Isabel Beaton tells her daughter, Mary, about growing up in Bronx.
"Saturday was cleaning day. And while grandma and I did that together, we listened to 'The Make-Believe Ballroom' on the radio."
0:00 / 0:00
Isabel Beaton tells her daughter, Mary, about growing up in Bronx.
Grandma had a routine. On Monday she did laundry. Tuesday and Wednesday was ironing. Thursday she went to Fordham to pay the bills and Friday was shopping day — the meat from Frank the butcher. Olive oil – that was delivered. Also the bleach water for the laundry was delivered. Saturday was cleaning day dusting, vacuuming, polishing the furniture. And while grandma and I did that together, we listened to the make believe ballroom on the radio. It’s the make believe ballroom time (sings). And they would have a countdown of the top 50 so we started cleaning at number 50, and by the time it got to number one, the house was clean.
Freedom School students Deborah Carr, Stephanie Hoze, Teresa Banks, Linda Ward, Glenda Funchess, and Don Denard came to StoryCorps to reflect on their memories from 1964.