Things Unheard Of

Gayle, that is lovely, so glad not all goes out of style folks!

"Put another nickel in... In the nickelodien.." (sp?) : ) The first song I remember learning from the radio.
Jujube's... which would last all through the Sat. matinee, or Necco wafers... and Good n' Plenty's.

Then later on, discovering tiny food stands along the road that kept glass mugs in a freezer for ice cold root beer.

I guess I miss the simplicity most of all. But, when Life was that simple, we had no internet and could not reach out and make friends at Dave's Garden either.

Oh, I almost forgot...


"The Hook"

My mom had an old ringer washer too. She lived for S&H green stamps. If we were good, she used to let us paste them in the book for her. I forgot about a lot of the things mentioned and but am having a fun time being reminded and thinking back.

What about Saturday morning cartoons. And Romper Room.

One of my favorites was Garfield Goose with Mr. GreenJeans. Over the holidays they used to play the Hardrock, Coco and Joe clip. I just loved that.

'Sugar in the mornin, sugar in the evenin, sugar at supper time' was one of the first songs I remember on the radio, we took little brown vitamin pills at school every week. People had a little pass through door at the back for the milkman to put the glass bottles of milk in, and all the stores closed Wednesday afternoons. You could walk a block to a friend's house when you were five or six....all by yourself.

I can remember the doctor coming to the house and clearing off the dining room table to take my temp....oops, you know where! dang it! I think there would be less diseases and viruses if people would just stay home and get better! Let the doctor come to you. It has never made sense to me that if you're real sick and then sit in a room with other sick and healthy people that all you are doing is spreading the germs. And people could afford their doctors back then too. If you didn't have the money, you just gave him a cake, or a chicken or bartered something.

Darius, I think times are starting to change with the loud music too. A lot of towns here in Kentucky are giving citations for loud music now. My son told me he was stopped in Lexington and given a warning for his stereo being loud, he had no idea there was such an ordinance. Then he heard it from me how he's going to ruin his hearing, etc. He's almost 26!!! I don't know what's worse, getting a warning from an officer or having to listen to your mother lecture you at 26. :)

Haighr, I remember that teleprompter that would come on. It was CBS and ours usually came on at 10:00 p.m. It somehow made one feel guilty to not know where they are....but I can assure you, I almost always know where my children are, even though they're grown now LOL.

I was an entrepreneur even way back then...I remember taking a wagon and walking all around the housing project we lived in (it was a good thing to live in a project back then), knocking on doors and asking if they had any empty soda bottles they wanted to get rid of. I would go to the store, cash them in, and buy, guess what, penny candy! the small bottles only brought you 2 cents, but the quarts brought you a nickle. There was no such thing as two liters and you didn't buy milk in a gallon jug either. Bread was a nickle and milk was 18 cents a quart. And soda was a treat you had either when you were sick or it was your birthday.

I also remember selling Girl Scout cookies and was top seller one year. I won all kinds of prizes. I sold almost $300 worth of cookies at 50 cents a box. I had to deliver all of them too. But I would knock on doors until 8:30 at night and start early in the morning to get orders. I would go a few miles from my house in diameter and my mother never worried about me (I don't think).

Wow, we could all write a book about the things our kids have missed out on. I would not want to be a child/teenager today. I think there is too much peer pressure and it is not as safe as it used to be. I guess its all in what you're used to. And I do agree that some things have changed for the good, but I think we have gone too far on a lot of other things. I wish life were a bit simpler too.

:)Kathy

You all talk about the TV shows back then. We never had a TV. When we finaly got one still couldn't get anything you could see, we were 120 miles from a station! Kids would get together for ball games, no school coaches running things.
Building tree houses & forts. Country school was the best. Played "anteyeover" around the woodshed/bathroom. The best sliding hill in the country was at the schoolhouse.
Saturday mornings in town was free movies for the kids so the parents could shop! Movies were Lone Ranger, Roy Rodgers, Hoppalong Cassiday, Gene Audrey, & all the other westerns + a cartoon or 2. These were all new movies, not reruns!
Then near Christmas at the end of the free movies, you would get a bag of goodies; apple, salted peanuts in the shell, haystacks, & hard Christmas candy.
Summertime found all the nieghborhood kids at the swimming hole at the river. No lifeguards, never had anyone drown either. Everyone new how to swim!, no leesons needed.
Swimming always came after hay baling & chores were done.

