geezers/geezerettes check in

[trof]

I know you're out there.
Let's start one of those annoying nostalgia threads that no one under the age of 50 will get.

I used to walk barefoot, in the snow, five miles, uphill BOTH ways, to a one room schoolhouse that was heated by stabling the rich kids' mules inside.

Top that!
;-)

[SheilaT]

1. How about the part

where WE were always respectful of our elders, never sassed back, always did our homework.

[trof]

2. yessir, no mam, please and thank you.

Yes!
on edit: "sass"
Now THERE'S a word you don't hear much any more.

[Kahuna]

18. Don't even think about putting your hands on your hips or...

rolling your eyes at an adult. You'd get five across the eyes.

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. Hi trof

girls couldnt were "pants" in my school . By the time I got there (a good mile , I kid you not) my legs would be so cold they were numb ,and whats more ,our rich kid just had a dog---a little bitty dog

[Kahuna]

13. I can relate. Couldn't even wear kulottes until 1968..

on Fridays only. I just hear the young'uns. 'What are kulottes?' It's a geezer thing. You wouldn't understand. :P

[trof]

39. Kulottes, skorts, and Bermudas

Plaid kulottes, knee socks, and penney loafers.
Very Ivy.
Miz t. has a pair of skorts. Shorts with a kind of loin-cloth panel in front. ???

In high school (circa 1957) guys were just beginning to wear Bermudas without being called sissies and having to fight. Not IN school, but week-ends, etc. NOBODY, man, woman, or child, wore shorts to school.

A friend was in a bicycle wreck, skinned up his knees very badly, bulky bandages & such. His mom decided he would be much more comfortable in shorts (true). For school (uh-oh). Well, it damn near caused a riot. All the older guys were kidding him. His Bermudas were such a distraction that he was sent to the principal's office and his mom was called to come and get him. "We" did not suffer non-conformists gladly.

[proud2BlibKansan]

149. How about dickeys?

When was the last time you wore one?

[trof]

151. 80s-90s?

Used to wear turtleneck dickeys when I lived up Nawth.
Welcome to DU.
:hi:

[bearfan454]

3. How about children should be seen and not heard

[Kahuna]

14. Those are the first words I remember my parents saying.

:grr:
And, they meant it too!

[RebelOne]

26. Right, my mother's favorite words.

[trof]

40. and "little pitchers have big ears"?

Whenever the grown-ups were talking about something they didn't want us to hear? I never "got" the ears-pitcher thing.

[HereSince1628]

5. Remember the turtle singing "duck and cover?"

Did the expression kiss yer ass good-bye have a literal meaning befor then?

[areschild]

10. Yes, I remember

being terrified that Russia was going to bomb us. We would have drills at school where we would duck under the desk. After seeing the devastation of what a nuclear bomb could do, I realize how stupid that drill was. People started building their own bomb shelters.

[HereSince1628]

11. I used to dread field trips to Chicago because "It's a TARGET"

It took me years to overcome the trauma of the fear-mongers.

[trof]

41. Somehow, that never bothered me.

Maybe I just wasn't paying attention?
:shrug:

[HereSince1628]

6. Remember when drake tails violated hair cuts standards?

For that matter remember when there were hair cut standards for school.

[Kahuna]

16. Yep. And if your parents wouldn't cut your hair...

some teachers would take it upon themselves to get that bowl and do it for you. LOL!

[trof]

42. Drake tails?

We called 'em duck tails.
The greasers called them DAs.
Duck's Ass.
;-)

[RebelOne]

46. I remember duck tails well. Even had that cut myself.

[areschild]

55. Yeah, that's what we called them, also.

n/t

[alwynsw]

113. We called 'em DA's (duck's ass)

[asjr]

7. During and after WW11

"Kilroy was here." I never did learn who Kilroy was.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

8. (adopts Yorkshire accent) We used to live at the bottom of a filthy lake

and each morning our dad would get us up before we went to sleep, cut us to pieces with a big knife then make us lick the road clean. We was lucky.

[izzie]

9. Well the snow was over my head but then I was only up to my father's belt.

I did have to walk one mile to school. Every one thought it was good for you. Wasn't it? It really was fun coming home as we would walk home on the rocks and race the waves to see if you could get home dry. This was a no, no. We lost a dog to a wave once.A friends dog that was at our house that is. The walk to, was hard, as it was dark and windy. Water front in Maine. We would do almost anything to be late and have to have some one drive us. I am old. B.'34. When the bikes came out it was the most fun. To and from school.It is a really good life.It is still fun to wake up as who knows what to day will bring.

[oneighty]

12. Melting snow with

heat from the oil lamps for drinking and bathing and cooking.

I do so miss the good old days when visiting my girl friend meant we got to "Bundle."

180

[JitterbugPerfume]

19. whats "bundle" , oneighty

<smile>

[HereSince1628]

33. So 180 did you rub sticks together for fire?

or were you one of those steel on flint types?

