Archive through February 17, 2003
TV ClubHouse: Archives: 2003 February:
Remember Wayyyy Back When.......:
Archive through February 17, 2003
Whoami | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 03:35 am     Someone posted this on another message board, and I thought it was pretty funny. It inspired a few posts of things that were much different way back when any of us were kids. I thought it would be fun to remember back. I'll follow up with a copy of the post I contributed to that thread. When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death! And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of c*** like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But now that I've reached the ripe old age of thirtysomething, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a darned Utopia! And I hate to say it, but you kids today don't even know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet--when we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves! And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen, and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! And there were no MP3s or Napster! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Try sticking an LP under your jacket, buddy! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up! You want to hear about hardship? We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes, either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was: it could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know! You just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister! And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win; the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died! Just like LIFE! When you went to the movie theater, there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were screwed! And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. D'ya hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little b******! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy! You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 1987! |
Whoami | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 03:36 am     And here are some of my memories (but mine dates a bit further back than 1987!) OK, this is just so inspiring to remember back.... I remember when: It was cool to have phones with "push buttons" instead of dials. Having a gas station attendant pump your gas for you. It was ultra extravagant (and therefore unafordable in our house) to have a remote control on the TV. Getting our first color TV. The first show we watched in color was Fantasy Island. "Getting cable" meant signing a contract with HBO, who came out and put a reciever on your roof. Taking a typing class with manual typewriters. And almost having to learn how to type all over again, when we got electric typewriters. (but man, wasn't it cool to hold down a key, and watch that bugger speed-type the same letter all across the page?). And those really cool IBM "balls" you could buy special and type in italics! And speaking of typing....how about typewriter erasers? Do they even make them anymore? And speaking again of typing. Remember how cool it was to have a "correction" typewriter? You could type a bad letter, and either magically cover it up to type over, or lift the bad letter clear off the page! Five channels on TV. CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS and the local station. Rabbit ears, and the picture changing just when someone walked across the room. Staying up until the TV stations signed off for the night, and standing up and "saluting" as they played the Star Spangled Banner just before signing off for the night. I'll probably think of more while I sleep. |
Ddr1135 | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 06:30 am     Here's some of my memories.... Never having a "fast food" meal. There was a local drive-in in my town, but I don't think my family ever went there. It wasn't until I was in my teens that I went with friends. Having one bathroom in the house for four people. I have three bathrooms for two people. Having one television in the living room. Period. I was the first one to buy a tv with remote control for my bedroom. (I remember my dad would watch tv in my room when he came home for lunch, LOL). Getting new shoes for school, a black pair for Christmas and a white pair for Easter AND barefoot for summer. That's it. No air conditioning. We had a box fan in the window and in later years we had two window air conditioner units. |
Grannyg | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 08:25 am     I remember: Shot gun house with one bathroom for 5 people. My poor dad, 4 females and him. He peed off the porch most times. One phone with a party line. 3 families shared the line. Saturday night was gathering at the Phillips 66 gas station and talking about who ever WASN'T there. I was a life guard at the community swimming pool because that was the only place to go during the summer. Only went to the movie 3 times during my high school life. Had to drive to far to go see one. Only got new clothes at the beginning of school each year. Didn't matter if you out grew them before school was out. Had to drive to far to just go pick up some new ones. Had one doctor for the whole town and a traveling dentist. If you got sick on Saturday or Sunday you would just call him at home and he'd meet you at the office and give you samples since the only drugstore wasn't open on Saturday or Sunday. Nearest hospital was 40 mile away. My mom still lives in the same house in the same town. And right now there isn't a doctor because Dr. George finally retired. |
Ophiliasgrandma | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 09:43 am     We didn't have tv in Portland till '53. Before that I was a radio junky...Inner Sanctum, Gangbusters, Roy Rogers, One Man's Family, Stella Dalles. I came home from a weekend movie (things were so safe I waited for the bus all by myself both ways, can't imagine letting a little girl out all alone any more) and right there in the livingroom sat a brand new Motorola with Jackie Gleason in living black and white. I knew nothing but bliss for the next few years with an actual television of our very own |
Ginger1218 | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 10:17 am     Remember when we felt safe in this country? Remember when we did not wake up every morning fearing for a terrorist attack? Ahh, the good old days. |
