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Without revealing your age.... (Original Post) ButSeeYa Mar 2017 OP
Getting off the couch to choose between three television networks. RandySF Mar 2017 #1
You were lucky SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #266
Driving around looking for a safeinOhio Mar 2017 #2
Free roam childhood. Lunabell Mar 2017 #3
I miss the fireflies. littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #11
come to my house! ginnyinWI Mar 2017 #164
Cool. Thanks. littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #174
I remember them as a child visiting my grandma in Chicago in the summer kimbutgar May 2018 #405
We called them Lightening Bugs.. whathehell Oct 2018 #412
We used to catch them in jars and put them by the bed at night. littlemissmartypants Oct 2018 #413
I remember them being put in jars.. whathehell Oct 2018 #414
Also "trick or treating" for hours on foot, many blocks from home with siblings... brush Mar 2017 #124
Trick or treating for a week. Butterflylady Sep 2017 #359
no parents, no fear on Halloween night. 634-5789 Jul 2020 #424
Yes, this. Six, seven years old I'd walk two blocks through suburbia to a pond, watch minnows femmedem Mar 2017 #208
Didnt have fireflies where I lived but I spent many hours roaming the neighborhood and the Amaryllis Mar 2017 #212
THAT is a big one... pangaia Sep 2017 #362
Female - not being allowed to wear pants in (public) school! Freddie Mar 2017 #4
In my high school (Australia), the girls HAD to do home ec SwissTony Mar 2017 #12
At my school, boys took shop PJMcK Mar 2017 #73
For the time my high school was enlighten sarge43 Mar 2017 #77
We had the same deal randr Mar 2017 #139
Oh, no! pnwmom Sep 2017 #346
We were wary of one of the shop teachers tonekat May 2018 #392
I wasn't allowed to wear pants to school all thru high school MadCrow Sep 2017 #279
I remember the Principal telling a second grader she couldn't wear pants at demigoddess May 2020 #417
Without revealing your age.... LenaBaby61 Mar 2017 #5
I had a 4 track player in my '61 Ford Starliner HAB911 Mar 2017 #45
Sleeping in hair rollers. spooky3 Mar 2017 #6
Could not sleep on those plastic ones! mgardener Mar 2017 #19
Dippity Do lillypaddle Mar 2017 #38
2 colors mgardener Mar 2017 #43
Are you talking hair rollers or the first color TV? LakeArenal Mar 2017 #146
Dippity Do lillypaddle Mar 2017 #249
Teal too N/T tonekat May 2018 #393
Too funny.... MLAA Sep 2017 #300
OMG! llmart Sep 2017 #382
My sister rolled her hair on orange juice cans! MLAA Sep 2017 #386
I rolled my hair on grape-juice cans..using liberal globs of Dippity Do solara Oct 2022 #438
Dippity do! It was so goopy and green! MLAA Oct 2022 #439
I think Dippity Do also came in pink.. but I never used that one solara Oct 2022 #440
What about the wire rollers with brushes inside, fixed in place by pink plastic pins. nt tblue37 Mar 2017 #68
My mom used those to make her chin-length hair go under at the ends marzipanni Mar 2017 #204
Those things were torture devices! ShazzieB Oct 2020 #429
Me too! tblue37 Oct 2020 #430
Yep, used those too also used 'spoolies' solara Oct 2022 #441
Sleeping in orange juice cans!! Sparkly Jul 2023 #444
Without revealing your age.... LenaBaby61 Mar 2017 #7
Remember that every table has an ashtray and free matches? randr Mar 2017 #142
This could be a long list TexasProgresive Mar 2017 #8
This message was self-deleted by its author Kittycow Mar 2017 #37
Sounds just like my childhood! PJMcK Mar 2017 #78
Same to you PJ. Is that Patrick Joseph? TexasProgresive Mar 2017 #120
Nah, that's not me PJMcK Mar 2017 #152
The saints seem to always deny being one. TexasProgresive Mar 2017 #192
poodle skirts and my record player leftofcool Mar 2017 #9
I hesitate to presuppose what might not be understood, but... littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #10
sugar cubes (polio vaccine) gfwzig Mar 2017 #13
I had forgotten the sugar cubes SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #267
I'm old enough to remember the max vaccinations immediately after PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #348
Watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan JetFuel Mar 2017 #14
My mother was actually just the opposite Rhiannon12866 Mar 2017 #32
My mom, too! She bought me the Veejay album "Introducing the Beatles." Still Blue in PDX Apr 2017 #260
Many of our parents were very young by today's standards. hedda_foil Apr 2018 #390
I watched Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan show! whathehell Mar 2017 #52
Yep, I was so excited about their first performance on Ed Sullivan and we all watched it. n/t RKP5637 Mar 2017 #59
welcome to DU gopiscrap Mar 2017 #166
Not being able mgardener Mar 2017 #15
Life without any electronic devices sarge43 Mar 2017 #16
I remember my dad taking the bad vacuum tubes from our tv down to the appliance store to get replace dhol82 Mar 2017 #29
Yes. rzemanfl Mar 2017 #47
Thanks! dhol82 Mar 2017 #61
Bwaaa! The whole theme song just came back to me! Squinch Mar 2017 #231
This is from Wikipedia- rzemanfl Mar 2017 #234
I must have caught it the second time around. Don't remember anything but the song. Squinch Mar 2017 #237
Does "Plunk your magic twanger froggy" mean anything to you? n/t rzemanfl Mar 2017 #238
No, but I saw the reference down thread. Squinch Mar 2017 #239
Buster Brown shoes sponsored that show. n/t rzemanfl Mar 2017 #241
Oh! But their commercials must have been all over for me to remember every word of the song. Squinch Mar 2017 #242
Andy's Gang - Andy Devine rickford66 Sep 2017 #282
This was entertaining during Irma. n/t rzemanfl Sep 2017 #371
Bob would say "So you take the pie..." EarnestPutz Sep 2017 #318
"MOTHER, PLEASE... I'D RATHER DO IT MYSELF!!!" ailsagirl Apr 2017 #261
DRAMA! tonekat May 2018 #394
"Sure, you're tense, irritable... but don't take it out on her!" ailsagirl May 2018 #411
DON'T TAKE THE CAR YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!!" solara Oct 2022 #437
I remember vacuum tubes and whathehell Mar 2017 #48
A pack of vac tubes in house sarge43 Mar 2017 #50
Wow - interactive television! Beartracks Mar 2017 #130
Carbon paper. n/t sarge43 Mar 2017 #60
I just bought some and was shocked by how expensive it was dhol82 Mar 2017 #63
I'm surprised it's still available. sarge43 Mar 2017 #69
I remember retyping term papers at school because I made a mistake in the last RKP5637 Mar 2017 #75
Oh, that was the worst... Freedomofspeech Sep 2017 #277
Ay caramba! PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #327
I remember the joy when I discovered tonekat May 2018 #396
probably on your nose also. LOL pangaia Sep 2017 #364
I was finally able to track it down at Staples dhol82 Mar 2017 #76
I was 5 when we got our first TV set, and few people we knew had one yet. nt tblue37 Mar 2017 #72
Relatives and neighbors showed up just to check it out. n/t sarge43 Mar 2017 #109
Oh, yes. nt tblue37 Mar 2017 #147
Watching "Peter Pan" PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #328
I actually did my taxes w/o any devices this year CountAllVotes Mar 2017 #154
Trying to talk to... WiffenPoof Mar 2017 #17
Having some young kid in 1987 tell us PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #329
Wacky Packages! Chasstev365 Mar 2017 #18
Let's see rpannier Mar 2017 #20
Telephone party lines. nt GP6971 Mar 2017 #97
and only needing to dial 4 digits... 2naSalit Mar 2017 #141
frontier 1956 rpannier Mar 2017 #200
We didn't have those 2naSalit Mar 2017 #223
Ditto plus happy feet Mar 2017 #21
Rotary telephone GeoWilliam750 Mar 2017 #22
Short, striped polyester dresses with fishnets and go-go boots, white of course! babylonsister Mar 2017 #23
And as a male of the time, I definitely appreciated them! malthaussen Mar 2017 #81
Fighting off grizzly bears at school with my musket... Cooley Hurd Mar 2017 #24
Fake news.... pangaia Sep 2017 #365
Party line telephone dhol82 Mar 2017 #25
Pulling your car into a gas station.... tobefree Mar 2017 #26
This message was self-deleted by its author littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #98
I remember riding with my Dad Rhiannon12866 Mar 2017 #248
My Dad knew the guys that ran Johnny's Esso well SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #268
My Dad, on the other hand, was not a car guy Rhiannon12866 Jul 2017 #274
My dad always got 2 bucks worth of gas. On Sunday he would buy 2 bucks worth of gas and drive doc03 Sep 2017 #288
I remember getting a ride to school with my cousin Rhiannon12866 Sep 2017 #292
Us guys would each chip in our change and maybe come up with doc03 Sep 2017 #294
So I guess 47-cents was quite exorbitant! Rhiannon12866 Sep 2017 #296
I remember the full serve Flying A station tonekat May 2018 #397
"Ding Ding" N/T tonekat May 2018 #404
Interesting post, thanks. democrank Mar 2017 #27
We had a milkman and a "bread man" Freddie Mar 2017 #94
Milk wagon, bread truck, ice wagon, rag man, coal truck, and vegetable wagon randr Mar 2017 #143
And a seltzer man that brought chocolate and coke syrup. bullimiami Mar 2017 #183
We used to get a case of soda and seltzer delivered every other week. dhol82 Mar 2017 #194
Okay? It's alright griloco Mar 2017 #28
Don't forget Topo Gigio... dchill Mar 2017 #107
Senor Wences lived to be 103. PoindexterOglethorpe Jun 2017 #264
Senor Wences lived to be 103. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #330
ok..this is fun... Sancho Mar 2017 #30
AAA still does TripTiks--but now we download them Maeve Mar 2017 #140
I forgot creepy crawlers!! Sancho Mar 2017 #161
Doing "paste-up" for the school newspaper and Silver Gaia Mar 2017 #31
Oh the smell of rubber cement zeusdogmom Mar 2017 #65
Yup! Rubber cement! Silver Gaia Mar 2017 #71
We had mint flavored glue in art class randr Mar 2017 #153
Panty hose was an important aspect of mini skirts. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #331
When communiques to overseas were done by telex. DinahMoeHum Mar 2017 #33
Yep...make a mistake GP6971 Mar 2017 #122
Worked at a fish farm and we had a Telex. bullimiami Mar 2017 #184
Oh! Oh! PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #332
My dad's office had a Teletype Room tonekat May 2018 #395
Place a long distance call by telling the operator the number to bill bucolic_frolic Mar 2017 #34
You mentioned "catalog" and my mind immediately went to the Sears catalog. The back of it. Squinch Mar 2017 #35
I hope someone (Smithsonian?) has all the catalogs sarge43 Mar 2017 #42
The Main Street of my small town in Southwest PA.... Freedomofspeech Mar 2017 #36
Yep, just thinking back, Vietnam was really the turning point. Seems we've been fighting an uphill RKP5637 Mar 2017 #70
No kidding. Freedomofspeech Mar 2017 #92
Paper drives lillypaddle Mar 2017 #39
I remember the Don't be a Litterbug! campaign in the early '60's marzipanni Mar 2017 #246
They should bring this campaign back TuxedoKat May 2017 #263
Fall Out shelters padfun Mar 2017 #40
Newspaper classified ads for jobs divided into "Male" and "Female" whathehell Mar 2017 #41
Along with those ads for a "Girl Friday"! k8conant Sep 2017 #320
Oh yeah? whathehell Sep 2017 #370
Oh yes.. whathehell Oct 2020 #432
I grew up down south... ShazzieB Oct 2020 #428
Wow. whathehell Oct 2020 #431
All of the above and Shanti Mama Mar 2017 #44
Always being the only one of your type in every school and job IronLionZion Mar 2017 #46
I remember when a pay phone was still only 10 cents. FuzzyRabbit Sep 2017 #306
HA! I remember penny post cards. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #334
WHAT?? PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #333
It's 50 cents now IronLionZion Sep 2017 #367
Pay Phones tonekat May 2018 #398
Printed Encyclopedias (NT) NeoGreen Mar 2017 #49
Just think if we'd had the internet to research school projects. Hoyt Mar 2017 #126
TV Tube testers at the Grocery Store JDC Mar 2017 #51
X-ray machines in the shoe stores. sarge43 Mar 2017 #58
Unscrewing the cap and removing the transmitter on the phone... terip64 Mar 2017 #53
The Air Raid Sirens going off every Saturday at noon in our town for testing. n/t RKP5637 Mar 2017 #54
Air Raid Siren jarhead69 Sep 2017 #275
A younger person wouldn't understand El Viejo Mar 2017 #55
Memorizing telephone numbers. wcast Mar 2017 #56
Pay phones mikeargo Mar 2017 #57
Nuclear Drills at elementary school iamateacher Mar 2017 #62
First time I was sent home for "bad" behavior randr Mar 2017 #149
Yeah that was a good plan. bullimiami Mar 2017 #185
Party line telephone service tech3149 Mar 2017 #64
S&H green stamos. Gas station attendants filling your car up and washing your windshield. tblue37 Mar 2017 #66
Licking those stamps for your mother (in our case Blue Chip) and putting in the books mchill Mar 2017 #180
Republican Senator Howard Baker wanting to get to the truth in the Watergate hearings Louis1895 Mar 2017 #67
Tangee lipstick zeusdogmom Mar 2017 #74
Tangee is still available from Vermont Country Store. sarge43 Mar 2017 #79
Being a paperboy Alpeduez21 Mar 2017 #80
Five and dime stores pinboy3niner Mar 2017 #82
Savings account passbooks GP6971 Mar 2017 #119
Feeding my program into the computer.....on punch cards AJT Mar 2017 #83
Dropping the tray of punch cards you were carrying sarge43 Mar 2017 #113
I remember still having a deck to IPL the mainframe as AJT Mar 2017 #123
Took a code writing class in the late 70's randr Mar 2017 #155
And waiting 24 hours (turnaround time) to find out you had one comma that made program not work mchill Mar 2017 #181
Writing a program in physics class and typing it into a teletype machine. dhol82 Mar 2017 #195
Ordering items via the Sears catalog. sinkingfeeling Mar 2017 #84
And "Monkey Ward". nt GP6971 Mar 2017 #117
In the spirit of the OP... malthaussen Mar 2017 #85
And the sad reality of smoking is that everyone knew it was dangerous. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #336
Huge back seat in car - could stand up northoftheborder Mar 2017 #86
Eating pancakes at Sambo's completely oblivious to the racist stereotype. Mrs. Overall Mar 2017 #87
The waiters at Morrisons Cafeteria. Speaking of racist stereotyping. bullimiami Mar 2017 #186
school handouts smelling of alcohol..... aka-chmeee Mar 2017 #88
Mimeograph fluid. MMMMM. bullimiami Mar 2017 #187
I loved that smell dhol82 Mar 2017 #196
And they were often kind of damp Dream Girl Mar 2017 #217
I remember many things Polly Hennessey Mar 2017 #89
Skates that had to be tightened with a key . . . PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #337
Many of my classmates were the children of small business owners Freddie Mar 2017 #90
Bigger is better killed our downtowns... Freedomofspeech Mar 2017 #95
Calling the Long Distance Operator to put through a call on Christmas CanonRay Mar 2017 #91
The Jewel man mercuryblues Mar 2017 #93
I lived in the country & we had a party line. CrispyQ Mar 2017 #96
I lived in Philadelphia and had a party line. dhol82 Mar 2017 #197
Hip hugger, bell bottoms with platform sandals. eom littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #99
