Do you remember?

[graciegirl]

Add some things that happened back then that you remember that your grandkids haven't any idea about.

A time before Pizza? I had my first taste in high school.

Our Miss Brooks?

The Land of Let's Pretend.

A time before TV...meaning TELEVISION?

Well water.

Victory Gardens.

Wacs and Waves were my heroines and solders and sailors my heros...the second world war when I was very little.

Cowgirl outfits and Dale Evans.

Writing for and receiving movie star pictures in the mail.

Don't leave me dangling here showing my age...join in please.



What do you remember that your grandkids wouldn't know about???

[BigMike]

Add some things that happened back then that you remember that your grandkids haven't any idea about.

A time before Pizza? I had my first taste in high school.

Our Miss Brooks?

The Land of Let's Pretend.

A time before TV...meaning TELEVISION?

Well water.

Victory Gardens.

Wacs and Waves were my heroines and solders and sailors my heros...the second world war when I was very little.

Cowgirl outfits and Dale Evans.

Writing for and receiving movie star pictures in the mail.

Don't leave me dangling here showing my age...join in please.



What do you remember that your grandkids wouldn't know about???

Party line telephones I think our co user always listened in :clap2:

[wendyquat]

Add some things that happened back then that you remember that your grandkids haven't any idea about.

A time before Pizza? I had my first taste in high school.

Our Miss Brooks?

The Land of Let's Pretend.

A time before TV...meaning TELEVISION?

Well water.

Victory Gardens.

Wacs and Waves were my heroines and solders and sailors my heros...the second world war when I was very little.

Cowgirl outfits and Dale Evans.

Writing for and receiving movie star pictures in the mail.

Don't leave me dangling here showing my age...join in please.



What do you remember that your grandkids wouldn't know about???


Howdy Doody

Winky Dink

Nickel Cokes

Peanuts in those Cokes

Having 2 pair of shoes, one for school and one for church!

[chuckinca]

Spending the summer at grandma's at the lake in Indiana and not wearing shoes.

.

[jblum315]

What do you remember that your grandkids wouldn't know about???[/QUOTE]

Movie magazines, True Love/Confessions magazines, fountain Cokes, ration books (WW II), 25-cent gas and cigarettes, radio shows (Green Hornet, The Creaking Door, Amos & Andy, The First-Nighters), typewriters, mimeo machines

[JimPete]

Drive-in movies

[getdul981]

"I know nothing!" per Sgt. Shultz.

Burma Shave signs.

"A little dab'l do ya" - Brylcreme (sp?) (Been so long I don't even remember how to spell it)

"See the USA in your Chevrolet" per Dinah Shore.

I guess I watched too much Television.

[marennorge]

...rotary phones, 3-digit phone numbers, nickel draft beers, SERVICE gas stations, 25 cents a gallon gas...

[Jim 9922]

Squirt Soda with real pieces of grapefruit in each bottle
Drug Store soda fountains
S&H Green Stamps
5 cent parking meters
Horse drawn milk & garbage wagons
Crystal set radios
Lunch counters in department stores
Hand cranked cash registers
The blizzard of 1947 (if you lived in Wisconsin)
Toys without batteries
"Scrubs" baseball games

[Happinow]

Remember when.....

Couldn't even say anything related to sex on tv and now you can say the "f" word and have love scenes in bed?

You had to get up turn the channel on the tv?

Only AM radio

Had to actually wait to get home to answer the phone that was plugged into the wall and had an answering machine?

When kids were respectful?

When kids wore their pants on their hips instead of down to their knees?

When your mom bought you 3 outfits for school and you were thrilled?

When the whole family sat down to dinner together?

When mom stayed home to raise the kids?

When dad had a job?

When families were able to make ends meet on one paycheck?

When owning a home was the "American Dream"?

When a pair of sneakers costs 12.99 not 120.99?

When you didn't have to lock your house doors and windows and car doors?

When you felt safe walking anywhere?

When what was yours was yours and not everyone elses?

I could go on and on.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

- New car designs changed every year or two (and every manufacturer's cars looked unique)

- There was no interstate freeway system

- Local transit buses were actually trolleys, with the overhead electric lines and tracks laid in the streets

- Mailing in cereal box tops to get prizes sent to you

- Top Value savings stamps

- Getting coffee mugs, etc. with a fill-up at the gas station

- There were no 'self-serve' gas stations - and the attendants who filled your car up always checked the oil and washed the windshield

- Getting each successive volume of Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia at the grocery store

- Only 'expensive' cars had air conditioning, power windows, and door locks


Bill :)

[Posh 08]

Brooklyn Dodgers and the Washington Senators.
Nash Rambler
No stores open on Sunday or Christmas Day.

