Alby - Bazooka

Bazooka

“I feel like I’ve been sucking on a tin can,” Alby said, puckering his lips and scrunching his face. The chemotherapy agents were changing his body chemistry. “It’s disgusting. Susie Q, have you got any gum?”

Stupid question. I was raised by a mother for whom gum was a dietary staple and she could reason out how gum actually met some nutritional requirements. I reached into my pocketbook, pulled out a stick of spearmint and gave it to him. “There. That should help a bit.”

“No Bazooka, huh? I could really go for a piece of that right now.”

“Sorry Dad, no Bazooka.”

“Your father and his Bazooka,” my mother said, remembering a life-changing moment so many years ago.

On November 12, 1945 Alby was Honorably Discharged from the army, spent nine days getting back to the United States, and then began to actively pursue a relationship with Mom. They’d met years earlier but Mom always kept herself at a comfortable distance and was not even slightly romantically interested. They corresponded through letters while he served in the army, but they’d never actually gone on a date.

During the 1940’s, Newark, New Jersey was home to many thousands of Jews who’d emigrated from Europe through Ellis Island. Included in what became a very tightly knit community were both my mother’s father’s parents. Within the city every ethnic group and culture was represented and each had its own part of town unique unto itself. These Jewish immigrants shared a common language – Yiddish - and a common goal – they would have well- educated, American children who would be upstanding citizens.

Alby’s parents, Samuel and Minnie Rich, shopped in Mom’s parents’ store. Hyman and Esther Cohen owned and operated a small grocery that sold fresh produce, fresh dairy, vats of home-cured pickles and scads of non-perishables. It also served as a meeting place for the Newark Jews to go and share stories about “the old country” and through this venue, new friendships were made, my two sets of grandparents included.

Upon meeting Alby years earlier, my grandmother Esther decided he was to be her son-in-law and told my mother as much. As was common practice then, children actually valued their parents’ opinions and even though they were complete opposites, Alby liked Mom and wanted to take her out on a date. He’d ask and she’d say no and this went on repeatedly until she finally relented just so he’d leave her alone and Esther would get off her back.

They’d arranged that he’d pick her up and take her to the “picture show” at the local theater near Prince Street. When he rang the bell that evening and Pearl opened it, there stood Alby with a big bubble of pink gum blocking his entire face. He sucked it in, bursting the bubble and quickly pulled it back into his mouth.

“What was THAT?” Pearl asked, wondering why in the world she ever agreed to go out with this unsophisticated, boorish man.

“Bazooka! It’s a brand new bubble gum – just came out. They’re selling it over in Brooklyn and everyone’s buying it. Your father ought to bring it into his grocery store. He won’t be able to keep it on the shelves! There are even comics inside!” Reaching into his trouser pocket he pulled out a piece wrapped in red, white and blue paper. “Here, want some?”

Pearl’s ever-present nod toward proper etiquette wouldn’t permit it. “Thank you, no, I don’t chew gum,” she replied and rolled her eyes thinking he didn’t see.

He had, but wasn’t even remotely discouraged by her off-putting behavior. Taking her arm they walked to his green Studebaker and he purposefully chomped on the gum all the while, the sound of it getting louder and louder until Pearl couldn’t take it anymore.

“Okay, okay, I’ll try it,” she said exasperatedly.

“I knew I could convince you,” Alby said as his playful smile softened her prim exterior.
She chewed, fully prepared to hate it and instead, found herself exclaiming, “This is fabulous!”

“I know! Great, isn’t it?”

By the end of the evening Alby saw a laughing, warm and engaging woman in Mom and knew beyond a doubt that she was going to be his wife. He just had to make sure she knew it.


“So you see Jenny, if not for that small square of bubble gum I might never have gotten Pearl to marry me!”

“Al, I’d have married you with or without the gum. You were irresistible.”

Alby’s eyes were closed but he held his hand out and Mom took it as the two of them decided to stay lost in that sweet memory of long ago.