Trucks delivering coal GP6971 Mar 2017 #100
Burning trash in Faux pas Mar 2017 #101
Writing computer programs on an IBM 026 card punch lapfog_1 Mar 2017 #102
I told my 11 year old GWC58 Mar 2017 #103
I remember changing points and plugs. dchill Mar 2017 #104
Drive ins CountAllVotes Mar 2017 #105
I LOVE drive-ins. Amazingly enough there are 3 within a 2 hour drive from us. WePurrsevere Mar 2017 #116
Cigarette vending machines Freddie Mar 2017 #106
Early morning delivery of milk in glass bottles. gademocrat7 Mar 2017 #108
First grade required that littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #110
Where did we get cigar boxes? I'm pretty sure I had one though no one smoked. n/t pnwmom Sep 2017 #343
Drug store gave them away. littlemissmartypants Sep 2017 #374
Aha! Thanks for clearing up the mystery! pnwmom Sep 2017 #375
Rotary dial phone. Historic NY Mar 2017 #111
And the phones were all attached to the wall by a wire that carried the signal. No wireless phones. FuzzyRabbit Sep 2017 #310
I still have them... Historic NY Sep 2017 #369
Some young people may know one or two of these, IDK... WePurrsevere Mar 2017 #112
It was not only the TVs that needed to warm up. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #338
I hadn't thought of that but it makes sense... WePurrsevere Sep 2017 #356
The short answer is yes. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #358
Without revealing your age Lebam in LA Mar 2017 #114
Halloween Adults tonekat May 2018 #399
Turning on the car radio and waiting for the tubes to warm up. eom guillaumeb Mar 2017 #115
Calling time and temperature missingthebigdog Mar 2017 #118
You'd dial POPCORN for the time! CountAllVotes Mar 2017 #131
Hitchhiking. eom littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #121
Out Houses, party lines, test patterns, bomb drills, punch cards, george wallace (or maybe there is Hoyt Mar 2017 #125
Playing golf Lefthacker Mar 2017 #127
The sadness of math tests tempered by JenniferJuniper Mar 2017 #128
Telephone party lines Freethinker65 Mar 2017 #129
Smelling your test... liberalmuse Mar 2017 #132
That was mine too... JenniferJuniper Mar 2017 #144
Waiting by the phone for a call DesertRat Mar 2017 #133
These MFM008 Mar 2017 #134
The empty bottles you put in the milk box randr Mar 2017 #135
Great post! democrank Mar 2017 #136
Apparently, 13 yr olds think the idea of a pager dewsgirl Mar 2017 #137
Good Humor ice cream trucks. nt GP6971 Mar 2017 #138
Trading cards. The Velveteen Ocelot Mar 2017 #145
Tires with tubes. nt GP6971 Mar 2017 #148
Following the DDT sprayer mist with our bicycles... LakeArenal Mar 2017 #150
Breaking therometers and playing with the mercury. sarge43 Mar 2017 #170
I was fascinated with breaking them and playing with mercury! Thanks I forgot about that toxic joy lunasun Mar 2017 #210
Not dangerous unless you breathe it in or swallow it SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #269
I only broke one... tonekat May 2018 #400
Along the hazard line, in school we'd make projects by moulding asbestos clay powder. . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Mar 2017 #229
Local drug stores GP6971 Mar 2017 #151
The local phamacy I use delivers for free CountAllVotes Mar 2017 #158
Styrofoam boater hats for candidates. LisaM Mar 2017 #156
Cobble stone streets randr Mar 2017 #157
Rolodexes and Rotary Phones C_U_L8R Mar 2017 #159
I worked in an office with a corded switchboard GregD Mar 2017 #191
I was a telephone operator when Lily Tomlin was doing her thing, PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #350
No yard fences and everyone's dog ran loose and un-neutered! Laffy Kat Mar 2017 #160
watergate gopiscrap Mar 2017 #162
welcome to DU fun question gopiscrap Mar 2017 #163
long division--with no calculator! ginnyinWI Mar 2017 #165
diagramming sentences WhiteTara Mar 2017 #172
Yes! I am just young enough not to have learned to use a slide rule, PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #339
Saturday morning cartoons gopiscrap Mar 2017 #167
Not being able to buy alcohol til 2pm on a Sunday gopiscrap Mar 2017 #168
We used to have blue laws in Philly dhol82 Mar 2017 #198
Blue laws. We couldn't buy any kind of alcohol on Sunday, or anything else for that matter. FuzzyRabbit Sep 2017 #312
Christmas programs on TV ONLY once a year gopiscrap Mar 2017 #169
liberal republicans unblock Mar 2017 #171
Hey, I grew up in SC SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #270
Glass oral thermometers with mercury. nt littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #173
If you missed a TV show, you were just SOL until summer reruns, if they showed it then. 50 Shades Of Blue Mar 2017 #175
The standard season was 36, maybe 39 weeks. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #340
Reading through this thread littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #176
Having a 20 foot phone cord Sedona Mar 2017 #177
shorthand & typing class in school Motley13 Mar 2017 #178
I took typing my Senior Year SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #271
Phone numbers that started with words like "Olympic" (for "OL" 65) mchill Mar 2017 #179
NAtional 1 6386. Call me. bullimiami Mar 2017 #188
Yep Olympic 8-1654 :) mchill Mar 2017 #190
Logan ####, don't remember the numbers Motley13 Mar 2017 #199
Blackstone 3478 radical noodle Mar 2017 #213
EMpire 4-2177 pinboy3niner Mar 2017 #257
ADams 1059 FuzzyRabbit Sep 2017 #313
LOgan 2-1926 k8conant Sep 2017 #323
GLadstone 5-6365. My phone number from age 5 to 12. n/t rzemanfl Mar 2017 #240
Me too: SunSet 20281 sagesnow Sep 2017 #291
Cleaning chalkboard erasers on the big vacuum in the janitors' closet at school. A reward WheelWalker Mar 2017 #182
Glass clacker balls (also called knockers) on a long string. Mrs. Overall Mar 2017 #189
punch cards and diskettes GregD Mar 2017 #193
When I started with computers we pluged wires into a board to program them. Binkie The Clown Sep 2017 #319
Typing term papers on a typewriter and not being able to edit! Wondering how much white out i could Amaryllis Mar 2017 #201
Oh! Oh! I used to type papers for other students PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #344
Whenever I'm watching the news I recognize Lint Head Mar 2017 #202
Family owned mom and pop convenience stores... wcmagumba Mar 2017 #203
When I was very poor, I'd turn in a silver dollar to a locally owned PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #345
Going to the library GentryDixon Mar 2017 #205
Space Food Sticks oldtime dfl_er Mar 2017 #206
And Tang lapucelle Mar 2017 #232
Found some at Costco a few weeks ago. Ron Obvious Mar 2017 #256
The phrase "Oh, Rochester!?" Va Lefty Mar 2017 #207
Yes boss? lunasun Mar 2017 #215
That's awesome! Thanks for the info Va Lefty Mar 2017 #219
"Your money or your life .... sarge43 Mar 2017 #236
Cultural References are now more difficult. Basic LA Mar 2017 #209
moving the ears on the TV antenna Fresh_Start Mar 2017 #211
"Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!" longship Mar 2017 #214
Officer Joe Bolton and Captain Jack McCarthy hosting cartoons lapucelle Mar 2017 #233
Without revealing your age... radical noodle Mar 2017 #216
Rotary dial phones. Doreen Mar 2017 #218
Rotary phones why 212, 213 & 312 are NY, LA, Chicago area codes MrPurple Mar 2017 #247
I'm a former long distance operator. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #355
We had a candy store and trick store in our hood. One just sold candy . The other gags and tricks lunasun Mar 2017 #220
Going to a movie at any time, not when it started DeeDeeNY Mar 2017 #221
Yes. On Saturdays we'd be dropped off at the local theater PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #347
American Bandstand. Howdy Doody. Lassie. When Star Trek first aired. Purple ditto sheets. Amaryllis Mar 2017 #222
A three scoop ice cream cone for 15 cents. Chilly Billey Cardill and doc03 Mar 2017 #224
My parents got dressed up to go shopping all the men wore a tie and hat nt doc03 Mar 2017 #225
Dressing up for church Freddie Mar 2017 #245
Suits were mandatory for church SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #272
Renting a rotary dial phone from the phone company Warpy Mar 2017 #226
I think it was when Carter was President MrPurple Mar 2017 #228
I remember when you wanted to change tv stations, you had to get up and do it MrPurple Mar 2017 #227
45 rpm singles. Some of them get vinyl, but 45s not so much. Bernardo de La Paz Mar 2017 #230
Winding a wristwatch... lapucelle Mar 2017 #235
I remember........... napi21 Mar 2017 #243
Sex Ed. littlemissmartypants Mar 2017 #244
Shoe salesman ex-raying my feet DeeDeeNY Mar 2017 #250
ENGLISH CLASS AND SPELLING heaven05 Mar 2017 #251
Poodle skirts mainstreetonce Mar 2017 #252
Sleeping OneBlueDotBama Mar 2017 #253
Buying cigarettes for my dad at 8 years old. Glamrock Mar 2017 #254
TV rabbit ears. And putting aluminum foil on same. Still Blue in PDX Mar 2017 #255
Long distance calls Vanessa Rose Mar 2017 #258
Calling collect. n/t pnwmom Sep 2017 #342
Yes! PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #357
Waiting for Sunday to call b/c the rates went down. Totally Tunsie Jul 2020 #420
Five cent cherry cokes at the Rexall drug store Mendocino Mar 2017 #259
Going down to the 7-11 duncang Apr 2017 #262
The first year "Peter Pan" was broadcast on TV with Mary Martin as Peter Pan, PoindexterOglethorpe Jun 2017 #265
30 cents SCantiGOP Jul 2017 #273
I bought Marlboros in 1967 for about $2.00 a carton in Michigan k8conant Sep 2017 #324
Filmstrips in junior high. InAbLuEsTaTe Sep 2017 #276
I was on the AV team in elementary school: k8conant Sep 2017 #325
lol, me too!! Not until junior high though... guess I was a "late bloomer." (haha) InAbLuEsTaTe Sep 2017 #349
Waiting for the Sears Christmas catalog to come in the mail. AJT Sep 2017 #278
Playing in a Riverside Drive Park, New York, , circa 1950 secondwind Sep 2017 #280
The Alexander Botts series in the Saturday Evening Post (A Caterpillar Tractor from Peoria guy.) NBachers Sep 2017 #281
Having to adjust twin carburetors on a Austin Healey 3000. Enoki33 Sep 2017 #283
Watching Romper Room MFM008 Sep 2017 #284
Paper dolls BigMin28 Sep 2017 #285
car hops. donco Sep 2017 #286
Turning the car's brights off and on defacto7 Sep 2017 #287
The smell of ditto ink on tests in school nt doc03 Sep 2017 #289
Cap guns and candy cigarettes NotASurfer Sep 2017 #290
Going to a Saturday double feature buying popcorn and Good and Plentys doc03 Sep 2017 #293
A Republican president that wasn't batshit crazy nt doc03 Sep 2017 #295
Drive in theater. Jiffy pop popcorn and fizzies! MLAA Sep 2017 #297
1. Penmanship. They never heard of it SummerSnow Sep 2017 #298
Penny candy. onecaliberal Sep 2017 #299
Romper Room....and I see Suzy and Jimmy.... MLAA Sep 2017 #301
My mother would never allow me to watch that Warpy Sep 2017 #309
LOL! Unfortunately my mom had a little stronger stomach. 😀 MLAA Sep 2017 #311
The dirtiest line in television Funtatlaguy Sep 2017 #302
Alaska Pops! Heartstrings Sep 2017 #303
Seeing the Greatful Dead walll of sound tour. mjvpi Sep 2017 #304
Pay phones. Willie Pep Sep 2017 #305
Being fascinated with the drip pan under the ice box Warpy Sep 2017 #307
The excitement leading up to the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday applegrove Sep 2017 #308
Party lines, doilies, transistor radios, and my fave, Go-Go Boots. nt procon Sep 2017 #314
I remember taking tubes out of the TV down to the grocery store Binkie The Clown Sep 2017 #315
Howdy Doody FuzzyRabbit Sep 2017 #316
Every time Kate Smith started singing "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" I knew that Binkie The Clown Sep 2017 #321
black and white TV.... chillfactor Sep 2017 #317
Penny candy... k8conant Sep 2017 #322
Woah! best post so far. PoindexterOglethorpe Sep 2017 #353
Let's Pretend---a Saturday morning radio show for young children Petrushka Sep 2017 #326
Ringer type washing machines? sprinkleeninow Sep 2017 #335
Going door to door to sell Girl Scout Cookies. n/t pnwmom Sep 2017 #341
8 track tapes get the red out Sep 2017 #351
Encyclopedia Britannica chelsea0011 Sep 2017 #352
We had World Book Encyclopedia k8conant Sep 2017 #372
All the copies or are you missing any? We had one of them missing copies. chelsea0011 Sep 2017 #373
jeez, i have been doing estate sales for years. all the old shit i have seen. CRANK phone! pansypoo53219 Sep 2017 #354
A rotary phone. Butterflylady Sep 2017 #360
An actual ICE BOX. with ice in it... pangaia Sep 2017 #361
Defrosting a freezer... llmart Sep 2017 #383
Oh god, yes... pangaia Sep 2017 #385
WOLLENSACK reel to reel.. pangaia Sep 2017 #363
Saturday morning tv shows nocoincidences Sep 2017 #366
I remember all of what you all remember riverbendviewgal Sep 2017 #368
This message was self-deleted by its author Fresh_Start Sep 2017 #376
Let's see... Snackshack Sep 2017 #377
Horny toads yesphan Sep 2017 #378
How about 3 on the column? sdfernando Sep 2017 #379
Atari 2600 . stonecutter357 Sep 2017 #380
Explaining to my 14 yr old what a pager was and the codes we would use dewsgirl Sep 2017 #381
For the women in the group... llmart Sep 2017 #384
Howdy Doody and Mousketeers RandomAccess Dec 2017 #387
CARBON PAPER !!!!!! And Mimeograph machines RandomAccess Dec 2017 #388
Baseball Cards in bubble gum RandomAccess Dec 2017 #389
13 years old: SCantiGOP May 2018 #391
There was such a thing as a tv repairman who actually came to your house. Thomas Hurt May 2018 #401
Pushing the red dot on oleo margarine to spread the coloring through the package. wasupaloopa May 2018 #402
Telephone party lines wasupaloopa May 2018 #403
Getting a clock radio with green stamps redstateblues May 2018 #406
Juke boxes wryter2000 May 2018 #407
Gallon of gas 25 cents, when getting filled windows washed... pbmus May 2018 #408
Drive-in movie theatres. Nt lostnfound May 2018 #409
gas & markers used to smell good. CHRISTMAS TUNES WERE PLAYED ON CHRISMAST EVE & CHRISTMAS. pansypoo53219 May 2018 #410
Doctor making house call when my sister wnylib Nov 2019 #415
Horse-drawn junk carts in the alley. Talitha Dec 2019 #416
not being able to talk to my grandparents for years at a time Skittles May 2020 #418
I teach college students, so there are MANY things... Sparkly Jun 2020 #419
Wearing a sugar cube corsage for Sweet 16. Totally Tunsie Jul 2020 #421
Opening the vent window if you were lucky enough to sit in the front seat of the car phylny Jul 2020 #422
I remember... 634-5789 Jul 2020 #423
Broke a bone by dropping the yellow pages on my foot Mersky Jul 2020 #425
It was always a HUGE deal when the new Sears catalog arrived! TrumpVirus Sep 2020 #426
Free stuff from gas stations (other than Green Stamps) Auggie Oct 2020 #427
Pressing sheets on a clothes mangle wringer. Joinfortmill Jan 2022 #433
These phone plugs: El Supremo Feb 2022 #434
I don't remember those at all. ShazzieB Jul 2022 #436
Anxiously Waiting Bones1 Jun 2022 #435
As A Freshman RobinA Jun 2023 #442
3.2 Beer Voice79 Jun 2023 #443
There's got to be a party game in here somewhere... Sparkly Jul 2023 #445

