Bob Comes to Work
You know, a few weeks ago I went to Conneaut Lake Park, and it brought back some old memories of Idora Park. Old rides like Idora had, like the Caterpillar and the Paratrooper, got me thinking of Idora Park and the rides that were on the upper part of the Midway.
It was my third summer working at Idora Park when I got a call from my best friend Bob McDermott.
Bob said, “Hey, Chuck, is there any way that Idora Park is hiring?”
And I said, “Sure, they usually are. Why don’t you come in one morning with me and I'll have you meet Pat Duffy Jr.”
Bob is a real nice guy. I've known him since, well, practically since we were born. Our parents were best friends and they only lived one street away from each other. In fact, from my upstairs bedroom I could see his house because it was almost directly across from ours the next street over. And our fathers would take turns driving each other back and forth to work because they both worked at Commercial Shearing.
So the next day when I came into work I talked to Pat Duffy Jr. and I said, “Hey, I have a really good friend that needs a job. Are we still hiring here?”
He said, “Well, Chuck, since this is someone you know, tell him to come in and we'll see about getting him a job.”
So that night when I got home from work around 11:30 pm, I called Bob up and ask him if he would come in the next day. And of course he said sure.
Now the funny thing about Bob and me – even though we're really good friends, we tend to try to kind of one up on each other. Nothing mean or spiteful or anything like that – just, I don't know, I guess it's just something we do.
It's kind of like, one time Bob and I went bowling, and I was bowling a really good game and I bowled a 262. Now in order for Bob to beat me he would have to get 4 strikes in a row. Well, he deliberately did he beat me 263 to 262. But that's the way things go.
So I brought Bob in the next day to meet Pat Duffy Jr who said, “Yes we have some openings. And asked how long we've known each other and stuff. Finally, he looked at Bob with a smile and said, “Okay, how would you like to work on the rides, Bob?”
And Bob said, “Sure, I just want a job. I don't care where it's at.”
Now, I don't know if it's because my brother got me the job and they figured I'd want to work on the games too, but I would have liked to work on the rides. As a game operator you made around 43 cents an hour, but if you worked the rides, you got paid a $1.25 an hour. See what I mean? Bob almost always got one up on me.
Two days later Bob started working at Idora Park. When he got hired, Bob got put on the Flying Cages ride. He really liked working on the rides. In fact Mr. Horvath, who was in charge of maintenance on the rides, had told Pat Duffy Jr. that he was a good worker.
Pat told me about it and said, “If you ever find someone who else is a good worker, tell me.”
Remember Bob from the Idora Park Car Show? This is also the same Bob that had the 1971 white Trans Am.
At that time I was still a breaker, so I could walk all over the park, which means I could see Bob whenever I wanted to. And that meant I had someone that I could go to lunch with.
One time for lunch, we decided to get Idora Park fries (who wouldn't want that for lunch), and Bob said, “How about if we go get some Sno-Cones?” I said okay, especially since there was a Sno-Cone stand right next to Kiddieland, which was very close.
Now as I said, I didn't go up to that part of the park very often because there weren’t any games up there. As I walk up to the Sno-Cone place, I happened to spot another friend from grade school. His name was John Chelbus. Apparently he and his brother Jimmy had been working at that Sno-Cone stand for a couple of years. And I never even knew it. In fact, a girl that I started dating the following year who worked at the basketball cages at Idora Park was best friends with Jimmy's girlfriend, so we went out together a lot.
That was the start of a fun summer. For Bob and me, just like the story before that I told about John and his friend getting in the mischievous things – well, let’s just say Bob and I were well known for that.
That was also the summer that a friend of ours named Frank, who we also went to grade school with, got hired to work the Idora Park train. And Frank was another person that like to get into mischief.
If you ever went to Idora Park in the early ’70s, and you heard over the PA system, “Send maintenance to the train,” that’s because Frank went too fast and derailed it.
Bob has promised me a guest blog one of these days, when we’re both not so busy. He’s going through a rough patch right now. Hang in there, buddy.
See you on the Midway!