- "My family used to listen every night
at 7
o’clock to the radio news with Lowell Thomas. Sunday night was the big night to listen to
the radio. It seems to me that right
after he went off Amos and Andy came on. We listened to the comedian who played the
violin, Jack Benny. Sunday night
was the best night that they had the best programs. Saturday in the afternoon they had
opera but my bigger brother decided that we would not listen to that. You have to remember
that reception on radios at that time was very poor. If you could really listen to the
radio without static you were in tiptop shape." Mr. D., born 1923
- "There were 7 bocce courts in
McIntyre once, and
now there ain’t a one. Seven of them! Every Sunday you’d hear them Italians
talking in Italian, smoking them cigars and really playing that game for blood, boy, they
really played that game for blood. I liked that game, oh I liked that game. They’d
play four men, you’d have one guy, the referee, called the "signor." Mr.
Y., born 1928
- "We had a Philco radio and we
weren’t allowed to touch it but my mother would turn it on and Saturday night
we’d listen to station WWVA and we’d sit there and listen but we weren’t
allowed to touch it or turn it on." Mrs. M., born 1921
- One of the things the Coal Company did to keep the
people happy or interested was each town had a baseball team. So
my father played semi-professional baseball during World War I time.
Anyway, they
recommended that he would be good to get on the team. He was a good pitcher so he got the
job in McIntyre and we moved to McIntyre and he played some baseball. And one of the
things they do is go to the bosses and tell him if there was going to be a game in the
evening, don't work too hard because we want you to play well today."
Mr. S.,
born
1920
- "I remember I must have been about 3 or 4 we used
to have a place to see movies, it was a nickel, no talking, all we would see was horses.
It was silent and we thought it was great. For fun
we also used to sled ride on homemade sleds that I think my brothers made. A bunch of us
kids would get on one of these homemade sleds and go down a hill and fall off on the
snow." Mrs. F., born 1915
- "There was 3 dance halls here once. Right where
the post office is was the Union Hall and right down in front of that there tavern, that
used to be a hospital once where people were dying off from the flu they got."
Mr. R., born
1911
- "At the Union Hall
we had dances when I was young and we only paid a quarter to get in. And that’s where
we did our dancing. We used to wear all long dresses. These
dresses we bought at the company store. The young men would wear just a shirt and
pants,
nothing fancy. They had a small orchestra and an accordion player, a saxophone, and a drum.
That was a big thing in McIntyre. That’s where I learned to dance. The men would come
from around McIntyre, Coal Run, Iselin and other towns nearby. We would know them
all." Mrs. P., born 1920
- "Dad was Scout
Master for 14 years. What he did is he trained them in first aid. The first aid teams were all dressed in white. It kind of led into
them going into the mines. They had first aid teams and every year they would compete at
the fairgrounds and they would win prizes that were offered by what was
called the Holmes Safety Council. And Dad’s troop generally did pretty good. The
Holmes Safety Council was part of the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal Company. It was
sponsored by the coal mining company because of the need for miners to be trained in first
aid." Mr. D., born 1923
- "For entertainment we’d tie a can on the end
of a rope and swing it around. Other games kids played were jump rope, hopscotch, follow
the leader, leap frog, hide and seek., you’re hot/your’re cold, and a game on a
table with beans." Mrs. M., born 1921
- "Usually after we came home from school we played
baseball. As kids about age 12 or 13 we used to play down near the Catholic
Church. Between the church and the railroad tracks there was enough space there so
that as little kids we could play." Mr. D., born 1923
- "The wedding receptions in town were just in the
house where the bride was. And they would have an accordion player and the neighbors were
invited. The food was cooked by all the neighbors, they all pitched in." Mrs. P.,
born 1920
- "There were a lot of Slovenian people and
Italians and Poles in town. They [the Slovenians] used to have an organization here, they
used to call it the SNPJ. You’d pay so much a
month so if you got sick or something they’d give you a little bit of benefits. If
you’d go to the hospital for an operation like say, like appendicitis, they’d
give you 75 or 100 dollars. It would help a little you know. My dad was the secretary. He
used to collect money off the members, the dues were something like 2 or 3 dollars a
month. If you had an operation or were sick for a while you got some benefits. They used
to hold dances in the Union Hall to raise money. They had a meeting every month in the
Hall and used to talk about who was sick, who had operations. That organization is still
going in the United States. They have their main office in Imperial, Pa, big
office. The Polish had some kind of a lodge here in
McIntyre too, I think and the Croatian people they had one too." Mr. Y.,
born 1928
- "I remember we used to go to the dances at the
Union Hall and they’d dance the cakewalk. I was about 13 and at amateur night I sang,
"Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella on a Rainy Day", my sister sang, "Among My
Souvenirs" and my friend sang "My Blue Heaven." My sister won first place
and me second." Mrs. F., born 1915
- "As far as recreation was concerned, most of it
was baseball. Tennis courts were put in when I was about 15. They
were clay courts and they were lighted, it was pretty unique. It was free and open to
anyone who wanted to come." Mr. D., born 1923
- "They used to go and dance in the
house One
Saturday one family would do it and others would too and that was our speakeasy and they’d
sell booze, 35 cents for beer and maybe have an accordion to dance. Other times the men
they had a table and they used to play an Italian hand game called morra,
like they play today. All Italians. He used to go play cards with these guys and
one Saturday they’d gather one place next Saturday in another. They used to play
cards not for money, but for drink, there was no money." Mrs. G., born 1912
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