RandySF

(57,661 posts)
1. Getting off the couch to choose between three television networks.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 05:56 AM
Mar 2017

Along with a half dozen local UHF channels.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
266. You were lucky
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:30 PM
Jul 2017

We had two channels until I was about 10.

One thing I remember was that girls were always cautioned to carry a dime with them on a date.....in case their escort tried to take liberties they could call home on a pay phone.

Lunabell

(5,920 posts)
3. Free roam childhood.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:34 AM
Mar 2017

Playing outside unchaperoned for hours. Walking and running for miles until the streetlights came on. And fireflies. Remember them?

ginnyinWI

(17,276 posts)
164. come to my house!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:29 PM
Mar 2017

We have them--live in the suburbs on a one acre lot. We NEVER put any weed killers or anything on our lawn. Maybe that makes the difference. They start up in July and end in September.

kimbutgar

(20,882 posts)
405. I remember them as a child visiting my grandma in Chicago in the summer
Wed May 16, 2018, 11:43 PM
May 2018

We didn’t have them in San Francisco. They were so fascinating to me. This mean boy once caught one and smeared it on his face leaving a fluorescent glow. Shocked and fascinated by it.

whathehell

(28,969 posts)
414. I remember them being put in jars..
Fri Oct 12, 2018, 07:08 AM
Oct 2018

with holes in the lid for breathing.. We didn't advance to the point of nightlights, though.

brush

(53,477 posts)
124. Also "trick or treating" for hours on foot, many blocks from home with siblings...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:26 PM
Mar 2017

Last edited Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:04 PM - Edit history (1)

no parents, no fear on Halloween night.

Then finally coming home with a big bag of candy and fruit, some unwrapped, and yelling "trick or treat" to mom who knew who it was at the door.

634-5789

(4,175 posts)
424. no parents, no fear on Halloween night.
Fri Jul 31, 2020, 06:57 AM
Jul 2020

Yeah. Wow!~ Now kids don't even go out around here and they have these 'business visits'. At my age i still cannot remember one incident of razor blades in candy, or some other harmful candy inserts. But, parents don't want their kids going it alone.

femmedem

(8,190 posts)
208. Yes, this. Six, seven years old I'd walk two blocks through suburbia to a pond, watch minnows
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:33 PM
Mar 2017

and tadpoles, find old cow skulls in the woods, play on rusted, abandoned farm equipment, come home with bouquets of Queen Anne's lace and clover.

I wouldn't be who I am today without those hours of solitary exploration.

Amaryllis

(9,523 posts)
212. Didnt have fireflies where I lived but I spent many hours roaming the neighborhood and the
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:57 PM
Mar 2017

woods behind the neighborhood...exploring for many blocks in every direction. I had a control freak mom and she never even worried or tracked where we were. It was safe then.

Freddie

(9,232 posts)
4. Female - not being allowed to wear pants in (public) school!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:00 AM
Mar 2017

They finally changed the rule when I was in 8th grade.
Also being FORCED to take "home ec" in 9th grade while boys got an elective period! That got changed before I graduated.
Not from the Bible Belt either - suburban Philly.

SwissTony

(2,560 posts)
12. In my high school (Australia), the girls HAD to do home ec
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:43 AM
Mar 2017

while we boys had to do woodwork. Home ec back then seemed to be mainly cooking. I'm much better in the kitchen than I am in the workshop. I couldn't cut a simple piece of timber square until I reached the age of ** (old).

PJMcK

(21,922 posts)
73. At my school, boys took shop
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:36 AM
Mar 2017

The girls had a half year of Home Economics using the classroom with numerous kitchen set ups. The other half of the year the class learned sewing, knitting and the like. Meanwhile, the boys had half a year of wood shop and half a year of metal shop. My grade was the last year for that segregation; the following year, the new co-ed classes spent a quarter of the year in each of those four disciplines.

As a boy, I loved the shop classes. The wood shop was terrific and I still have two of the projects I made: a jewelry box and a lamp. We learned architectural drawing which I've used throughout my life whenever I had a home improvement project. Likewise, the metal shop was infectious and I have an aluminum jar on my desk that I turned on a metal lathe. Those classes were great learning experiences and I'm glad that the school expanded their enrollment to include the girls. Unfortunately, I never did learn to sew but I did learn how to cook!

There's a frightening and curious side story to the metal shop class. The teacher was a great guy who spent extra time with every kid to help make their projects interesting and good learning experiences. He was one of the first teachers I had who rarely answered a question; instead, he would ask leading questions to make the student think through their problem in search of the solution. This cognitive process has stayed with me.

Many years later, after he had retired, a story came out that this former teacher was arrested for having child pornography on his computer. In his plea deal/jail sentence, he turned over evidence of a nationwide child-sex ring that resulted in dozens of arrests and the freeing of dozens of young girls and boys from sexual slavery. It was a strange realization for me that a teacher I had respected and liked could turn out to be such a ghoul.

randr

(12,408 posts)
139. We had the same deal
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:53 PM
Mar 2017

Boys made shop aprons in home ec and the girls made a sewing kit in wood shop

pnwmom

(108,925 posts)
346. Oh, no!
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:46 AM
Sep 2017

How disillusioning that must have been -- though I guess you were old enough by then to realize how complicated people are.

tonekat

(1,805 posts)
392. We were wary of one of the shop teachers
Wed May 16, 2018, 09:53 PM
May 2018

They were all strange in their own way, but the old guy who taught Plastics/Graphic Arts always threatened boys who acted up by saying he was going to "Paint their pecker red, and their ass green". It didn't come off scary in the way he intended it to, it came off pervy.

MadCrow

(155 posts)
279. I wasn't allowed to wear pants to school all thru high school
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:25 PM
Sep 2017

Except on old clothes day when we could dress anyway we wanted within reason of course. This was in suburban NYC.

demigoddess

(6,640 posts)
417. I remember the Principal telling a second grader she couldn't wear pants at
Mon May 18, 2020, 08:28 PM
May 2020

school, she had to wear a dress. I was second grade too, I think, and I thought the Principal was mean and stupid. The girl wore the prettiest plaid shirts and matching ribbons in her hair.

LenaBaby61

(6,965 posts)
5. Without revealing your age....
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:05 AM
Mar 2017

Riding to Catholic School with my late older brother in his brand new Monte Carlo as Barry White's "I've Got So much to Give" played loudly on his 8-track tape

HAB911

(8,812 posts)
45. I had a 4 track player in my '61 Ford Starliner
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:50 AM
Mar 2017

it had a handle to raise the capstan into place and there were twice the 'clunks' as it changed tracks

mgardener

(1,799 posts)
19. Could not sleep on those plastic ones!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:58 AM
Mar 2017

I'd forgotten about those!
And hair dryers remember those old ones ?

And
Dippity Do !

MLAA

(17,165 posts)
300. Too funny....
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:10 AM
Sep 2017

Just last Wednesday I mentioned dippidity do to my early 30s hairdresser. She had no idea what it was 😃

llmart

(15,504 posts)
382. OMG!
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 09:36 PM
Sep 2017

What a flashback! I remember putting that pink gooey crap on my bangs and then taping them down all night long. LOL

tblue37

(64,982 posts)
68. What about the wire rollers with brushes inside, fixed in place by pink plastic pins. nt
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:32 AM
Mar 2017

Last edited Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:45 PM - Edit history (1)

marzipanni

(6,011 posts)
204. My mom used those to make her chin-length hair go under at the ends
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:24 PM
Mar 2017

Or used her favorite curling device, a little aluminum tubular thing with a 1/4" tube on one end and a 1/2" tube on the other, both with a slot to insert the end of a strand of hair and roll it up, stick a bobby pin to hold the hair roll, and repeat.
Once my aunt and I gave one of my older brothers a new look for a day by curling the top of his head of hair with 'Spoolies'. We badgered him 'til he gave in.

solara

(3,832 posts)
441. Yep, used those too also used 'spoolies'
Sun Oct 2, 2022, 02:29 PM
Oct 2022

Anyone remember 'spoolies'? The didn't straighten my hair enough, though.. my Mom used them.. she never understood the grape juice cans

Sparkly

(24,141 posts)
444. Sleeping in orange juice cans!!
Thu Jul 6, 2023, 06:01 PM
Jul 2023

(Empty, of course.) This was to get smooth, straight, bouncy hair. We'd make a high ponytail and split it in half. Then roll each or two large orange juice cans with half the hair - smoothy - and pin with extra-long bobby pins.

LenaBaby61

(6,965 posts)
7. Without revealing your age....
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:09 AM
Mar 2017

I remember HATING when people smoked indoors (Grocery Store, or in a restaurant) and I could barely breathe or enjoy my food because everything smelled and tasted like cigarettes

TexasProgresive

(12,148 posts)
8. This could be a long list
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:35 AM
Mar 2017

Card catalog and periodical index.
Playing Red Rover, tag, and freeze tag in the streets and neighbor yards.
Riding the ferry across the Mississippi from Gretna to New Orleans and then taking 2 buses home at 8 years old.
Building and flying balsa wood control line model airplanes.
Building and painting plastic models of ships, airplanes and cars.
Mowing lawns for pocket money.
Mostly all kids' activities were organized by kids and no grownups allowed. (as long as we didn't cause trouble)
Going door to door to sell raffle tickets and chocolate bars for fund raisers in neighborhoods that were not ours.
If we wanted to go anywhere, it was walk or bike, forget about getting Mom or Dad to drive you unless it was to church.
Playing board games during the hottest days of summer at the one friend's house with air conditioning.
Collecting soft drink and beer bottles from the side of the road for the deposit money- and sharing a drink (no back drafting allowed) and snacks with each other.
Learning to touch type on a manual typewriter.
There is more but I think I've worn out my welcome.

