think I had 50 coupons accumulated. When George move to California, Sam Shapiro bought the car wash and the coupons were no longer accepted. The cashier would say, "Go to LA and George will wash your car, and let you bowl if you go to Santa Monica." Aunt Anne loved the kids, always mad a fuss, and was a ranking member of the full pantry club. You knew without asking, all you had to do was look at Uncle Abe's belly.
Last stop was Aunt Ray, who was married to Uncle Tom; the detective. Boy he saved my tail more than once. There was a famous portion size in their house. It was called "An Aunt Raye Slice". She could cut a slice of chocolate cake thin enough to read the morning Post Gazette through. You could have a zillion slices, but never more than an Aunt Raye Slice. Uncle Tom would ask if she thought the famine was coming again, and then they would debate the correct size for a slice of her unbelievable chocolate cake. By the way, Marshal Ostrow was correct, Uncle Tom Calig had a cheek pinch that was deadly.
I could go on forever, but it is getting past my bed time. Hey, how many of you remember when 10:30 PM was the time you were headed out for Fox's Cafe, The Encore and the Casbah not to bed? We would have a few drinks with our fake ID's and shop the possible candidates for a short ride to Schenley PARK. Note the emphasis on PARK. Life was a lot more simple in those days.
I will check in again soon. Good Night Cousins.
Joey Calig
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