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| Gena Roe at Children's Fairyland October 2014 |
There is
a charming children’s amusement park in Downtown Oakland called Children’s
Fairyland. It is nestled along the shore of Lake Merritt, and is based on
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes – and I spent a million hours there as a kid. Built
in the 1950s, it definitely has a Retro feel to it. And today I spent a lovely
afternoon wandering through Children’s Fairyland and remember the times I
enjoyed there growing up.
When I
was a kid my dad was President of the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club, the
sponsoring entity for Children’s Fairyland – so I got the opportunity to be a
Character at Fairyland. Each year a few dozen kids are selected to be
Characters, which means that we got to be special volunteers for the year – but
primarily during the summer. What started for me as a 10-year-old, continued
for years to come.
Back in
the early days of Fairyland, PoPo was a permanent fixture. Count PoPo de Bathe
(yes, Popo was really his first name) started in a circus at age 15 and remained
a circus performer for many years, and eventually became a Magician – later in
life he was an Ambassador for Unicef. Few people ever saw PoPo without his
clown make-up – and I remember the first time I did, because my dad had to
point out that it was PoPo. PoPo was at Fairyland 7-days-a-week, did at least 5
shows every day, and always had a pocket full of balloons for making balloon animals
for every kid that he met. As a man that lived a life of service and bringing
joy to children, PoPo also often visited children in the hospital.
Although
PoPo spent his entire life making children laugh and bringing joy to others,
PoPo actually had a very sad life early on. He was an orphan, left on a church
doorstep in a shoebox as a newborn, in 1900. Even his adoptive family abandoned
him – asking the neighbors to watch him for an hour, and then never returned. I
remember one of PoPo’s birthdays, I wished him a Happy Birthday – and he told
me that he didn’t actually even know when he birthday was, but this day had
been someone’s guess when he was little so that was when he celebrated it. Because
of this he decided that he could never marry. He planned to spend the rest of
his life alone.
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| LoLo and PoPo |
Also at
Fairyland was LoLo, whose real name was Adonna Mae Houston – and she was The
Old Woman Who Lived in The Shoe, which was the Ticket Booth Operator at the
entrance. She also ran the petting zoo and took care of the animals. And LoLo
was in love with PoPo. LoLo’s father had been a circus man in the late 1800s to
early 1900s, and that’s how LoLo met PoPo. Eventually they ended up in Oakland,
and the home LoLo had inherited from her father was filled with Circus
Memorabilia. And LoLo let PoPo live in her house, while she lived in an
apartment building next door.
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| LoLo and PoPo |
While
PoPo lived in the main part of the house, over 100 animals lived in the
basement. With the circus, LoLo had been involved with animal acts – and her
love for animals stayed with her the rest of her life. LoLo definitely brought
her work home with her, she had about 150 animals at Fairyland – mostly rabbits
and guinea pigs – and another 100 at home. She spent her own money to feed the
animals, and had arranged with a few local restaurants for their vegetable
scraps too. For work, she work a costume, and her apron pockets usually had a
couple of bunnies in them.
LoLo and
PoPo were best friends and spent a great deal of time together – but PoPo
refused to ever get married. So these two people – so apparently in love –
lived at arms distance. Both of them such kind and loving people, spending
their lives bringing joy to thousands of children, and always falling one step
short of true happiness in their own lives.
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| photograph of PoPo by Ansel Adams |
I spent
most of my summers at Fairyland, and most Saturdays during the school year –
for about 5-years. Most of it was helping with the animals, but I loved
Fairyland, so I was happy to help with just about anything. I did the Petting
Zoo, I cleaned out rabbit cages, I fed the donkey (named Pinocchio) – and I
loved every minute of it. I knew every inch of that adorable amusement park,
and loved going back stage during the puppet shows with Lou Mahlmann and magic
shows with PoPo. It truly was a magical place, and magical people that built
their entire lives around bringing joy to others. An incredible lesson in my
life.
I still
remember the day PoPo died, in 1981. Since PoPo was so close to Dad, he found
out early – and told me as soon as I got home from school. I started to cry,
and Dad held me tight – and when I pulled away I could see the tears in Dad’s
eyes too. For a man who never had any family, PoPo lived a life where people
loved him as much as family. I went down to visit LoLo a few days later, but
she wouldn’t open the door. She wouldn’t answer any phone calls. She was so in
love with PoPo, and now the love of her life was gone. She left Oakland,
Fairyland, the home her father left her – everything. Without PoPo none of it
had any meaning for her anymore. She moved to Hawaii a short time later and
lived the rest of her life there.
Over the
years I have often thought about LoLo and PoPo – the lives they lived, and the
love they shared. I always found it sad that PoPo denied himself true love –
and by doing so, denied it to LoLo too. It is a Love Story that almost was,
that could have been.
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