Response to TexasProgresive (Reply #8)

PJMcK

(21,922 posts)
78. Sounds just like my childhood!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:42 AM
Mar 2017

Thanks for stimulating the (mostly) happy memories, TexasProgressive! Enjoy your weekend.

PJMcK

(21,922 posts)
152. Nah, that's not me
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:07 PM
Mar 2017

I'm Paul Joseph and I ain't no saint! (Just ask my exes!)

But I'll feast any time I can.

littlemissmartypants

(22,418 posts)
10. I hesitate to presuppose what might not be understood, but...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:37 AM
Mar 2017

Here are some things that I remember fondly, being at the tail end of the boomer age bracket:

Family visits where we entertained ourselves with tall tale telling and singing around the piano together.

Waking up to the black and white test pattern.

Getting paid a dollar an hour to baby sit at age nine.

Hootenanny time at the park.

My first transistor radio with the single ear plug.

Learning to crochet, knit, embroider and tat from my grandmother.

Adding to your card catalog memory, the pride of being able to write my name on the card from the envelope in back of a book when checking it out from the library.

Waiting for The Bookmobile at the end of the road in the summer.

Great post, ButSeeYa. Thank you. ♡

----------

Baby boomers are the demographic group born during the post–World War II baby boom, approximately between the years 1946 and 1964. This includes people who are between 53 and 71 years old in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
267. I had forgotten the sugar cubes
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:33 PM
Jul 2017

But I also remember the sugar cubes from college in the early 70s that had a drop of LSD-25 on them............

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
348. I'm old enough to remember the max vaccinations immediately after
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:15 AM
Sep 2017

the Salk vaccine was deemed safe and effective. I actually attended one of the Catholic schools involved in the testing of the vaccine. My older sister (but not me or our older brother) was in the test cohort. Alas, she was in the non vaccine group. And so I may remember the original Salk vaccine even more vividly than most.

I do remember being line up in a field near where we lived as every child in our neighborhood (and this was in the midst of the Baby Boom) was lined up to get the vaccine. My own mother was a nurse and was somehow involved in this, although after some 60 years I no longer remember the details.

But I do recall how much the Salk vaccine changed every day life.

JetFuel

(3 posts)
14. Watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:50 AM
Mar 2017

And arguing when my parents said we wouldn't even remember who they were in a month.

Rhiannon12866

(203,041 posts)
32. My mother was actually just the opposite
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:27 AM
Mar 2017

I was a kid, didn't know much about them, but she dragged me out in front of the TV and told me that I needed to watch, that this was history. So I actually remember watching that appearance and she was right! Welcome to DU, JetFuel! We're glad to have you with us!

Still Blue in PDX

(1,999 posts)
260. My mom, too! She bought me the Veejay album "Introducing the Beatles."
Thu Apr 13, 2017, 09:49 PM
Apr 2017

I had never heard of them. It took me many years to appreciate just how savvy my momma was.

hedda_foil

(16,368 posts)
390. Many of our parents were very young by today's standards.
Tue Apr 3, 2018, 12:31 PM
Apr 2018

People in their generation often had a couple or three kids by the time they were 25. If they were Catholic, the number if kids a couple had by 25 could easily be 5 or 6. So many got married right after high school. If they went to college, the expectation was that the girls be married within a few months of graduation -- if they didn't just drop out of school because they were getting their MRS. sooner. (My mother did that. Two years at Northwestern and married at 20.)

I'm on the invisible tip of the leading edge of the boom ... born between VE and VJ day in 1945. When husbands did war work or trained soldiers at posts in the states, a lot of them got pregnant after D Day in Europe, when the war turned decisively in the allies favor. My dad was 4F because he was allergic to something in the lunch they served the boys who were reporting for the draft. By the time he got to the medical exam, he was in the throes of a horrendous migraine which kept him out of the army. He worked as an engineer on airplane radios and weather balloons instead.

We had huge classes in school -- 40-45 kids per teacher, often in split grades. Of course, as soon as the vets came home, they couldn't build schools fast enough for years.

whathehell

(28,969 posts)
52. I watched Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan show!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:01 AM
Mar 2017

I was only seven years old, but absolutely loved him!

mgardener

(1,799 posts)
15. Not being able
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:53 AM
Mar 2017

To wear pants to school or work!
Not being able to attend Notre Dame University, all male school at the time!
And...
Washing dishes by hand, no dishwasher!
Black and white tv, no color!
Remember first electric can opener my dad bought for my mom.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
16. Life without any electronic devices
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:53 AM
Mar 2017

No television (not in our home anyway), radios ran on vacuum tubes, did advance math calculating with a slide rule, time pieces ran on gears. Yes, computers existed, but they had no effect on our lives. Everyone of them in existence had less memory combined than this desk top.

dhol82

(9,351 posts)
29. I remember my dad taking the bad vacuum tubes from our tv down to the appliance store to get replace
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:25 AM
Mar 2017

They just got plugged in.
There was a tv show in the early fifties that had you put a plastic film over the tv and then you would draw on it in erasable marker to get the 'secret' picture.

Squinch

(50,774 posts)
231. Bwaaa! The whole theme song just came back to me!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:53 PM
Mar 2017

I must have seen it in reruns because I was born after 57.

"Winky dink and me, winky dink and you,
always have a lot of fun together, (da da da)
winky dink and me, winky dink and you,
always fun in rain or sunny weather."

rzemanfl

(29,540 posts)
234. This is from Wikipedia-
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:57 PM
Mar 2017

"The program was successful because of its pioneering interactive marketing scheme, and Winky Dink became one of television's most popular characters of the 1950s. However, the show's production was halted despite its popularity because of concerns about x-rays from TV picture tubes. This was particularly true for early color television sets. CBS was also concerned about parents' complaints that children who didn't possess the interactive screen were drawing directly on the TV screen.
The show was revived in syndication for 65 episodes beginning in 1969 and ending in 1973. In the 1990s, a new "Winky Dink Kit" was sold containing a screen, crayons, and all-new digitized Winky Dink and You episodes.

Squinch

(50,774 posts)
237. I must have caught it the second time around. Don't remember anything but the song.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:16 PM
Mar 2017

I can also remember the entire "Buster Brown Shoes" song.

EarnestPutz

(2,087 posts)
318. Bob would say "So you take the pie..."
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:10 AM
Sep 2017

And Froggie would say "....and you put it on your head".
Which Bob would do and then say "Oh no, froggie, look at
what you made me do!!!". After which Froggie would pluck
his magic twanger and disappear in a cloud of smoke.

ailsagirl

(22,842 posts)
411. "Sure, you're tense, irritable... but don't take it out on her!"
Thu May 17, 2018, 11:39 AM
May 2018

After all these years I still recall that!

solara

(3,832 posts)
437. DON'T TAKE THE CAR YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!!"
Sun Oct 2, 2022, 02:10 PM
Oct 2022

Infamous 1978 Drunk Driving TV Ad - Husband and wife fighting in the back ground as kid plays with toy car. Guy stumbles out the front door… Wife yells to hubby's back as the front door slams shut: "DON'T TAKE THE CAR YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!!"

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
50. A pack of vac tubes in house
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:57 AM
Mar 2017

Dad was in charge of replacing the dead in the radio. It was in a cabinet which was about 5 feet tall .. with dials.

Oh yeah, 78 records. BFD when stereos and LPs came out. Could listen to a complete symphony without changing out the records every five minutes.

dhol82

(9,351 posts)
63. I just bought some and was shocked by how expensive it was
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:26 AM
Mar 2017

I had always thought of it as so cheap. The pack cost me over $20.

Guess it's now a specialty item.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
69. I'm surprised it's still available.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:32 AM
Mar 2017

It brings back some painful memories -- manual typewriter, multi copies, carbon paper, typo ... mother $@*%!

RKP5637

(67,032 posts)
75. I remember retyping term papers at school because I made a mistake in the last
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:37 AM
Mar 2017

paragraph ... and then those times of the smudges on carbon paper, then on my fingers, and then accidentally touching the white paper and ruining it. Yep!!!! mother $@*%!

Freedomofspeech

(4,218 posts)
277. Oh, that was the worst...
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:22 PM
Sep 2017

Sitting at night in the dorm...retyping a paper if you made one typographical error,

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
327. Ay caramba!
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:44 AM
Sep 2017

I had a temp typing job when I was about 18. I spent the entire day typing up one document, because I kept on making a mistake somewhere. Erase wasn't allowed.

Among the reasons I love computers, is that I can make a mistake and backspace to erase it, as I've done many times in typing this entry.

dhol82

(9,351 posts)
76. I was finally able to track it down at Staples
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:38 AM
Mar 2017

They only had the one choice.
I remember the horrors of typing with it but loved the onion skin paper that was used for the copies.
I am using it for a design project.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
328. Watching "Peter Pan"
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:46 AM
Sep 2017

by looking through the window of a neighbor's house, the only one in our neighborhood who had a TV.

CountAllVotes

(20,854 posts)
154. I actually did my taxes w/o any devices this year
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:09 PM
Mar 2017

Used the old skills of add, subtract & multiply.

I filled the forms out, signed them and mailed them in. No more TurdoTax for me!

Useless in my case as I have little income to report sadly.

Oh well ...



PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
329. Having some young kid in 1987 tell us
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:49 AM
Sep 2017

about Paul McCartney, and explaining he used to belong to some other group, called the Beatles.

rpannier

(24,304 posts)
20. Let's see
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:58 AM
Mar 2017

Not so much wouldn't understand as find weird or amazing

Milk Man Delivery
Turning in pop bottles for money
Cash registers that the clerk had to push the little levers and the numbers would pop up at the top (no computer anything)
Wandering around and seeing what there was to do that we thought was fun
Mid-rift shirts on boys and girls when I was in jr high
Getting a driver's license at 16 and no need for an adult in the car
TV stations signing off between midnight and 2 am
TV shows that began with "In living color"
No round the clock football during the fall
Movie theaters with only one screen
Balconies in movie theaters
Drive-in theaters
Rotary phones
Calling information and getting a real person
Calling any store or company and a rteal person ansered, not a recording telling me to push 1

2naSalit

(86,076 posts)
141. and only needing to dial 4 digits...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:54 PM
Mar 2017

unless it was long distance calling, then you needed the operator to make the call.

2naSalit

(86,076 posts)
223. We didn't have those
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:29 PM
Mar 2017

in rural Maine. By the time we went to NH you had to use 7 digits. It was in 2002 that I discovered you had to use all ten +1 to call in the same city (at that time it was Portland, OR) due to massive cell phone use.

happy feet

(856 posts)
21. Ditto plus
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:13 AM
Mar 2017

Watching the moon landing on black and white tv
Watching huckleberry hound and other cartoons weekday eves after washing dinner dishes and as a family
Playing street game - mother may I? Hide and seek, jacks, double Dutch...
Block parties
Drive in movie theatres
anxiously awaiting to see wizard of oz every Feb 22nd on black and white tv
Movie theatres had cartoon first before movie and if you missed the beginning you could stay in theatre for next showing
Ice cream man excitement
Sitting still with baby powder all over our bodies when extremely hot (of course no air conditioners)

babylonsister

(170,964 posts)
23. Short, striped polyester dresses with fishnets and go-go boots, white of course!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:15 AM
Mar 2017

Trust me, it was haute couture.

dhol82

(9,351 posts)
25. Party line telephone
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:21 AM
Mar 2017

Collecting newspapers and old clothes to take to the rag seller for candy money.
Going to the movies for 25 cents and seeing two features, a newsreel, and several animated cartoons.
Walking home from school for lunch at the age of seven - and then back to school for the afternoon.
Having an air conditioner only in my parents bedroom and then hanging a big sheet over the stairwell so we could have the whole upstairs cooled down.

Response to tobefree (Reply #26)

Rhiannon12866

(203,041 posts)
248. I remember riding with my Dad
Sun Mar 5, 2017, 02:17 AM
Mar 2017

He'd roll down the window and say "Fill it, please, regular." The same thing every time.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
268. My Dad knew the guys that ran Johnny's Esso well
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:38 PM
Jul 2017

And, in what I thought was the coolest thing ever, when they were busy they didn't mind if he got out and pumped his own gas !

Rhiannon12866

(203,041 posts)
274. My Dad, on the other hand, was not a car guy
Tue Jul 25, 2017, 01:14 AM
Jul 2017

He was not a fan of pumping his own gas, I believe my mother usually took his car and did it for him.

doc03

(35,151 posts)
288. My dad always got 2 bucks worth of gas. On Sunday he would buy 2 bucks worth of gas and drive
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 10:39 PM
Sep 2017

to grandmas house 120 miles round trip and have enough left to drive to work all week.

Rhiannon12866

(203,041 posts)
292. I remember getting a ride to school with my cousin
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 10:54 PM
Sep 2017

We were going to stop for gas - but it was 47-cents! She said that we could definitely get it cheaper elsewhere!

Rhiannon12866

(203,041 posts)
296. So I guess 47-cents was quite exorbitant!
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 11:11 PM
Sep 2017

I didn't drive yet back then, but at $2.69 most places right now - even here in New York! - it sounds pretty reasonable to me!

tonekat

(1,805 posts)
397. I remember the full serve Flying A station
Wed May 16, 2018, 10:17 PM
May 2018

You didn't have to ask to have your windshield washed.