[trof]

43. Oh, come ON. Bundled?

Bundling: In cold weather a couple would "court" in bed with lots of covers on, but a "bundling board" between them. Under the watchful eye of one or more parents.
Never done it myself.
I think 180 is having us on.

[oneighty]

68. Boards

prove to be no obstruction worth speaking of!

Fire carried over by "Keeper of the flames" many generations over.

180,000,000

[Kahuna]

15. How 'bout, boys had to wear white shirts and ties...

And if the boys came to school without their ties, they had to wear a paper tie.

And the teachers were allowed to spank and paddle you in front of the whole class. And make you wear a a paper dunce cap and sit in the corner when you misbehaved or were stupid. LOL!

[trof]

44. Our school "uniform" (guys):

White T shirt.

Button down shirt, blue, white, yellow, or, when the "pink & black" fad hit, pink. Oh, if you wore any kind of yellow garment on Thursday, you were queer. It's a fact. You could look it up.:-) If the neck of the T didn't show at your shirt's collar, you were probably queer.

Jeans, NO BELT.

WHITE cotton athletic socks. NO OTHER color will do.

Black Italian loafers. NOT penney loafers. Not unless you wanted people to think you were queer. Queer was the worst thing you could be. It was even worse than incest (if we had known what THAT was).

We wore the above EVERY SINGLE DAY. To come to school dressed otherwise was unthinkable. A few rich kids flouted convention and wore khakis. We rarely associated with them. Effete snobs.

[Kahuna]

17. Another one. George Washington cut down the cherry tree..

Who cares and why was that relevant?

[Ernesto]

20. I used to be "Meathead" but now I"m "Archie"

Actually I'm more like Rob Riener, politically speaking.

[flamingyouth]

23. LOL- I love this one!

:hi:

[Ernesto]

34. Flamingyouth?

You sound like a GEEZER to me!

[ewagner]

21. Chaperones with rulers

at the school dances making sure you and your dancing partner were the "proper" distance apart?

Madras shirts?

Cranberry & pink?

[trof]

47. "Yes" on chaperones. "No" on rulers. The Pink&Black fad.

We didn't do cranberry and pink, it was Pink&Black.
This became as acceptable as the above described jeans "uniform".
Usually a pink, button down shirt and SEVERELY pegged black chinos.
A VERY thin (1/4" wide?) pink suede belt completed the ensemble.
Variation: Black shirt, pink pants, black belt. I am NOT making this up. We were DUDES!
Footwear remained the same. Black Italian loafers and white socks. Very attractive.

I remember pegged chinos with the brand name "Skeets".
The jingle ran "Skeets are NEET, little momma."
The cuffs were so narrow you had to put the pants on BEFORE you put your shoes on. The conventional wisdom was "If you can put your shoes on first, either the shoes are wrong or the pants are wrong".

Did I mention we were Dudes?
;-)

[Bertha Venation]

22. x

x

[trof]

24. A kick for the night people, and

to keep this where I can find it for some replies in the a.m.
NYTOL

[VOX]

25. Wayne the milkman got our frightened cat out of a tree!

And he gave us big chunks of ice from his truck during the summer -- we'd sit on the ice blocks and ride 'em down the hill.

Our Good Humor man always greeted the kids on my street with, "What'll it be today, gang, rhubarb on square wheels?"

The Helms Bakery guy always had great-smelling breads and donuts in his truck.

And the #8 Santa Monica bus took us all the way to the beach for 10 cents.

And now, back to the cruel present...

[trof]

48. We had "The Popsicle Man".

Usually a black teenager on a bike with two wheels in front, holding a big metal cooler. You'd hear his bell ringing and run yelling "MOM, MOM! Can I have a nickel for the popsicle man?".

Sometimes he'd give us a chunk of dry ice to play with.

[VOX]

111. Seems almost strange now - -

People coming to your street or door with something you actually *wanted*!

:toast:

[alwynsw]

112. You had a milkman?!?

We had a milk COW. She paid off in basic training, though. There was another KY farmboy and me in basic along with 48 guys from NYC.

We never had any trouble getting up at 5:00A.M. The city boys were amazed. We just told 'em they hadn't lived until they'd had a teat in each hand at 4:00 A.M. - and again around 5:00 P.M.

[KoKo]

138. I grew up with a cow, but led city life and had milkman until 80's!

Too funny!

[KoKo]

141. Message moved

[never cry wolf]

27. I.......don't.....get.....it

I am only 49 1/3.

[Love Bug]

74. Hey--I'M 49 and 1/3!

When's your birthday? Mines August 10!

[bobbieinok]

28. WWII in school

I visited school before I was old enough to go; kids were collecting scrap.

I skipped a grade, so I was younger than the others when I was in college. My friends used to talk about rationing and ration books.

[izzie]

91. Did you ever figure what the balls of tin foil were for?

I can recall pealing it off the gum paper. I always figured it was something my father had us do to keep us busy.

