![\"blue_mountain_camp\"](\"https:\/\/alfieland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/blue_mountain_camp.jpg\")
<\/a>The Lodge<\/p><\/div>
\n\u2026BMC in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania is the place where I began that seminal transition from \u2018insecure, skinny, immature, wise ass high school kid\u2019 to something much different and a bit better. \u00a0That transformative process took place over six summers and started at age 18.\u00a0 My initial job was to wait tables for campers, counselors and administrative staff during the summer of 1960. I was six months removed from high school, and ready to begin my freshman year at Temple University in the fall as a physical education major. My admission to the university was on a conditional and \u2018non-matriculating\u2019 basis. In higher education, that is code for, “we think you are smart enough to succeed in college being a Central High School grad and your SAT scores are strong, but your grades are less than impressive, so, show us.\u201d\u00a0 As a freshman, I enrolled as an evening student taking three general education courses while working full time driving a delivery truck for a dry cleaner (Paul Pitsonis, a wonderful man) with hopes of matriculating to full time student status in the spring semester of 1961.\u00a0 Success!\u00a0 I performed quite well in those classes and was admitted unconditionally and was now on my way.<\/p>\n
Prior to this time, I had never been away from home without family excepting one weekend in Atlantic City with my buds. Uncle Tilio, one of dad\u2019s brothers, boasted that he hadn\u2019t been north of Market St. in three decades extolling the many virtues of home and no need to ever leave.\u00a0 But being away for an extended period of time (nine weeks) would certainly be an adventure.\u00a0 My parents drove me to the camp site in East Stroudsburg, and I knew upon my arrival this was going to be great. \u00a0It was a wondrous place with lots of pines, a beautiful lake, boats, bunk houses, basketball and tennis courts, baseball diamonds, stables, a huge mess hall, a lodge, field offices and tons of college kids working as counselors, waiters and instructors.\u00a0 And\u2026there was a girls\u2019 camp with all of the same amenities. It was located across Blue Mt. Lake but connected by a charming one lane, paved half mile road with an outdoor theatre in between the two sites.\u00a0 What could be better for an 18 year old who loved sports, girls and freedom from parental control?\u00a0 As important was the opportunity to grow and expand my universe which was quite provincial. \u00a0Shambala!<\/p>\n
I checked in at the business office to confirm my arrival and one of the camp directors showed me the way to the waiters\u2019 quarters.\u00a0 Mine was one of three large bunk houses accommodating approximately 15 people per house with one common toilet and sink.\u00a0 There was a large communal shower house within fair proximity which required a pretty good walk.\u00a0 The guys were welcoming.\u00a0 There were seven or eight who had already arrived and settled in while preparing for the work to come.\u00a0 Most of the wait staff was experienced having been through three, four or five summers while others were newbies.<\/p>\n
That first day introduction to the waiters was critical.\u00a0 You know you are going to live and work with these guys for nine weeks on a 24\/7 basis making it absolutely necessary to \u2018establish\u2019 yourself early in the game. I was already \u2018established\u2019 (for better or worse) with my crew from home, but needed to become something different…a new identity of sorts amongst new guys.\u00a0 In essence, this was a beginning for me where no history existed. \u00a0To that end, mom began to unpack my footlocker, neatly place my belongings into a wooden cubby (a three row open bookcase) then proceed to dress and make my cot. The entire notion of establishing the new me was about to die.\u00a0 While this was happening, dad and I looked at each other as if to say, \u201cI can\u2019t believe this\u201d but neither of us dared say a word to \u2018She Who Must Be Obeyed.\u2019\u00a0 We then timidly looked over and watched the other guys watching mom do her mom thing.\u00a0 The only saving grace to that potentially life damaging event was the fact that every one of those guys also had a Jewish mother, so I might get a pass.<\/p>\n