And the aroma of leaded gas! I loved it!

democrank

(11,052 posts)
27. Interesting post, thanks.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:24 AM
Mar 2017

Hiding under my grammar school desk during an "air raid drill"

Using someone's hand-crank telephone which had a "party line"

Putting a sheet of colored plastic (or cellophane) over television screen to go from black and white to color

Seeing cars with "rumble seats

Having a cast iron hand pump in the kitchen sink

Having a milk man leave glass bottles of milk (with cream on top) on the front steps

Having a "Bond's Bread" salesman come to the house each week and wishing we had enough money for the doughnuts in his giant pull-out truck tray











Freddie

(9,232 posts)
94. We had a milkman and a "bread man"
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:15 AM
Mar 2017

Sold Sunbeam bread and other baked goods. Back when many families (like mine) only had one car and Mom was stuck home all day. The bread man also sold 5 cent and 10 cent candy to us kids. We'd smack the Turkish Taffy (vanilla was the best!) on the sidewalk so it would break in little pieces.

randr

(12,408 posts)
143. Milk wagon, bread truck, ice wagon, rag man, coal truck, and vegetable wagon
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:57 PM
Mar 2017

Wagons being horse drawn. Also the old steam engine trains.

bullimiami

(13,044 posts)
183. And a seltzer man that brought chocolate and coke syrup.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:27 PM
Mar 2017

And the Charles Chips guy that brought giant cans of amazing potato chips and cookies.

Sancho

(9,065 posts)
30. ok..this is fun...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:26 AM
Mar 2017

- Adjusting the antenna, or even turning a motored directional antenna on top of a tall pole, to get one of three channels: ABC, NBC, or CBS

- Using a slide rule for math computations in chemistry class

- Handing everyone a fan at church or some indoor events like school plays because there was no air conditioning

- keeping bottles of "white out", memeograph paper, ribbons, a dictionary, a ruler in a box in order to type term papers and reports

- trilled to get a 9-volt, AM only transistor radio for a Christmas present, and using it to hear that Kennedy had been shot while at school (on WTMA in Charleston, SC)

- building a concrete bomb shelter in the back yard, and stocking it with canned food in case of an nuclear war with Russia

- several file folders of paper maps from everywhere I traveled, charts from sailing trips, and booked street maps of cities; but you could get "Triptics" printed from AAA!

- Actually looking forward to the update column of World Book Encyclopedia to come every year or so

- separate black and white waiting rooms at the dentist office

- an entire bookcase in my office of decks of computer cards with programs to be read on a mainframe, and buying an Apple II+ for $1300 in 1978 with 4K (yes; thousands) of memory and writing programs in Basic! No word procession or spreadsheets - but VERY exciting!!

- I owned an Apple II+, IIE, IIC, Osborn I, TRS80, and Franklin 1200...and one of the first Macs!! Years after I left college

- Driving most cars without automatic transmissions and no air conditioning; also a school bus and dump truck - all with clutches. I still have a manual pick up truck!

- lawn darts, whirly gigs, incredible edibles, cap guns, pong

Maeve

(42,226 posts)
140. AAA still does TripTiks--but now we download them
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:54 PM
Mar 2017

Onto the tablet that we use for travel

The excitment of a personal computer--a Commodore 64. Bought my husband a new monitor at Target for Valentine's Day one year. Before that, the fanciest piece of electronics was a Bowmar Brain, an early calculator.

We made all the kids learn to drive a manual--just heard of a car theft that failed because the thief couldn't drive stick!

Creepy Crawlers.

Silver Gaia

(4,514 posts)
31. Doing "paste-up" for the school newspaper and
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:27 AM
Mar 2017

hand-drawing ads for it
trying to keep my mini-skirt pulled down enough to keep my garters from showing
wearing pantyhose for the first time

zeusdogmom

(978 posts)
65. Oh the smell of rubber cement
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:30 AM
Mar 2017

I was co-editor of the school yearbook. Spent many hours in a small and unventilated room using rubber cement to secure pictures and script to the paste up pages. The script was typed of course on manual typewriters.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
331. Panty hose was an important aspect of mini skirts.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:58 AM
Sep 2017

Like you, I started my (semi)adult life with stockings and garters. Luckily for me, the transition to panty hose happened soon thereafter. Skirts got shorter.

I'm somewhat fascinated to have realized that in recent years stockings in any form have almost totally disappeared.

DinahMoeHum

(21,737 posts)
33. When communiques to overseas were done by telex.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:27 AM
Mar 2017

when I was starting a career in international logistics/transportation by ocean freight.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
332. Oh! Oh!
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:59 AM
Sep 2017

I had a job that required sending information by teletype. It sometimes took three or four hours to correctly type out the information without typos that would render it invalid. ARRRGGGG! How I HATED that part of the job.

tonekat

(1,805 posts)
395. My dad's office had a Teletype Room
Wed May 16, 2018, 10:09 PM
May 2018

It was glassed off from the rest of the office, and had a little latched window you could open up to talk to the person in charge. The glass was that kind that looks like it has chickenwire embedded in it.
He'd go in there making his rounds of all the departments, and it must have been 120 db in there. Tons of punched paper ribbon all over the place. Pre-OSHA. It was in an old furniture factory, and his office had a curved glass block wall.

bucolic_frolic

(42,681 posts)
34. Place a long distance call by telling the operator the number to bill
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:28 AM
Mar 2017

it actually wasn't that long ago, but you know some remote areas
were behind the times for many decades

Squinch

(50,774 posts)
35. You mentioned "catalog" and my mind immediately went to the Sears catalog. The back of it.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:36 AM
Mar 2017

With the toys. Flipping through it with my sisters to see what kinds of toys were out there.

Freedomofspeech

(4,218 posts)
36. The Main Street of my small town in Southwest PA....
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:41 AM
Mar 2017

Lined with locally owned clothing stores, shoe stores, a meat market, Mcrorys and Woolworths, etc. We never had to leave town to buy anything! My Mom and I would walk uptown to shop and have a hot fudge sundae in Candyland...now those stores are all empty. We walked to school, home for lunch and would watch Search for Tomorrow and Guiding Light (15 min. live soaps) with my Mom and then walk back to school for the afternoon. Life was good and then Vietnam happened and my brother was killed in a plane crash...nothing was ever the same again.

RKP5637

(67,032 posts)
70. Yep, just thinking back, Vietnam was really the turning point. Seems we've been fighting an uphill
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:32 AM
Mar 2017

battle ever since in so many ways.

Freedomofspeech

(4,218 posts)
92. No kidding.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:14 AM
Mar 2017

When this country decided bigger is better it all changed. Malls killed the downtowns and consolidation of schools hurt public education...as a retired educator, I witnessed this...

lillypaddle

(9,580 posts)
39. Paper drives
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:46 AM
Mar 2017

and speaking of paper, no one thinking anything about your lunch trash being tossed out of the car window. Littering? What was that?

marzipanni

(6,011 posts)
246. I remember the Don't be a Litterbug! campaign in the early '60's
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 10:55 PM
Mar 2017

And once my dad picked up all the paper cups, containers, napkins, bags, etc. that the customers of the little drive-up seasonal restaurant down the street generated and tossed in our neighborhood, and gave a paper grocery bag full of it to the manager, saying, "I think this is yours". They hired a kid with a bag and a stick with a nail on the end to pick up trash for a while.


whathehell

(28,969 posts)
41. Newspaper classified ads for jobs divided into "Male" and "Female"
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:47 AM
Mar 2017

Already shocked my niece with that one.

ShazzieB

(15,960 posts)
428. I grew up down south...
Sat Oct 31, 2020, 12:14 PM
Oct 2020

...so I remember FOUR categories of classified job ads:

-- Help wanted male - white
-- Help wanted female - white
-- Help wanted male - colored
-- Help wanted female - colored

Just typing that made me shudder!






whathehell

(28,969 posts)
431. Wow.
Sat Oct 31, 2020, 08:08 PM
Oct 2020

I grew up in the North and never saw that..

Did these appear after the passage of Civil Rights Laws in the mid-Sixties?

IronLionZion

(45,269 posts)
46. Always being the only one of your type in every school and job
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:50 AM
Mar 2017

Thank God America is more diverse now. You don't even realize.

Trying to find something at a restaurant or find some recipe that doesn't suck to feed your one vegetarian (for religious reasons) friend. There are lots more vegetarians and options to feed them now.

Always have to carry a quarter with you for the pay phone. Which got screwed up when they raised the price to 35 cents. But now good luck finding a pay phone.

Being stranded somewhere without a ride home. Now, we can always get an uber/lyft in many neighborhoods, even small cities and suburbs.

FuzzyRabbit

(1,958 posts)
306. I remember when a pay phone was still only 10 cents.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:31 AM
Sep 2017

And air mail stamps were (I think) 5 cents. Regular mail was 3 cents as I recall.

A fast food burger was 19 cents, the deluxe burger with tomato and lettuce was 29 cents.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
334. HA! I remember penny post cards.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:12 AM
Sep 2017

Yep. They cost a penny and could be sent anywhere in the country. When I was perhaps 10 or 12, the penny post card cost 2 cents. At some point they were discontinued entirely.

Oh, and I am surely older than you as I remember fast food burgers costing 15 cents. Which, according to an on line inflation calculator, is still less than $1.25, and you cannot buy a fast food burger for that low an amount these days.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
333. WHAT??
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:05 AM
Sep 2017

I had NO IDEA that pay phones ever went above 25 cents. And I'm old enough to recall when they were 10 cents. Never knew 5 cent call.

I'm also old enough to recall when pay phones were common. And young enough that I missed the era when signs saying "Pay phone inside" helped people find a pay phone. Apparently, before the 1950's, certain businesses would have pay phones inside, and might choose to advertise that. At some point, stand alone pay phones outside of businesses became common, the pay phones of my youth, that you young'uns don't recall.

IronLionZion

(45,269 posts)
367. It's 50 cents now
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 09:30 AM
Sep 2017

which is highway robbery. But I don't believe I've used a pay phone in the last 15 years. And we don't see many of them anymore as everyone has cell phones.

If I really want to feel old, I can remember when international calls had to be booked by appointment with the phone company. And if my grandparents weren't home when we called, it might be another few days or a week before we could try again.

tonekat

(1,805 posts)
398. Pay Phones
Wed May 16, 2018, 10:19 PM
May 2018

I remember when an older kid showed me how to unscrew the mouthpiece on a pay phone and touch the two screws behind the microphone to ground the circuit on the hook to get a dial tone.

Then they started making them so you could not unscrew them.

terip64

(1,576 posts)
53. Unscrewing the cap and removing the transmitter on the phone...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:03 AM
Mar 2017

so we could make prank calls without worrying that anyone could hear us laugh. Not nice, but fun! We also didn't have to worry about caller ID back then!

jarhead69

(8 posts)
275. Air Raid Siren
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:13 PM
Sep 2017

During a storm there was a huge flash of lighting, a clap of thunder that shook the house and the town air raid siren starting sounding. My mother thought it was the end of the world.

mikeargo

(675 posts)
57. Pay phones
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:16 AM
Mar 2017

Getting up to change the channel on the TV
'Ditto' papers in school
Some Republicans weren't assholes
Noon whistle at the fire station
NHL was 99% Canadian (and only six teams)

randr

(12,408 posts)
149. First time I was sent home for "bad" behavior
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:04 PM
Mar 2017

During Nuke drill, standing with hands behind back against wall in basement cafeteria, I get smacked by teacher for talking. I respond by telling him that if I thought this was a real bomb alert my ass is heading home to be with my mother. I was dragged by my ear to the principles office to await my mothers appearance where my wish was granted.
My mother waited until we were in the car to thank me for thinking of her.

tech3149

(4,452 posts)
64. Party line telephone service
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:29 AM
Mar 2017

You could tell by the ring code who was getting a phone call and back then phone calls were mostly important.

tblue37

(64,982 posts)
66. S&H green stamos. Gas station attendants filling your car up and washing your windshield.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:30 AM
Mar 2017

I could name a million of these things!

Louis1895

(768 posts)
67. Republican Senator Howard Baker wanting to get to the truth in the Watergate hearings
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:30 AM
Mar 2017

What? A Republican put country before party?

zeusdogmom

(978 posts)
74. Tangee lipstick
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:37 AM
Mar 2017

It was orange in the tube but kind of pink on your lips

Creme deodorant which came in a small jar and you applied to your underarms with your fingers

Perhaps TMI but sanitary products wrapped in plain brown paper located behind the druggist's counter. Plus you had to ask for them. Very embarrassing to a young teen.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
79. Tangee is still available from Vermont Country Store.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:46 AM
Mar 2017

VCS has a lot of the old timey stuff - trip down memory land.

Alpeduez21

(1,739 posts)
80. Being a paperboy
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:53 AM
Mar 2017

Walking through a neighborhood everyday putting the paper in each door. Then on Saturdays collection the money and giving the little rec torn from the book. Cursing the post office everyday federal holiday because they got the day off and Saturdays and Sundays.

Not wearing seat belts or using car seats.

Drive in movies

Getting hit by teachers in school and everyone was OK with that. Catholic school, of course.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
82. Five and dime stores
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 10:11 AM
Mar 2017

The five and dime usually had a lunch counter, and ours had a popcorn machine that filled the whole store with the aroma of popcorn.

Bank and gas station premiums like a free toaster for opening a bank account and a drinking glass with gas fillup.

I remember getting free goldfish from the bank next to the Woolworth 5 and 10. The bank sent out small pieces of card stock in mailings. Kids lined up at the bank to insert the cards into a machine that determined if you were a winner, and a winner got a goldfish in a small bowl.

Free dinner plates in boxes of Duz laundry detergent.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
113. Dropping the tray of punch cards you were carrying
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:00 PM
Mar 2017

Two or three ran and hid somewhere or were damaged. Not getting out at quitting time today.

mchill

(1,015 posts)
181. And waiting 24 hours (turnaround time) to find out you had one comma that made program not work
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:25 PM
Mar 2017

dhol82

(9,351 posts)
195. Writing a program in physics class and typing it into a teletype machine.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 04:24 PM
Mar 2017

At least that's what I seem to remember. It just seems so odd.

malthaussen

(17,066 posts)
85. In the spirit of the OP...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 10:19 AM
Mar 2017

... I think one of the more difficult things to understand today was how blase everyone was about personal risk. Smoking everywhere, no helmets or other armor for riding bicycles, skates, etc... to say nothing of pollution pre-EPA. One might reasonably question if we had no respect for human life.

