Things they said 50 years ago - were you there to see/hear them?

[williesgirl]

Comments made in the year 1955:


"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy 2 weeks' groceries for $20."

"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2000 will only buy a used one."

"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."

"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

"If they raise the minimum wage to 75 cents, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."

"When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 17 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage."

"Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls."

"I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying 'damn' in 'Gone With The Wind,' it seems every new movie has either "hell" or "damn" in it.

"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."

"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president."

"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."

"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."

"Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more; those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."

"I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."

"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress."

"There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $4 a night to stay in a hotel."

"No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."

"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."



Thought it would be nice to lighten things up for just a very few minutes.

[MadMaddie]

1. Isn't that something....

Where did you get the statements?

[williesgirl]

3. A friend of mine just emailed them to me, no author shown. I was only 10

then but I do remember some of the prices etc.

[China_cat]

7. I remember

gas at $.17/gal and cigarette machines where you put in a quarter and the pack you got had 3 pennies in the side. Food prices are a bit more hazy as we butchered our own meat, gathered our own eggs, milked the cow, churned the butter, baked the bread and grew our own veggies and some fruits...and did a LOT of canning and jelly/jam/preserves making. Didn't buy much in the way of edibles.

[niyad]

2. my personal favourite: "nuclear energy will make our utilities too cheap

to meter, and it's perfectly safe"

[CBGLuthier]

4. funny, but bogus

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/1955comments.asp

[BlackHeart]

5. Babe Ruth

earned more than the president in the 1920's, when asked if that was fair he said "Yes, because I had a better year than Hoover had".

"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president."

[Mz Pip]

6. I remember

25 cent a gallon gas. My first job paid 90 cents an hour. I talked my dad into buying me a really nice dress for the Homecoming dance and it cost $25, twice as much as he wanted to pay.

But it's all relative. People made a lot less money but stuff cost a whole lot less, too.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Yes, everything's relative

My first rent was only $75 a month, but then I only was paid $325. It seems like everything now is just 10 times more, all the way across the board. Ten times more income, ten times more outgo.

[BlackHeart]

8. The Mercury Seven astronauts were choosen in 1959

"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."

Sorry, but if I see a nit I pick it.

[datadiva]

9. Yep, I was there,

How about this one? "IF Kennedy gets elected the Pope with rule the USA".

[NYCGirl]

10. There are a number of false statements in that — Snopes debunks it:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/trivia/1955comments.asp

But it is fun.

[Neil Lisst]

12. I can remember gasoline under 20 cents a gallon in the 1960s.

You could buy a new car for under $2000 well into the sixties, too.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. When I started driving in 1969

gas was .25 a gallon and cigarettes were .50 a pack. A brand new Pinto was $1995.

[Neil Lisst]

14. When I was a sperm, gasoline was under 10 cents a gallon.

And they had to crank the little handle on the side of the pump each time to zero it out.