Which one's the Peter?

   Which One's the Peter?




     In a family so full of strong personalities a quiet in-law from South Dakota held his own in the wit department. Maybe best known as husband to the forceful Rose and dad to a Smith tribe who were not Beverly Hills types but lived in the city of stars for years. Just one of many good ones from Dale has been forwarded from son Kevin who passed on a goodly amount of humor from the dry, dry South Dakotan wit of his Pop. Dale was also my boss in my short stint at the BH Post office where he had risen to be Postmaster in the "mail stop of the stars." He was known as a man who got the job done without threatening the staff but also made sure the mail got out on time. Strangely enough I only visited the Smith haus once since I mostly met up with "herr schimdt" wherever Greg was hanging his hat. Dale just had a look of merriement on his face at family gatherings and I have no idea if  he just had a resting happy face or he was suppressing a desire to take an ax to these garrulous  Irishmen. In this tale Kevin and maybe Brian were watching one of the many pop music shows that flooded TV in the 60's. It was sometime in 1964 probably and a duo was performing their hit record "World without love" that was mushy, mawkish, corny and loved by all soft guys like us. Peter and Gordon had a brief time at the top of the pops and had several chart toppers like "Noboby I know," "I Go to Pieces," and "True Love Ways" that were sung with sweet tenor voices and contained lyrics like  

"Please lock me away

And don't allow the day
Here inside
Where I hide
With my loneliness

I don't care what they say
I won't stay in a world without love"

Of course, we loved this stuff with our young hearts that were like open wounds begging to be in love and then having our souls smashed to pieces. To add to the pathos, Peter looked like a be-spectacled version of us and Gordon was just another British invasion cool guy. Their names were on the screen as they crooned and just then Dale walked through the room and asked with that withering Dakotan tone "which one's the Peter?" One can only guess the injury this remark had on the young men's psyches but his words echoed through time for at least half a century. The man was a card! Dale also marked himself as the guy who not only wore a goatee way before they were a style but on St. Patrick's day he dyed it green.  


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