Happy 80th Virginia! (Write-off bash)
Oct 28 '02
The Bottom Line This is a fantastic way to honor a lady who writes reviews that people find interesting and never fails to read reviews and leave sweet comments. We love ya Virginia!
Dear Virginia (granniemose)~
We only turn 80 once and today is your day. I have spent the day running around gathering information from many different people so I can write this to honor your birthday. It is sort of a "Do you remember?' type review. So enjoy your birthday girl my dear and read on and see how many of these things you recall from your past. they are not in order so it's kind of a maze. Ready? here goes!
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Pindot Priscilla curtains, Chenille bedspreads. Pedal Pushers(back in style today), Christmas bubble lights, lighted ice lights, mazda lamps, lava lamps (they have come back). Bobbsey Twin and Nancy Drew books, Black Beauty, Heidi, Switchboard operators, hand-tinted photos, "college just being for the rich." Oxydol detergent, Lux soap, Ipana toothpaste. And that dreaded medicine that cured all ills, what was it called? Castor Oil?
A nickel for a song in the jukebox, 5-cents also for a refreshing glass of Coca Cola. Coke never lost its popularity from the turn of the 20th century until now and will more than likely be popular 100 years from now. Ads for Coca Cola are still on display. Old ones were "Face the day refreshed" "Thirst knows no season." Flexible flyers (rub the runners with wax and away we flew down a snowy slope) Hot cocoa and homemade cookies after a day playing in the snow.
Some magazines that are still being sold today were hand-delivered to each home such as: The Saturday Evening Post and Ladie's Home Journal...and the price? A nickel. remember parlors Virginia? I do. Mom had a special one in her house but when baby number 5 arrived and the boys got older, she had to give it up. How about the 1939 World's Fair? Kellogg's Frosted Flakes You bet your life they're great!" says Groucho Marx with Toni the Tiger. Bon Ami in the yellow packaging. Rinso detergent.
Now for a break....
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Haircuts for boys and men were given at home until barber shops came along. even then some people couldn't afford to have their hair cut by a barber. Remember the rotating pole of the old barber shop and how friendly everyone was? Most girls wore their hair long (I know my grandmother did...I saw pictures)
Remember Toni home perms and Miss Clairol "Does she or doesn't she?" Breck Shampoo. Those rollers girls put in their hair and slept on them.(I didn;t sleep, ouch they did hurt) Earlier than that a harder concept was thought up to make banana-curls.
Ladies embroidered handkerchiefs, doilies all handmade, thimbles,the big front porch, picket fences, Lawrence Welk, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, George Burns and Gracie Allen. Drive-in movies were in abundance.... many a couple spent Saturday night watching 2-feature films... many a couple also shared their first kiss at the drive-in movies. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Black and white console televisions. Color consoles...big and took up much room. The Life Of Riley, Amos 'N Andy, The Jackie Gleason Show, Jimmy Durante.
Remember classrooms on Valentine's Day? All decorated for the occasion and a big decorated box for each child to place valentines for their classmates? Remington Roll-A-Matic, Colgate's Rapid Shave Powder. A&P white house milk, Bosco chocolate syrup, Ovaltine, Carnation evaporated milk, Horlick's Malted Milk powder. Wear Ever pressure cookers and cookware, Presto cookers. Out of the war...New improved porcelain in steel. Reynold's aluminum utensils. Colorful metalic aluminum drinking glasses in all sizes. The original Fiestaware.(dark colors made with lead)
Break time.....
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Those red bricks 5 and 10-cent stores called Woolworths which carried every items from balloons to parakeets for pocket change. Kresge's was another five and dime. Sitting in a booth with your friends and having your picture taken by an automatic machine for just pocket change. Grant's store which eventually became a large department store before going out of business. Some stores even gave away live chicks at the Easter season with tinted pink or blue feathers.
Remembering Bob Hope who will always be remembered for his uplifting performances entertaining the troops during World War Two? Depression glass. I recall milkweed plants and a friend of my father's in Vermont who received a letter from the government not to cut milkweeds as the pods could be picked and used for for fluff inside life jackets during the war.
That silly redhead who is still popular today and will be 100 years from now... "I Love Lucy." Dragnet, Gillette Calvacade of Sports, The Cisco Kid, Columbo ( my favorite detective), The Rifleman (I was in love with his son), Laramie, Saturday morning cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, The little Rascals. Sunday comics featuring Blondie, Peanuts. Oh who could ever forget Charles Shulz?
A big pot of homemade soup simmering on a cast iron black stove, Duncan Hines travel book guides. Maps were free at gas stations. Some people still have them today. Also matchbooks from different places, some from amusement parks advertising on them.
Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy every Sunday night? My son had and still has his Charlie McCarthy 3 foot puppet doll he got one Christmas. The Ed Sullivan Show with those dancing poodles and all the fancy acts. Remember when Elvis Presley first appeared on his show? And we musn't and shouldn't forget M..I..C...K..E..Y, WHY BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU!
