Take a walk down memory lane with us

Yea, I forgot about Shirley Temple. My favorite was Leave It To Beaver. Did I tell you I was a weird kid ?

This message was edited Jan 7, 2007 11:36 AM

American Bandstand anyone?

I'll give it a 9, it had a good beat and you can dance to it.

Brenda Lee?
Connie Francis?
Don & Phil Everly?
Frankie Avalon?
Neil Sadaka?

yawn

Dream, dream, dream
Whenever I want you
All I have to do is dream.......

Good night little Susie...or was it good bye little susie....

Now I really liked Neil Sedaka...I put on make up just to listen to him on WGN Chicago........on my awesome transistor radio!!!

This message was edited Dec 10, 2006 12:24 PM

Mary Tyler Moore was one of the dancing Old Gold box legs. Jo

My nextdoor neighbor smokes Old Golds... LOL

This message was edited Dec 10, 2006 12:18 PM

hair slicked back, but there was that one curl hanging down over the forehead.

if memory serves that was called a flat top with fenders, the haircut. they always wore what we called engineer boots too.

speaking of fenders, reminds me of hot rods, glass packs, positraction, necker knobs, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and the geeks who finally got Vespas when they came to this country too.

we drank cherry cokes or vanilla, egg cremes and 2 cents plain on rare occasions.

also very small town (called village) but also VERY observant.

cherry cokes with peanuts mixed in
and soda fountains in the drug store.

hey-jude...was that the LY episode where she was attacked with the briar bush...scarring her face?

This message was edited Dec 4, 2006 8:31 PM

what is the LY episode and who is 'she'??

I'm lost in this reference.

Loretta Young, with half her face scarred.

Edited to say: I just don't remember enough about that episode to be able to contribute, except that it scared me.

This message was edited Dec 4, 2006 10:34 PM

boy I must be tired, was it a briar bush? I don't remember that detail, thought it was either birth, fire or ...

Wasn't there also a program called Fireside Theatre? Or was that another time/place/life?

I think so, but my brainis getting fuzzy, time for bed now.


manana

Manana, manana, manana was good enough for me.
Wasn't that a song, or is my brain fading out again?

I think I'm older than anybody except plantladyhou. I remember "watching" the radio, especially on Sunday afternoons when we drove around "seeing the sights" as my dad used to say. That was when Jack Benny, Fibber McGee (my favorite), The Shadow, and Fireside Theater were on--or at least I think that's when. I remember my mother telling me once as we were listening to the big floor-sized radio in our living room that someday the radios would have a picture in the middle and we would be able to see the people making the music and doing the talking. That had to have been in the 1940s. I remember Your Hit Parade, the Old Gold girl, the little Alka Seltzer guy, clean ads, covered bodies, all sorts of things. Those really were the good old days.

i remember watching all those shows on a 7 inch t.v. screen that had a sliding magnifying screen in front and you could adjust it to get the screen bigger. it was a hoot.


also remember listening to the shadow on the radio. it went something like

"who knows what fears lives in the hearts of man, the shadow knows."

the rivolli theater showed 3 movies 21 cartoons and a tarzen short all for 15 cents

cars were "decked and lowered"

"rosco carnes" was the top dective show. also heard his wifes voice but never saw her.
samething with the david jansen plice show. always saw the secretarys legs and heard her voice but never saw her. turned out the legs belong to a famous t.v. star that i think was mary tyler moore.






This message was edited Dec 6, 2006 4:17 AM

Herbie...was the intro to The Shadow like this...."Who know what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" I also "watched" radio....loved Amos and Andy.....and what ws the name of the show that started with a phone ringing....."Jot-em-down Store....Lum Etters speaking"?

Jo

I forgot about the movies. We used to go for a quarter, 15 cents for the movie and 10 cents for popcorn, and we were there for a long time. Two movies and several cartoons, including one cliff-hanger that made you want to come back next week. Which we did, of course.