After exchanging goodbyes and my parents departed, I engaged in typical conversation with my new bunkmates while new ones were arriving by the minute.\u00a0 Talk was of really important things like, \u201cWho is your favorite baseball player? Who is your favorite basketball team? Where are you from? Where did you go to high school?\u00a0 What college are you attending?\u00a0 What is your major?\u00a0 Are you an athlete?\u00a0 Have you gotten laid yet?\u00a0 Really, have you gotten laid yet?\u201d\u00a0 This is the kind of stuff that most young men of that day and age found important. Clearly, not much has changed. There were probably 30 or so waiters on the boys\u2019 side and 15-20 on the girls\u2019 side, however, the girls\u2019 side waiters lived on the boys\u2019 side in a different location of the camp.\u00a0 They actually had several vans to transport them back and forth multiple times daily.\u00a0 The girls\u2019 side waiters were a different lot\u2026good guys, but a separate fraternity.<\/p>\n
The very next day, the wait staff got started with training and serving \u2018shake out\u2019 meals to the early staff\/counselor arrivals.\u00a0 We needed to get it right prior to the kids coming into camp and we had four or five days to do so.\u00a0 Once the kids arrived, we served three meals per day with two shifts per meal plus rotating afternoon and evening \u2018snack patrols.\u2019\u00a0 Waiters worked everyday for the full eight weeks the kids were in camp with only three off days during the entire summer.\u00a0 All in all, there wasn\u2019t enough time to play basketball, use the lake or play in the \u2018night league.\u2019\u00a0 You were just too damn tired.\u00a0 My salary was $50 for the nine week stint but I would have one full share of the waiters\u2019 tip pool which usually amounted to several hundred dollars per waiter\u2026sometimes more.\u00a0 Those guys earned every dime.<\/p>\n
Once the campers arrived, we were pretty well drilled and ready for the onslaught.\u00a0 During our third day of slingin\u2019 hash and after the second dinner shift concluded, we retired back to the bunkhouse whereupon Mr. Escoll, the camp\u2019s founder and owner, asked to meet with us.\u00a0 One must understand Morris Escoll in order to fully grasp his style of management.\u00a0 He was a man in his sixties in 1960\u2026a successful business entrepreneur and educator who was a devout Jew having immigrated from Eastern Europe in the very early part of the 20th<\/sup> century, as the story goes.\u00a0 He was kind, very smart, charming, and a gifted salesman.\u00a0 He also had a fair dose of P.T. Barnum in him.\u00a0 Example:\u00a0 Mr. Escoll would announce a big parade scheduled for two weeks in advance where the counselors would get the kids excited about this upcoming event (at Mr. Escoll\u2019s suggestion).\u00a0 The boss would muster together every vehicle in camp including maintenance trucks, camp vans, counselors\u2019 cars, bicycles, horses from the stable, a tractor and anything that was animated.\u00a0 He would then supply the staff with copious amounts of colored crepe paper and ask that we decorate all moving objects.\u00a0 On parade day, the excitement was near fever pitch. \u00a0Souza marches blared over loud speakers while trucks and cars and skates rolled down senior and junior alleys\u2026small paths adjacent to the big kids and little kids bunk houses.\u00a0 The scene was joyous.\u00a0 Campers\u00a0 were out of their minds with excitement and would talk about the parade all summer.\u00a0 Like I said, here was a guy who had a little \u2018circus\u2019 in him.\u00a0 He could create something from nothing, do it at 0 expense and his audience was thrilled\u2026and, parents were willing to pay top dollar for the privilege of sending their kids back year after year.\u00a0 That\u2019s a salesman!<\/p>\n Town Boy Car<\/p><\/div>\n Mr. Escoll addressed the waiters in W-1 bunkhouse of which I was now a proud resident enjoying a three business day tenure with an 18 meal resume.\u00a0 He asked if any one of us would like to serve as the \u2018Town Boy\u2019 whereupon I was the first to respond with a resounding, \u201cYES.\u201d\u00a0 I had no idea what a town boy was, but I knew it had to beat serving six meals per day and some nights of duty each week.