[sleepyhead]

29. ooh, geezerette! love it!

The principal had the right to measure our skirt lengths - more than 1" above the knee (if I remember right) and we had to go home and change! Thankfully, the dress code was junked my sophomore year and we all got to start wearing jeans! OMG I am old!

[trof]

49. Welcome aboard, sleepyhead.

Our principal didn't need a ruler.
They didn't MAKE skirts that came above the knee.
;-)

[Digger]

30. We had no refrigerator

and the milk was not homogenized. It came in round glass bottles and when left outside in winter the cream came to the top and would lift the cap about three inches.

Instead of butter my mother used oleo. It came in some kind of see-thru bag and was white in color. To get the artificial yellow color there was a little packet of food coloring she would somehow put into the bag and mix by squeezing.

This was probably about the end of World War II, I was born in '42 so I was very young but I'll never forget.

[bobbieinok]

38. oleo

The first oleomargerine came in a clear, very thick plastic bag. To make it yellow, you had to press on a color container in the bag and then sort-of knead and sqeeze until the whole thing was yellow.

Mom said the dairy farmers in WI and elsewhere demanded that oleo be sold that way so that no one would ever think it was really butter.

[trof]

50. Welcome to you, too, Digger.

You're just a year younger tha I am.
I remember the white oleo and the food coloring.
We had a frodge as far back as I can remember, but one of my aunts used a real "ice box" well into the 50s. I think she had a sign to put in the front window that said "10 lbs." on one side and "20 lbs." on the other. No sign in the window, you didn't need ice that day.

[areschild]

31. Chewing on sugar cane.

Does anyone remember sorghum syrup?

[trof]

51. Oh yeah.

The juice would run down my chin onto my shirt. The shirtfront would get as stiff as a board.
Still like sorghum syrup.

[Cheswick2.0]

32. candy bars were a nickel and there were only three stations on TV

but you could only get two because you were on the wrong side of the mountain to get the third. I went years without seeing anything on ABC.

[cmd]

35. All the above.........................

and we were glad to do it.

[DemoTex]

36. CW -- remember CW (Morse code)? That's geezerland nowdays!

But I am an anachronistic geezer from the heart of geezerland. I'll out-geezer any geezer on this geezernet.com.! Just don't try to geezer me in the geezerer, for Geeze sakes!

[trof]

52. CQ-CQ-CQ?

Something like that.
Maybe that was ham radio.
The only Morse I remember is SOS.

[ewagner]

120. LOL

Had to learn it for Civil Air Patrol and also for Boy Scouts...still only remember SOS.

Still remember the popsicle man, the milk being delivered to the house and the cream rising to the top.

Girls wearing white gloves.

then..

They killed JFK and everything changed.

[Hubert Flottz]

37. I remember Tricky Dick Nixon and Ike, like it was yesterday!

We Was PO!
The only thing I ever had in my lunch was turnip sandwiches all through school because we never had any money! After I out grew school and first went to work, I was still staying at home with Ma and Pa! Sooo I had Turnip sandwiches EVERY day at work! I hated Turnips from day 1!

One day I sneaked off early and stole some other guy's lunch and took it up on the hill outta' sight! I picked up the heaviest lunch bag there, cause I thought that person prolly had a better lunch than I could afford! When I opened the bag, there were three hickory nuts and a pall peen hammer in it! Times wuz hard! I ain't a-sh?ttin' you a pound!

[trof]

53. "three hickory nuts and a ball peen hammer"

That is FUNNY.
I never had a turnip sandwich.
The late southern comdeien Dave "Flat Git It!" Gardner had a bit about collard greens sammiches which "you have to lift and eat FAST, lest it fall through the crust".

[arwalden]

45. Can I Play? I'm A Junior-Geezer... a Geezer-In-Training...

is one's chronological age the primary requisite? Or is it possible for one to join if they have an understanding and appreciation and affinity for the things of which you speak?

-- Allen

[trof]

54. giddowdahere, ya kid, ya

Chronological age is not a prerequisite.
Just state of mind and a fond recollection of "the good ol' days".
You are now an honorary geezer.
Pass the Absorbine, Jr. please.
;-)

[geniph]

70. Allen, you can't be a geezer

'cause if you qualify, so do I - we're the same age!

(although I do remember when girls weren't allowed to wear pants to school...)

[areschild]

56. For the geezerettes.

Remember the little furry muffs (no wise ass remarks please :D ) that you put both hands in to keep warm?

[trof]

58. I do. I do.

VERY sophisticated.

[ScreamingMeemie]

59. With the stap that went around my neck. I had a matching hat.

:).

...and me only 33.

[izzie]

92. My God are you talking mittens? I did that until I was 55

I found it easier than all those news mittens or gloves for years. It used to make my husband mad to see the kids and I with our cords on so we would not forget our mittens.