-- Mal

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
336. And the sad reality of smoking is that everyone knew it was dangerous.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:19 AM
Sep 2017

By the early 1950's, and much earlier for the most part. Cigarettes were commonly called coffin nails.

The truly sad thing is that all these years later, more than fifty years after the Surgeon General's Report (and if you're too young to recognize the reference, then LOOK IT UP) smokers are still in total denial about the proven dangers of smoking. Oh, and if you don't think smoking can affect your health, then go to a high school class reunion, say 35th reunion or higher. You will have NO trouble figuring out who the smokers and the nonsmokers are. And that's only for those who are still living.

northoftheborder

(7,566 posts)
86. Huge back seat in car - could stand up
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 10:25 AM
Mar 2017

"Oleo" which was white but came with a yellow dye to color it to look like butter (food rationing)

Thin stationery for writing letters to send "Air Mail". All others went by truck. Calling long distance expensive - for emergencies only.

Record player with 78's, then vinyl

No air conditioning, ran barefoot all summer

Hanging clothes outside to dry.

Polly Hennessey

(6,747 posts)
89. I remember many things
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 10:57 AM
Mar 2017

Playing kick-the-can until dusk when mom would call us for dinner.
Riding bike without a helmet.
Skates that had to be tightened with a key.
Tomato Aspic - oh, dear.
Spending afternoons actually reading books for pleasure.

Freddie

(9,232 posts)
90. Many of my classmates were the children of small business owners
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:07 AM
Mar 2017

The barbershop, an appliance store, a mom and pop grocery, a corner tavern, a shoe store. Mom didn't work and Dad could support a family with his business. Now all these businesses are gone and we have nothing but chains.

mercuryblues

(14,491 posts)
93. The Jewel man
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:14 AM
Mar 2017

He came every week and sold anything from diapers to furniture and dishes. Butcher shops and bakeries were plentiful.

CrispyQ

(36,236 posts)
96. I lived in the country & we had a party line.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:17 AM
Mar 2017

Even my cousins who lived in the city didn't know what that was.

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
102. Writing computer programs on an IBM 026 card punch
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:37 AM
Mar 2017

while in high school (very progressive for that era).

GWC58

(2,678 posts)
103. I told my 11 year old
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:40 AM
Mar 2017

when I was in elementary school we too had computers; an abacus! With a wondering look in his eyes he asked "what's that?" I told him to "look it up."

CountAllVotes

(20,854 posts)
105. Drive ins
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:42 AM
Mar 2017

Used to drive in to a place to buy milk, orange juice, yogurt and other dairy products. The milk came in glass bottles at that time and we'd take a steel rack filled with empty bottles in and buy a new round of what was needed for the week. It was an early form of recycling but no one viewed it that way at the time (c. 1960).

I used to loved drive ins! Esp. the movie theaters! Those were fun fun fun!



WePurrsevere

(24,259 posts)
116. I LOVE drive-ins. Amazingly enough there are 3 within a 2 hour drive from us.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:07 PM
Mar 2017

It's like taking a trip back in time... the food, the mosquito coils, etc. Most I've been too even still play some of the same concession stand ads between movies too.

Freddie

(9,232 posts)
106. Cigarette vending machines
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:43 AM
Mar 2017

There was one in the basement of the hospital (!) where I worked in the 80s and 90s, next to the soda and candy machines. They eventually removed it.

littlemissmartypants

(22,418 posts)
110. First grade required that
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:50 AM
Mar 2017

Each student bring a cigar box to school with scissors, crayons and pencils. To be kept in your desk at school. I threw a fit in protest because I wasn't allowed to bring it back home. I loved that cigar box and all it meant because there was No Kindergarten in our school system.

Mrs. Mink was my teacher's name and as far as I was concerned, she.was a super hero. But she wouldn't let me take that cigar box home.

Historic NY

(37,449 posts)
369. I still have them...
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 10:17 AM
Sep 2017

they never need service, batteries, work if the power is out, can't lose them, and the phone company has to maintain the lines.

WePurrsevere

(24,259 posts)
112. Some young people may know one or two of these, IDK...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 11:54 AM
Mar 2017

Praying like crazy to find a phone booth when your car is giving you trouble

Snow locally deep enough that, while dangerous, you could tunnel and crawl around in it without piling it up first

10-4

The button on the floor to switch your headlights from high to low

Going door to door to collect bottles to get some spending cash

Waiting for the TV to warm up to watch a show

A moose who likes knock knock jokes and ping pong balls

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
338. It was not only the TVs that needed to warm up.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:28 AM
Sep 2017

The cameras in the studios also needed warming up. If you've ever looked at the first reports of the JFK assassination, especially on CBS, the reason first reports are audio only, and only after a half our or so go to video, is because the television cameras needed a half hour to warm up. So while you can hear Walter Cronkite's voice at first, you don't finally see him until those cameras have had the time needed to warm up.

WePurrsevere

(24,259 posts)
356. I hadn't thought of that but it makes sense...
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:46 AM
Sep 2017

since I'm going to guess that they too were powered by tubes similar to TV's and older radios? I remember going into certain stores with my dad and there was a big display and a 'table' where you could plug in and test the tubes used in the old electronics.




I was absolutely fascinated by it, heck all electronics, but my dad, a GE accountant, wasn't into it at all and back then and as a 'girl' I was discouraged by him to pursue that interest.

Now there's something else that was much more common back then, gender roles. Sadly it and equality issues in general are still way to prevalent, but it's much less than it was. Unfortunately those strides forward seem to have some of the more fragile white sexist, racist, etc male egos threatened enough that they're desperately trying to undo much of it but I still have hope that we'll prevail against them and those types will become, if not as 'extinct as the dodo bird', 'as rare as hen's teeth'.

Lebam in LA

(1,344 posts)
114. Without revealing your age
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:04 PM
Mar 2017

Helms Bakery trucks
Milk man delivering milk, eggs and sometimes we even got chocolate milk (special occasions)
Jewel-T man, Fuller Brush man
Leaving the house early morning and not returning until just before dark, walking miles to get to the beach, Del Amo shopping center
No 405 freeway, Pacific Ocean Park
Chicken coops, outhouses
Party lines, rotary phones, Prefixes with 5 digit phone numbers. I still remember our # FR 55492
Getting all our vaccinations at the school cafeteria
Polio outbreaks, being purposely exposed to measles, mumps and chicken pox (better to get as a kid was the thinking back then)
Carrying jugs to the spring to bring home drinking water
Trick or Treating until mid-night without adults
Trick or Treating with adults and them getting shots of liquor as their treats

So many things have changed. Some good, some bad

tonekat

(1,805 posts)
399. Halloween Adults
Wed May 16, 2018, 11:08 PM
May 2018

LOL, I remember in the 70s, a neighbor showing up in a sheet that said "Trick or Beer!"

He got his beer and came in for awhile.

missingthebigdog

(1,233 posts)
118. Calling time and temperature
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:13 PM
Mar 2017

The recording said:

The time is 10:12 a.m. The tem per a ture is 49.

Usually sponsored by a local bank.

 

Hoyt

(54,770 posts)
125. Out Houses, party lines, test patterns, bomb drills, punch cards, george wallace (or maybe there is
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:35 PM
Mar 2017

modern version), segregated facilities and restaurants, no TV, and much more -- some good, some bad.

MFM008

(19,782 posts)
134. These
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:51 PM
Mar 2017

Superballs. Hula hoops. All metal easy bake ovens. Staying out all day and not getting kidnapped or killed.
1st run Star Treks...

randr

(12,408 posts)
135. The empty bottles you put in the milk box
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:51 PM
Mar 2017

indicated what you needed the milk man to deliver that day.
In my case the milk "wagon" was actually horse drawn.

dewsgirl

(14,961 posts)
137. Apparently, 13 yr olds think the idea of a pager
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 12:51 PM
Mar 2017

is a hilarious concept. My son got a big laugh out of the fact I had one.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,281 posts)
145. Trading cards.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:01 PM
Mar 2017

Listening to kids' shows on the radio.
Watching Saturday morning TV shows when we finally got a TV - The Lone Ranger, Sky King, Andy's Gang, etc.
Being sent to the bakery with a quarter to buy a loaf of bread.
Playing outside in the summer until it got dark and we heard the curfew siren.
Having to watch The Lawrence Welk Show whenever Grandma visited.
Roller skates that clamped on to your shoes; you used a key to tighten the clamps.
Slide rules.
Sonic booms.



lunasun

(21,646 posts)
210. I was fascinated with breaking them and playing with mercury! Thanks I forgot about that toxic joy
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:56 PM
Mar 2017

LisaM

(27,762 posts)
156. Styrofoam boater hats for candidates.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:17 PM
Mar 2017

Republicans and Democrats in side by side booths at the county fair getting along.

randr

(12,408 posts)
157. Cobble stone streets
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:17 PM
Mar 2017

The sounds the trains made a night in switching yards. Steam engines with bells and whistles.

C_U_L8R

(44,897 posts)
159. Rolodexes and Rotary Phones
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:18 PM
Mar 2017

Crazy Foam, Silly Putty, TV Dinners,
Black and White TV, Ubby-Dubby....

"why don't you go outside and play... just remember to come home for dinner"

GregD

(2,263 posts)
191. I worked in an office with a corded switchboard
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 03:41 PM
Mar 2017

The operator (makes me think of Lily Tomlin's Laugh-In character Ernestine) answered the phone and literally had to plug cords in to transfer a call.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
350. I was a telephone operator when Lily Tomlin was doing her thing,
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:29 AM
Sep 2017

and we were utterly convinced she was one of us.

I saw many an operator who had that hairdo, who thrust her hand into her bosom just like that.

Some years later I learned she'd never been an operator, which was somewhat disconcerting.

Laffy Kat

(16,356 posts)
160. No yard fences and everyone's dog ran loose and un-neutered!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:22 PM
Mar 2017

In my neighborhood nobody's yard was off limits, except maybe that older childless couple. Someone else mentioned a free-range childhood and that was absolutely my experience. In the summer we played from the moment we awoke until it got dark enough for our mom's to call us in each night. I can remember my older sister taking me at least a half a mile from home to explore the spillway tunnels!

ginnyinWI

(17,276 posts)
165. long division--with no calculator!
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:35 PM
Mar 2017

I can still take a paper and pencil and do long division. My 34 year old, Masters' Degreed, school psychologist daughter cannot, and was amazed to see me doing it!

I also took slide rule in middle school. Slide rule!! lol

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
339. Yes! I am just young enough not to have learned to use a slide rule,
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:32 AM
Sep 2017

but if need be I can still do some pretty impressive long division by hand.

FuzzyRabbit

(1,958 posts)
312. Blue laws. We couldn't buy any kind of alcohol on Sunday, or anything else for that matter.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:47 AM
Sep 2017

We couldn't buy anything except food from restaurants or the rare small grocery.

Big grocery stores, gas stations, department stores, hardware stores, pharmacies, dry cleaners, shopping malls, etc, were all closed. I remember looking for an open gas station in Seattle, summer 1973. We finally found one.

unblock

(51,975 posts)
171. liberal republicans
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 01:56 PM
Mar 2017

not "republicans who are liberal by republican standards" but republicans who are actually liberals, more liberal than many democrats.

hard to imagine these days....

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
270. Hey, I grew up in SC
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:47 PM
Jul 2017

Most Democrats were racist tea party assholes, but Southerners still voted Dem like the unions and inner cities and Catholics did because we could never vote for the party of Lincoln.
I remember when the Viet Nam protests were in full bloom many of the heroes in the Senate who were trying to end the war were GOP. Many of them were from the West Coast.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
340. The standard season was 36, maybe 39 weeks.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:35 AM
Sep 2017

The rerun season was (I might have this wrong) 20 weeks. So not all episodes would show up in reruns. I well remember the frustration of hoping a specific episode would be rerun, and wasn't.

littlemissmartypants

(22,418 posts)
176. Reading through this thread
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:08 PM
Mar 2017

I realize how much I have forgotten. Really great idea, this was! Thanks again, ButSeeYa. ♡

Sedona

(3,769 posts)
177. Having a 20 foot phone cord
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:11 PM
Mar 2017

so you could have some privacy while you talk. Mine reached from the kitchen to the garage and the other way out to the patio


Motley13

(3,867 posts)
178. shorthand & typing class in school
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:21 PM
Mar 2017


record stores, you & friends went into a booth, put on a 78, danced & left w/o buying anything


SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
271. I took typing my Senior Year
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:49 PM
Jul 2017

I had an elective and knew that the class was almost all female, so that was the attraction.
Little did I know that it would possibly be the most useful class I ever took in High School.

WheelWalker

(8,943 posts)
182. Cleaning chalkboard erasers on the big vacuum in the janitors' closet at school. A reward
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:26 PM
Mar 2017

if you got out of class to do it... a punishment if you had to stay after school to do it.

Mrs. Overall

(6,839 posts)
189. Glass clacker balls (also called knockers) on a long string.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 02:40 PM
Mar 2017

Clacking them together until they shatter everywhere!

I did enjoy my purple clackers on a long white string. Mine never did shatter--luckily.

GregD

(2,263 posts)
193. punch cards and diskettes
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 03:52 PM
Mar 2017

I'm a programmer, and when I started this stuff, that's what all of our data was recorded upon

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
319. When I started with computers we pluged wires into a board to program them.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:17 AM
Sep 2017
This machine was the first one I worked on.