We "watched" Amos and Andy. Loved the gravely voice one of them had. Never heard the one about the store. And Red Skelton. The evening news brought all of us together around the radio, just like in the pictures you see nowdays. The newspapers weren't as obsolete back then as they are now in our era of instant everything. I was always so disappointed when Fibber McGee did not open his closet.

We got a TV with a tiny screen when my father was out of work for a year. My mom's payments on it were $6/month. That's when the house payment was only $66/month! Not much on but wrestling (it was phoney even back then), game shows like "What's My Line" (maybe that one came later??), cowboy movies (which we all loved), and kid shows like "Howdy Doody", and of course Red Skelton. I don't know what my dad watched during the day.

I'd not thought about all of these in a really long time. This is very fun.

Speaking of Howdy Doody....a member of my church was a puppeteer with that show! He made and operated a Pinocho (sp) for our Bible School this past summer.

Do you remember Jane Withers....her side kick was Pedro....and he would say "Mucho Grasis....and she would come back with....Much Grass to you too Pedro. ....and The Bowery Boys!!

Jo

jo - that was the intro all right. will ask my dw about the ringing phone. i also remember a show called "mr. gigles" this guy would come on and every minute or two all he would do is come out with this crazy laugh. it was the fujnniest show i've ever seen.

we used to bring our lunch to the movies on saturday. the movie house opened at 11 a.m. and we used to leave at around 5 p.m. we still had matrons walking around the place with flashlights making sure we didn't do anything crazy. and when you called up to see what was playing you actually talked to a live human. i hate these voice set ups now.

LOL I thought I was the only one in the world remembering that program! It scared the living daylights outa me! I don't think there's much on the tube that scares me any more...alot of it does me sick though. Remember Sky King? ooooooooh I was so in love with him.

Have a great day all.

Sky King....and wasn't the girl's name Penny? Loved that show.

anyone else remember when the U.S. Mail was delivered TWICE daily except on Saturdays? and what was postage then....03 cents? what happened?


gas stations were FULL SERVICE with several uniformed men checking tire pressure, oil level, fluids were topped off windows washed, mirrors and a thank you, Mr or Mrs SoandSO.

In the Chicago area we had multiple newspapers, many more than today, all delivered to the DOORSTEP, not thrown from a speeding car to be torn up on the driveway or lost in the bushes, and there were morning and afternoon editions of the same papers.

Small independent stores in our town had their own charge account systems, hand written with a monthly statement. No signature required, but you did get a copy of your purchases. That was how I got caught buying my first lipstick.

Shoes were bought in shoe stores and they tied your packages with string, AND the clerk had a string cutter on their thumb or finger.

A real treat was to take the street car into downtown with my paternal grandmother to go to Marshall Fields and have lunch in the Tea Room. Then she'd buy me a dress that was completely impractical which my mother would mutter under her breath while watching either her mother or the maid iron each time I wore it. My favorite was a navy blue (I don't remember the fabric) with a white pinafore of dotted swiss over.

Did anyone else wear mother daughter dresses? My maternal grandmother thought it was wonderful to have three generations dressed alike. They were ghastly.

Hi Did anyone ever see Jayne Russell and Marilyn Monroe at the movies?
Linda

Marshall Fields, lunch in the Tea Room...I remember being there for a Christmas season. Mom bought a wine colored coat for me, not burgandy, not dark red, but WINE. It had a huge rounded collar with a fur trim, and fur earmuffs to match.

And I remember in a shoe store, you slipped your feet into a sort of x ray machine where you could look in and see the bones in your feet. It was a way of measurement, but I thought those machines would take the flesh right off my bones. Probably would have if that practice had continued.

Ever take a long trip in a train car, not Amtrak, but the passenger trains of the 40's and early 50's?

Loved the Pullman's!

and don't forget the fur muffs. the ones we stuck both hands into rather than wearing gloves or mittens. now those were a real fashion statement in the day!

and speaking of shoes, remember the toe clips? the decorative thingy that clipped to the vamp of your dress up pumps to make them 'different' than the last time you wore them?

Hey_Jude: I Still have my Poor Pitiful Pearl doll in her original raggedy outfit! I didn't like baby dolls or Barbies, so Pearl was just right for me.