Something nobody mentioned was no daylight saving time!

I worked in a "supermarket" the year I graduated from high school. Open from 7 AM to early evening. Closed Sunday.
Everyone went to church every Sunday!

I even owned a 57 chevy when it was just another car!
Bernie

raisedbedbob - Those tv shows were the ones I watched where I grew up on Cleveland's far west side. And the show that came on right before Howdy Doody was Gabby Hayes. His sponsor was Quaker puffed wheat - the cereal shot from guns. They would show a real big cannon pointed straight at the camera and shoot the cereal right at the screen. My grandpa came home from work at 4:30 on the dot, and we would sit together and watch Howdy Doody before dinner. Another show, that may have been just local, was Captain Penny. He was on at noon. He encouraged kids to eat all their food. You could join Captain Penny's clean plate club.

This is a great thread !

And of course, very instructional magazine articles.

So, how many of us really miss the good ol' days?

" A GOOD WIFE ALWAYS KNOWS HER PLACE" WOW!! You know a man wrote that.

Actually in 1955 a woman may well have written that piece.

Hey HoneyGirl, I remember Captain Penny...I lived at Memphis and W. 66th as a kid. Not far from the zoo.

I remember riding around on my tricycle waiting for my Mom to call me to see the very first Mickey Mouse Club show.

Do you remember Ghoulardi? (He was a few years later.)

OMG stamps. We had S&H and Blue Chip stamps on the west coast. A trip to the redemption center was a big deal. My Dad still has sheets that we bought with blue chip stamps.

I was just remembering Halloween. There were only about ten houses that you could get to if you tried and we got a pumkin pie from one lady every year, A "real" Hershery bar, and one old man always gave a $1.00. Such wealth. It would take weeks to spend it at the five and dime.

What about the cars? I think you could have driven a volkswagon into the backseat of our old Chevy.

On a more recent note: when we were back east a couple of years ago, my kids had never seen a cigarette machine (they have ben long banned in CA thak goodness)

They have never "dialed" a telephone either.

For the bakers among you, I have cake pans that are cast iron. My Mom got a lamb mold for my 1st B'day and it still has the Wilton instructions for decorating.

This message was edited Nov 22, 2003 11:05 AM

POGO comic strip!!

I remember waiting for the Saturday Evening Post EVERY saturday.

I loved Pogo!

And I'm surprised no one has had anything to say about my mention of "The Hook"... surely some of the women among us remember the story of the man with the hook who frequented make-out spots, LOL.

The Hook must not have made the trip to CA. All we had was some free range peacocks that would wander by and scare the bejezus out of unsuspecting teens.

LOL, frogs! Unexpected peacocks would have frightened me...!

The story of the Hook is that teens hear about it on the car radio while at a remote make-out spot late at night... They panic, rool up the windows and drive home... and find a bloody hook hanging from the top of a window.

Kinda like the story "...I'm on the FIRST step... I'm on the SECOND step..."

OMG I remember S&H greenstamps! And there was another kind too, but I don't remember what it was called. They were red and white.

And Daddy used to save his B&W coupons from his cigarettes. Every so often we would count them up in stacks of 100 to see if he had enough for what ever it was he was saving them for at the time.

Buckskin Bill was the local kid show, with Senor Puppet and the Monday Morning March. Buckskin Bill collected pennies from all the kids who watched his show until there was enough to buy an elephant for the Zoo. The elephant was named Penny. Very Cool.