And this is what a "program" looked like:



Later we moved up to AUTOCODER on the 1400 series and finally COBOL on the S/360

Amaryllis

(9,523 posts)
201. Typing term papers on a typewriter and not being able to edit! Wondering how much white out i could
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:15 PM
Mar 2017

use before i had to retype the whole darn page.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
344. Oh! Oh! I used to type papers for other students
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:43 AM
Sep 2017

for extra money.

I threw in various dumb jokes along the way. And was never caught by anyone, not the kids I typed for and definitely not the teachers. Although, come to think of it, the teachers knew I was the one doing the typing and probably gave us all a pass.

Lint Head

(15,064 posts)
202. Whenever I'm watching the news I recognize
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:17 PM
Mar 2017

names such as Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Henry Cabot Lodge and others that would be obscure to a younger person watching or listening to the news. My son is in his twenties and very interested in what's going on today. But when names like that are mentioned and certain things that I experienced, maybe during the JFK assassination or Watergate or McCarthyism, or someone are a reporter is trying to make a point using those references I know he doesn't understand the totality of the discussion. He will ask me what they mean sometimes though he is very smart.

wcmagumba

(2,871 posts)
203. Family owned mom and pop convenience stores...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:22 PM
Mar 2017

in my small town we had one of these across the street in a residential neighborhood. It seems like there was one every few blocks. The lady and her family lived in the back of the store near us, it had the big curved glass counters with candy and cigs, groceries with unsure dates on them, pop in glass bottles. I used to ride my bike between these while delivering Grit newspapers...(that's another one that is gone).

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
345. When I was very poor, I'd turn in a silver dollar to a locally owned
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 04:44 AM
Sep 2017

local convenience store and redeem it a week later. They made a difference in my life back then.

GentryDixon

(2,944 posts)
205. Going to the library
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:26 PM
Mar 2017

to use the Encyclopedia Britannica for research.

I loved going there, which led me to my love of reading. Years ago I belonged to the Literary Guild for my books, but with the advent of BN and other such stores I got away from ordering from them.

I am an old gal, and not ashamed to admit it. The alternative is my darling departed sister.

 

Ron Obvious

(6,261 posts)
256. Found some at Costco a few weeks ago.
Sun Mar 5, 2017, 03:20 PM
Mar 2017

It's still great for camping, etc.

Tastes pretty much how I remember.

lunasun

(21,646 posts)
215. Yes boss?
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:22 PM
Mar 2017

Eddie Anderson his voice got damaged as a kid hawking out loud selling newspapers That's how he happened to sound that way

Benny gave him some of the better joke lines and you can stay at his mansion
https://www.bedandbreakfast.com/ca-los-angeles-therochestermansion.html#img-8
Remember Benny's safe ? I think it was in the basement with alligators? Or down a tunnel?

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
236. "Your money or your life ....
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:06 PM
Mar 2017

Jack, "Wwweelllllll........"

Followed by the live audience laughing for at least minutes

Basement as memory serves, accompanied by hilarious sound effects, creaking doors, echoes, chains

Basic LA

(1,715 posts)
209. Cultural References are now more difficult.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 06:45 PM
Mar 2017

I mentioned the old novel & movie "Sophie's Choice" to a group of professional people in their 30's and was met with blank stares. Trying to clarify, I said, you know, the movie with Meryl Streep. No one had heard of her.

longship

(40,416 posts)
214. "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!"
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:18 PM
Mar 2017


Although, I go back to Smilin' Ed McConnell days. When he died, Andy Devine took over the franchise.

They often featured Ramar of the Jungle adventures. But nobody wanted to see those. It was all about Froggy.

Hi-ya kiddies! Hi-ya, hi-ya, hi-ya! Pfftpfftpfftp!

lapucelle

(18,047 posts)
233. Officer Joe Bolton and Captain Jack McCarthy hosting cartoons
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:56 PM
Mar 2017

on the local channel, and Wonderama with Sonny Fox.

radical noodle

(7,990 posts)
216. Without revealing your age...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:24 PM
Mar 2017

Playing jacks on the front porch

Going "visiting" on Sunday afternoons

#45s on a portable record player and 78s on a console record player/radio.

The First Family record album (which I still possess)

Crinolines and always trying to outdo other girls with the most elaborate and most layers

Wrapping angora yarn around your boyfriend's ring

"I like Ike"

Sitting up front by the school bus driver and pulling the lever to make the stop sign stick out.

Mimeo machines at school

Standing outside with my Grandmother trying to see sputnik







Doreen

(11,686 posts)
218. Rotary dial phones.
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:35 PM
Mar 2017

black and white TV.
8 tracks.
Cassette tapes.
Beta vs VHS.
Penny candy that was actually a penny.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
355. I'm a former long distance operator.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:42 AM
Sep 2017

And I've paid attention to area codes in my normal life.
So without going into a lot of detail, area codes make a difference.

lunasun

(21,646 posts)
220. We had a candy store and trick store in our hood. One just sold candy . The other gags and tricks
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:49 PM
Mar 2017

only.
I don't know how they would stay in business now in little neighborhood storefronts like back then just selling single selections like that to (primarily ) kids

But they kept me in candy cigarettes and fizz tabs for years along with fake vomit , itching powder and a tin that said salted peanuts which no one should open if they didnt want a surprise

DeeDeeNY

(3,352 posts)
221. Going to a movie at any time, not when it started
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 07:58 PM
Mar 2017

You could stay all day with one admission ticket. So if you got there in the middle, you just stayed to see the rest of the movie and then the beginning through the middle to where you came in. Or even longer if you wanted. There were also lots of double features, and some movie theatres gave out dish sets although I don't remember why.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
347. Yes. On Saturdays we'd be dropped off at the local theater
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:06 AM
Sep 2017

and we stay inside for hours, watching the movies, the previews, the cartoons, the newsreels. We'd watch a movie until we got to the point where we'd arrived, stay a few more minutes and then leave. I have no idea how we knew when to go outside to be picked up, because none of us had a watch. But it was wonderful.

doc03

(35,151 posts)
224. A three scoop ice cream cone for 15 cents. Chilly Billey Cardill and
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:35 PM
Mar 2017

Chiller Theater, Sunday afternoon studio wrestling, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, David Garaway and J Fred Muggs, Isaly's chip chopped ham and Scyscraper
Ice Cream Cones.Having bad air allerts almost every day in the summer.They had a mine bullitin board on the radio and it took 5 to 10 minutes to list all the mines
that were working or not.

Freddie

(9,232 posts)
245. Dressing up for church
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 10:40 PM
Mar 2017

Dad and my brother wore a suit and tie, Mom and I our best dresses (never pants). I think when most women started working and had to "dress up" all week was when church started getting more casual.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
272. Suits were mandatory for church
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:52 PM
Jul 2017

but we would laugh at pictures from the 1940s of men at baseball games in the summer wearing coats and ties.

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
226. Renting a rotary dial phone from the phone company
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:44 PM
Mar 2017

and being on a party line.

Hint: there was no celebration to those lines, they were dominated by one or two gabby people who never seemed to hang up to eat or sleep, meaning everybody else had to scream "EMERGENCY!" at them to make a 2 minute call.

MrPurple

(985 posts)
228. I think it was when Carter was President
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:48 PM
Mar 2017

that Ma Bell's monopoly on renting phones to everyone finally got broken up.

MrPurple

(985 posts)
227. I remember when you wanted to change tv stations, you had to get up and do it
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 08:45 PM
Mar 2017

Those were rough times, young'uns.

lapucelle

(18,047 posts)
235. Winding a wristwatch...
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:03 PM
Mar 2017

heading home when the streetlights went on...

going to the grocery store with a quarter and a note from your mom so you could buy her smokes...

the Star Spangled Banner when TV stations signed off for the night...

napi21

(45,806 posts)
243. I remember...........
Sat Mar 4, 2017, 09:51 PM
Mar 2017

Milk delivered in the winter would freeze and expand the cream out of the top of the bottle.

Everyone I knew declared automatic transmissions bad, unreliable, and for drivers who were too lazy to use their left foot!

A job that was an upgrade from a regular typist-a keypuncher-the KP Dept. at the place I got my first job had 50+ full time.

Gas was .25/gal. High Test was .27/gal

Having to shovel coal to fed the furnace every so many hours, and bank it off at night so it would last till morning.

Being able to drive by yourself as soon as you passed your drivers test-no Cinderella licences then either.

Almost everybody did their own work to fix their car & keep it running.

Most moms didn't work outside the home.

One car per household until your kids got old enough to get their own.

My weekly grocery bill was $10.

Rent on our first apartment was $75/mo.

Electric bill was $5.00/mo.

Vanessa Rose

(14 posts)
258. Long distance calls
Sun Mar 12, 2017, 12:38 AM
Mar 2017

I remember only making long distance calls if there was an emergency, otherwise we wrote letters.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
357. Yes!
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:57 AM
Sep 2017

I recently read a novel in which people in the 1950's somewhat casually called each other long distance, including from England to the U.S. or vice versa. It was obvious that the novel was written by someone who'd come of age a great deal later than the time frame of the events of the novel. I'm a half decade or so younger than the characters of the novel, and I know quite clearly that we simply didn't make long distance or (as happens in the novel) overseas phone calls casually. Those kinds of calls were reserved for genuinely major events. Sigh. It's more than obvious the novel was written by someone of a very different generation, used to the conventions of our era.

Mendocino

(7,431 posts)
259. Five cent cherry cokes at the Rexall drug store
Sat Mar 18, 2017, 09:43 PM
Mar 2017

paper routes

Bubs Daddy, a 10 inch cylinder of gum about as big around as a little finger

The 20th Century With Walter Cronkite

Jonny Quest

WW1 vets were common

driving from Ohio to Florida for spring vacation, no interstates

Sorry to interrupt, this is a special bulletin from CBS news

the smell of ditto copies

Munsters vs The Addams Family

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,752 posts)
265. The first year "Peter Pan" was broadcast on TV with Mary Martin as Peter Pan,
Thu Jun 8, 2017, 03:21 AM
Jun 2017

there was one and only one family in our housing complex with a TV. Everyone was invited, or maybe we all simply showed up. I recall standing outside their place, watching the show through the window, since the living room was completely full of people. We wouldn't get a TV for two more years. While TVs rather quickly became common, there was a time when having one was a rare privilege.

Milk being delivered and put in the milk box outside our apartment.

The Mickey Mouse Club. My favorite Mousketeer was Doreen.

Skates that you attached to your shoes, and were sized using a key.

I still miss card catalogs.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
273. 30 cents
Mon Jul 24, 2017, 02:56 PM
Jul 2017

In the late 60s, that was the set price for a gallon of gas or a pack of cigarettes.
I remember putting a quarter of gas in the car once to make sure I got home that day. Smart ass gas station attendant, after he had pumped the gas, gave me a free map of the State and told me to enjoy my ride.

k8conant

(3,030 posts)
325. I was on the AV team in elementary school:
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:01 AM
Sep 2017

we set up the film strips and movie projectors for the teachers that couldn't figure out that "high-tech" stuff.

AJT

(5,240 posts)
278. Waiting for the Sears Christmas catalog to come in the mail.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:25 PM
Sep 2017

Then looking through it at all the great toys and, for whatever reason, the parent/children Christmas morning matching pajamas.

NBachers

(17,007 posts)
281. The Alexander Botts series in the Saturday Evening Post (A Caterpillar Tractor from Peoria guy.)
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:29 PM
Sep 2017

"Start fresh, with L&M
Stay fresh, with L&M
Unlock a whole new world
Of- fresh smoking pleasure.
Start fresh, stay fresh, with L&M."

MFM008

(19,782 posts)
284. Watching Romper Room
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:50 PM
Sep 2017

Watching the moon landing live.
Not being allowed to use the phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen.
Playing with Super-balls.
making creepy crawlers..
Looking up words in a dictionary.
Vaccinations in the school gym.
so so many things.

BigMin28

(1,150 posts)
285. Paper dolls
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 09:50 PM
Sep 2017

S & H Green stamps, going to Hancock fabrics and picking out patterns and fabric for the clothes my Mom made for me. Also, the Jewel T man stopping by our house.

NotASurfer

(2,138 posts)
290. Cap guns and candy cigarettes
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 10:49 PM
Sep 2017

of course Mom said that when she was in school, the day before hunting season started, students old enough to be out at dawn the next morning would check their deer rifles in the office, so they could head out right after school.

doc03

(35,151 posts)
293. Going to a Saturday double feature buying popcorn and Good and Plentys
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 11:03 PM
Sep 2017

all for 50 cents. Then going to Isaly's for a Scyscraper cone for 15 cents.

SummerSnow

(12,608 posts)
298. 1. Penmanship. They never heard of it
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 12:10 AM
Sep 2017

2. Write it in cursive. They never heard of that either



* this thread is the best

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
309. My mother would never allow me to watch that
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:35 AM
Sep 2017

She said Miss Whosis made her want to throw up in the sink.

MLAA

(17,165 posts)
311. LOL! Unfortunately my mom had a little stronger stomach. 😀
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:40 AM
Sep 2017

Just googled it...her name was 'Miss Nancy' Claster.

Heartstrings

(7,349 posts)
303. Alaska Pops!
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:16 AM
Sep 2017

The best Popsicles, bought at our neighborhood corner store. The store owner was a hoot and would always add the flavor of your choice as addition to the 10 for 10 cent bag I got.

I feel fortunate to have lived in that era....

Willie Pep

(841 posts)
305. Pay phones.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:20 AM
Sep 2017

VHS

Video rental stores

Trying to watch premium cable channels (yes, including the naughty ones) through scrambled pictures.

1-900 numbers, again including the naughty ones. Why do I remember these so vividly? LOL.

EDIT: The card catalog at the library too.

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
307. Being fascinated with the drip pan under the ice box
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:32 AM
Sep 2017

and how big the blocks of ice were when they were delivered every other day.

Getting bread and milk delivered to separate boxes on the front porch. Seeing the milk bottle lids popped off and sitting on a column of frozen cream on super cold days.

