'50S WOMEN WERE FITTER

NY Post ^ | August 11, 2003 | Bill Hoffmann

[Marysecretary]

Agreed. I remember at the age of about four, when we were still on the farm, I got my arm caught in the wringer. Fortunately, there was a big sheet wrapped around it too and I wasn't badly hurt. I especially remember the smell of the sheets when you brought them in. So different from the smell of the dryer. Good times, huh?

[Marysecretary]

Me, too. It was a great time to be a kid. I still live in or at least near the town where I was born and I'm not too crazy about the changes here. I remember all the little stores, the Mom and Pop groceries, the five and dime, etc., etc. Those really WERE the good old days. We had good neighbors, one household per house usually (except for us, my grandmother owned the house and lived upstairs). Now the same houses are divided up into apartments and unfortunately a lot of them have students living there. Argghhhhh. That's why we moved OUT of town last year.

[Richard Kimball]

I loved the fifties sense of style,

As to people being healthier, I think it was an over all thing. Less snacking, fewer soft drinks, more activities.

[the Deejay]

I still hang a lot of clothes outside. I hate dryers! The clothes don't have that nice smell about them. Besides, dryers are very hard on clothes. You know all that lint in the filter? That's fibers from the clothes! Dryers actually eat clothes. (My dryer gets little use.)

[Hatteras]

Momma would kick us out the door by 8 am and we'd hear the lock on the door "click" behind us. Off we went, where? who knows, everyday was something different but we'd wander back toward home around noon or 1 o'clock looking for lunch. Momma would open the window and toss out a box of saltines and point to the water spigot if we were thirsty. Then it was back out again to the woods to add another floor to the tree fort or down to the inlet to test float the raft, perhaps a game of Combat with the BB guns...

But when that dinner bell rang, we sprinted home because we knew there was always going to be something good on the table.

How'd Peter Brady say it? "Porkchops...... and applesauce."

[MrConfettiMan]

I'll bet you had a younger brother named Bill that you used to stuff into a mailbox, too. And another brother named Bob that you used to throw into the pool. And another one named Art you used to nail to the wall. And a sister named Eileen you used to tip over all the time...

[Quilla]

A saint, why thank you. That's just what my sisters say, but I'm afraid for different reasons. They call or instant message me to verify that she's not there so they can innocently leave a message on her machine - darn, I hate I missed you. When they do come to visit (maybe every two years) they stay in my home. Their children and two of my sisters (untrained to the queen's specs) have never been invited into mother's space. I have been instructed not to call my sisters in the event of my mother's death. She claims they will not dress properly at the funeral and she'll be embarrassed. I swear to pete. I'm afraid that's one wish I'll not grant.

[EagleMamaMT]

I'm with you! I think the '50s and early '60s were the best decades (in my lifetime, anyway).

I really feel sorry for my kids that they can't know the freedom I did growing up. On days when we had our chores done up, we packed a lunch (usually bread and butter sandwiches and whatever fruit we had on hand, and a big bottle of ice water) and took off "over the dike". Our town was surrounded on two sides by a dike to keep back a large lake (Fort Gibson Lake) from flooding the town. Over the dike were miles and miles of prairie land and belts of trees, as well as the large lake. We'd play all day out there, by ourselves, with no supervision. We'd swim a while, run races, look for fossils in the gravel on the roads and just generally have a good time. Some days, we'd walk to town and buy a piece of penny candy at the little local variety store, or just window shop down Main Street.

My kids won't ever get to know how much fun it was to be able to roam around, free from fear of weirdos or perverts, like we did in the '60s. There's no more penny candy, and no more little variety stores or even any shops open on Main Street either (thanks to Wal-Mart). Times have changed a lot, and IMO not for the better.

[Richard Kimball]

I had a cousin we threw into the leaf pile. His name was Rustle.

[the Deejay]

We really appreciated things back then. Holidays, especially Christmas, was such fanfare. And we didn't begin to think of gifts until after or around Thanksgiving. Gifts were kept "simple" & were always things one "needed." Nothing cost very much. A ten dollar gift would have been a expensive gift. That would usually be a watch that dad gave to mom.

[the Deejay]

You can buy (online) candy from the '50's. Very reasonably priced. Also, take a trip back in time. I use Yahoo and input, "back to the fifties" or "the 1950's". There are a lot of websites to peruse. I can spend an entire day looking at them. You will find music files, clothes, memories, cars, furniture, etc., and a lot of things you may have forgotten.

[Colonel_Flagg]

We were so poor we had to walk barefooted to school...uphill, both ways. In the winter, Dad wrapped our bare feet in barb wire so we wouldn't slip on the ice.

We used to get up at three o'clock in the morning and lick the road clean with our tongues.

< / obscure Python reference> :)

[LexBaird]

Nobody gets me, except a select few.

What, we need a subscription or something?

[Cuttnhorse]

Classic screen name...an all-time favorite.

[ChewedGum]

Wow, what an indictment that is. Very sad.

Gum

[Marysecretary]

Thanks! I'll do that! I appreciate your heads up on this. Maryxxx

[EagleMamaMT]

I'll do that on my lunch break. Thanks a lot for the information!

[EllaMinnow]

Your mother sounds like an original YaYa. I sympathize, I have a sister like that.

[angcat]

some of us still clean and cook!

[the Deejay]

"I really feel sorry for my kids that they can't know the freedom I did growing up."

My three kids are adults. I've told them about the '50's and they are enivous. They would like to go back to the 50's with me! I did tell them, "There's a lot of things you wouldn't know how to do/use! Like opening a bottle of pop." (Like in the movie, Back To The Future, Michael Fox didn't know how to open the Pepsi bottle from the machine).