[cappyjon431]

45 & 33 rpm records
8 track tapes
cassette tapes

[Bosoxfan]

Mom or Dad calling (yelling )you home from the front porch because it was getting dark!

Pickup games of stickball,baseball,basketball after school in the neighborhood!

[mac9]

Roller skates that fit onto your shoes and were tightened with a skate key!
Flavor-straws.
Dots candy on a strip of paper.
Lunchmeat and cheese sliced on a hand-turned slicing machine.
Cars without automatic turn signals.
Hand pushed lawn mowers.
Lawn trimmers that looked like big scissors(no weed whackers)

[Cynbod]

I remember

towels or glasses in clothes detergent boxes

blue starch to soak our nurses caps in (stuck them to the mirror until dry)

sitting in long rows at school (desks attached to the floor)

waiting for a turn to use the phone (many sisters)

paying a penny for a seltser at the luncheon counter in Woloworths

parades with lots of marching bands and service men

church on Sunday and the bakery afterward

good times and occasionally bad times.

I have learned from all of them; I hope.

[Happinow]

These are so much fun to read and bring back memories....some of them I don't remember because I was too young. Yipee for me!

[CarolSells]

Tax stamps given for some purchases and collected at school for credits for something :).

A visiting nurse at school checking for your vaccination scar. (Girls who had one on their thighs had to be checked in the cloakroom).

Speaking of cloakrooms, every classroom had one. They were great for soggy rain wear, mittens, and kids who misbehaved. One day one kid ate several other children's lunches while he was incarcerated there!

Remember Tom and Betty, Dick and Jane, and their dog named Flip?

Elementary schools without carpool lanes.

Lik-Em-Aid that turned your hands green and red.

Air raid drills.

Trying to decide how I was going to deal with being the outcast of the sophomore class because my mother thought that $16.99 for a pair of Weejuns sounded outrageous! She did relent and you actually couldn't wear those shoes out!

[brostholder]

Andy's Gang
S&H Green Stamps
Lime Rickeys
Egg Creams
stickball
Bikes with baseball cards stuck in the spokes with clothespins
Having to change out of your "school clothes" when you got home
milk delivery
johnnie on the pony
mumblypeg
ebbetts field
the polo grounds
girls wearing girdles (frustrating)
girls wearing stockings (much better)
25 cent hot dogs and 35 cent burgers
10 cent soft pretzels (three for a quarter)
stoopball
boxball
chinese handball
Murray the K
Cousin Brucie
Bob Sheppard, the voice of the Yankees

[Schaumburger]

In my family's house we had one rotary dial phone in the kitchen. If you wanted privacy, you had to drag the phone into my parents' bedroom and close the door.

"Brick" or "bag" car phones -- couldn't put those in a purse.

Using a manual typewriter to type papers in high school and college

We had one black and white TV shared by 5 people until I was 10. And if you missed your TV show, there were no DVR's or watching the show a few days/weeks later on the internet or a cable's "on demand" service.

At my Catholic elementary school, we had lunch tickets that we bought every week, and the lunch ladies would punch the lunch ticket every day that a student bought a hot lunch.

Blackboards and chalk -- do they still exist in elementary or high schools?

Pay phones...not obsolete yet, but will there be any left in 5 years? It's pretty hard to find one now.

[Posh 08]

"Trying to decide how I was going to deal with being the outcast of the sophomore class because my mother thought that $16.99 for a pair of Weejuns sounded outrageous!"

Weejuns!!!!!! If they looked worn out; a friend told me, that just meant you've been cool for a long time.

[jblum315]

[QUOTE=Jim 9922;446261]
The blizzard of 1047 (if you lived in Wisconsin)

Now even I don't remember that one. 1947 maybe, but not 1047.

[CarolSells]

Weejuns!!!!!! If they looked worn out; a friend told me, that just meant you've been cool for a long time.[/QUOTE]

:bigbow:

And remember when everything came in madras?

And how about those green canvasy coats with the hood?

At my high school slacks (let alone jeans) were a no-no.

[batman911]

Jim 9922,

The blizzard of 1047? Boy, you are old.

[Skybo]

You had to get up turn the channel on the tv?