Feeding the rag man's horse a piece of carrot.

Watching my parents do hobbies while radio shows played (we got the first TV on the block when I was four).

Loving the old Dumont Netowrk's animation of a big ass plane circling an itty bitty earth when they signed on.

Getting free miniature loaves of bread when supermarkets would have a grand opening (now they just get sold out and put new signs up).

And mostly, being trusted to play outside all over the neighborhood, as long as I came home before it got dark. Walking to school by myself and to the park by myself at the age of seven and feeling very grownup when I did it.

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
315. I remember taking tubes out of the TV down to the grocery store
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:02 AM
Sep 2017

to check them out in the tube tester to see which one was bad. Every grocery store had a tube tester and a selection of the most popular vacuum tubes like the 6AU6, the 12AX7, and the ubiquitous 5U4, which was usually the culprit when everything went out including picture and sound.


FuzzyRabbit

(1,958 posts)
316. Howdy Doody
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:04 AM
Sep 2017

Hopalong Cassidy
Sky King
Roy Rogers
Mickey Mouse Club

and later:
Perry Mason
Highway Patrol
M-Squad
Dragnet

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
321. Every time Kate Smith started singing "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" I knew that
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:30 AM
Sep 2017

Howdy Doody was coming next because Kate was signing off.

Also, later:

My Little Margie
Our Miss Brooks
Captain Video
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (I had such a crush on Vena Ray)
Mickey Mouse Club (I had such a crush on ... no, not Annette, but Doreen)

chillfactor

(7,566 posts)
317. black and white TV....
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:06 AM
Sep 2017

with static showing on the screen.....the first telecasts of the Jackie Gleason Show.....

k8conant

(3,030 posts)
322. Penny candy...
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:50 AM
Sep 2017

Nickel candy bars
7¢ Fudgsicles and ice cream cones (2 scoops for 13¢)
Pepsi at 30¢ a 6-pack
My father complaining that hot dogs were now a dime apiece instead of a nickel.
Gerald McBoingBoing on TV
Mickey Mouse Club
"Nap"time on mats in kindergarten (hanging our coats in the cloakroom)
Wearing leggings in the winter over our dresses to go to school
Being amazed at stereo vs monaural record players.
Smoking leftover cigarette butts after meetings at our house when I was 10
Riding my bike to the library because I missed the bookmobile stop on Monday nights.
Gas for 19.9¢ a gallon
Waiting until a baby was born to find out if it was a boy or girl
Using a Friden calculator
Using mathematical tables for interpolation and extrapolation
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 1¢ milk for lunch in high school
Rolling our skirts' waistbands in junior high
Movies in the auditorium during lunch
Driving from Michigan to Tennessee with 6 of us in the car (and my having to have my feet on top of the ice chest the whole time) took 17 hours on US-25 or US-27
Counting posts along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to pass the time, or playing the alphabet game while riding, or writing down all the states for which we saw license plates.
Playing ping-pong.
Setting up a scary hallway with the entrance covered with a blanket.
Smelling fresh Ditto copies in school.
Camp Fire Law

Worship God.
Seek beauty;
Give service, &
Knowledge pursue.
Be trustworthy ever, in all that you do.
Hold fast onto health,
And your work glorify,
And you will be happy, in the law of Camp Fire.


Soupy Sales touting "Sealtest--the best milk in all of DEE-troit" (and he was the only one who dared to pronounce De-TROIT with (as my father would say) the ac-CENT on the wrong syl-LAB-le)


Petrushka

(3,709 posts)
326. Let's Pretend---a Saturday morning radio show for young children
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 03:25 AM
Sep 2017

Radio shows with plenty of sound effects
to spur the imagination:

Gang Busters
The Lone Ranger
The Shadow Knows
Inner Sanctum

pansypoo53219

(20,908 posts)
354. jeez, i have been doing estate sales for years. all the old shit i have seen. CRANK phone!
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 05:40 AM
Sep 2017

treadle dentil drill. extremely old multi piece radio. TV TUBES! no telegraph yet. hell, just my potato smooshers are very old school. i love time travel.

llmart

(15,504 posts)
383. Defrosting a freezer...
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 09:44 PM
Sep 2017

by placing bowls of bowling water in it and then chipping away at the ice.

pangaia

(24,324 posts)
385. Oh god, yes...
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 10:02 PM
Sep 2017




milk delivered in glass bottles..
playing after school in the woods until dark
black and pink
walk a mile and a half to school
1950 ford- our first car
1954 ford- second car

pangaia

(24,324 posts)
363. WOLLENSACK reel to reel..
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 08:35 AM
Sep 2017

Playing in the 'woods' every day after school...

Black and pink the 'in' colors

'56 Chevy Belair

Ration stamps right at the end of WW II ( my mom got them, but took me with her to get extra)

Crank telephone (I think I remember that) and getting the operator

WALKING a mile and a half to get to school.

nocoincidences

(2,195 posts)
366. Saturday morning tv shows
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 09:03 AM
Sep 2017

like Sheena Queen of the Jungle and Hopalong Cassidy!

That strange milky smell in the Elementary School Cafeteria. I am convinced that odor turned me off on milk for life.

riverbendviewgal

(4,251 posts)
368. I remember all of what you all remember
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 10:10 AM
Sep 2017

We had a hill next to our house, which in winters we woild sled on, in spring we flew our kites, in summer we would sit and count the stars until we lost track, in Fall we took big cardboard boxes and slid down the hill.

Milk man and Bond bread man came to the house. On Thursdays the one armed veteran drove his fish truck slowly down the streets for housewives to buy their fish for Fridays supper.
Telephone party lines, I got the transistor radio. 45 rpm records.
S & H stamps and the family spending a day at the kitchen table putting the stamps in the books.

Kids went to weddings that didn't cost thousands of dollars.

Live local bands at high school dances.

Mr. WIZARD Saturday TV show.
Rocky Jones space show
Wink Dink
American Bandstand
Air raid drills where we hid under our desks.
Elementary classes with 2 or 3 rooms for each grade. We were baby boomers.

Response to ButSeeYa (Original post)

dewsgirl

(14,961 posts)
381. Explaining to my 14 yr old what a pager was and the codes we would use
Tue Sep 12, 2017, 04:44 PM
Sep 2017

He seems to think I'm talking about a calculator that makes calls????

llmart

(15,504 posts)
384. For the women in the group...
Sat Sep 23, 2017, 09:50 PM
Sep 2017

Petti pants
Dr. Ben Casey blouses
Angora or mohair sweaters
Stretch pants with the strap under the foot
Girdles and nylons with seams
Poodle skirts
Gym suits
Ironing your hair
Spit curls
Orange juice can hair rollers
Penny loafers
Saddle shoes

 

RandomAccess

(5,210 posts)
387. Howdy Doody and Mousketeers
Sat Dec 16, 2017, 12:38 AM
Dec 2017

You can find some of the episodes on YouTube (which surely has to be the greatest repository of cultural history ever imagined).




 

RandomAccess

(5,210 posts)
388. CARBON PAPER !!!!!! And Mimeograph machines
Sat Dec 16, 2017, 12:46 AM
Dec 2017

To this day *I* can't figure out how we lived without photocopy machines.

SCantiGOP

(13,856 posts)
391. 13 years old:
Fri May 11, 2018, 01:13 PM
May 2018

Wondering if I would have to wait until my wedding night to lose my virginity (thank you, sexual revolution of the 60s!)

pbmus

(12,418 posts)
408. Gallon of gas 25 cents, when getting filled windows washed...
Thu May 17, 2018, 01:10 AM
May 2018

Absolutely no such thing as the word service in our vocabulary anymore..

pansypoo53219

(20,908 posts)
410. gas & markers used to smell good. CHRISTMAS TUNES WERE PLAYED ON CHRISMAST EVE & CHRISTMAS.
Thu May 17, 2018, 06:50 AM
May 2018

i know how a wood stove works. things used to be made out of cast iron.

wnylib

(21,146 posts)
415. Doctor making house call when my sister
Sat Nov 23, 2019, 06:50 PM
Nov 2019

had scarlett fever, health dept putting quarantine sign in our front window.

Penny candy and 2 for a penny candy in wooden frame case with glass windows at corner mom and pop store.

Getting written script from doctor to take urine sample to hospital lab for pregnancy test, then waiting several hours for results.

American Bandstand setting trends in music and hair styles (for girls).

Bouffant hair styles, "bee hive" hair that was "teased" (back combed) and piled high on top of the head, then sprayed with lacquer hair spray.

Wool cardigans and pullover sweaters with pleated, plaid wool skirts. Wool wrap around skirts in tartan plaids with large kilt pins that resembled giant safety pins.

Weaving pot holders at summer playground activities and selling them for spending money to neighbors who did not really need or want them but rewarded our efforts.

Playing until hide and seek until dusk in summer when parents called us home. Then sitting on the porch with cold soda or Kool Aid drinks until the house was cool enough inside to sleep.

Radios, automatic transmissions being extras on new car purchases.

Very long cars with big fins that could not fit into some old garages.



Talitha

(6,479 posts)
416. Horse-drawn junk carts in the alley.
Tue Dec 3, 2019, 01:03 AM
Dec 2019

I grew up in Chicago and once in a while as I was playing in the back yard, I'd hear a distant "Rags, old iron! Rags, old iron!" accompanied by the rhythmic clip-clop of a Horse's hooves.

It was the junk man. I couldn't understand what he was yelling though, and misunderstood it to be Rags-o-line. So I'd run inside and tell Dad that Mr. Ragsoline was coming.

Mom let me feed the Horse a carrot while Dad got his junk out of the garage and loaded it onto the wagon. I don't know if Mr. Ragsoline paid Dad any money or not, though... I was too busy feeding and petting the Horse.

Skittles

(152,967 posts)
418. not being able to talk to my grandparents for years at a time
Sat May 23, 2020, 03:18 AM
May 2020

military family, often overseas, trans-Atlantic phone calls were ridiculously expensive

Sparkly

(24,141 posts)
419. I teach college students, so there are MANY things...
Tue Jun 2, 2020, 11:31 PM
Jun 2020

Some I realize -- I know there are media they won't understand (LPs, tape, etc.) But the card catalog is a great example. They have NO idea what it is like to do original research, vs. clicking on a link and paraphrasing. It is challenging for teachers, and has me questioning whether and why they need to retain information vs. processes, concepts, relationships -- a different paradigm.

Totally Tunsie

(10,885 posts)
421. Wearing a sugar cube corsage for Sweet 16.
Mon Jul 13, 2020, 01:22 AM
Jul 2020

Just Googled them, and apparently they're still around as a "southern tradition", which doesn't explain why I had one when living in CT.



phylny

(8,353 posts)
422. Opening the vent window if you were lucky enough to sit in the front seat of the car
Fri Jul 24, 2020, 08:26 PM
Jul 2020

or later, when you could drive. For some reason, my family called it the "butterfly window."

634-5789

(4,175 posts)
423. I remember...
Fri Jul 31, 2020, 06:48 AM
Jul 2020

Prell shampoo. That pearl dropped in the bottle showed just how luxurious it was. Is Prell a thing anymore? And...it wasn't the holidays until I saw that team of Clydesdales for Budweiser. Good times!

Mersky

(4,969 posts)
425. Broke a bone by dropping the yellow pages on my foot
Fri Jul 31, 2020, 03:18 PM
Jul 2020

It was the corner of the M-Z that chipped a bone in the top of my foot. I actually have a bone spur from this that acts up and causes me trouble some days.

TrumpVirus

(13 posts)
426. It was always a HUGE deal when the new Sears catalog arrived!
Mon Sep 7, 2020, 08:04 PM
Sep 2020

We would fight over it and remember my mom would put a timer clock set for 30 minutes, when we would have to hand it over to a sibling for their 30 minute turn...

Auggie

(31,070 posts)
427. Free stuff from gas stations (other than Green Stamps)
Thu Oct 29, 2020, 05:36 PM
Oct 2020

Our local Shell station gave out tumblers and highball glasses with the Cleveland Browns logo on them. Sinclair once gave out large blow-up dinosaurs. Think it was minimum 10 gallons.

Looked like these:


ShazzieB

(15,960 posts)
436. I don't remember those at all.
Sun Jul 3, 2022, 12:43 AM
Jul 2022

What I do remember is phones being hardwired straight into the house/building. No changing or rearranging without the phone company sending someone out to do it.

If you needed to replace a phone or change to a different type of phone, you had to get it from your local phone company, and someone had to come out and install it.

If you lived in a small town, all the latest styles weren't necessarily available, and you had to setle for whatever they had.

No matter what kind of of phone you got, it remained the property of the phone company.

When it became possible to buy a phone in a store, you couldn't do it without first having a plug-in wall jack installed, unless you lived in a place that was new enough to have them already installed. (Which we didn't.)

I was so happy when we finally moved to a newer place and could buy a phone of our choice, bring it home, and plug it in.

Bones1

(18 posts)
435. Anxiously Waiting
Sat Jun 4, 2022, 07:42 PM
Jun 2022

For lunchtime in HS to go to our designated smoking area, with ashtrays, outside, covered from the rain, to smoke cigarettes with my friends. But no smoking in the bathrooms !

RobinA

(9,878 posts)
442. As A Freshman
Fri Jun 9, 2023, 08:07 AM
Jun 2023

in college, I was super happy to be assigned to the dorm that had phones in every room.

Voice79

(8 posts)
443. 3.2 Beer
Mon Jun 19, 2023, 08:49 AM
Jun 2023

I live in Ohio. When I was 18, we had 3.2 beer. Ohio voted and approved a law requiring age 19 for everyone for purchasing liquor and beer. Ronnie Regan threatened state’s federal highway funds if they did not raise the drinking age to 21. How did he get away with this? Can you imagine this happening today?

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