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...continues Those were the days of the ducktail and we certainly had our fair share. I don’t know whether it is politically correct to mention names and if the definition of ducktail actually covered any of these guys. Without being vindictive, I’ll mention a few ( without their surnames ) who were reputed to fit the bill ..... the brothers Dave and Stan ( his girlfriend’s name was Cavvy ! ), Claude ( Klokkie ) and of course, Lenny. Naturally there were others and to a fresh-faced kid, it was not a happy experience to be approached before / after school or at breaks and to be asked if you were ”sigging”. I still don’t believe that there is a simple translation for this nor do I believe that any answer provided was acceptable. I do remember that the late Barry Pillemer managed to provide a superb response to one of the afore-mentioned manne. We were also “fortunate” enough to have for a short while, the company of one Pat Hauptfleisch who rocked up from the South on one fine day, wearing real stovepipes – not simply tapered pants but a pair that were so tight he would probably have had to have been born in them. He took great delight in stealing Jack Kabak’s sandwiches. One could say that this was a justifiable crime as Jack’s sarmies were the best I had ever seen and probably most of us wouldn’t frown upon one even at this stage of our lives. Pat never had any but those of us who did, had to be content with apricot jam and the like V roast beef with pickled cucumber and a dash of mustard on rye bread! When it came to dress, Nicky Frootko made an amazing discovery. The old school shirt we wore could be turned into a modern, desirable item of clothing by simply folding the points back under the collar to make it look like an expensive, modern, cut-away design. A close study of some of the old pics will reveal that this brilliant, possibly patentable idea was adopted by more than one of us. Some of us had our first exposure to porn when two of our peers managed to reproduce some photos which then did the rounds on the playground. I suppose this might have happened at any school but in 1958 at Hyde Park it was inevitable !! Class reunion 50 years 1960 to 2010 Hyde Park high school It is not to say that the rest of us were angels. Those with buzz bikes or “boneys” as they were also known, would ride out at will, especially during breaks and for example, go to the Dairy Den for an icey. Coming back into the school grounds never seemed to be a problem as being caught wasn’t “serious”. This word requires special pronunciation and as you may remember many things could be “serious” – a car, a female, a party, an incident etc. One guy who could pronounce this better than any of us will no doubt be at the reunion – my dear old friend and partner-in-crime, Rusty a.k.a. Kid Rafferty. ( I wonder how many remember that in decorating his rucksack, he wrote his professional title on the top flap and in his haste, left out the second “r” ). Talking of chicks, they were many and varied and very exciting for boys who had attended boys-only schools. I’m sure the same applied to the girls and often wonder how many kids changed schools to be with the opposite sex. After all, showing-off and rawfing ( sp. ?? ) was much more fun when one had some cherries to impress ! They were on occasion also subjected to the pipette-in-the-pocket trick ( Hazel Sarkin was one I think ). Here, during Mrs. Henrey’s science classes we would fill a pipette with water, slip it up our sleeve, sidle up to an unsuspecting victim, place the tip in their blazer pocket remove the finger from the tip, thereby releasing the water into the selected pocket ! Teachers – well there were the usual bunch found at every school. We had Mr. Scheepers for maths. He had less hair than I have today and combed the few remaining strands across his shiny pate. He used to use the words “crriminil” and “disssgrace” to describe our behaviour. I really liked him. He was good at his job, handled us firmly - often with a wry smile. I wonder how many remember the singing classes and the singing teacher, Mr. Niven. He used to operate on some kind of a freelance basis as he used to do his act at various schools in the Johannesburg area. I know of Parktown, Roosevelt and Hyde Park - there were others. This poor old man was a prime target for abuse, not only at our school but at others. He was succeeded by a young lady whose name now eludes me. I think she also taught French. The boys took great delight in torturing her with the systematic destruction of the song Greensleeves. Prior to the class we arranged how we would sing the title word. Each time the chorus came around she was bombarded at maximum possible volume with our rendition of “grrrreen sleeves”. The girls sang it melodically and sweetly and I’m sure were not impressed by our contribution. Then there was English with Miss Sachs, Adrienne. She returned to school one day as Mrs. Gruskin. I don’t recall that she had a high regard for many of the boys. It was the year of Christopher Lee’s Dracula and I vividly remember the fangs that Robin Eliovson and I made from the runners of plastic model planes – cut, shaped and curved by heating with a match. Thereafter a dash of white paint and a little red ( for blood ) on the ends and voila – placed under the top lip you were in the vampire business.
Class reunion 50 years 1960 to 2010 Hyde Park high school ...continues Adrienne was seriously unimpressed. [ Many years later my wife Helen attended a series of lectures together with her and it was never revealed that she and I were married ]. One teacher that I don’t believe will be remembered with much affection was John Harris. He was a soft-spoken and gentle man in the class and used to pronounce Agnes’ name as Agnese. After leaving the school he pursued his ( unknown ? ) activism and became the notorious station bomber, for which he was executed. This is not something which one likes to remember but it was perhaps typical of the type of thing the first years of Hyde Park served up. In later years there were prefects. Different levels were created, distinguished by different coloured ties : prefects, sub-prefects and sub-sub prefects ( !! ). 28 of the 31 who survived to reach matric managed to qualify for one of these titles. Raul Bonegio would sometimes perform an amazing routine when entering the class after doing his duty between classes or after breaks. He would rush in and execute the most perfect fall sending everything flying – miraculously he never broke any furniture or bones! Unfortunately, I was not privy to and still am unaware of some of the doings and experiences of our fine ladies. I have no doubt that under hypnosis, one could extract some fine stories. It was not possible to survey any of them nor was it possible to get feedback from many of the guys in the time available to produce this historical masterpiece. I trust you’ll all forgive me if I have left out things that you might have wished to be included. Robin struggled to get some of the individual write-ups he needed and I’m sure the same problem would have faced me had I tried. There are wonderful stories and events from our first year and the subsequent years that would probably add value and amusement to a paper such as this. I have tried to limit it to our year – the first senior year of our old alma mater. IVAN COHEN 23
Page 1 and 2: Slide 1 Class reunion 50 years 1960
Page 3 and 4: Slide 3 Class reunion 50 years 1960
Page 5 and 6: Class reunion 30 years 1960 to 1990
Page 21: as told by Ivan Cohen Class reunion
Page 35 and 36: Potted History Jennifer Henry (nee
Page 39 and 40: Cliff Sossen Class reunion 50 years
Page 41: Slide 41 Class reunion 50 years 196

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