OT: If you grew up in the 50's, you'll remember some of these things from that era.

[CL82]

I remember that hitchhiking was common, safe and very economical...better than Uber. Also, the Saturday AM test pattern signaled the start of a morning of great kid TV watching. Ah, yes, and then there was Payola. Ugh.

Sure. I both hitchhiked and gave rides to others.

Remember when you saw someone by the side of the road you would pull over to see if they needed help? In the days before cell phones, if your car broke down you couldn’t just call for help. People were pretty good though about stopping, giving you a ride so you can get gas or changing a tire.

 

[donalddoowop]

In the 50s, when the street lights came on, I came into my house and put away my Spaldeen and box of chalk so my brother couldn't get them. Next, I turned on WINS and listened to the Alan Freed show all night. I went to all of Freed's rock-n-roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount which was just a few blocks from my high school, Brooklyn Tech. Occasionally I did homework while listening to the radio, cuz Tech was an elite school and some of its courses were tough!

Lucky you.

 

[Skeets]

Remember one of the opening lines from the "Twilight Zone"? "Don't touch your TV set, we control the horizontal". If you said these words to a kid today, they would have no clue what you are talking about. A lot of things have gotten worse, but some things have gotten much better: TVs, cars, etc. When's the last time you had you had a flat tire on the road or over heated? Couldn't drive to the beach without seeing 3 or 4 cars broken down along the way. What else has gotten better?

 

[CL82]

Remember one of the opening lines from the "Twilight Zone"? "Don't touch your TV set, we control the horizontal"

That was “The Outer Limits”. Twilight zone was:

"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.”

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Seemed like almost everyone smoked. TV commercials advertised how cool smoking was.

Actors frequently smoked in movies. John Wayne smoked at least once in almost every movie. He lost a lung to cancer, after smoking 3+ packs of cigarettes per day.

My doctor when I was a child smoked. I remember him smoking while listening to my heart with a stethoscope.

 

[CL82]

Seemed like almost everyone smoked. TV commercials advertised how cool smoking was.

Actors frequently smoked in movies. John Wayne smoked at least once in almost every movie. He lost a lung to cancer, after smoking 3+ packs of cigarettes per day.

The one that always sticks out to me is from Miracle on 34th St. The lawyer is in his apartment getting ready for bed. He brushes his teeth and when he finishes he picks up his cigarette and takes a long drag off it then climbs into bed.

 

[cohenzone]

We had door deliveries galore in Hartford. Sealtest milkman, Bond bread man, fruit truck, laundry man, egg man, and the insurance man came to collect premiums. Had my Winky Dink magic screen. Sob stories on Queen for a Day. 15 minute national news at around dinner time with John Cameron Swayze yes 15 minutes, Dave Garroway’s Today Show, and Kate Smith just because it was a TV show. Roller skates with key clamps that made a cool sound on the sidewalk. Cap guns. Walking to school to Junior High and high school even though both were about 15 blocks away. But most of all I Remember Mama and test patterns. Well not most of all, most of all Mickey Mantle and the Mickey Mouse Club and every boys’ crush Annette Funicello.

ETA. Almost forgot. Gas wars. Nearby gas stations undercutting each other to prices under 25 cents a gallon while pumping gas, checking oil, wiping windshield and tire pressure. Now a gas war is making sure the station matches the highest prices around, pumping your own while the staff is busy ringing up cigarettes, soda and junk food.

 

[Stymie]

This will never come back.
Remember when the TV went on the “blink”?
Parent would call the TV Repair Man.
He’d show up with this big black case that had a bazillion tubes and widgets in it.
He’d pivot the TV off of the wall, place a mirror in front of the screen so he could see what was going on from behind it-take off the back panel and work his magic.
Picture would go through all kinds of contortions- he’d reach in his case and replace what was needed.
Little by little the picture would come back.
A MIRICLE!!
TV back in business!
HALLELUJAH!!
The universe is saved!
Just in time for Soupy Sales!!!

 

[Improviser]

Remember one of the opening lines from the "Twilight Zone"? "Don't touch your TV set, we control the horizontal". If you said these words to a kid today, they would have no clue what you are talking about. A lot of things have gotten worse, but some things have gotten much better: TVs, cars, etc. When's the last time you had you had a flat tire on the road or over heated? Couldn't drive to the beach without seeing 3 or 4 cars broken down along the way. What else has gotten better?

Streaming music and the ability to download songs onto your computer or tablet and then listen to them when you want.

For better or worse, reliable sites for medical information on the Internet. I stress the word reliable.

Problem can be if a person obsesses on these innovations and avoids interaction with family members.

 

[UHF]

This will never come back.
Remember when the TV went on the “blink”?
Parent would call the TV Repair Man.
He’d show up with this big black case that had a bazillion tubes and widgets in it.
He’d pivot the TV off of the wall, place a mirror in front of the screen so he could see what was going on from behind it-take off the back panel and work his magic.
Picture would go through all kinds of contortions- he’d reach in his case and replace what was needed.
Little by little the picture would come back.
A MIRICLE!!
TV back in business!
HALLELUJAH!!
The universe is saved!
Just in time for Soupy Sales!!!