Cjr | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 10:33 am     I can remember getting our first colored TV set and watching Saturday morning cartoons on it for the first time. I remember going to McDonalds once a year with my family and going to Taco Bell once a year. Those were the only times we ate out. And Taco Bell had the big firepit out front to sit around in the evenings. I remember when we saw a car with its lights left on in a parking lot we would open the car door and turn the lights off! Can't even imagine doing that now. I remember coming home from school in the rain and my Mom having the heater blazing and the hot chocolate ready. None of the Mother's in the neighborhood worked or had cars during the day then. Heck, my Mom didn't get her driver's license until I was in high school. And sleeping with the windows open in the summer because we didn't have air conditioning. Never worried about someone breaking in. Spending my nights and weekends babysitting for 25 cents an hour, and a couple of people complaining when I raised it to 50 cents! |
Northstar | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 10:48 am     Remember when hardwood floors weren't cool. Everyone wanted carpeting. When you washed dishes by hand. When you had to share a room with a sibling or two. Remember melmanac(sp) plates! Remember canning your own pickles and jams. I readily admit still living in the dark-ages and I embrace them with all my heart!! |
Cjr | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 11:02 am     Northstar, I still wash dishes by hand! People think I'm a bit strange but I enjoy it. |
Heyltslori | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 11:19 am     I remember when making popcorn involved a big pan, some oil, some butter and salt. I remember when sending mail involved stamps...and not stamps that cost 37cents either. I remember sorting through my dad's 8 track tapes. I remember thinking my parents were geeks... now I'm quite proud to be a geek myself and consider them wonderful examples of genuinely good people. |
Urgrace | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 11:48 am     Childhood memories: The whole community would have a planned festival called a jubilee. The entire town would have flags and banners. There would be a parade with firetrucks, antique cars and children pulling wagons, free coffee and tea at the firestation, nickle tosses for carnival glass and ring toss for stuffed toys, balloons, greased hog contest, beauty contest, sawing contest, mule pull, greased pole climbing, fashion show, wrestling matches, and lots of food. The children ran all over four blocks of town or back and forth from home with no worries. We moved and bought a mobile home that was one of the largest ever built - 45 ft. long and 10 ft. wide. It had a washer and dryer that stacked! The only thing for kids to do was go swimming, go to the movies, or go roller skating or bike riding. Gee, I remember a lot of fresh air and tanned skin. I also remember my mom standing on her feet for hours ironing clothes for five kids and her and dad, after spending the day before washing (with a wringer washer at first) and hanging the eight lines with clothes to dry. We got an automatic washer when my brother (the fourth kid) was born. My mom also made most of our clothes and girls didn't wear blue jeans. We drove 45 miles to the first McDonald's that opened in Macon, Georgia on the southeast side of town near Warner Robbins. It really had two huge steal arched beams painted yellow on each side of the little square building. In California, Jack In The Box had the first drive up window for take home orders. |
Seamonkey | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 11:57 am     I remember we had the first television on the street and all the kids would come over to watch before dinner. I also remember having one black phone on a party line. And 78 records before there were 45s and LPs. And a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Of course a non-electric typewriter, black.. No one having A/C.. Refrigerators without freezers. You got icecream from the Good Humor truck and ate it right then. 3 cent letters and penny postcards. But even back then in the 50s, people did fear attack.. we had air raid drills where we went down two levels below ground to a spooky basement and lined up by class and then they turned off all the lights.. and the air raid sirens were tested once a week. Metal roller skates you clamped on over your shoes and tighted with a skate key, which you wore on a string around your neck. I remember when we got the second kind of Girl Scout Cookie.. thin mints.. they sold like hotcakes. |
Seamonkey | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 12:00 pm     OMG.. yes.. I remember ironing, mom, both grandmas when they visited, and me too.. and the Grandmas just loved my mom's new sit-down ironing board.. they'd iron and watch soaps.. which were only 15 min in those days. |
Twiggyish | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 01:11 pm     We didn't have air conditioning in most places (in south Florida) until the 60's. The stores were the only places to go with a/c. My school (no air) was built with lots of windows, and I don't ever remember being hot. We didn't have color tv right away, either. I can still remember Captain Kangaroo in black and white. I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show in B/W, too. I was thrilled to get my first record player at 12..LOL I had lots of 45's. |
Marysafan | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 01:13 pm     Stamps you had to lick and having to know how to "tell time" because there were no clocks with a digital read out. |
Northstar | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 02:18 pm     When I was real young I use to iron my dad's handkerchiefs. With starch (lots and lots)!!! I just loved using that spray can. |
Sadiesmom | Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 04:40 pm     I remember being throw out every spring/summer to get my annual sunburn. after that I could tan. (I keep checking those moles) I remember that we had the biggest yard and all kids in the neighborhood used to congregate ans we would have humongus recreations of movies with the 2 dozen kids all being assigned roles. I was less than 6 when we moved, so I don't remember too much, but one movie was the greatest show on earth and I was a lion. There were not too many parks in our town (still don't have many there) so we used to play in the garbage dump, chasing rats and looking at snakes, jumping over the runoff ravines. Maybe I should mention this to my doctor, who is always wondering why I have so many odd diseases. LOL |