[ScreamingMeemie]

57. Hey, not yet a geezerette...but Monday morning is still wash day

at my house, and I set my bread to rise on Tuesday. I am trying to instill a love of the simple and uncomplicated in my children. :)

**I'd put my wash out on the line if the city laws would allow it.
Nothing else quite like line dried clothing.

[trof]

61. A lady in the neighboring subdivision

had one of those merry-go-round clotheslines in her back yard.
The property owners' association has VERY strict rules about such things.
She had to build a lattice "cage" around it so as not to "offend" her neighbors.
:shrug:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

60. "i pledge alligence to the flag of the united states of america...

one nation for which it stands indivisable with liberty and justice for all"
circa 1954

[trof]

67. That's the way I learned it.

[MaineDem]

108. I remember learning it that way, too

And I had my picture taken for the newspaper when our school got the flag with the new stars in 1960.

[KoKo]

139. I was religious and grew up in South, but refused to say "under God!

No one noticed, but I remember when they put "Under God" in it. Even at that time I must have sensed the Fundies were on the rise! LOL's I was always a rebel, but I hate "change."

That's how I ended up here on DU! :D

[KoKo]

140. Anyone remember "Circle Collars and Circle Pins?" Gals

You had to have one. The "real ones" were gold......you looked for the fake ones that didn't have initials.......oh....it was a conformist time!

[trof]

152. Circle pins meant you were a virgin.

Although I suspect some non-virgins were "passing".

[ElsewheresDaughter]

62. party line and 4 digit number phones...jeebus i'm old

[trof]

65. We had 5 digits. 7-5212

How the hell can I remember THAT?
Then we went to name exchanges.
ALpine 7-5212.
Area codes? We didn't need no steenkeeng area codes.
Now my daughter (near Boston) has to dial the area code just to call next door.
When granny needed a number, she'd still "call central".
I remember the party line.
We were only supposed to answer one short-one long, rings.
I'd listen in, did you?
;-)

[izzie]

94. Oh dear we had a 3 number phone number. I can still recall it.

We had 2 phones and every one that came to my home thought it was pretty fancy. I do not recall not having 2 phones.Not 2 lines.

[alwynsw]

110. Eight party line

Who needed TV or radio. I used to love listening to Shirley, the Avon lady complain about her girdle. Hot stuff for a pubescent teen in those days.

It sucked when I got caught eavesdropping.

Remember those rings? Every house on the line had a different ring pattern. Before long, everyone else knew who was receiving a call. Check the time and you'd know if it was the two teenage sweethearts breathing heavily or Daisy griping about the sonic booms scaring the chickens and her milk cow.

We also had a privy until I was 10. Nothing like running 100 feet or so in the snow because you didn't want to have to empty the thunder mug.

I could go on. Rural life...old times...

[cosmicdot]

134. to call us, the number was Kimball 5-0307 and .....

no heat upstairs ... some winter nights we slept under tons of blankets ... heat downstairs was from an oil fueled floor furnace with a grate which was very 'hot' ... and an oil stove in the kitchen ...

no air conditioning ... born in hospital without it ... lived without for decades ...

refrigerator freezer had to be thawed with hot water in pans

"city water" had yet made it to our beach house in Princess Anne County (now Virginia Beach) ... we had lots of glass gallon coke bottles and one big 5 gallon glass container which we had to have filled for use ...

I remember seeing Howdy Doody on our little TV ... when, you looked in the back of the set, it was full of HUGE tubes










you fed the clothes through the wringer, and, then, clothespin them on the line to dry

[trof]

153. Hot air registers

Girls liked to stand on them in the winter and let the heat gather under their skirts. I was envious.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

63. individual Devil Dogs came wraped in wax paper and sold for a nickle

[FlaGranny]

64. Dog collars worn around the ankle, anyone?

Left ankle meant you were pledged, right ankle you were available. Remember the 4-inch wide, stretchy belts that hooked in front? Tight-fitting sweaters worn over pointy bras? Poodle skirts? Boys in white T-shirts with rolled up sleeves and Wranglers with rolled up bottoms? Brillcream - a little dab'l do ya? It gave the guys greasy-looking slicked back hair. Drive-in hangouts?

One guess as to when I was a teen.

[trof]

66. Yes to all except the dog collars.

We traded ID bracelets or wore our girl's class ring on a chain around our necks. The girls wrapped tape around our rings until they were tight enought to stay on their delicate little fingers.

We had 2 drive-ins a block apart and a standard "traffic pattern".
You ALWAYS started at The Pig Trail Inn (a barbecue jernt), cruised that, and then out and down the block to cruise Dale's Hideaway (a little more up-scale jernt). Repeat ad infinitum until you were low on gas or it was time to go home. Years later, flying holding patterns, I was reminded of that. "See and be seen" was the order of the day.