\u00a0 Mr. Escoll announced, \u201cwe have a winner,\u201d and asked that I meet with him in the morning at his residence, but after serving my two breakfast shifts of course.\u00a0 The boss then explained the duties of town boy which entailed a daily drive into Stroudsburg to do the business of the camp which included, but was not limited to, banking, pick up and delivery of mail, transportation of personnel to and from camp, purchase of any needed medications, purchase of any items deemed necessary for campers, purchase of items for the head counselors (four), and of course any personal detail for the Escoll family.\u00a0 Essentially, I was a \u2018gopher\u2019 (go for this and that). I had a \u201957 Plymouth station wagon to drive, then later a VW van, and an expense account where I was permitted to buy myself lunch if I was unable to return to camp prior to the conclusion of second lunch shift.\u00a0 Somehow, I rarely made it back to camp in time for lunch.\u00a0 The entire experience was great.\u00a0 I got to know the retail clerks in every store on Main St, the bank tellers, the post office workers, the emergency room doc and nurses, the pharmacist, the train station manager, the waitresses\u2026yes, the waitresses, many of whom were quite \u2018friendly.\u2019<\/p>\n Mrs. Sarah Davis<\/p><\/div>\n I\u2019ll depart from this thread for a brief moment to talk about an unusual friendship.\u00a0 Of all the merchants and clerks with whom I conducted business, one was really special to me.\u00a0 Her name was Sarah Davis (Mrs. Davis) and she was a thin, slight \u2018Presbyterian \u2018grandma type lady\u2019 in her early seventies who worked as a retail sales clerk at the local stationary store.\u00a0 Somehow, and I really don\u2019t remember how, we developed a very close relationship that endured for all six summers of my Blue Mountain Camp experience and beyond.\u00a0 I\u2019d stop in to see her almost everyday to have a brief chat and to look in on her.\u00a0 She came into camp on parents\u2019 visiting days to have lunch with me on a regular basis. \u00a0We enjoyed a true friendship based upon\u2026well, I don\u2019t really dunno.\u00a0 We just liked each other and appreciated each other\u2019s sense of humor and general take on life\u2026sort of a Harold and Maude without the black humor and drama.\u00a0 We were good friends and I valued our visits which were filled with great conversation, lots of laughter and concern for our mutual welfare.\u00a0 I think she secretly believed I was in need of \u2018guidance\u2019\u2026a woman with keen observation skills.\u00a0 She corresponded with my parents frequently and they in turn reciprocated and appreciated that gesture.\u00a0 I have no idea what those letters said and it is probably better left that way.\u00a0 Mrs. Davis and I continued to write to each other while I was studying at the University of Oklahoma and then on to LA. Suddenly, her letters stopped and my letters to her were returned and labeled, \u201cno such address.\u201d\u00a0 It was an uncertain way to end a warm and valued friendship.\u00a0 I assumed that she had passed away but never received confirmation.<\/p>\n Mr. Escoll summoned me to his family quarters for a brief but significant salary adjustment conference.\u00a0 It sounded like this: \u201cAlbert, since you are no longer a waiter, you will not be able to participate in the waiters\u2019 pool for tips at summer\u2019s end, so, I am going to (and with a pause, blurts out)\u2026 DOUBLE YOUR SALARY!!!!\u201d\u00a0 What that meant to me was\u2026 instead of earning $50 plus several hundreds of $ in tips, I was going to earn $100 and no tips.\u00a0 He presented this gesture of as though he just awarded enough $ to add a wing to a hospital.\u00a0 He did it with great enthusiasm and pride and expected my response to his generosity to be met with equal delight.\u00a0 While I was a bit underwhelmed, I had an immediate decision to make\u2026do I call him on this or do I acquiesce to this \u2018act of kindness?\u2019\u00a0 I agreed to the deal immediately, thankfully and respectfully.\u00a0 I have never regretted that decision for a host of reasons, not the least of which is I did not want to work that hard for that long as a waiter.\u00a0 But, it did teach me something about fair dealing and respect.