At noon the fire whistle (which is actually more of an air-raid siren) still blows. When we were kids, that sound meant stop what you are doing and run home as fast as you could, because Daddy would be coming in for lunch. We all ate lunch together. Dinner together was a given, except on Thursday nights, when Daddy went bowling. Then it was just us girls (my Mom, my two sisters and me).

I remember skates that had keys, bicycle bells and 45s. My cousins had Tonka trucks that I played with, but I wasn't allowed to have any because those were 'boy toys'. One year my cousin got an erector set and I wasn't even allowed to play with it with him, for the same reason. (Needless to say, my daughter had all the toy trucks and such that she could stand ... she only wanted dolls. lol)

And all the neighborhood kids would gather in our yard to play football - tackle, not flag. Now, why was that OK and erector sets were not????

We would rush home after school to watch Dark Shadows (how lame is that?) All the neighborhood kids would come to our house to watch that show.

For Mardi Gras, every classroom in every school in town had a float in the parade. It was a big competion and spying was not unheard of. LOL. The goal was to beat Mrs. Shinn's 3rd grade class. My Dad built a chimney that really smoked for one. He also built a Big Bird who's beak opened and closed for my little sister's class one year. Sesame Street was brand new ...

Cheri'

The local kid's show out of Minneapolis was "Captain Kangaroo." He had a side kick, Mr. Greenjeans & a cute young lady but Idon't remember her name. I was in high school already when this show was around so I never did watch it. I know it was a Seasame Street type of show where they were teaching little kid's numbers & things. That's right, they also had a hand puppet called "Bunny Rabbit".
My little sister watched it quite often.
Bernie

Any one remember Black Cats, No 7s, Sportsmans and how about Evening in Paris?

NoH20 - I remember Ghoulardi. We went to the Friday night football game, and then home to watch Ghoulardi. My boyfriend was allowed to stay until Ghoulardi was over, then my mom drove him home.

Country Gardens - I loved Captain Kangaroo too. Remember Mr. Moose and the ping pong balls ? And Rabbit and his carrots ?

And I just thought about The Mickey Mouse club, already mentioned. Remember Spin and Marty ? And I was allowed to stay up until 8pm on Wednesday evening to watch Walt Disney Presents.

It was so much quieter, kinder back then....

Anybody else use the packs from Lucy Strike cigarettes for target practice?

Oh Mr. Moose! I loved Mr. Moose!

We had the Loretta Young Theater every week. I thought she was the most famous actress there was when I was a kid. Didn't get out to the movies much. There was no theater. Just a drive in. I think there is just oe drive in left in the whole of San Diego county now. I was NOT allowed to go on a date there howevver.

Bernie, that's right! I had my cartoons mixed up. Mr. Green Jeans was Captain Kagaroo's side kick. Garfield Goose was a different show. I don't remember the young lady. I think I am going to do a search and see what I can find.

Remember Petticoat Junction? My sister sent me this a couple of weeks ago:

http://65.54.172.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=cd07f32fba6592d99699532ccbe0be28&lat=1069554907&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fmembers%2eaol%2ecom%2fDave7373%2fPetticoatJunction%2ehtml

If they have this there is bound to be something about Captain Kangaroo, Garfield Goose and Hardrock, Coco and Joe.

Gosh, this is so much fun to read! Here are a few more,
nylons with seams
Soupy Sales
bobby pins
Tangee lipstick
penny loafers
sitting on your front porch
Knowing your neighbors
street cars
kick the can
I can't believe how much of this I had forgotten. It is a nice way to be reminded.
Meems

Meems, kick the can was my absolute favorite game. My family lived in a project when I was growing up and in summer it was way too hot to go to bed until 11 or midnight. The adults sat on the porches and we kids played in the yards. I still remember a bunch of the mothers showing us how to play kick the can one hot summer night. We would play it for hours and hours....what fun.

Frogs, we didn't use the Lucky Strike packs for targets, but I sure loved The Lucky Strike Hit Parade.

I'd listen to the Countdown of the Top 40 Songs every Saturday while doing my required weekly Ironing, too.