Whoami | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 12:52 pm     I remember: Singing along with Mitch Miller. Thinking a huge fantasy would be to have a 20$ bill, and be turned loose in the mall to buy whatever we wanted. Mom complaining when gasoline prices went over 30 cents. Going to the drive in, and Mom taking us to the drug store to get candy for the movie. Each of us girls got a whole quarter. We felt rich, cause that meant we could get five candy items! Going to the drive in, and making a huge brown paper grocery sack full of popcorn. It took 3 or 4 batches of popping it in our biggest pan to finally fill that bag. Feeling rich when I got a calculator for my birthday. Feeling rich when I got a cassette tape recorder/player for my birthday. And I'm not talking about the Walkman type. Feeling afraid when Martin Luther King was killed. Even though our Mom never told us to be afraid. Somewhere, somehow (probably school), I was told to be afraid of a "payback" uprising. That lead to my being frightened when we were driving down the street, and I saw a Black man walking on the sidewalk. I was very young. It was the first time I realized different races could/would look at each other differently. Thankfully, my Mom raised me better than that! Driving to McDonald's, and seeing this "new" place being built on the other side of the street. One day, we noticed they were finally open for business. We had our first taste of Taco Bell that day. |
Crazydog | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 01:11 pm     The big ol' console TVs that were actually pieces of furniture, they were in wood cases with legs and you put pictures on top of them. The manual crank on the TV dial for the "regular" channels. You cranked it to a setting and then moved that "other" dial to get the higher numbered channels. TV's with remote controls that were attached to the TV by a long wire. The VCR! What an amazing invention! It was one of those top-loading ones. My five year old cousin kept insisting us to "turn it to Friday" so he could watch his favorite show. Atari. So primitive and yet so fun. Breaking the joysticks out of over-use. Early computers. You played games by loading them onto the computer on cassette tape. When there was no such thing as an answering machine. If you weren't home, then too bad. Caller ID, call waiting, cell phones... who would have thought of it? If there was a song on the radio you liked and you couldn't afford to buy the whole "record", you sat by the radio with your finger poised on the record button. You always got a few seconds of radio chatter before and after. Losing touch with a lot of your friends from high school because both of you weren't very good at "writing letters". |
Not1worry | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 01:59 pm     I remember it was a huge priviledge when we got to roll the TV into our rooms for a night. That was the best reward in our house and I think it happened maybe twice a year. Now most kids I know have TVs, VCRs/DVDs, telephones and video game machines in their rooms. I remember when there were game shows on in the morning. My mom used to watch Wheel of Fortune, Joker's Wild, Tic Tac Dough, 25,000$ Pyramid, etc. as she did the housework. Now it's all deranged and warped people on talk shows. I remember being able to ride my bike all over town. I'd ride 3 miles to the library all by myself at the age of 7 and stay all day. Now my kids aren't allowed off my short street. I remember when any adult, whether they were related to you or not, could tell you what to do. And you would do it! You might have to carry in groceries for a lady 4 houses over just because she asked you to and you wouldn't dream of protesting. |
Denecee | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 03:28 pm     I remember when all us neighbor kids would play freeze tag and hide n seek till dark. We knew every neighbor in the hood for blocks. |
Hippyt | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 03:56 pm     I remember my Mom sending me three blocks away to the neighborhood store,she never had to worry about the possibility of me disappearing. |
Kady | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 09:00 pm     My son always likes to hear stories about the way things were when I was young. In reverse, I asked him what kind of stuff he would be able to tell his children. The only things we could think of so far is he call tell is...I remember when I had to use dial up connection on my computer and gosh son...I remember when we only had 200 channels on our tv. I share many of the same memories as all of you guys. Has anyone mentioned catching fireflies yet and picking blackberries. |
Seamonkey | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 09:34 pm     We didn't have fireflies in Michigan but when we visted my aunt and uncle and grandmother in Indiana, they had them and we loved them! My mom told us stuff like when they got their inside toilet and when her dad just went downtown and brought my mom and my aunt driver's licenses.. too funny since mom didn't really drive until she was in her 40s and we came to California and it was necessary. And my grandmother.. I remember once she was telling some story and then she said "the buggy overturned" and my brother and I were laughing uncontrollably! But of course my grandmothers both experienced life with horses and buggies.. and outhouses and coal chutes or wood stoves, iceboxes. Back to me.. i also remember milk being delivered in bottles, along with other dairy products and eggs. We had a cool milk chute that opened from the outside so the milkman could put in the order and from the inside so we could get the stuff and so it wouldn't freeze in the winter. And all of them had stories about WWII, about rationing and worrying (Dad was in the south pacific in a Navy unit that went in with the first marine division.. needless to say we saw every episode of "Victory at Sea"... Years later we found out my great uncle (my grandmother's sister's husband) who was the mayor of Peru, Indiana, and a banker, was also in the KKK!! (Indiana was a real hotbed of KKK).. my mom said they didn't know for years and it was never talked about.. that one hit me right in the gut.. I guess the blessing is that they had no children, just in case he would have passed along that legacy Anyway it is so true that each generation has much to tell. |
Egbok | Monday, February 17, 2003 - 10:08 pm     I'd like to share one fun TV childhood memory. I remember watching my first ever color TV program. It was "Bonanza" on Channel 4 with the colorful peacock spreading his feathers. The show I saw that night was where Hoss kept seeing the Leprechauns but I don't recall how the show ended. (By the way, I was 1 month old when this occurred.) |
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