And if the knob broke off you kept a pair of pliers on top of the TV so you could change channels (maybe that was just at my house?)

[Posh 08]

Weejuns!!!!!! If they looked worn out; a friend told me, that just meant you've been cool for a long time.

:bigbow:

And remember when everything came in madras?

And how about those green canvasy coats with the hood?

At my high school slacks (let alone jeans) were a no-no.[/QUOTE]

The madras would bleed :o .... loved the ties, sport coats and shorts.

[Posh 08]

And if the knob broke off you kept a pair of pliers on top of the TV so you could change channels (maybe that was just at my house?)

Pliers for the Philco radio too. Also my Grandfather would turn the TV antenna (or have us) a little this way or that way with a pipe wrench to get the Phillies game.

[CarolSells]

And if the knob broke off you kept a pair of pliers on top of the TV so you could change channels (maybe that was just at my house?)

Luckily, they weren't noticed next to those lovely rabbit ears!

And, for years there were really only three channels. The evening news was 15 minutes long. Any Cincinnati area people remember Peter Grant? Paul Dixon? Ruth Lyons? Uncle Al? Ding Dong School?

[barb1191]

Lux Radio Theatre
Amos 'n Andy
roller skates with a key
4 party phone lines
trolly cars (in Boston)
food stamps during WW2
mixing the color in oleo
pin curls (to curl hair)
rag curls (to curl hair)
Sears & Roebuck Catalog

[CaptJohn]

"See Rock City" painted on the roof of every barn in the country.

Dial "0" for operator and actually getting one personally that will put your call through.

Directory Assistance that actually looked up the number for you at no charge.

All phones owned by the phone company.

"Henry J" automobile.

[CarolSells]

"Dial "0" for operator and actually getting one personally that will put your call through."

Between high school and college I worked for Directory Assistance at Cincinnati Bell. I worked in long distance (555-1212); we actually sat in cubbies surrounded by about 20 phone books and actually did look up the number for you. In my dept we covered two area codes and had a rotary dial on the wall to call small towns which we had no directory for. The caller stayed on the line while we spoke to the other operator. "Oh, Jim Brown on Main Street. I know his brother. His number is...."

[2BNTV]

"Dial "0" for operator and actually getting one personally that will put your call through."

Between high school and college I worked for Directory Assistance at Cincinnati Bell. I worked in long distance (555-1212); we actually sat in cubbies surrounded by about 20 phone books and actually did look up the number for you. In my dept we covered two area codes and had a rotary dial on the wall to call small towns which we had no directory for. The caller stayed on the line while we spoke to the other operator. "Oh, Jim Brown on Main Street. I know his brother. His number is...."

And getting the operators assistance was free!!!!!!!!

[CarolSells]

but in the old days kids made prank calls. (Other kids, of course :icon_wink:).

[2BNTV]

but in the old days kids made prank calls. (Other kids, of course :icon_wink:).

Like:

"Do you have Prince Albert in a can"

Answer: YES.

"Well, you better let him out". :)

[chuckinca]

"See Rock City" painted on the roof of every barn in the country.

Dial "0" for operator and actually getting one personally that will put your call through.

Directory Assistance that actually looked up the number for you at no charge.

All phones owned by the phone company.

"Henry J" automobile.



And the Circus Today signs on the highways.

[entemedor]

Asking a parent if you could use the phone; picking up the phone and hearing the operator saying "Number please." The operator would often be, btw, my Aunt Frances. And our home number was 672. My aunt's home number was 504W.

A house had one radio, when I wanted my own I built a crystal set (which actually got one station).

Rationing and ration stamps. Buying a 10 cent war bond stamp at school each week. Milk at school, mornings and afternoon, 5 cents per week.

All kids having chest x-rays at school once a year...they were looking for tuberculosis and yes, once in a while they'd find a child that had it.

Two days after a snow storm, the snow would be black from all the coal that was used for heating and power in the mills.

A river that was so vile, even us kids would never go near it. Chemicals, industrial waste, sewage.

Just about every house had a flag in the window with a blue star for every family member in the service. As the years went by, some blue stars were replaced with gold stars.

[Uptown Girl]

We always had a bottle of mucilage in the house (like glue) with a rubber stopper/applicator. 'Tape' hadn't come along yet.

Dad made his own glue (for fly tying) from animal parts, like hooves and sinew.

Mom 'thumped' us with a hankie filled with cornstarch at bed time on on hot summer nights because there was no air conditioning, except for the occasional breeze through an open window. There were oscillating fans, but they were heavy, noisy and the motors got so hot they gave off more heat than anything.

