OT: Once Upon A Time or Do You Remember When?

[JordyG]

Which beer was advertised on the Yankee games on Channel 11 and which beer was advertised on Channel 9 for the Mets games? We changed the first few lines of the opening Mets jingle to- "Meet the Mets, Greet the Mets, Step right up and beat the Mets." Casey Stengel and who was on first?

Budweiser and Schaefer right? Kranepool?

 

[BBallF]

Budweiser and Schaefer right? Kranepool?

Ballantine and Schaefer ( the one beer to have when you are having more than one!). When they started out, the Mets had Marvelous Marv Thronberry on first.

 

[JordyG]

One final thing. When we flipped baseball cards, if you got a "topsie" I think you got to keep the card under but if you got a "leaner" what did you get?

A do over? No, you got the card and an extra flip? I was a city boy and we played a lot of Crack Tops (spinning tops and trying to crack your friends spinner) and Skully where you set out a large numbered box in the street with chalk and while using the tops of soda and beer bottles we shot them around the box knocking out other players while gathering points.

 

[BBallF]

Jean Shepherd, the man behind "Christmas Story" had a nightly show on WOR, including a Saturday night show from the Limelight. He was among the great storytellers and I must have caught hundreds of his broadcasts.

He was mesmerizing. I remember one story about catching crappies(fish) at a lake he used to go to as a kid but I can't remember the name of the lake.

 

[BBallF]

A do over? No, you got the card and an extra flip? I was a city boy and we played a lot of Crack Tops (spinning tops and trying to crack your friends spinner) and Skully where you set out a large numbered box in the street with chalk and while using the tops of soda and beer bottles we shot them around the box knocking out other players while gathering points.

I think you might have won all the cards with a leaner that had been flipped but I am not sure. You never risked your Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays cards.

 

[and one]

He was mesmerizing. I remember one story about catching crappies(fish) at a lake he used to go to as a kid but I can't remember the name of the lake.

His stories tended to revolve around his childhood in Hammond, Ind (cue The Music Man) and his army days. You got to know and love a large cast of characters (in both senses of the word) that somehow were a lot like the people we all grew up with.

 

[eebmg]

Horn & Hardart Automat

 

[BBallF]

Horn & Hardart Automat

THE GREATEST!

 

[uconnell]

I remember dish night at the local movies,moms that collected the dishes gave us kids the fare to go to the movie and bring a dish home for them. Same theater charged a quarter admittancesat. Afternoons for kids.
snow brought out the town trucks to spread coal clinkers onthesnowy roads thereby making them useless for sledding. Penny candy. Dining counters in the local 5&dime.
Bus fare was a nickel and you could ride all over town!, even get a transfer free. Even take you to the beach. Buy a used car for $75, but it needed brakes. Lemon ice and a small bag of fresh popped pop corn loaded with butter for $.20 across the st from the movie.

 

[BBallF]

I remember dish night at the local movies,moms that collected the dishes gave us kids the fare to go to the movie and bring a dish home for them. Same theater charged a quarter admittancesat. Afternoons for kids.
snow brought out the town trucks to spread coal clinkers onthesnowy roads thereby making them useless for sledding. Penny candy. Dining counters in the local 5&dime.
Bus fare was a nickel and you could ride all over town!, even get a transfer free. Even take you to the beach. Buy a used car for $75, but it needed brakes. Lemon ice and a small bag of fresh popped pop corn loaded with butter for $.20 across the st from the movie.

Penny candy! So great. Squirrel nut zippers, Mary Janes, those little dots on paper that you had to bite off,etc. I remember comic books like The Green Lantern or Batman or Superman for 10 cents and then they were raised to 12 cents and then to the exorbitant price of 15 cents. Real lemon ice, not like this fake stuff now.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

When Penquins could roam freely among the exhibits:

 

[Mdoggie]

Once upon a summertime, just a dream for yesterday, a boy and his magic golden flute heard a voice across the bay. Come and play with me Jimmy come and play with me and I will take you on a trip far across the sea.......

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

If you're in for some real memories, check out: Old Fashioned and Retro Candy - Home of Candy you ate as a kid®
Any candy you can think of all the back to early 1900's!

 

[donalddoowop]

When we decided to buy horses, I just had to get a Palomino with a white Blaze. Mission accomplished. Unfortunately, she passed 4 years ago last week.

Besides a Clydesdale, there is no prettier horse than a golden Palomino with a white blaze.

 

[trb123]

1. Scribners
When books mattered

2. Shopping for used books in Barnes and Noble on 5th avenue at the corner of 18th street.

 

[JordyG]

Anyone remember triple features at movie theaters with cartoons, newreels and an intermission?

 

[JordyG]

1. Scribners
When books mattered

2. Shopping for used books in Barnes and Noble on 5th avenue at the corner of 18th street.

View attachment 52106

Scribners and Daltons. Thank goodness Strand bookstore on E12th and Broadway still exists.

 

[donalddoowop]

Anyone remember triple features at movie theaters with cartoons, newreels and an intermission?

We had double features with cartoons. We thought we were watching current movies but years later found out they were at least seven to eight years old. One of my favorites was the Bowrey boys with Huntz Hall.

 

[trb123]

Scribners and Daltons. Thank goodness Strand bookstore on E12th and Broadway still exists.

