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Memories of Growing Up in the 40's and 50's (and since, even)
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| 1/4/01 (this time)
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Posted on 01/04/2003 12:12:42 PM PST by Dakotabound
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To: FITZ
LOL. Your grandfather put things in the garage "just in case" and I put them in the basement for the same reason. It's very hard not to hoard things if you grew up during the depression, especially the depression in the South. When I compare notes with my husband who grew up in Ohio, I find that my childhood involved much more poverty. I recall going barefoot from spring thaw until frost. I wore handed down shoes with cardboard insoles. For me there was no such thing as "new" shoes, or clothes either for that matter. Most of our dresses were made from flour or feed sacks. They were good for at least three girls. The boys wore overalls with no shirt until cold weather. Then they had shirts made from white flour sacks. Someone recalled ironing with a non-steam iron. I recall ironing with flat irons that you heated on the wood cookstove, and lifted with a hot pad around the handle. You had to switch irons when one got too cold. We had no running water. No electric. No bathroom. We drew water from a well or carried from a spring. We had kerosene lamps. Cooked on a wood stove and heated the house with a wood heater or an open fireplace. We had an old battery radio and we could pick up the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night if we got the antennea wire just right. When WWII broke out and we moved to "town", I thought we were rich because we had running water, electric and a bathroom. That's when the good life began, even with the rationing we were remarkably better off than we had been. I don't recall ever eating in a restaurant until I was in high school. First Pizza was in Miami in 54. I had never heard of it and hated the taste. It grows on you. I could go on all night. We do this type of thread ever so often, and I think I repeat myself.
301
posted on
01/04/2003 5:58:57 PM PST
by
WVNan
To: Howlin
Everything's been mentioned about hair except for those VILE "Toni Home Permanents"! Being the daughter who inherited Dad's fine wispy hair, I was forced to endure the horror every 2 months from toddlerhood on by a mom with thick, naturally curly hair who thought I was "missing out" on something vital in life. I hated them... and their awful smell - Lordy, Lordy... LOL
I remember all the stuff with the torturous pink rollers (and their plastic sticks that got jammed into my scalp to hold them in place, leaving marks) and the funny hair dryers with their inflating hoods... As a result of all that crap, I have worn nothing but "wash and wear" hair styles all of my adult life. I don't even own a hair dryer, or any sort of curling devices, today!
302
posted on
01/04/2003 6:00:05 PM PST
by
phroebe
To: Howlin
Do you remember 'rock and roll pins?"No, what are they?
303
posted on
01/04/2003 6:01:35 PM PST
by
muggs
To: Exit148
>>and never forget the guilt of all the starving children in China, Europe, or the world!<<
LOL! I always thought to myself "well put this stuff in a box and ship it to them cuz I don't want it!!"
To: hardhead
To: Mears
"-----This was the forties in a neighborhood in Boston ----"I grew up in Winthrop in those years, and I don't think my town had any classy restaurants --- just a couple of "Friendly" type places. We usually went to Chinatown in Boston, and I can still smell the wonderful aromas on the streets, inspite of the piled up garbage cans!
306
posted on
01/04/2003 6:03:38 PM PST
by
Exit148
To: WVNan
Most of our dresses were made from flour or feed sacks. I was born in '47 but I can remember demanding to go with my father to the feed store to pick out the pattern, as I knew it would end up on my back. LOL
To: phroebe
Did you ever "Iron" your hair?
To: Exit148
My daughter has a hard time imagining no blow dryers- I explained I wore the cap attached to the dryer and you sat there for 1/2 hour til your hair was dry.
To: Mears
I loved the Howard Johnson Hotdogs, baked beans and potato salad. It was a real treat!
To: OldFriend
Born in Summit NJ in 1937. Don't want to go home again.
To: Howlin
Remember that the first time TV stayed on all night was when JFK was shot. My kids just cannot believe that. I think that is right about the all night. There were NO commercials, and there are links in the net to the TV coverage of at least the initial news.
I remember staying up way late after parents went to bed.
And also seeing Jack Ruby shoot Oswald as we were getting ready for Sunday dinner.
C.S. Lewis also died the same day as JFK. I did not know him from Adam at that time.
312
posted on
01/04/2003 6:08:38 PM PST
by
don-o
To: mountaineer
I have a record (33 1/3 rpm) of Josie Carey's Children's Corner. Who can forget such lovely tunes (sung by Fred Rogers) as "Meow meow meow meow beautiful, meow meow telephone," or "I give a hoot for you, 'cause golly, golly, you're neat"?LOL! Well some of those classics by Henrietta Cat and X the Owl survived for many years in Mister Rogers neighborhood. Right now I'm nostalgicly wracking the cobwebs in my feeble old brain trying to recall all the words to the closing theme "Good Night, God." It was such a lovely and simple tune, but I can't find much of anything about it on the Internet. While I can still distinctly hear the music in my head, I can barely recall the last few lines:
.....
Keep us safe and healthy God,
(Da da da da da...???)
Good night, God...
And Thank-you, God...
For letting us love You.
It is REALLY bugging me that I can't come up with more.
I absolutely loved that show when I was 3~4 years old, and I NEVER missed an episode.
To: Exit148
And remember how your hair would get crimped where the bobby pin creased each one? I HATED that.
Then there were spit curls... made with sugar water (or real spit!), LOL!
To: VMI70
>>"May I please be excused"<<
sigh.
To: WVNan
I recall ironing with flat irons that you heated on the wood cookstoveMy mom still has one of those. She uses it as a door stop now.
316
posted on
01/04/2003 6:11:15 PM PST
by
muggs
To: muggs
My grandmother used her old flatirons as doorstops, too. I gave my mom an antique iron, one that you put hot coals inside the iron to heat it up, and she's using it for a doorstop.
To: phroebe
Everything's been mentioned about hair except for those VILE "Toni Home Permanents"!LOL...That smell flared in my nostrils when I read a earlier post.about hair.
To: Humidston
So,okay, when are we finally going to admit that we teased our hair? If one got it teased just right into a beehive a foot tall, and secured it with a whole bottle of hairspray, the hair would not move for a week.
To: Dakotabound
I grew up in the 80's. Fast food was readily available, pizza was plentiful, and everybody played soccer. We had a computer and I used it to write out my homework every once in a while which caused much suspicion on the part of those who thought the computer was doing my homework for me.
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