The first date I ever had was in the spring of 1952 when I was 14 years old. The previous winter my parents and I were in Miami Beach during Christmas vacation and we stayed at the Beacon Hotel on Ocean Drive, I believe around 8thstreet. My parents met another couple from Albany, Mr. and Mrs. Schneerson. They were staying at the Colony Hotel, just up the street. They had a daughter, Sandra, who was slightly older than me. Sandra was a student at Albany High School and was also a freshman. The Schneersons lived on Myrtle Avenue, near Albany Medical Center. I had some minimal contact with Sandra, who was always present with her parents when we all sat around on the hotel porch.
Sometime that spring, I showed my aunt Sue a photo of Sandra that I had taken, and Sue prodded me into calling her for a date. It was awkward for me, particularly since I was too young to drive and lived 16 miles from Albany. I could only get to Albany by taking a bus or hitchhiking.
At Sue’s continuing urging, I telephoned Sandra and asked her if she would like to go to a movie with me on a Saturday afternoon. She agreed to meet me at the Palace Theatre, which was then the best of the several movie theatres in Albany. The movie was “The Merry Widow”. I bought our tickets and we sat next to each other on the lower level and watched the movie. I don’t think that we spoke during the movie, and after it was over she took a bus home and I went to the bus station and took the Interstate Bus back home. I never saw her again.
I never had another date until I was 16 and had a driver’s license.
