Going 'down celler' to keep cool on really, really hot days. Inner tubes in tires - complete with patches - that made dandy flotation devices at the lake. My red and cream-colored Schwinn bicycle that had one 'speed, 'coaster' brakes and a neat speedometer that I once got up to 30 mph on a downgrade. New Buster Brown shoes every fall for school. Coke and Pepsi-Cola in thick bottles (the Coke bottles were green). Brylcreem ("a little dab'll do ya"). The excitment of the 'Good Humor man' coming down our street, complete with his white uniform and cap. Ordering a '2-cents plain' at the soda fountain when funds were low.
On the radio (with it's glowing vacuum tubes): 'Amos and Andy', 'Life with Luigi' (Basco) - played by J. Carroll Naish, 'Our Miss Brookes' and of course 'Dick Tracy', 'Fibber McGee and Molly' along with (later)'Gunsmoke' and Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Allen (Allen's Alley) and the 'quiz shows': 'You Bet Your Life' with Groucho Marx, 'Break the Bank' with Bert Parks (later the Miss America Emcee for years) and the 'soap operas': 'Young Widder Brown', 'Stella Dallas' and many more. I even remember the tear-jerker 'quiz' show: 'Queen For a Day'. I loved radio and it fired up my young imagination in a way that TV never could.
Party lines, wash hung out to dry every monday, Dad coming home with pastry every Sunday morning, everybody 'dressing up' for church (men in suits, women in dresses) and store clerks who actually wanted to help you and acted happy that you were in their store. Huge 78 RPM records. Mom's wringer washer that I was always told to keep my hands away from.
Yes, unfortunately we had segregration and we sweated in the summer without air conditioning, we didn't have computers, the internet, cell phones, color TV or lots of other good things that we now take for granted, like cars that go 150,000 miles with few problems (50,000 used to be average, 100,000 was really pushing it for most vehicles) but we had a simplier way of life in many respects , compared to today, and certainly more public decorum and friendlier attitudes toward one another. Life changes and we all have to move on but it's always pleasant to also take a moment to look back, too. Thanks for the opportunity to do so.
I'd like to add after Sunday dinner and 'Gunsmoke', the family ping-pong tournament in the basement along with the unveiling of the latest model cars in September.