Another popular drive-in had the local rock & roll station broadcast booth right in the parking lot. You could tip the car-hop a quarter to submit a "dedicated" request and hear your name or your girl's on the radio a few minutes later. "We have a request for Elvis doing Blue Suede Shoes going out for trof and his steady sweetie, Carolyn. Y'all be good kids and don't do anything I wouldn't do. hee hee" Fleeting fame.

Rolled up jeans. When I was a little kid they were "dungarees", and you rolled them up as many times as was necessary to keep from tripping. In high school, it was ONE crisp turn-up, about an inch wide. Now it's NO cuffs. I have no idea when the rules changed.

[FlaGranny]

90. Maybe dog collars were a local thing. n/m

[KoKo]

136. dog collars.....it was a "Southern Thing" too funny. what about

saddle shoes with the "buckle in the back?" Now that's one that not many know about. Only those who wore the "dog collar" on their ankle!

:D.......we sound really strange here, don't we?

[KoKo]

137. Comic Books! Bat Man and that guy who ate spiders hanging upside down

Who was that character. Scared the * out of me, but I loved to read it.
Always in spider webs and had creepy friends.

[trof]

154. the buckle-in-the-back fad

Guys' "Ivy League" slacks with the buckle.
Then jackets.
Pretty soon EVERYTHING had a buckle-in-the-back.
I don't remember EVER cinching up the buckle to make something fit better.
;-)

[oneighty]

69. Serious Trof

I must be darned near the oldest old geezer on DU. Why when I was a little guy growing up in a "cracker jacks box" of a house high on a cliff over looking mighty Lake Erie, said house had no electric, gas or running water. We did in fact use oil lamps. We had one white gas Coleman Lantern. Heat came from a wood fired kitchen stove. There was an out house. It was over a mile to school. The wintertime journey to and from school in winter time was an adventure every day, for sure. Gasoline, butter, coffee, sugar other food stuff was rationed, as were tires for Dad's car I believe. The terrible fall and winter storms sweeping in off Lake Erie would often cause snow drifts to the top of hiway bill boards. In 1944 I was ten years old. Dad hired me out to a farm where I was a "Child Slave" for the summer. Being a slave was not much worse than the house on Lake Erie!
180

180

[trof]

95. Sounds damned serious,

and not much fun.
I nominate 180 for Geezer Emeritus.
There's no honorarium involved, but you get to wear a blue satin sash with a gold medal on it.
;-)

[oneighty]

101. HoooYeah!

Blue sash nice. Gold metal very nice!

Number 101 on Trof Thread. Trof's longest thread since the beginning of time?

Gezzer that word you say!

180

[trof]

102. and now 102.

Could be.
Thery usually sleep with the fishes.

[areschild]

71. Black patent leather shoes

with a buckle worn with pretty anklets. I thought those were so pretty and I wanted a pair so badly. Never did get a pair. I think I wore ugly brown oxford type shoes with laces and high stockings.

[ohiosmith]

72. Got thrown out of the Junior Prom for doing the grind.

[LuLu550]

76. I got thrown out a school dance for wearing

a "prairie dress" because the teacher said it wasn't a dress, it was a costume. Interestingly enough, the teacher was Alec Baldwin's father.

[ohiosmith]

77. OK, what's a prairie dress?

[LuLu550]

82. late 1960s floor length dress

made of gingham or similar fabric...so you looked like you stepped off the stage during a performance of "Oklahoma!" I think it was short-lived fad but I had a few of them.

[ohiosmith]

83. I remember those. Very popular with hippie chicks. Thanks.

[LuLu550]

88. that was me...

First I dressed "Carnaby Street" (like "Twiggy") then I became a hippie...even wore a small brass bell from India....drove the teachers nuts....they called me "Flower Power."

[ohiosmith]

89. That's a hoot. I went directly from hood to hippie. Duck ass do to

hair to the middle of my back, ear ring, bell bottoms, sandals, tie dye, etc.

[trof]

96. I think we called 'em "granny dresses".

[alwynsw]

114. We called 'em peasant dresses

saw a few of the girls "on the bench" outside the principal's office waiting for mom with "acceptable clothing".

[Snow]

128. Oh, yeah, that's what we called 'em too. And how abuot granny glasses?

there was a lot of granny going around in the late 60's or so, eh? I suppose I'm overdue to check in on this thread, but here I am, fellow geeseroids. I missed some of this stuff 'cuz I spent the early 70's in Korea in the Peace Corps. Hmmm. Is the Peace Corps another geezer thing?

[LuLu550]

73. we had to kneel on the floor

and if our skirts didn't hit the floor, we had to rip the hems out. The principal also put a ruler in our hair because we weren't allowed to tease it too high. And this was a public school, mind you.

[latebloomer]

79. In 1969 in high school

we still weren't allowed to wear pants to school. However, we wore miniskirts so short they barely covered our asses-- least I did!

Go figure. . .