\u00a0 Mr. Escoll could have passed on my raise and I\u2019m sure I would not have said a word about it since I volunteered for this \u2018town boy\u2019 job assuming I would still earn $50 for the summer.\u00a0 That was OK with me. I just wanted to be away and on my own for the first time in my \u2018regulated\u2019 life. \u00a0Instead of creating a silent but disgruntled employee, Mr. Escoll created an appreciative one.\u00a0 That incident was a great life lesson where the boss recognized the need to make a compensation adjustment, not a great one by any stretch, but one in deed. And, I needed to appreciate and respect his concern for me, albeit somewhat moderated. At the conclusion of the summer and much to my surprise and delight, Mr. Escoll presented me with a $200 unsolicited bonus. We both benefited from this arrangement.\u00a0 \u00a0This concept of \u2018mutual benefit\u2019 is a wonderful axiom by which to live, where all concerned are positively affected.\u00a0 I think Harvard\u2019s graduate school of business and management might call this \u201cWin-Win.\u201d<\/p>\n I returned to Blue Mt. for the next five summers serving as \u2018town boy\u2019 for three more then Assistant Head Counselor of the Senior Camp and finally as Head Counselor (aka the HMFIC and I\u2019m not going to spell that out).\u00a0 During the first week of my second summer (\u201961), a junior counselor was fired and Mr. Escoll asked if I would move from the waiters\u2019 quarters into the bunk which now housed only one counselor. Two was the norm.\u00a0 I agreed, but did not have counselor duties due to my \u2018town boy\u2019 job although I volunteered to assist the senior counselor when in camp.\u00a0 These campers were older kids (14-16) and they gave that senior counselor, who was 22 or 23, a very hard time.\u00a0 I was now 19 and physically getting stronger due to my beginning training in gymnastics and somehow the kids saw me in a way I had never been seen\u2026strong and a \u2018no bullshit\u2019 guy.\u00a0 And, an Italian last name had an underlying but unspoken effect.\u00a0 These campers saw me as some sort of \u2018dude\u2019 not to be disrespected and the bunk was well behaved.\u00a0 Management took notice and for the next three summers, I was assigned to the bunk supervising the oldest kids.<\/p>\n Al and Eddy Chacker at BMC Reunion in ’09<\/p><\/div>\n Prior to my third summer (\u201962), Mr. Escoll sold the camp and went into retirement.\u00a0 The new owners, Gene and Mike, conducted job interviews during the winter and I was invited to come back as \u2018town boy\u2019 and, to serve as counselor to the oldest campers in a one counselor bunk.\u00a0 Further, I was asked to come into camp one week early and to stay an extra week at summer\u2019s end to serve as foreman of a \u2018work crew.\u2019\u00a0 Where they got the notion that I should head up a work crew was beyond me, but I gladly accepted and was well compensated for the xtra time.\u00a0 Both work weeks were great.\u00a0 I selected my crew from a pool of guys I knew from my prior two summers along with my very close friend from childhood, Eddy, whom I recommended to management.\u00a0 We painted benches and each other, move beds and mattresses, cleaned the lake bottom which was lined with boards in the swimming areas, replaced screens, cleaned stables, but mostly had a lot of fun doin\u2019 all of that stuff including burning \u00a0leeches off of our skin with the ends of lit cigarettes after lake duties.\u00a0 Somehow, it all worked well and I was becoming \u2018somebody\u2019 at age 20.<\/p>\n After playing basketball one evening, the camp Rabbi, Carl, and I had a soda together and he asked, \u201cAl, have you been Bar Mitzvah\u2019d.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d I replied.\u00a0 \u201cAnd, why not?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWell, I did go to Hebrew school for a short time \u2018cause all of my buds went, but I never really felt compelled.” We were basically, secular, cultural, non practicing \u2018bagels and lox\u2019 Jews, but Jewish non the less.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Carl then asked, \u201cwould you want to be to be Bar Mitzvah\u2019d?\u201d\u00a0 I responded with, \u201cI\u2019m 20 years old, not 13.\u00a0 And, don\u2019t I have to learn Hebrew well enough to recite my Haftora\u201d?\u00a0 \u201cYes, but I\u2019ll transliterate it for you\u201d he said.