Remember how cool it was when someone gave you an old cigar box to put treasures in?
Remember sledding with whatever was available? Cardboard boxes were the best, better than a garbage can lid. (No plastics yet!)
How about washboards? Ringer washing machines? Ever get your arm caught in the ringer? 'Splain THAT to the grandkids! :faint:
I told my daughter some of my more exciting childhood stories and she cried!
Silly girl... being a kid back then was great!

[RichieB]

Bob Sheppard, the voice of the Yankees

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium."

Current PA announcer is not even close to Mr. Sheppard.

Remember when fans in the lower deck could exit by the field, exiting through the bullpen ?

The broadcast team of Mel Allen, Red Barber, and Phil Rizzuto ?

[RichieB]

[QUOTE=Jim 9922;446261]
The blizzard of 1047 (if you lived in Wisconsin)

Now even I don't remember that one. 1947 maybe, but not 1047.

I'm pretty sure NY had a blizzard in '47 too.

[RichieB]

....some of them I don't remember because I was too young. Yipee for me!

Young kid ! :)

Are you really eligible for the Villages ? :)

[renielarson]

Leisure suits....groan
Falls for hair
Toni home permanents
Gas stoves and ovens you'd light with a match
Hanging clothes out on the line because we had no clothes dryer
The Edsel
Car high beam button on the floor
Hair nets
Saddle Oxfords

[Jim 9922]

A few I'm glad they don't have to experience:

Extensive and oppressive segregation.
The red quarantine signs posted on the neighborhood doors during the polio season.
When you had cancer, there were few survivors
When you had serious heart problems or blockages, there were few survivors
The horrors of WW II (and subsequent wars are bad too)

[VillagesFlorida]

My father's early 40s station wagon that came with no heater. He ordered a gas "Southwind" heater and installed it on the passenger side floor.

I remember gas at 15.9 per gallon and home heating oil was the same.

Bread was 16 cents a loaf and 1/2 dozen donuts was 38 cents.

The birth of our first child cost less than $400, total.

Shades were drawn at night so the "enemy" couldn't see lights if they flew over. This was during World War II.

I, too, recall rationing and the stamps my parents got. My father was able to get extra gas stamps since he transported other workers in his vehicle to work in the shipyard.

[brostholder]

A few I'm glad they don't have to experience:

Extensive and oppressive segregation.
The red quarantine signs posted on the neighborhood doors during the polio season.
When you had cancer, there were few survivors
When you had serious heart problems or blockages, there were few survivors
The horrors of WW II (and subsequent wars are bad too)
Some more "good riddance" memories:
women being refused entrance to restaurants for wearing slacks instead of a skirt.
very few professions open to women who wanted to or needed to work....secretary, nurse, teacher.

[JimPete]

Thanks Gracie for the trip down memory lane. :coolsmiley:

I remember most of these. At the time it was all just part of a normal life. Now it brings a tear of joy to my eye remembering those times as I sit hear listening to the Solid Gold Oldies channel on cable. I suddenly feel very fortunate to have lived through those years. :)

Jim

[CaptJohn]

Car high beam button on the floor


In the 40's and early 50's that's where the starter was on some! My grandfather had a Chevy like that.
Fords had ignition key on the left side of the dashboard in the 50's and early 60's.

How about the fun of running in the smoke created by the mosquito truck spraying DDT? Why aren't we all dead from that? :shocked:

[tomjbud]

Remember when all clocks had hands?

[JimPete]

To those who insist on posting negative memories. Remember one of the keys to true happiness:

Selective Memory



Jim

[Schaumburger]

Some more "good riddance" memories:
women being refused entrance to restaurants for wearing slacks instead of a skirt.
very few professions open to women who wanted to or needed to work....secretary, nurse, teacher.

My parents got married in 1957...last week would have been their 55th wedding anniversary. My mother's employer did not want married woman working in the office. So the policy in 1957 at this company for new married female office employees was...quit or transfer to the second shift which meant working from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Since most newly married woman in 1957 did not want to work second shift, most of them resigned from this company shortly after getting married. When my mother told me about this when I was a teenager in the 1970's I was amazed that women put up with this. Times have certainly changed -- the company I work for sends female employees all over the world to visit customers; about the only places female employees are not sent to visit are to customers in the conservative Muslim countries where woman are treated like second class citizens.