Sherri Lewis and Lamb Chop, the hand puppet
Milton Berle on tv (black and white with a small screen and a magnifier in front of it)
Woolworths (which we called "the five and dime") and W.T. Grant where people actually waited on you.
Newspapers and milk delivered to the front door (I grew up in New York).
Rabbit fur muffs for little girls. I loved mine.
Reading the entire set of Bobbsey Twins books, plus Nancy Drew, and anything else available.
Proms - where we did not wear skimpy designer dresses, stiletto heels or arrive in a limo!
Being taught manners and actually respecting teachers and elders, whether we liked it or not.

I knew I was forgetting something, fur muffs...to match the earmuffs and the fur around the collar. And patent leather shoes, Mary Janes maybe?
Along with the clippy thingies there were those flat feather hat like things, just curved around the top of the head, feathers feathering around in front of the ears....and Mouton coats. Still have mine! Still fits, too.

And the books, along with the Twins and Nancy Drew I also read my brother's Hardy Boys, and a few of my dad's Zane Grays.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2006 12:16 PM

I still have letters that my mother saved from family members where the stamp is $.03. My children and grandchildren could hardly believe their eyes. And I remember when gas wars were to see how low the prices could go--not trying to make the evening news by going higher!! Gas was what then .....$.13 up to $.20?? Something in that range. And you are right about the service we received...washed the windows and checked the oil and radiator levels while the gas was pumping, said thank you and meant it--no matter the weather.

We had a car airconditioner that was a tank of water that hung on the top of the car window and worked, I think, by the air blowing through it when we drove. I'm sure there was more to it than that, but I don't remember.

I took a long train trip in the late 50s and was just out of high school and scared to death, what with all the warnings about not talking to strangers (especially young men--especially young servicemen). I could not afford the Pullman, but the conductor brought me a pillow and a blanket. We dressed up then for trips, not in tattered jeans and flip flops, etc. We wore gloves, hats and stockings (not pantyhose) to church or for special occasions.

I was really young, but I remember standing in line with my mother during WWII to get sugar and other staple goods. You had to have a coupon for lots of things, including gas and tires. My father was a volunteer fireman so he had extra coupons for those. I still have some of those coupons.

We went to the train station to greet the trains full of servicemen going through to war. Everyone supported them then--no signs waving with antiwar slogans. We listened to the radio every evening to get the war news. Families with sons away at war had flags in their windows, and a star was added if that son was killed. Does anyone remember the "V mail" and Victory Gardens? It was a matter of pride.

I do remember the paper coming out twice a day, but I think it only came to our house once a day. You could get the other edition downtown. The paperboy made sure the paper was where you could find it and the mailman knew who you were and was sure to let you know if your special letter came.
Your neighbors knew who you were, too, and everyone watched out for each other. There was even space between the houses. Imagine that!!

I had those muffs for my hands, too. I loved sticking my hands into them and getting warm again. My coats and all my clothes were made by my mother, copying those things we saw in the store windows when we went "window shopping" in the evenings or on Sundays. The stores were all closed on Sundays, too, including grocery stores. Speaking of which, you could put your groceries on your account and you got a handwritten receipt, just like what was mentioned above. But you broke your neck at the end of the month to get your money down to the store to pay off that account. No one thought of how to get out of paying.

I am thankful that my mother kept journals. She did not record her feelings about things, but she did keep track of how much my father earned at his several jobs and she recorded how much they paid for things. I think my favorite was "$1.57 for a tire and tube for the car", but she even kept track of the cost of a spool of thread (which by the way did not break every time you tried to use it).

Boy, I really am OLD!! " ^ }

I vaguely remember waiting at the train station for my Dad to get home from WWII in probably '45. He was coming from Oklahoma, but was not on the train. I had never met him, since I was born after he left in 42, and he did not arrive till the next day. I remember the stress and strain on my family, especially my mother, while we waited. No phones then, and we didn't know what had happened to him. Word spread, though, and friends and neighbors kept food and strength coming our way as they waited with us.
That is one of those not very happy memories, and I had not thought of those feelings in a long time.
During the war my mother made curtains and dish cloths, as well as some of my summer play clothes from feed sacks. A lot of them had lovely designs on them, and she would wash and wash the fabric till it was soft.
It is much more fun to think of the fashions, music and movies that came later! Guess you can't have one without the other.

