Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Miss Crabtree
An entire website devoted to beautiful June Marlowe, who played the kindly, enlightened schoolteacher, Miss Crabtree, in six Our Gang comedies, & retired from acting in 1932. Her face is an icon of desire for several generations of prepubescent boys, & she's the teacher just about every child hopes for on the first day of school. I actually had two teachers in the Miss Crabtree mode; my kindergarten teacher, Miss Trodden, & for Sophomore English, the blonde bombshell (& perceptive) Miss Donohue making her fulltime classroom debut fresh out of Newark State College.Miss Donohue did me the greatest favor I ever received from a teacher. Our English class had several disruptive students with nasty dispositions who constantly challenged & tried to sidetrack her teaching efforts. It was slow going in there. I was at the peak of my stuttering years. But I loved reading & writing. Just before the entire class entered a scheduled six week speech / communications component with a specialist teacher, Miss Donohue conferenced with her Dept. Chair & a guidance counselor & got me transferred into another of her classes that had completed the speech segment. She didn't tell me she was working on this. It was a big surprise. The other class had better students & stronger syllabus. They read more & they read faster. In my conservative high school, it couldn't have been easy for a rookie teacher to make a case for the special treatment of one academically undistinguished student. She had ideals! A lovely, gentle person in her early 20s, same age as my oldest brother. Miss Donohue surely considered the favor more than repaid when I won statewide competitions for editorial writing as a Junior & Senior.
Labels: education, growing up
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Those early-years teachers sure do make a lasting impression on us, don't they?
My kindergarten teacher was named Miss Reckus and she was a hefty gal, very well-endowed in the boob department. That was back in the day of the circular-stitched bra cups thus giving her chestal silhouette a pointy uplift of 90 degrees. She had a fondness for gumball-sized beaded necklaces in bright colors.
One day, somebody took their opportunity at outdoor recess to escape the schoolgrounds and head for home. A high-speed footchase ensued. Miss Reckus, aiming to capture the kid before he reached his home, led a running pack of 5 year olds down the street, boobs bopping and red beads bouncing all around. That woman could move.
Perhaps not quite as inspirational as your story, but memorable nonetheless.
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My kindergarten teacher was named Miss Reckus and she was a hefty gal, very well-endowed in the boob department. That was back in the day of the circular-stitched bra cups thus giving her chestal silhouette a pointy uplift of 90 degrees. She had a fondness for gumball-sized beaded necklaces in bright colors.
One day, somebody took their opportunity at outdoor recess to escape the schoolgrounds and head for home. A high-speed footchase ensued. Miss Reckus, aiming to capture the kid before he reached his home, led a running pack of 5 year olds down the street, boobs bopping and red beads bouncing all around. That woman could move.
Perhaps not quite as inspirational as your story, but memorable nonetheless.
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