We whacked the side of the TV to fix the issue. Anyone else do that?

 

[UHF]

Streaming music and the ability to download songs onto your computer or tablet and then listen to them when you want.

For better or worse, reliable sites for medical information on the Internet. I stress the word reliable.

Problem can be if a person obsesses on these innovations and avoids interaction with family members.

Agree on reliable. However, there are 2 massive problems with the world wide interweb.

If it is on the internet . . . it must be true.
Social media (internet) . . . guilty until proven innocent.



Pardon the interruption. Now back to our regularly scheduled "If you grew up in the 50s" thread.

 

[UHF]

1950s TV commercials.

 

[Conndog]

Affordable babysitters

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Sure. I both hitchhiked and gave rides to others.

Remember when you saw someone by the side of the road you would pull over to see if they needed help? In the days before cell phones, if your car broke down you couldn’t just call for help. People were pretty good though about stopping, giving you a ride so you can get gas or changing a tire.

Buddy and I hitchhiked back from Florida in the 60s. First ride we got was from a couple on a date. Every give a ride to a couple of guys while on a date?

 

[Skeets]

That was “The Outer Limits”. Twilight zone was:

"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.”

Yep, you are correct. Hey, I'm an old guy talking about old things.

Remember 20 Muhl Team Borax? (Had to throw a little UConn in here...)

 

[RegisteredUconn]

...

Later came color TV and what a marvel that was!

...

TVs were a piece of furniture. Color arrived in 1957. Thank you General Sarnoff. My grandparents got one that year. A marvel is right. Just ask the gentleman below.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Saturday morning cartoons (right after the "test pattern" went off the air); Saturday afternoon matinees at the movie theater.

Cheapest gas I remember: 14.9 cents per gal. Of course I lived about a block from the refinery.

Saluting the flag and reciting the Lord's Prayer (in public school) to start the school day. Kindergarten was called Beginners. Too close to WWII for German words around little kids.

Slinky

One nit to pick. Where I lived, party lines went out with the arrival of rotary phones. They didn't exist simultaneously.

 

[Improviser]

Yep, you are correct. Hey, I'm an old guy talking about old things.

Remember 20 Muhl Team Borax? (Had to throw a little UConn in here...)

Yeah, from Death Valley Days.

I think the product was also good for removing grit and grime from the hands.

 

[Improviser]

Saturday morning cartoons (right after the "test pattern" went off the air); Saturday afternoon matinees at the movie theater.

Cheapest gas I remember: 14.9 cents per gal. Of course I lived about a block from the refinery.

Saluting the flag and reciting the Lord's Prayer (in public school) to start the school day. Kindergarten was called Beginners. Too close to WWII for German words around little kids.

Slinky

One nit to pick. Where I lived, party lines went out with the arrival of rotary phones. They didn't exist simultaneously.

Always got 2 movies at those matinees.

I remember Vince Edwards playing in a lot of those B movies or secondary movies that accompanied the main feature or maybe was the first movie to be shown before the main feature. I cannot remember the order.

Movie theaters were not at megaplexes, but either downtown or in the local neighborhoods.

Vince later became famous for Ben Casey.

 

[Improviser]

I remember my brother in second grade being paddled on the knuckles by his teacher, Miss Fatsi

Parents always backed up the teachers even in matters such as having to stay after school for a disciplinary infraction.

 

[Scud49]

And we can't forget The Cisco Kid - had to be my fav western of the era:

 

[cohenzone]

When my kids were little in the early 80s and we lived in South Windsor, I took them to a movie in the one screen theater in Windsor center. When we left, one of sons, around 9,said “Dad that place is weird”. When I asked why, he said “only one theater”.

In Hartford as a kid we would bus to downtown theaters, there were several complete with balconies. Always a main feature, a B second movie, a newsreel (last week’s news was still breaking news), a short subject and a cartoon. The whole afternoon.

Always got 2 movies at those matinees.

I remember Vince Edwards playing in a lot of those B movies or secondary movies that accompanied the main feature or maybe was the first movie to be shown before the main feature. I cannot remember the order.

Movie theaters were not at megaplexes, but either downtown or in the local neighborhoods.

Vince later became famous for Ben Casey.

 

[eebmg]

I remember my brother in second grade being paddled on the knuckles by his teacher, Miss Fatsi

I can guess what your brother said to her.

 

[cohenzone]

And we can't forget The Cisco Kid - had to be my fav western of the era:

One of my kids now lives near Malibu. There is a beach there, named for Leo Carillo, who played Cisco’s sidekick Pancho. I gather Carillo did a lot for conservation in the area. Also pretty racist against Japanese Americans during WW II. Every episode ended with the duo riding off laughing at something and saying “Oh Cisco”. “Oh Pancho”.

 

[nwhoopfan]

A lot of things have gotten worse, but some things have gotten much better: TVs, cars, etc. When's the last time you had you had a flat tire on the road or over heated? Couldn't drive to the beach without seeing 3 or 4 cars broken down along the way. What else has gotten better?

That might be true, but I think some things have gotten far worse. Like appliances. We live in a disposable culture now, and many things are not built to last. I think by design, some of our "stuff" you just get rid of as soon as it doesn't work rather than repairing it these days.