You have a sad memory of those years, but also good ones. Your neighbors did what people did back in those "good old days". It was a worrisome time for many families, but everyone understood. When the soldiers left it was for the duration. None of this whining by young wives about them being gone for three months or six months. They just went and did their job, just as the soldiers and sailors do now, but you never knew where they were or when they were coming home. All their mail was censored and any words that would identify their location and time schedule was blacked out.

My mother and grandmother made all the curtains, tablecloths (large and small), dishcloths, those runners that went on top of dressers. Everything they made was embroidered and I still have some of those, too. Some of my dresses even had embroidery on them. Our quilts had scraps of worn out clothes, and old sheets went into the middle of the quilt. They cut the buttons off of things they were recycling, and those old clothes became rags for dusting, cleaning, working on the car, whatever. Nothing was ever wasted. We didn't have the huge barrels of trash that we all have nowdays. By the way, I remember taking things to the city dump, so we must not have had trash pickup for at least part of my early years.

I love these walks down memory lane.

This message was edited Dec 10, 2006 11:06 AM

Before the x-ray machines for deciding our shoe size, the salesman measured our feet with the black metal thing you stood on. It's hard to find a shoe store nowdays where there even is a salesman, let alone someone that measures your feet.

I think I must have been 12 or so before we lived where there was a drive-in. I still miss being able to go see a movie at one of those. I grew up on Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

I wasn't permitted to go on a date until I was well over the age when others were dating. That didn't apply to my older brother tho, boys were different. And when I was allowed to date, there were no drive in movies permitted, and I had to be in by 10.

I quote. .
"No nice girls would go to one of those places (drive ins). Anything you could do after 10 pm you're not old enough to do, so be home on time. Period, no arguments." That was the end of it. my how times have changed

Anyone remember hours and hours of playing with our paper dolls? I had hat boxes of them and spent countless hours cutting and fitting.

Ping pong table in the basement. Croquet in the yard.

I love this walk down memory lane, too. Had a meeting tonight and couldn't wait to get back to this thread.
We had a ping pong table in the basement, but it was replaced by a pool table when a man who owed my dad gave him a pool table in lieu of money. My brother loved it, but I really missed the ping pong table.
Paper dolls.....had dozens stashed in shoe boxes.
And we played croquet in the yard. I always had to have RED. Still my favorite color.
And gardengram, I also have home made furniture scarves, and many quilts from old fabrics. I even have the first quilt one grandmother made for her wedding in 1916.
My DH swears we can never move from this house because it would take too many moving vans to carry away all my collections of old things.
But my memories are good, and aren't we fortunate to have lived long enough to appreciate all the old things while we enjoy a lot of new stuff.
My husband says I have a memory that goes with every wrinkle.
Thanks, Jude, for starting this thread. Maybe we should compile everything into a booklet for all of us to enjoy.

Not a bad idea Sharran, do you have time to do it?


OT: after seeing your soft sculpture Santa, I decided to create a different Santa for an older friend who I get out of her apartment a couple of times a week. This one is a gourd, goose neck. When I get done with it, maybe tonight, I'll post a pic.

BOT: when everyone got shoes called BUBBles, I got old fashioned two tones with those huge crepe soles. They were heavy and not anything like the popular ones which were lightweight and girly, but they were a big step up from the brown girl scout oxfords I had worn up to that time.

I try to remember the good things, but sometimes the junk gets in there too.

Ping ping turned into pool when my younger brother began playing away from home. That was enough to get my dad to buy a table so he and his friends would stay home and not go to some (spooky, scary voice) pool hall. I have no idea where they found one, must have driven into Chgo, which was also not allowed. We were truly suburban kids, sheltered from reality in every way the parents could manage.