Montlake - 2021 and Way Beyond by William Goodrich Bellman Chapter 30 - The Colbys: Girls, Wine and Beer

My friend Prescott Colby lived up on Crescent Drive and had access to his father's car. The stipulation for using it was, that it could only be driven ten miles. That limitation was difficult to follow as often, in cruising for girls, the mileage built up fast. We discovered that the speedometer cable operated from the drive shaft and therefore if the car was jacked up and run in reverse, the odometer would run backward, thus reducing the mileage reading. Whenever we used the car we would have to figure on spending a half hour or so getting the miles down to Mr. Colby's tolerance.

Prescott had three beautiful sisters: Betty, the oldest; Roberta, the prettiest; and Virginia, the youngest and sexiest. Prescott's mother had received a substantial inheritance from her family, and as a result of that, Mr. Colby quit whatever work he had been doing, and joined the Technocracy movement, and spent his time furthering that cause. I never understood what Technocracy was all about but believed it had something to do with certain experts taking control of the government, and applying their thinking in technology, instead of the government operating as it always had. The movement didn't get off the ground and died out in the mid-1930's.

Mr. Colby was a strict disciplinarian, particularly where his daughters were concerned. If he didn't like the appearance of one of the girls' suitors, he would not allow the girl to go out and would banish the fellow from the house; with no explanation. Cigarette smoking was not allowed on the premises or in the house. This would be understandable today, but in the early 30's Mr. Colby was thought to be quite strict. Strangely, when Virginia became 18, Mr. Colby lowered the barriers and allowed smoking within his home. He also allowed his daughters to go out with whomever they wished, plus there were no restrictions on what time they had to be home from dates.

Another example of Mr. Colbys' change in behavior was that, when Harold Shaw and I left the house with Virginia (as Harold's date), Mr. Colby asked Virginia if she remembered to take along a package of condoms. This was in 1936, over sixty years ago when the word “condom” was not in common usage--although they could be purchased through vending machines in men's restrooms for 25 cents. It was about this time that Harold gave Virginia a key to his apartment.

Prohibition was in effect in those days, although some families in the neighborhood made beer and wine. Prescott Colby got a job selling a product called "wine brick". It was a solid substance, in the size and shape of a chimney brick; and contained all the ingredients to make 5 gallons of wine. All that had to be added was sugar and water, then allow time for fermenting. I don't remember there being any flavors other than concord grape. I don't believe it's on the market today, but think it would still be a marketable item. I made several trips with Prec to Portland and Tacoma, where he made sales to small Mom and Pop stores.

The Colby's had a summertime, waterfront cottage on Southeast Bainbridge Island, which we kids sometimes used weekends, regardless of the season. Several times we recruited Hospital nurses to come along. Mostly though, it was just us guys with some bootleg beer, and a miserable hang-over Sunday morning. For evening entertainment we played Poker, and yearned for female companionship. One game we played called "Snatch Grab", was only played when there were some new guy(s) present. It was a regular poker game except that when the last hand had been played, everyone put their winnings, if any, in the center of the table, the lights were turned out, and a few minutes later, at the words "Snatch Grab" spoken by one of those in the know, (usually Prec Colby) you were to grab for the winnings in the pot, and could keep what you grabbed. Unsuspected by those not in the know,(in the interval of darkness), one of us (Prec Colby again) had removed the winnings, and in their stead had placed a plate of s--t. Prec hollered "Snatch Grab", the unsuspecting grabbed for the pot, got only a handful of s--t. The lights were turned on. We must have had a perverted sense of humor, as we rolled on the floor laughing, while the guy, or guys, that grabbed, were really pissed off.

I remember one winter week-end, sans girls, a group of us, full of beer, decided to get in the Colby rowboat and row across the Bay to the lights of West Seattle, where we were sure we could find some female companionship. We all jammed into the boat, and started across Elliott Bay. I was sitting on the bottom, with my arms to the back of me for support. We hadn't gotten far into the journey when I felt cold water running across my hands. I hollered to the guy that was doing the rowing to turn back because the skiff was filling with water. We reached the beach none too soon, as by that time the water was over my lap. That, near disaster, sobered us up in a hurry. Moral: Don't try to chase for girls in a row-boat, especially when drunk.