Weeknights were spent reading or listening to the radio. Since there was no electricity in the country, people used coal oil or kerosene lamps for lighting. These flared and blackened the glass and thus required frequent cleaning. The light was never bright enough and this made doing homework very difficult. Teenagers pursuing their high school matriculation usually spent two hours every night doing homework. Others read, and often read the same book more than once. (Roger Lillie, The Lillie Legacy page 12).
Battery operated radios were popular at the time. The radios used one large 12 Volt car-like battery that was rechargeable at a hardware store. This battery was purchased at Eatons or a hardware store. There were two non-rechargeable "B" batteries that were also required. On average, one would purchase about 2 sets of B batteries per year. You did not listen to anything that was frivolous. News was listened to and in particular, many have said the listening to the World Series of Baseball was popular.
During the 1940s Ray Cook and Roy Wilson recall the radio comedy "Fiber McGee and Molly" as being very popular amongst teenagers. Hockey night in Canada was also very popular on Saturday evenings. Television was first introduced to Dryden in 1952
Helen Van Patter had a player piano. Mr. Bailey, the local theatre owner gave her family a piano box full of rolls that were used at the local theatre before "talkies" (talkies were the first movies after the silent movies). The box full of rolls were metal cylinders with raised notches. One would insert the cylinder in a compartment behind the piano keys. As the cylinder rotated the raised notches on the rolls would cause the piano keys to strike and thus produce music. With five girls at home, Helens home was a popular place for teenagers. They took turns pumping the piano, singing and dancing. Other options for evening entertainment were playing cards, croquinole and chess. Croquinole was a board game where players would take turns shooting wooden discs on a circular playing surface. The object of the game was to land one's discs in the higher-scoring regions on the board while at the same time knocking away the opponents' discs.
Many of the merchants in Dryden stayed open late on Saturday evenings, often closing as late as midnight. Mabel Franklin has commented that this enabled country people to their shopping and socializing on the one day they traveled into town.
On Friday and Saturday nights country dances, talent nights, and supper evenings were organized at the local church or school. In town, dances were held at the Pulp Mill Hall (located at Wilson's Business Solutions) and later on at the Teen Cantene.
Stella (Skene) Davies has many fond memories of the dances that were held in Pulp Mill Hall in Dryden or in many of the halls or schools in the country side. She remembers dances being held every weekend night and occasionally on weekdays during the summer months. The dances had a live band or an orchestra as they were called at the time. Some of the orchestra musicians were Claude Stansfield playing the saxophone, Morris Howe playing the trumpet, on the violin was Ollie Chopchuk and Ferne Beath was on the piano. The War songs were popular, such as "White Cliffs of Dover", and the "Pennsylvania Polka" were a few of the songs that were played.
Along with the orchestra were square dances. The square dancing in those days were not at all similar to square dancing done today. The square dances during the 1930s and 1940s were danced very quickly and one was often out of breath after the dance was completed.
During a square dance there was always a caller who would shout a dance step in a rythmic voice and those dancing performed the moves to that call. Harvey James was a popular caller in the Dryden area. The caller would announce the start of the square dance by shouting 44 more couples wanted" and the floor quickly filled with dancers who joined into groups of four couples. Then the caller would say what sounded like "eleman-left pass her by with a wink in the eye". (though not entirely certain, eleman probably was the word for gentleman). The eight people in each square walked around and greeted each other with a shake of the hand.
One example of a call that started a dance was "Johnny in the sugar bowl, first couple on to the next and ladies cross their lilly white hands and gents their black and tans and all swing out". When this was called the lead couple would turn to a second couple and the two men would join hands and the women would join hands. The men would loop their hands over the women and the women would loop their hands oven the men. Then the group of 4 people would swing, turning around together in a group with their hands interlocked. After this swing was complete the lead couple would then turn to the second and third couples and repeat the movements. Then the second, third and fourth couples had their turn to lead too.
Another popular call was "Birdie in the cage". During that call two couples joined hands and the woman (the birdie) of the lead group would go in the middle and the three people would circle around her. The caller would then shout "Birdie flies out and hawkie flies in" and then the man (hawkie) in the lead couple would move to the center and replace his partner while the others circled him.
The following is another interpretation of the calls made during "Birdie in the cage"
1 First couple out and circle four.
Its four hands around the floor
2 Birdie in the cage, its three hands round.
Cage her in, go round and round
3. Birdie hops out, the crow hops in.
Its three hands round and you're gone again
Stella remembers all family members attending the dances. For instance at the Waldof hall there were two raised areas to the left and right of the entrance way. Older members of the family would sit within those raised areas and watch the young people dance while caring for infants and toddlers.
Stella had a lot of fun at these dances and was always excited to attend one. She is sure that one summer she attended five dances in one week!
Owen Fenwick and Stella recall the dances at the Pulp Mill Hall quite well. In the dance hall the girls sat in chairs that were placed around the outside wall. There was a rope tied across the floor that segregated the girls from the boys. If a boy paid the five cent fee, he was allowed to pass through the gate and ask a girl for a dance. These were called Jitney Dances. The money raised from these dances was donated to various charities.
Sometime during the late 1940s the Mill Hall burned down but the dances in Waldof, Oxdrift and other locations continued. But slowly the country dances became less popular. Gone was the excitement of a square dance with other people one's age. When asked about the disappearance of the popular dances, people have given various responses. Stella commented that when snow machining became popular people spent less time attending dances. Gerrie Noble says that the country orchestras asked for too much money to play. Finally, Vi Stansfield believes that the advent of the television as a form of entertainment led to the fewer and fewer people attending the dances.
Roy Wilson, Fergus Brown, and Gerrie Noble clearly remember the teen dances heldat the Teen Canteen (Youth Center) every Friday night. Harry McMaster was often the teacher chaperone at those dances. For entertainment, people remember that recorded music was played. But on rare occasion, someone with a guitar, saxaphone,banjo or piano-accodrian would complement the recorded music.
Before the music started, tradition dictated that the boys lined up on the left hand side of the gymnasium and the girls would line up on the right hand side. When the music started the boys rushed over to the girl's side to ask their favourite girl to dance. A few lucky girls had a number of boys waiting in line to ask for her hand in a dance. The last dance of the evening was important. If a boy was lucky enough to be able to dance with his favourite girl on the last dance, he earned the honour of walking her home. Other groups of boys chose not to dance, but rather to socialize in groups with their male friends. These dances usually ended at 11:00 pm
After the second world war, many dances were held in Waldof. Eddie Hatch (the milk-man in Dryden) would often drive teens out to Waldof to attend the dances. Others would rent a van or pay a friend to drive out to Waldof. Some of these dances were known to become quite rowdy, especially when veterans of the war attended.
(It is of interest to note that very early in the past century, up to the 1960s, one did not purchase milk from the local food store. Rather, milk was delivered to homes by a milk man