[lightworker888]

The coal man
The milk man
the bread man
the tea man


Then service men
the rag man
the knife sharpener
the post man
the paper boy
the ice man - loved the horses

So many memories---Thanks Gracie


LW888

[CarolSells]

My "little" brother is 9 years younger than me. He and I remark often that we had such fun being kids!

Remember playing Ghost In The Graveyard, Kick The Can, Swinging Statues, Four Square, and Hopscotch?

When you wanted a friend to come out and play you sat on the front porch steps and called their name. "Oh, C-a-r-o-l".

Saturday matinees at our neighborhood theater:
Admission: 25 cents for a double feature including cartoons.
Popcorn: 10 cents a bag.
Sodas: 20 cents and were dispensed from those machines that dropped the cup down behind that plastic door and filled it. How come on the few occasions that I had the money for one it was out of cups and the drain got my drink?

Candy (in the jewelry case): 6 and 11 cents.

Ushers walked around with flashlights to make sure that the crowd wasn't up to any mischief! :a040:

[Jim 9922]

To those who insist on posting negative memories. Remember one of the keys to true happiness:

Selective Memory



Jim

Sorry to have made you uncomfortable, but the purpose of my negative memories was intended to be in the spirit of " I'm glad my grand kids (or us today) won't have to live through these memories". Some of the bad is past and the present and future is good. My glass is not half empty; it is 98% full.

As for selective memory, I believe that one of the best ways of judging progress and success is by watching how far we have progressed from the starting point.

Selective memory is for the politicians.

[cybrgeezer]

Any of my fellow long-ago St. Louisans here? All these are strictly local:

Prom Magazine?

Eagle Stamps?

Texas Bruce and the Wranglers Club?

The Browns and Cardinals sharing the old Sportsmen's Park/Busch Stadium at Grand & Dodier?

Bob Kuban and the In Men?

The Veiled Prophet?

Joe Mizerany and later his nephew Steve Mizerany doing their own wacky TV commercials for their appliance store?

Club Imperial and its longtime house act, Ike and Tina Turner?

Johnny Rabbit?

Corkball, played in a cage behind a tavern?

The Hill?

The Admiral?

Grant's Farm?

The Muny?

Wrestling at the Chase?

And, of course, all the things that were just local versions of what youngsters of that time in every American city can remember.

[Chipper]

Had to be home when the church bells rang(5pm).
A gallon of milk had the cream on top.
Getting coal delivered at home and helping shovel coal into the furnace.
Barbers sharpening their razor with razor straps.
Saturday night bath and doing your Sunday School lesson.
Always leaving the house unlocked.

[tomjbud]

I remember riding my bike to the local airport. As long as we were polite, no one minded us walking out on the tarmack and looking at the planes. Try that today and see how far you get! I used to love to watch the old propeller airliners starting their big radial engines which would belch huge amounts of smoke and flames when they started. A man with a fire extinguisher was always standing by.

[CarolSells]

Chipper said "Had to be home when the church bells rang(5pm)".

Oh, I thought of that last night! Thought that it was only in our neighborhood!

[RichieB]

I remember riding my bike to the local airport. As long as we were polite, no one minded us walking out on the tarmack and looking at the planes. Try that today and see how far you get!

There was a time, up until perhaps the early 70's, when you were allowed to go to an observation deck atop any terminal at JFK Airport in NYC. That was a popular Sunday afternoon activity for me and some friends, especially one whose father was a mechanic for American Airlines.

Watching the planes take off and land, and smelling that jet fuel.......

Those days are LONG gone.

[In awe of TV]

"Saturday matinees at our neighborhood theater:
Admission: 25 cents for a double feature including cartoons"

As a bonus we'd get a dinner plate!

Wearing hats or veils and white gloves to church
My first car was a Chrysler, had a push button transmission and no seat belts
Driving to FL via Rt. 1, no 91 or 95 in those days
Wringer wash machines and clothes lines
Having your entire family living in the within 10 miles of each other
A neighborhood truck peddling fresh fruits and vegetables every Sat. morning
Our first airconditioner consisted of a metal box with a fan inserted in the window with a block of ice in it : /
Switchboard operators
Typing and steno pools

[pauld315]

So many of these memories are the same as mine but things I haven't thought about in many years.

My dad used to give me a quarter to get my hair cut (buzzed off) at the barber. I would give him the quarter and he would give me a nickel back so I could walk down the street to the pharmacy that had a lunch counter and get an ice cream cone.