[ohiosmith]

81. Mini skirts and angel blouses. My favs.

[LuLu550]

84. yeah, them, too

the punchline to the prairie dress story was that I called my Mom and asked her to bring me my shortest mini skirt so I could change in the bathroom and get into the dance. I walked by Mr. Baldwin and sassed him...."Is this BETTER, Mr. Baldwin?" I asked in my sweetest high school girl sarcastic voice....

This was in 1967-68 ... I graduated in 68.

[ohiosmith]

85. Mini skirts and angel blouses were banned at my HS.

[trof]

97. "Angel blouses"?

[ohiosmith]

98. They were great. sleeveless, all lacy and only covered the dare I say it?

The bosom.

[ohiosmith]

75. Calling all perv boys. Dental mirrors instead of pennys in our loafers.

[areschild]

78. Hey, I remember you guys doing that!

Can anyone guess what they were doing with the mirrors?

[ohiosmith]

80. Did/do you know?

[areschild]

86. Yeah!

If I'm not mistaken, it had to do with talking to a girl, placing your foot just right, and looking down.

[ohiosmith]

87. Uh hu! God we were pigs.

[areschild]

93. Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

:spank:

[ohiosmith]

99. Maybe that's why I need glasses now. Too much squinting.

[trof]

100. Well, I can't let this thread die 1 reply shy of triple digits.

Thanks to all of you for the various nostalgic journeys down memory lane.
(I STILL can't believe I remembered my phone # from 1950.)
Let's do this again, sometime.
Anyone who wants to nostalge can start it.
Age (or lack of same) is no barrier.
:hi:

[roguevalley]

104. I remember party lines, dialing only four numbers for a call, dirt roads

in good sized towns, milk delivery to your door step in bottles,
the cookie man and meat man coming around to neighborhoods.

Stamps for 7 cents, candy bars -big ones- for a nickle and a popsickle
for 7 cents.

[roguevalley]

103. I remember dress codes in high school, when divorce was illegal in

America, when there were no seat belts in cars but they had a rope
across the back of the front seat to hold on to, when we said the pledge and then the Lord's Prayer, where we had our fingernails, hands and teeth inspected every morning in grade school, when walking to school was safe, when the worst bully was your brother and guns
were never in plain sight.

Ah, the good old daze.

[Elwood P Dowd]

105. Any baseball fans remember the Saturday Game of The Week

on CBS back in the 50s and early 60s? Dizzy Dean and Buddy Blatner (sp?) at first and then Pee Wee Reese. Dizzy would get a little drunk drinking the sponsor's beer (was it Fallstaff?) and start singing songs if it were a boring game. He had terms like "frozen rope" or "he slud home". It seemed they were always broadcasting the big Yankee games back in the days of Mickey Mantle, Moose Skowran, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Gil McDougal, Hank Bauer, Bob Turley, Don Larson, and Casey Stengal. I probably botched up the spelling of some of these. The 1961 Yankees were all-time my favorite team. The Milwaukee Braves were always my favorite National League team, and as luck would have it they moved South 90 miles from me in 1966.

CBS and NBC would televise one game a week on Saturday, and that was it for televised baseball. The rest of the week you listened to "The Game Of The Day" on your local AM station or picked up things on clear channel stations at night like the Cardinals on KMOX when you were not listening to rock'n roll on WLS out of Chicago.

I had an ole' Zenith tube type radio that would pick up the world at night. Even living in the South I could listen to several major league baseball games every night.

[MaineDem]

106. Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy

I vaguely remember this on Saturdays. I dont recall which show it was. Buster Brown maybe?

Anyone else remember it?

[Digger]

115. Yep,

I think it was "Froggy the Gremlin Show". I can't remember the old mans name (Ed?) but he would start telling a story and Froggy would interrupt and interject some kind of goofy words which the old man would repeat and get all confused. Froggy would be jumping up and down laughing and the kids would go wild. Someone would always say "plunk your magic twanger froggy".

I think Buster Brown Shoes was the sponser, it was one of my favorite shows. Wish I could remember more details.

[trof]

116. Hiya, kids! Hiya, Hiya, Hiya!

The Smilin' Ed Show (radio)
And Midnight the Cat, Squeaky the Mouse, Mr. Explorer.
I think Froggy was invisible until Smilin' Ed could convince him to "plunk your magic twanger".
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/nyuk/froggy.html

[Digger]

125. Ha, ha, ha...

... maybe that's why Froggy was so appealing, he was just like us.

Thanks trof for the cool link and the great thread.

[cmd]

107. Can't leave out the crinolines

You needed at least three layers under your poodle skirt to get the right look. Bobby socks had to be triple rolled. Sometime in the late 50's saddle shoes were improved by running the black in a stripe around the top. Crinolines were out by then. You had to have scarves to wear around your neck and preferably you wore your cardigan buttoned up the back.

The early 60's were my preppy days. Then on to mini skirts and love beads. Since a was a young professional then, I didn't get to enjoy the full psycodelic wardrobe.

