A P.S. 131 class picture, 1963–1964

[Click for a larger view.]

Dig the flag. Dig the hairdos. Dig the cross ties. (They’re coming back; I know they are.) Dig the diamond-shaped tie of the boy in the top row, middle, a tie whose proper name escapes me. Dig the glasses of the girl in the middle row, left. Dig the glasses of the girl in the middle row, left. Yes, I said it again: her glasses are that cool. Extra credit if you recognize any of the kids from Mrs. Frazier’s class.

The above photograph shows Miss M.’s second-grade class, P.S. 131, Boro Park, Brooklyn, New York, 1963–1964. I remember my second-grade classroom as something like a performance space for teacherly fury. Miss M. once tried to quiet us by throwing her shoes into the “cloakroom” as we bundled up to go home. A teacher throwing shoes? The response is likely to be helpless, giggling frenzy, as of course it was. On another occasion, Miss M. tried to quiet us by lifting and dropping one corner of her desk. Dr. I.O. Gimprich, the principal, happened to be walking by in the hallway. The noise brought him into the room. Was everything okay? Yes, it was.

I wonder what became of Miss M., and I wonder what might become of anyone trying to teach thirty-four second-graders.

[I’m uneasy about identifying fellow second-graders by last name without permission, so I haven’t. These photographs have faded and remain so here, as unimproved scans. I’m the kid with the blue shirt and black cross tie.]

More from the P.S. 131 collection
1962–1963 1964–1965 1965–1966 1966–1967