The Muny — October Memoir Challenge
This is my twentieth post, for age 20, of the October Memoir and Backstory Challenge hosted by Jane Anne McLachlan. My previous posts: Baby Speed Eater, Two Tales, Curls, Most Magical Christmas, Kindergarten, Places, Mental Health in 1969, The Boxcar Children, The Little House Books, Too Thin, Four Square, Curls: Take Two, Scouting, Schools, Sophomore Year, 1979 Book Review, Library Assistant, College Food, and Dear Santa.
I had a knack for getting the coolest sounding jobs in college. One year, I gave tours of an old Corps of Engineering boat on the Riverfront in front of the St. Louis Arch. For my senior year, I had a split-shift job in the radiology department at Washington University Medical School — I woke up the computers in the morning and put them to bed at night.
But the best job was working concessions at The Muny. I worked there all three summers of college. This picture is from the middle summer, 1982.
Susy, Larry, Joy, Pete — Muny 1982
For those of you who don’t know St. Louis, The Muny is an enormous outdoor theater that shows a different musical production each week in the summer. For those of you who do know St. Louis, I worked in the concession stand at the back in the parking lot. It was the best, and wildest, spot to work because the bosses rarely made the trek up the hill to check on us.
Unlike most of my co-workers, I made a point to see the shows at some point during the week. I could never quite catch the first five minutes after intermission when we were shutting down the stand, but otherwise I saw nearly every show for three summers.
What was your best job in high school or college?
My favorite job would have to be the summer of my senior year in high school when I ran an ice cream parlor. That was the summer of living on ice cream…and I actually lost weight.
I’m pretty sure I was at the Muny for some of those performances. Never at that concession stand, though; we always took a trip to St. Louis as an occasion to eat at a different fancy restaurant.
My best job was in college, as the editor of the literary magazine. I didn’t realize I got paid until they sent me money right before Christmas, the fall after I’d graduated. Boy was that good timing.
Sounds like a great job!! I didn’t have to work while I was in school.
Those were awesome sounding. Mine were never so glamorous, but my job at Hyrum Drug did have one perk. My boss would let me take his Alpha Romeo Spyder to my house and wash it (two-seated convertible). Once he even let me take it to pick up my girlfriend from school. Since I was never going to be able to afford one, I thought it was cool.
Great job! And are those professional male models that you are bookended with? Talk about a rough gig!
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That sounds like a great job, Joy! My best summer job was with with the Department of National Defense – I wrote press releases for their promotional events. I even got to go out to the Calgary Stampede for a week while their video display was there. It was a great job. Kind of wish I’d capitalized on it and gone into PR when I graduated. I think I would have liked that.