\u00a0 I responded with, \u201cI\u2019ll think about it\u201d and we continued to enjoy our sodas and talked about less spiritual matters like who were the best lookin\u2019 babes in camp.<\/p>\n After several weeks of considerable thought, I agreed and was Bar Mitzvah\u2019d during a private ceremony in the presence of my hand selected minion in the Arts and Crafts shack.\u00a0 That building had never been holier than it was that day.\u00a0 My decision to go ahead with this important moment was predicated upon the notion that I was Jewish and would probably marry a Jewish girl and we would want our children to be raised in the Jewish tradition. How I could I insist on such if I, myself, had not been Bar Mitzvah\u2019d?\u00a0 Life does have its funny little twists\u2026Nancy is not Jewish\u2026but I am!\u00a0 I had the day off and received my yarmulke and tallis which was placed in a tefllin bag and presented to me as a gift from the Rabbi and minion.\u00a0 It was a joyous day for all, especially me.\u00a0 I felt official\u2026sort of like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz who received a diploma thereby recognizing he had a brain.<\/p>\n Junior Year-Temple Gymnastics team<\/p><\/div>\n There was a lot of freedom associated with the town boy job in that my afternoons and evenings were free when not assisting the senior counselor. \u00a0I did attempt to make the most of my time and earned Red Cross certification in basic boating, basic sailing and\u00a0 Water Safety Instruction (WSI).\u00a0 At the same time, I was seriously training to prepare for the upcoming season at Temple University where I was becoming a gymnast (rings) competing on the freshman team in ’61-’62.\u00a0 My evenings were spent playing in the \u2018night league\u2019 where all the guys would hook up with a steady girlfriend for the entire summer.\u00a0 This was a new and interesting dynamic for me.\u00a0 I never had a steady girlfriend and never really wanted one.\u00a0 I liked variety in my lady friends and learned early on that you cannot play the field at camp.\u00a0 Pick one that you think might work and stay with it.\u00a0 Come early August (the half way point), make a change if necessary, but you can only make one change per summer lest you be labeled with a scarlet letter.\u00a0 This is unwritten camp law.<\/p>\n During my first summer at BMC I fell in love\u2026first time. \u00a0Maxine was a beautiful 16\u00a0 year old from Great Neck, Long Island.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t wait for evenings when the gals finished work (off every other night) so that I could see her.\u00a0 We would spend evenings in the pines which meant get a blanket, find a place and, uh\u2026talk.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know I was in love until summer\u2019s end when I returned home and was struck with that awful feeling\u2026empty, morose and no appetite.\u00a0 I just really missed that girl and she lived in NY.\u00a0 I think I was love sick. \u00a0We exchanged letters on a daily basis and after several weeks of this agony, I decided to go to NY for a visit prior to the opening of fall semester.\u00a0 That trip was all it took.\u00a0 I dunno what it was\u2026maybe one of my personal character flaws of which there are many, but, it just wasn\u2019t the same. \u00a0She was very excited to see me and I fully expected my feelings to be mutual, but not so.\u00a0 BB King said it best\u2026\u201dthe thrill is gone; the thrill is gone away.\u201d\u00a0 The summer was the summer and now we were back to real life with college starting, hangin\u2019 with my buds and work. \u00a0I didn\u2019t feel what I thought I would feel upon seeing her again. I attribute that fickleness to the vagaries of \u2018young love.\u2019 It was awful and I felt badly\u2026 and sorry, and somewhat guilty.\u00a0 I think I come by the guilt thing quite naturally having grown up with a family whose culture(s) are steeped into guilt.<\/p>\n Each summer thereafter (five more), I had steady girlfriends which lasted for the full eight week duration with the exception of my last (\u201965).\u00a0 In \u201961 it was Claire\u2026a tall, very smart and stunning co-ed who was a sophomore at Penn studying mathematics and computer engineering.\u00a0 She had beautiful, rich olive skin that glistened and hauntingly light green eyes along with a very \u2018healthy\u2019 chest.