On Saturdays once every couple of months, in the 1970s and early 80s, I walked out of Penn Station thru Gimbels (remember it?) en route the B&N store on 5th Avenue and E 18th st. I would spend the entire day walking up Manhattan to Columbia University dropping into bookstores on the way. My son will inherit my library. But he never learnt the pleasure of the chase.

 

[ThetaZoo]

This is something to help take our minds (us older people) off all the negative stuff going on at this time. Actually, anyone who can think of something is invited to add to this list.

Once upon a time:

Telephone numbers had prefixes ( Jefferson, Colfax, Evergreen)
Live telephone operators connected one number to another; there were party lines, you may pick up your phone and hear someone not from your house talking and you could listen to their conversation; you could not use your phone until they finished talking and hung up their phone
Elevators were operated by real people and were not automated
Gas cost 20 cent a gallon, service station attendants pumped gas for you and cleaned your windshield, you did not have to get out of your car
Stamps cost 3 cent
Students walked almost eveywhere they went, except to the drive inn
Back seats of cars were very popular
Many cars had fish tails

Do you remember when:

Personality Dee Jays ruled the airwaves ( Jocko, Magnificent Montague, Alan Freed, Murry the K ) There were many more
Hardly anyone listened to FM radio
Rhythm and Blues (of which Doo Wop was a part) and Rock and Roll could be heard all day and everyday and was the most popular music among teenagers
Your Hit Parade was popular with Snookie Langston (I think his last name was Langston). The show faded when Rock and Roll became popular
Stores shut down on Tuesday Night so people could watch The Texaco Star Theater Starring Milton Berle (Uncle Miltie)
There was television character named Princess Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
Groups of teenage boys could be found on the corners of city streets harmonizing. They could also be found in stairwells and restrooms harmonizing, looking for an echo.
Children answered grown ups by saying yes mam, yes sir, or no mam or no sir
Your neighbor could scold you if they caught you doing something wrong and when your parents found out, you would get another scolding or even a whipping
Your teachers could whip you for causing problems at school and you'd get another whipping when you got home
Your parents made you go outside and get a switch and bring in the house so that they could whip you with it
The salary of baseball players was so low that they needed jobs during the off season

That's enough from me. I hope there are those of you who will add to this list. I'm from the Midwest and knew very little about about the East or West coasts. I'm sure there are things you remember that I don't know about.

VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet.

 

[JordyG]

We had double features with cartoons. We thought we were watching current movies but years later found out they were at least seven to eight years old. One of my favorites was the Bowrey boys with Huntz Hall.

Along with the Bowery Boys we would also view the old serials: Cowboys, detectives and the like, as part of our movie day. It was a full day of viewing and staying out of trouble.

 

[Carnac]

I think you might have won all the cards with a leaner that had been flipped but I am not sure. You never risked your Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays cards.

During the time I collected BB cards and traded then between friends, the most rarest card that I encountered was a Bob Rogers (LA Angeles catcher) 1962 rookie card. This was the card (I'll never forget it):

One guy in our group had one, and would not trade or sell it for anything (believe me, we tried). I never saw another Bob Rogers card. Ralph G. was the envy of the group. He had something the rest of us wanted, but couldn't have/get. We all prided ourselves with our collection, as most collectors do. At the time, I would have given a testicle for that card. It shows you how times have changed.

How many of you still have some your old baseball cards? I still have a few mine. I don't care how many times I clean out the garage, THEY STAY!!! They have no value to anyone but me. My wife would throw them out if I let her. I still have a lot of my old Archie, Batman, Iron man and Mad magazines as well that I'm saving them to pass along to my grand kids after I transition. They have absolutely no concept of the possible monetary value of those collectibles, or the emotional attachment I have to them.

I told them to sell them for whatever they can get for them. Regardless of the direction I'll go once I leave here, I won't need them where I'm going. Some of those cards, comics and magazines are from the 1950's.

 

[Beemer]

I can remember being absolutely outraged when Bazooka bubble gum went from a penny to 2 cents.

No idea what it costs now or even if it still exists.

 

[Beemer]

When our TV stopped working, my dad would look in the back to see which vacuum tube wasn't lit, remove it, and take it to the TV repair store. He would buy a new tube, plug it in the TV, and, TAH DAH, it worked again for another month.

Or failing that you called the tv repair man and he would come to your house to fix it.

True story.

 

[Beemer]

I had an old VW transporter bus in the early 70s. Just sheet metal - no insulation and barely any heat. 32 HP and the engine blew once a year. One night I stepped on that hi-low switch on the floor and the floorboard was so rusted out the switch ended up dangling under the van and all the lights went out. A little electrical tape got me home.

I can't add to the immense list of yesteryear things but do have a question. Does anyone remember baseballs that were called semihard and semisoft? They were the size of a standard hardball but white rubber coated. The semisoft was lighter and a little squishy. Good for younger kids. The semihard was about the same weight as a standard hardball, but because of the rubber outside it came off a bat like a rocket, or so I remember. I tried to find any reference to these balls on Google the other day and nada. My son was a kid in the 80s and he never heard of them.

I do. I used them to practice my fielding- I'd throw it against the brick side of the house for hours. Never tried hitting one though.