REMEMBER WHEN...? (REVISITED)

Vanity | April 19, 2004 | Self

[redhead]

Remember when…

…milk cost 25 cents a quart, hamburger was 25 cents a pound, and a loaf of bread was 25 cents?

A kid could go to the store with a dollar and buy everything his mom told him, and still have change.

…the neighbors all knew whose kid you were, and they watched you as if you were their own while you all played outside at dusk?

…a dollar's worth of gasoline would take you a hundred miles?

…mothers wore aprons in the kitchen?

…dads worked at jobs that required ties and belts and "dress-down Fridays were unheard of?

…you could get into the Saturday matinee for 14 cents and still have 11 cents left from your quarter to buy a good-sized pile of candy for the movie?

…you used to sit in your theater seat and wonder why they went to such lengths to decorate the theater with all those cherubs and curlicues and soft lights when nobody could see them in the dark?

…outside sleepovers? We called it "sleeping out." We would all get together, roll out our bedding or sleeping bags on the lawn, and sleep outdoors.

…you could buy a 4-bedroom house on an acre of ground for $5,000?

…the library enforced the "Shhhhh!" rule?

…the only things in the library were books and they actually had a limit on how many you could check out at a time--like 12?

…you and your friends would walk 5 miles to swim, swim for 4 hours, then hike the 5 miles back home?

…toys weren't the only thing in the Sears Christmas Catalog?

…your mom could put together a pretty good Christmas for under a hundred dollars?

…you knew where all the present hiding places were, but never did much more than just "locate" them?

…Valentine's Day meant you went around to your friends' houses and left valentines on their doorsteps?

…nobody worked on Sunday but mom?

…pot roast for Sunday dinner every other week (chicken and dumplings on alternate Sundays) always smelled and tasted so good when you got home from church?

…you had chores to do before you could go play anywhere on Saturday…chores like washing dishes, making beds, doing laundry, sweeping and mopping the floors, etc…?

…your boyfriends all called your mother "Ma'am" and your dad "Sir," and actually had you home before midnight?

[umgud]

I still have the weapon, a 1908 Winchester pump.

I always wanted one of those. I recently bought a Rossi Mod 62 pump (in 22WMR) that copies the early winchester gallery guns. What a fun gun.

[SnuffaBolshevik]

Four preteen brothers ranging through a 200 acre wood throwing hickory nuts at each other-be home by dark. No child molesters. Playing Army with baseball bats for guns. The Americans always whipped the Germans and the Japs. Waiting up the road for Dad to come home from work in the tired old Ford pickup-ride in the back the last half-mile. Get a nickle for polishing his shoes before church. Wheaties in a cabinet in the basement during the Cuban missile crisis. So proud of his raise from $2.75 to $3.00 an hour in 1963. He's still working at 78 years of age!

[hillyes]

Peanuts in my RC.

[stevem]

I remember Burma Shave signs on the 2 lane highways.

The most entertaining TV commercials (by far) were the cigarette ads.

TV shows had theme songs that made you want to sit through to the end to listen.

Actors on network TV could offered convincing negative emotion without using crude language, and you could watch the most popular shows with your girl friend without being embarrassed at the utter classlessness of it i.e. network TV was actually watchable.

Backyard basketball games to dark that you had to win by two baskets (just to prove it) and touch football in the street...endless games that ended with, "Next touchdown wins!"

A million innings of wiffle ball...eventually with all hits and most outs following "ground rules."

I'm sure I'll think of a bunch more after I go to bed tonight.

[Kensei]

The best California gas price I remember was $0.199 in July 1970 (I was working as a pizza delivery guy at $1.65/hr plus tips).

[mrs. a]

I remember that 85% of the kids in my grade school walked home from school and 95% of the mothers were home to meet them.

We could go play in the woods. We could get on our bikes and ride anywhere - just away!

We could grab our ice skates and walk through the nature trail alone to skate on the lake in the park.

[LiberalLady]

A kid could go to the store with a dollar and buy everything his mom told him, and still have change.

And a Mom who'd let me buy a handful of penny candy with that change. And the candy really cost a penny a piece.

Target shooting with my cousins ... and my brother getting POed because I could hit more targets with the .22 than he could.

Phone calls were a nickle, soda pop a dime.

The time I got caught on a hot July afternoon riding my bike with my shirt off 'cause it was so much cooler.