Ah, the 70's! Hot pants and go-go boots. Looking good, mama!

Then gravity set in.

I love this thread.

[areschild]

109. Remember the term

Hep Cat in the 50s? To look really Hep, you wore your collar up in the back.

Edit: sp

[Snow]

129. OMG, I remember the collar thing!

That looked so stupid - I showed my kids the other day and they were, ummmm, incredulous.

[KoKo]

143. James Dean/Marlon Brando, Peyton Place? How Shocking it was, at the

time. How folks would laugh today, and probably do!

[KoKo]

144. Sneaking a drink of "White Lightening" under a bridge. Never tried it

again. That was "daring." :D

[trof]

155. Our library had a copy of "Peyton Place"

with all the "good parts" dog eared. I think it was the first time I got kinda...ahem..."turned on" by littachure.
;-)

[FlaGranny]

118. I forgot the bobbysocks - how could I?

I remember another fad from the mid 50's. Very skinny neckties for girls. I had a black knitted one that I wore with a pink shirt, the 4-inch stretchy belt and one of those very flared skirts (with crinolines), bottomed off with penny loafers and bobby socks. Long blond hair in a pony tail. Peasant blouses were fairly popular in the early 50's. I loved mine.

I also remember from the late 1940's the pants that women wore. Very loose legged and flared at the bottom. They were very flattering I thought. Also from the late 40's, sexy halter tops. But in the late 40's I was too young to take advantage of them.

Also, in the 40's and 50's men went to baseball games dressed in suits, ties, and hats.

Oh, golly, does anyone remember the Nash automobile that looked like an upside down bathtub and had seats that folded down into a bed? My parents had one of those. We took it on vacation to Colorado and slept in it a couple of times.

[trof]

119. Nash Rambler

Girls' dads wouldn't let their daughters date guys who had one.
The "bed" thing.
;-)
I wondered if anybody else did the Pink&Black fad thing.

[trof]

117. crinolines and girdles

When girls wore crinolines they "crunched" when you slow-danced with them.
In my teens and 20s, seems like the women all wore girdles. Putting you arm around a girl in a girdle gave the same yielding softness of putting your arm around a water heater.
And waist cinchers. How did they breathe?

[KoKo]

135. ROFL! Do you know how much "starch and effort" went into those crinoline

preparations. And....the "line drying" so that they came out "perfect?"

I won't get into that other "undergarment." It was like Scarlett being "cinched" into her "lace up."

Too funny the fuss and stuff that went on, then.

[ewagner]

121. Remember comedy albums?

"Brother" Dave Gardner

Shelly Berman

Rusty Warren. (her album was entitled Knockers Up so I could only listen to it when my parents weren't home)

I think Bob Newhart was a latecomer to that mix too.

[trof]

122. Brother Dave "Flat Git It" Gardner.

Got one of his old albums on CD now. Still cracks me up. Especially Miss Baby and Junior and the motorcycle wreck.
Have "The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart" on CD too.

[ohiosmith]

126. Zippers up the side and zippers up the back and a tattoo on his arm

saying "mammy you the most".

[Snow]

130. The best comedy albums were Bill Cosby...

I still have those; my son discovered them a year or two ago and got totally hooked.

[Skittles]

123. BOTH OF MY GRANDPARENTS HAD OUTHOUSES

AND THE FIREPLACE WAS THE ONLY SOURCE OF HEAT. I SLEPT WITH A HOT WATER BOTTLE! :D

[trof]

124. Separate outhouses? Wow!

We all had to use the same one.
;-)

[alwynsw]

127. Didja have both white and brown corncobs?

For the uninitiated: use a brown one first, then use a white one to see if you need another brown one.

[trof]

133. My BEST laugh so far today.

Thank you.
Miz t. sez her grandparents had a Sears and Roebuck catalogue for "wipies".
No kidding.

[murielm99]

132. Your GRANDPARENTS had outhouses??

Hell, we had one...and no running water, either. This was in the early fifties. We lived in a trailer house, until 1954.

My little brother threw my favorite doll down the outhouse hole. My mom would not let me throw his fire engine down there in retaliation, though. (Unfair)! She did retrieve the doll for me, however.

[trof]

156. You STILL wanted the doll?

<whew>
Welcome to DU, muriel.
:hi:

[FlaGranny]

161. Yikes, outhouses!

I was lucky. My parents had indoor plumbing, but many in our small community didn't. My aunt and uncle had an outhouse and when I would have a sleepover with my cousin I had to use it. In the winter, it was excruciating. You got so cold you tensed up and couldn't go. They kept chamber pots in the bedroom on very cold nights, but I never could bring myself to use one. Even if it was 10 degrees outside, the outhouse still smelled, but nothing like it did in summer. I suppose the lime helped, but you couldn't prove it by me.

