(Images of Radio Console and Bumper Jack for changing tires are shown also.)
12 inch Television
OLDER THAN DIRT
‘Someone asked the other day, ‘What was your favorite fast food when
you were growing up?’
‘We didn’t have fast food when I was growing up,’ I informed him.
‘All the food was slow.’
‘C’mon, seriously. Where did you eat?’
‘It was a place called ‘at home,” I explained!
‘Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down
together at the dining room table, and if I didn’t like what she put
on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.’
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going
to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn’t tell him the part about
how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some
other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his
system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis , never set
foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the country or had a
credit card. In their later years they had something called a
revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears & Robuck. Or
maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore.
Maybe he died.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because
we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50
pounds, and only had one speed, (slow)
We didn’t have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of
course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight,
after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back
on the air at about 6 a.m. And there was usually a locally produced
news and farm show on, featuring local people.
I was 15 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called ‘pizza pie.’
When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid
off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that,
too. It’s still the best pizza I ever had..
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in
the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you
had to listen and make sure some people you didn’t know weren’t
already using the line.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered
newspapers — my brother delivered a newspaper, 7 days a week. It cost
5 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at
6AM every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect from his customers.
His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told
him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who
seemed to never be home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the
movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were
responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity
or violence or most anything offensive.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may
want to share some of these memories with your children or
grandchildren. Just don’t blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn’t what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend :
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother’s house (she died in December)
and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top
was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it
was, but my daughter had no idea.. She thought they had tried to make
it a salt shaker or something I knew it as the bottle that sat on the
end of the ironing board to ‘sprinkle’ clothes with because we didn’t
have steam irons. Man, I am old.
How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons (hair curling rods too) you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.
Older Than Dirt Quiz:
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom:
1 Blackjack chewing gum
2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines on the telephone
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and
were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were
only 3 channels [if you were<fortunate])
12. Pea shooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S &H green stamps
16. Hi-fi’s
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packard’s
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5, You’re still young
If you remembered 6-10, You’re getting older
If you remembered 11-15, Don’t tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25, You’ re older than dirt!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best
parts of my life.
Don’t forget to pass this along!!
Especially to all your really OLD friends ….
Respectfully Submitted by Mary Herbert of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Wilson Lake Herbert Family Reunion Circle
Remington Rand Typewriter
Maytag Washer with wringer