Of course, we still make ice cream by hand-cranking it. My kids are getting pretty good at it. And I still bake from scratch when I get home from work. Cakes and cookies are just better that way.

[speekinout]

CA had gas wars in the early 70's. I had a Fiat Sport Spyder that got 40 mi/gal and had a 4 1/2 gal. gas tank. A fill-up was about 80 cents.
Sigh.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

I could watch midget wrestlin without meathead taking my chair.

[tbird1]

I went to work for the U.S. Postal Service in 1942 at the rate of 0.65 per hour.
tbird1

[SAMWolf]

Saturday morning serials chapters 1 through 15,
Fly paper, penny loafers, Lucky Strike Green.
Flat tops, sock hops, Studebaker, Pepsi Please,
Ahh, do you remember these?

Cigar Bands, on your hand, your daddy's socks rolled down.
Sticks, snow floats and aviator caps with flaps that button down.
Movie stars on Dixie Cup tops, and knickers to your knees,
Ahh, do you remember these?

The Hit Parade, grape Tru-Aid, The Sadie Hawkins Dance,
Pedal pushers, duck tail hair and peggin' your pants.
Howdie-Doodie, Tutti-Frutti, the seam up the back of her hose,
Ahh, do you remember those?

James Dean, he was keen, Sunday movies were taboo,
The Senior Prom, Judy's mom, Rock-n-Roll was new.
Cracker Jack prize, stars in your eyes, as Daddy tore the keys,
Ahh, do you remember these?

The boogey man, lemonade stands, takin' your tonsils out,
Hindenburg, -n- wait your turn, and 4 foul balls you're out.
Cigarette loads, -n- secret codes, -n- savin' lucky stars,
Can you remember back that far?

The boat neck shirts, and fender skirts and crinoline petticoats,
Mum's the word, and a dirty bird and a double root beer float.
Moon hub caps, and loud heel taps, and he's a real gone cat.
Ahh, do you remember that?

Dancin' close, little moron jokes, and cooties in her hair,
Captain Midnight, Ovaltine, and The Whip at the County Fair.
Charles Atlas Course, Roy Roger's Horse, and "only The Shadow knows"
Ahh, do you remember those?

Gable's charm, Frog in your arm, loud mufflers, pitchin' woo,
Going steady, Veronica and Betty, white bucks, and "Blue Suede Shoes"
Knock Knock jokes, and "Who's there?", Dewey, Dewey who?;
Do we, do we remember these? Yes, we do, Ahh do we do we remember these?

Statler Brothers

[fidelis]

Taking the wagon and collecting coke bottles and buying an IMMENSE bag of penny candy--and eating the whole thing!

Riding bikes and playing army and hide and go seek and tag and baseball and "exploring" the canyons of San Diego until it got dark.

Being able to talk to any adult because they were nice and we were respectful.

Going to the drive-in theater in our pajamas and playing on their playground until the movie started (the lights would blink as a warning and all the kids would run screaming back to their cars)

Milk in glass bottles delivered to your door.

Ice cream men that actually sold ice cream.

Getting into a good old fashioned tussle with the obnoxious kid down the street and not being worried he'd come after me with a gun.

Looking forward to the top ten countdown every week on AM radio to see what the new number 1 song would be.


Did I miss anything?

[redhead]

Gads! I forgot about that song, but every time I heard it, it made me nostalgic. I always laughed when I heard some philospher say, "What are the kids of today going to tell THEIR kids they 'went without?' "

[SAMWolf]

Taking the wagon and collecting coke bottles and buying an IMMENSE bag of penny candy--and eating the whole thing!

You could spend 30 minutes at the penny candy counter trying to figure out what to get. Siiiiigh!

[redhead]

"Taking the wagon and collecting coke bottles and buying an IMMENSE bag of penny candy--and eating the whole thing!"

When we first moved to Payson Utah, we bought an old house that had an old icebox in it. Every Saturday morning, mom would give us 50 cents, and we'd go borrow the neighbor kids' wagon, walk over to the service station, and buy a 50-pound block of ice for the icebox. Gads.

"Milk in glass bottles delivered to your door. Milk in glass bottles delivered to your door."

If you live anywhere around New Prague, Minnesota, you can STILL get home delivered milk in glass bottles. Cream top. Grassfed cows. Nectar of the gods...