[Mr. McD]

131. Pegged pants and Beatle boots

Hard's vs Surfer's :shrug:

[Vitruvius]

142. Stuffing envelopes for Stevenson, reds under the bed, Nixon looking guilty

as sin re his slush fund, 4-H Club, TV coming in -- with one station, Howdy-Doody and the "Little Lenny" kiddie show TV (starring Lenny Bruce before he became famous), the local McCarthyites getting Little Lenny fired for his irreverent (but clean) humor -- and for being Jewish (the local right wing-nuts were grossly antisemitic until Barry Goldwater ran in '64), well-attended and boisterous Democratic Party meetings in the Grange Hall, strong unions, Sputnik, followed by Vanguard blowing up, paved roads in town, dirt roads where we lived, Col. R------ (the neighbor down the hill) flying over in his new jet -- the first I'd seen, Col. R. bringing his kids around on Halloween -- carrying a jigger (and enjoying a drink with Father), Col. R's daughter dying of something that's now routinely curable, getting a .22 at 10, learning to use an ax and adz, building a log cabin, house and barn with post-and-beam construction, 35 to 40 kids in a class, strict (and exceedingly efficient) teachers who were looked up to, wood-sided rattle-trap school bus, wise-asses in the back (same as now, I assume), and so on.

[KoKo]

145. Growing up in South, two relatives were for Stevenson! They were

considered "Left leaning Commie/Pinko Liberals".....It's so funny thinking back to then. I was really little, but remember that because they were for Stevenson they were "really out of it." They were both great folks, my aunt and uncle.

[ewagner]

147. ....followed by Vanguard blowing up,

WOW! I thought I was the only one who remembered that. We lived about 40 miles from Cape Canaveral when I was growing up in Florida. A lot of the tech from the space program lived in our neighborhood and would find subtle ways of tipping us off that there was going to be a launch of some kind. The tech used to call the Vanguard, "snake killer" because there were a lot of rattlesnakes in the palmetto scrub and sand dunes around the launch pads. The Vanguard explosions were usually spectabular and killed a lot of snakes.....

got to see all of the moon launches. Got to see the contrails from Alan Shepard's launch and they let school out to watch John Glenn's first flight. Still remember hearing the countdown on the radio and then seeing the rocket come above the horizon. Still get chills down my spin when I hear replays of Mission Control saying "God Speed John Glenn"

[KoKo]

146. Drive in Movies and the "thingy on the window for sound?" It would come

and go, and you hoped you didn't get the "dud box sound" when you had a blind date, because you might get "jumped" if it was too quiet?

[trof]

157. Ever drive off with the speaker still on the window?

I did. Lucky that the wire broke before the window was ripped out. Then they started attaching them with aircraft cable and the window DID rip out.

You could tell who was into heavy make-out, because the windows were all fogged up. They weren't watching the movie anyway.

Hiding people in the trunk and only paying for one or two? We got caught once and thought we were going to the penitentiary. They just made everybody pay.

Oh, and turning off your lights and driving IN the exit? Got caught doing that too.

[proud2BlibKansan]

148. I can remember

black and white TV, and the test patterns when stations actually went off the air instead of showing infomercials. And after we watched a show on TV, we turned the TV off and got up and did something else.

The World Series games were played during the day and folks took off work or had a little transistor radio with them to listen to the game.

Anyone remember when you got your phone from the ONE phone company, it was black, it never broke and it lasted for decades?

Who remembers licking S&H green stamps for hours and pasting them into a little book?

Bread 5 cents a loaf
Gas 25 cents a gallon
Cigarettes 35 cents a pack

[Shanty Oilish]

150. We could make real big fires in our yards, nobody cared

Burning leaves, or whatever.
We could ride our bikes with no helmets, miles out of town, nobody cared. When I was 12 I could go to the airport and bum a ride on a plane, nobody worried.

Planes flew low over American towns. Blimps too. You could hang around Central Park for years without getting mugged. Play with toy guns without getting diagnosed. Sometimes real ones.

We could buy cigarettes for our parents.

The speedometers in cars had bigger numbers. We could sit in the back of a pickup truck while it was moving, nobody got ticketed.

We could sit in the theater all night for the price of one show, and if it was a drive-in we could get in free (via the trunk).

Speaking of drive-ins, there was no AIDS or herpes to worry about.

More beaches were free.

Customs officials were friendlier. People in other countries were nicer to Americans.

The music was much better.

[trof]

158. We used to hitch rides on trains.

NOT recommended.
We'd ride our bikes downtown to the L&N railyard and jump on freight cars that the yard engines were switching back and forth.

[ewagner]

159. Hey Trof

Many thanks for starting this thread.

You and the other "geezers" who replied brought back some warm, fuzzy memories....and....dammit....it just FEELS GOOD!

[trof]

160. Didn't expect it to last this long.

They're coming out of the woodwork.
next time I'll ask folks to sign in with what part of the country they grew up in. It's interesting to see the different customs.

[areschild]

162. We used to go to the local butcher

and ask for bones for our dogs. They would give them to us free.