Virginia, do you remember the 1948 first televised presidential campaign announced by RCA? The first McDonald's to be in business? Marchant calculators, heavy and bulky mimegraph machines,those big lugs called Singer sewing machines. Every woman had to have one. Handmade clothes. Mothers dressed their girls in look-alike dresses in order not to waste material they got on sale. Gingham material. The one piece bathing suits with skirts? Bathing caps? Virginia, do you recall the monstrosity of the first microwave oven by Vectron?
Ham radios, CB's, box-like plastic radios came in all different colors at one time. (we had one in our kitchen when I was little) Truckers were the most gracious and kindest persons in the world back then. Hitchhikers (it was safe back then) Plastic became popular in the 1940's and went into the 50's. Plastic tablecloths, plastic curtains, plastic convertible car roofs, plastic chairs, raincoats made of light see-through plastic, bubble plastic called Fantastic Plastic.
Firestone and B.F. Goodrich tires, Goodyear thought up a new one and came out with vinyl.
Break time......
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Virginia, remember Orphan Annie decoder rings, Buck Rogers repeller rings from a box of Wheaties? Almost every box of cereal had a toy in them to entice both parents and children and cereal was only 50-cents and cheaper in earler years. Cracker jacks with toys in them (the boxes were bigger back then, the toys better)
Puppy love. Carving initials in the bark of an old tree, in the 50's and 60's going steady was "the thing" where a girl wore the boy's ring around their necks. Earlier it was called "Courting". Gazebos, rose trellises, bangles, Timex and Mickey Mouse watches. Swinging from tree ropes, spending hours making a kite and flying it. Square dancing in barns, tag, hide 'n seek, making forts in the woods by piling up pine needles, treehouses, climbing trees ( I was a tomboy) "Trading cards" with pretty pictures on them. (How we could hardly wait for school to end for the day to trade those cards)
Doctors making house calls (our doctor lived next door to us and made plenty of trips for so many kids) Block-shaped wooden wall phones where you got the operator every time, black table phones, listening for your ring on the party line,(my uncle had a party line until 1970) listening in on other people's calls. Putting playing cards on the spokes of bicycle wheels to make funny sounds, bikes with bubble tires, spinning tin tops (some with Mickey Mouse characters on them, some Bozo the clown), kick the can, standing and walking on stilts made of tin cans and rope. Erector sets, Lincoln logs, hoola hoops, jacks, pick-up sticks, paddle 'n ball attached, metal roller skates that attached to shoes, raccoon caps called coonskins, comic books, the original slinkies, handmade dominoes, jump ropes and girls singing songs about boys while jumping, hopscotch, playing marbles, bubble pipes, green plastic soldiers, collecting bottle caps, Hood dixie cup lids for redeeming for prizes. S&H green stamps and the gifts we looked forward to, popsicle wrappers to redeem for prizes, bubble gum cards, Mom 'n Pop stores and small butcher shops where everyone was friendly.
Push lawnmowers, wringer washers, Lard soap, washboards, old hand egg beaters. (mom was a cook, these were fun, the closet kid near the bowl got to lick the beaters=) ice boxes (now known as refrigerators)
Another break..... to give the eyes a break.
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The ice man, the rag man, horse and buggies, the milkman who delivered glass bottles of milk to your doorstep, before pasteurized milk.
Shirley Temple dolls, Ginny dolls, Kewpie dolls, Bisque dolls, rag dolls, Revlon dolls, paper dolls, dolls made from clothespins, Betsy McCall dolls and paperdolls.(how I wish I still had my doll:( but still have my Ginny.
Elsie Dinsmore books, Chicken Dinner candy bars, the Skybar (my very favorite, 4 different flavors in each piece and only 5-cents) Necco candy wafers (my uncle worked at the Necco factory)
Soda fountains in pharmacies (then called drug stores), soda squirts that syrup came out of, soda jerks dressed in white starched shirt with bow ties and black pants while you sat on the spinning stool and he asked with a stern business-like face "may I help you?" Popping popcorn in a long handled popper on the stove. Gas station pump handles were worked by hand.
Leggings for girls had buttons all the way up the sides, they wore them under dresses. High top shoes had buttons that took forever to button. Big bulky snow suits on toddlers and small children, ( See "A Christmas Story" and you'll see the little kid and how he couldn't walk as he was so bundled up)
How about coffee in those days? Nash's coffee, Stone's, MJB, Folger's (still out today) A&P Eight O'Clock coffee packed in heavy bags (still out today but in different texture packaging) and we musn't forget the "perking coffee pot" I still have mine today.
Ahh!! those were the days Virginia. There's lots and lots more and I am continuing this on part two. I hope at this time you are savoring a luscious piece of that scrumptious birthday cake and have a big smile on your face amongst all of your darling family and friends. HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIRGINIA. I WISH YOU MANY MORE YEARS OF GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
Other participants in this write-off are on the link on artbyjude's profile page. Thank you Jude for allowing me to honor your mother today. It was my pleasure.
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Life's not about waiting for storms to pass...it's about dancing in the rain.
Vivian Greene
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