MemsDream - I had forgotten all about Soupy Sales. And Tangee lipstick was the only kind my mom let me wear !
And stocking with seams - remember garter belts ?

Echoes - Is Evening in Paris the perfume that came in dark blue bottles ? I wasn't allowed to wear it - my Mom said it was for adults. She wore it, of course.

Does anyone remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie ? Or Paige Palmer ? She was one of the very first exercise gurus.

Remember fountain pens and blotting paper ? That's how my generation learned to write neatly.


I remember Loretta Young. How she entered the stage with a wide sweep of her gown. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

And John Cameron Swayze who did the news each evening. His sponsor was Timex. They would secure a Timex watch onto a small boat motor and stick it in a tank of water. When they lifted it out, all dripping wet, they would say "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'".

Does anyone remember Inky Dink and You ? You got sheet of clear plastic in the mail and special crayons that you could stick on to the tv screen. Then you could draw along with Inky Dink .

How about Captain Videa and his Video Rangers ?

You know - I can't recall what I had for lunch yesterday, and I'm not sure of what I need to do tomorrow - but I can remember the late 40's and 50's like it is today !

I remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie. And Shari Lewis and Lambchop. And Omnibus on Sunday. And John Cameron Swayze. Eve Arden. Girdles (UGH). Fountain pens. And June Allison. She was my favorite. Every winter I got laryngitis and I was so happy - I thought I sounded just like June Allison. Actually I sounded like a dying frog. LOL

I remember, and loved, Omnibus and John Cameron Swayze! (I wore those nylons with seams, and a garter belt. No wonder I love jeans so much, LOL.)

I'm with HoneyGirl... can't remember yesterday but sure remember things from the 40's and 40's well.

OMGoodness, I have forgotten more than I remember. That's right Wednesday afternoon the stores were closed. And I still have an ole 78 record of Hopalong Cassidy, the one that came along with the story book.

Just a few months ago, I knew of someone who wanted to purchase an ole record player and when he asked the young lady in the store if they carried record players, she looked at him like he was from another planet!

Loretta Young??? Many I am really getting ole, I remember her!

Right ! Records were 78's, 33 1/3 came later. Not too many years ago, the kids called them vinyl disks. Now I think even that is passe. Your Hop A Long Casidy original is probably worth a fortune now. Oh yea - Our Miss Brooks !

Does anyone remember My Little Margie ? What was the tv show where Ann Southern played a blonde secretary ? Her boss's name was Mr. Sands.

haighr - See what you started ? You opened our minds for a wonderful ride down memory lane ! Thank you !

My mom used to work at a record shop, when they were popular, and she purchased a lot of albums that I now have.

Who still loves the Mills Brothers? and I don't mean coffee. "Blueberry Hill"

Remember 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' and 'Flying Purple People Eater'?

Our Legion club still has a jukebox with 45's on it.
Everbody loves the old tunes and you can't get them on CD's.

My dad used to fix slot machines and games at the private clubs and he came home once with a jukebox, shuffle alley and some slot machines. We had a big warehouse out back used partially for a garage, but one side of it housed all these prizes and boy could be have the dance parties!

Hey HoneyGirl and NoH2O, I just found this again, I have somewhere a picture of me with Captain Penny!!! I grew up in the country suburb of Akron called Ghent and still live near there in Silver Lake... close to Stow and Kent and Cuyahoga Falls.

You have a picture of yourself with Capt. Penny??!! You are going to have to post it you know. Gosh, I can't even remember what he looks like except for his train engineer hat and bandanna around his neck...at least I think that is what he wore! I hope I am not getting him mixed up with someone else.....

I have an aunt and cousins in Stow - small world huh?

Hey Janie Joy - We're waiting for that photo ! I have a friend who lives in Ghent , right beside the fire station.

i don't remember stores closing on wensday afternoons. why did they do that?

Remember when the big attraction about cable t.v. was that there were no commercials?