Still spreading Sperti

I'm a Carlsbad, Calif., resident, originally from Northern Kentucky, where I spent most of my childhood and just about all of my summers. I remember all of my elders covering me in Sperti ointment for everything from scratches to sunburn.

A few years ago I went on a quest to find some Sperti after my 4-year-old daughter got a little too much sun. I found it was long gone, and it seemed like an era had passed, although I still have a couple of tubes of the old stuff.

Doing a Web search, I found the article you had done and the readers' comments. Thank you for bringing back such fond memories of my youth.
Scott O'Connell
Carlsbad, Calif.

'60s Bearcats

I remember my uncle telling me he was at one of the best of five basketball invitational games between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Philippine national team in Manila sometime after the conclusion of the Olympic games in 1960-61. Was there really a time that the Bearcats visited the Philippines for this invitational series? My uncle says that Oscar Robertson was a member of the team that toured the Philippines and some Asian countries at that time.
Romy-Carlos "Max" Ramajo
Cincinnati

Editor's note: We are glad your uncle had such fond memories of the game, however, UC's department of athletics was unable to find any evidence of the Bearcats playing in Manila. If Oscar Robertson played during the game, then it would not have been as a Bearcat because his UC career ended in the spring of '60. But since he was later co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team, touted as the greatest basketball team in Olympic history, it may have been the U.S. team that toured Asia after their gold-medal performance.

Remembering Ludlow Hall

Your recent article regarding life in the dorms sparked vivid memories of my days in residence at Ludlow Hall, that overflow dormitory on Ludlow Avenue that housed freshmen girls.

In 1966, I was a late applicant to the university, not expecting to go to college since my parents really could not afford to send me away to school. My high school art teacher, however, encouraged me to develop a portfolio to submit to the Scholastic Art Award competition. To my surprise, I won, but by the time I was accepted to DAA (there was no “P” in ’66) both of the girls’ dorms on campus were filled, and I was assigned to Ludlow Hall.

I arrived for a week-long orientation just before classes began and moved into my first-floor room, complete with bars on the windows, in this old off-campus hotel. We were supplied with a city bus pass that enabled us to ride from Ludlow up Clifton Avenue for our classes.

Because our “dorm” had no food service, we had to eat our meals in Siddall Hall. So once we made the trip to UC, it was for the day, and we spent most of our free time in TUC. It was there in the music lounge that I listened to the soundtrack from “The Man of La Mancha” over and over. I don’t know who selected the music, but whenever I was there, that was playing.

Living off campus had some disadvantages, like the time I lost my brand new Bass Weejun loafer in the mud during orientation week. UC was in the midst of construction (sound familiar?), while Corbett Auditorium was being built. Pedestrian traffic was not re-routed, so we just slogged through the mess. One day, the mud suctioned my shoe right off my foot and out I stepped, ankle deep in the quagmire. All day, I walked around humiliated in a wet, brown (formerly white) sock stuffed inside a muddy loafer.

At first, I was depressed because I couldn’t live on campus and had to bus it, but our accommodations made up for it. Two girls to a huge room with 12-foot ceilings, our own sink and plenty of closet space was much better than those tiny Siddall spaces. And the communal bath down the hall was never crowded since there were few girls on the first floor. The lobby and the lounge area took up a lot of the space. Looking back, I can say Ludlow Hall reminds me of some of the old European hotels in which I have since stayed. Of course in ’66, I had not a clue about such places.

Life in the dorms was quite different then. We had to be in by 11 p.m. on weeknights and by 1 a.m. on the weekends. I thought this was wild since my hours at home were not that late.

Male guests were only permitted in the TV lounge on the first floor, and they had to be signed in and out. Unfortunately, not too many young men ventured down Ludlow way. So, it was pretty much just us girls, and we got to know each other probably better than had we lived in a high-rise dorm.

My roommate was a girl named Marilyn Murray from Pennsylvania, whom I haven’t heard from since. Linda McCoy from Xenia and Marlene Soncini from Pittsburgh were also “Ludlow Ladies” I remember quite well.

Ludlow Avenue at that time was not the popular place it is today. The old neighborhood theater, the Esquire, was there, but with only one screen. I remember going to see “Georgy Girl” starring Lynn Redgrave.

Some things never change though. Skyline was on the same corner with its ever-present steamy windows.

I still live in the Clifton area and shop on Ludlow Avenue frequently.  When I pass that old dorm building, I remember fondly my one and only year as a student at UC. It would be fun to hear from others who shared the experience.

Patricia Crume Lloyd, assistant dean at the UC College of Applied Science