\u00a0 In \u201962 it was Gail\u2026a junior at Penn State studying education (more like a \u2018Mrs.\u2019 degree) and she too was a great summer girlfriend. \u00a0Gail was very pretty and petite with a dark smooth complexion and a very preppy look.\u00a0 Her appearance was not consistent with her degree of lust\u2026great summer!\u00a0 In \u201963 it was Sherry\u2026oh Sherry!\u00a0 She was a 17 year old dancer with an exotic look who was awarded a scholarship to the PA Academy of Dance and I was really in love with her.\u00a0 This was the first relationship that endured after camp but was sporadic for several years until I departed from Philadelphia for points west\u2026in \u201965.\u00a0 My final two summers were in \u201964 and \u201965.\u00a0 My \u2018sort of summer girlfriend\u2019 in \u201864 was Beth of Queens, NY.\u00a0 She was a tall, thin striking redhead with beautiful blue eyes\u2026almost a \u201cColleen\u201d, (east coast Italian slang for an Irish woman) and had just graduated from Hunter College.\u00a0 Our relationship was \u2018comfortable and convenient\u2019 with occasional doses of \u2018hot\u2019 along the way, but nothing really substantive.\u00a0 Beth\u2019s great claim to fame was her brother, who was part of that \u201cTobacco Road\u201d gang, along with Larry Brown, who went to the University of North Carolina to play basketball. \u00a0In \u201965\u2026no steady lady. \u00a0I was going into town for evening entertainment.\u00a0 Remember, I knew a lot of people in Stroudsburg along with all of their commensurate \u2018hangouts.\u2019\u00a0 During that last summer, I was the Head Counselor of the Boys Senior Camp\u2026a very prestigious job with high visibility, so I needed to \u2018recreate\u2019 away from the campsite.\u00a0 By that time I was 23 years old and a Temple University graduate teaching and coaching in the Philadelphia Public School System. In addition, I was getting ready to depart Philly for OU where I was to be a graduate teaching assistant while pursuing my master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n Reflecting often on my days at BMC, I always come away with the same theme which is\u2026that place permitted me to find out who I was, where I was going, what I would come to value.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the compass, but rather the magnetic north which drew me toward my place in the grand scheme of things. \u00a0\u00a0I came in as an immature 18 year old kid who never spent more than one or two nights away from home and left as young man at age 23 filled with hopes, dreams, aspirations and some perspective\u2026 and, the confidence to pursue them all. Blue Mt. Camp presented the environment for me to grow into something other than who I was upon arrival.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jeff Verbet and Al<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Arnie Shiffrin and Al at Tamiment Lodge in ’65<\/p><\/div>\n While I have always deemed friendships as very important, I came to appreciate and respect them even more as I\u2019ve grown older.\u00a0 I grew up with seven guys in my neighborhood.\u00a0 We went through elementary school together and despite having lives and families from coast to coast, we manage to see each other regularly and we remain very close.\u00a0 The same holds true with the great friendships forged at BMC.\u00a0 Among the most important are two close and long time friends, Arnie Shiffrin and Jeff Verbet both of whom emanated from that day, time and place.\u00a0 Where else could I arrive as the town boy and leave as the \u201cHMFIC\u201d of Senior Camp?\u00a0 Mr. Escoll had a clear vision as to just what BMC ought to be and both Gene and Mike stayed true to the mission.\u00a0 They created the laboratory for us to discover ourselves and be all we might become\u2026foibles and all.\u00a0 For that, I am ever grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2026BMC in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania is the place where I began that seminal transition from \u2018insecure, skinny, immature, wise ass high school kid\u2019 to something much different and a bit better. \u00a0That transformative process took place over six … Continue reading <\/a><\/a>Pas Deux<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Romance<\/h2>\n
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