Posted on 06/05/2005 6:37:36 AM PDT by sushiman
bump
I went to high school (Brooklyn, NY) from 1982-86. Our desks were bolted down, and had little round holes for where the inkwell was supposed to be put in earlier years when schoolkids were still using inkwells. Us students guessed that the desks dated from the 1920s. Or possibly even earlier than that.
While I was going to high school (1982-1986), in one of my classes, out of the blue the teacher pulled out the 16mm projector to run a couple of films. The films turned out to be instructional films from the early 1950s. Cant recall the EXACT titles, but I think one was called "How to be polite", and the other was "How to ask for a date". The films were cheaply made with cheap looking sets, and unknown actors. In the films, the actors were incredibly polite to each other and the only rare slang words that were used by the teens in these films were along the lines of "golly" and "gee whiz".
Throughout the films, my fellow classmates laughed uproariously at the obviously antiquated words, slang and ways of how people communicated and dealt with each other. Except for me. I was the only classmate not laughing because I found the films quite enchanting. Here was a rare glimpse into another, much nicer world in which people treated each other with more kindness and respect than they did in the present.
I teach in Japan ...The kids in my school ( JHS ) must practice greeting people out on the streets and in front of town buildings before school a couple of times a year . The primary school kids , after walking across the zebra crossing , all say thank you to the cars that stopped for them , and waited for them to cross ...Unreal , huh ?
" Many restaurants didn't serve Blacks or Jews. "
How was one found out to be a Jew ? Did they check to see if you were circumsized ?
This thread is amazing. Thanks folks.
I remember the Salk vaccine being available to combat polio, but on the advice of Doc Towson, we waited for the Sabin vaccine to come into use. There were incidents of people getting polio from improperly processed Salk vaccine.
The "kid in the Iron Lung" I mentioned- Billy Tucker- died recently... his family was one of three on the Island who had a fallout shelter built in the late 1950's. All were above ground due to the high water table.
My , aren't we anal ? I neglected to type ERA after the 50s ...So sorry ...We don't have the luxury of editing our posts ...
I do remember 'rabbit ears' and tin foil. Our cat would rub up against them and move them ever so slight, that was all it would take.
My Dad was too cheap to ever invest in a good antenna ...He wasn't home much so it wasn't important as far as he was concerned ...I remember one night , the antenna was screwed up , so mom hooked up a coat hanger with a wire attached to it , connected it to the TV , opened the window , and stood there with the coat hanger outside the window so we could watch our favorite show . It was snowy as a blizzard , but we were able to watch the show . Dear old Mom ...
" Scrounging pop bottles for the 2 cent deposit. "
Yep ...We took a wagon around the neighborhood and collected not only bottles , but also newspapers . We also got up early during winter vacation and winter weekends to shovel snow ...Sold lemonade , of course ...Anything to bring in a little extra cash ...We sure as heck weren't lazy ...
We put one arm in front of our eyes and the other in back of our heads, while leaning against the wall.
What a great Mom!
Tell me about it ...But she sacrificed too much for us I think . She should've spent a little more on herself ...
I wish there were more moms like yours.
Rock a round the clock......
Adults in the 50's are fast disappearing.
My Japanese wife reminds me quite a lot of my own Mom in several ways actually ...How she managed to put up with me for 18 years I'll never know ...
My grandfather farmed tobacco, my great uncle had sheep and cattle, between hoeing, topping, cutting, and spearing tobacco and baling hay, I didn't have much time once I got old enough. I had two farms, about 20 acres of woods, and a river (tidewater) to play in. Hunting and fishing, too.
We may not have had a lot of money, and I only remember one new car--ever, but we had enough--and Dad saved enough to put two of us through college.
Dear God, but we had it good.
" Adults in the 50's are fast disappearing."
I know ...that was one reason for this thread ...to hear their point of view regarding the 50s ...Next time I get back home , I am going to grill my parents ! Mom is 75 and Dad 74 ...
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