Back in the day ...

[Chris_]

You know what else was funny? Hollywood Squares.  :-)

Poor Paul Lynde -- so funny outside, so tormented inside.

Let's not forget Match Game -- lore has it they were ripped when they did the second show. When you watch it on the GSN, you can tell which episodes are which.

 

[Schadenfreude]

My dad had records of radio shows from the 30's and 40's.  I used to listen to them as a child.  I mostly remember the Lone Ranger and some murder mysteries.  Spent many rainy days listening to them.

I was raised with TVs and I do think watching the TV is a much more passive activity than listening to the radio. I used to work 2nd shift and they played old radio mysteries late at night.... sometimes they scared the crap out of me. 

[Chris]

I was raised with TVs and I do think watching the TV is a much more passive activity than listening to the radio. I used to work 2nd shift and they played old radio mysteries late at night.... sometimes they scared the crap out of me. 

I don't remember watching a lot of TV as a child.  There was always cartoons on Saturday morning and one or two must-watch shows during the week (I don't think Hee Haw was one of them).  I don't think it became a problem until we got cable. 

[Schadenfreude]

Poor Paul Lynde -- so funny outside, so tormented inside.

Let's not forget Match Game -- lore has it they were ripped when they did the second show. When you watch it on the GSN, you can tell which episodes are which.

 

I agree Paul Lynde was a hoot. I forgot all about Match Game till you mentioned it. 

[thundley4]

I was raised with TVs and I do think watching the TV is a much more passive activity than listening to the radio. I used to work 2nd shift and they played old radio mysteries late at night.... sometimes they scared the crap out of me. 

I remember listening to some mystery show hosted by E. G. Marshall, I think it was the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I can remember a creaking door at the start of each show.

[Mr Mannn]

When I was a kid, I got a quarter for an allowance each week. It was enough for one comic book, one package of Twinkies, and tax.

We had 5 channels of TV. The letter channels, an independent and PBS. There was NO video store, so you had to watch what was scheduled and plan a week in advance. TV Guide was the most important magazine at the time.
 

[Chris_]

I remember listening to some mystery show hosted by E. G. Marshall, I think it was the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I can remember a creaking door at the start of each show.

"Lights Out"

Made famous by Bill Cosby in his "Chickenheart" skit.

[thundley4]

"Lights Out"

Made famous by Bill Cosby in his "Chickenheart" skit.

Start spreading that jello, It's time for Lights Out. (Free mp3 downloads of many of the old time shows. )

[Thor]

Here's one that nobody, but nobody, would know, even if an adult in the era, in which case one's forgotten.

Anybody remember "Sing Along with Mitch Miller"?

I didn't think so.

I do remember that show.........

He always reminded me of the Devil

[Lacarnut]

Ah, this is getting too easy.

Anybody old enough to remember when it was common to get an Indian Head fervent piece, or a Mercury dime, or a Standing Liberty quarter dollar, in change?

Not all the time, but frequently.

One of the greatest gifts I gave to my dad was to get him involved in becoming a serious coin investor in 1963. Finding old silver coins was commonplace. I also got my ex BIL interested in saving silver coins in the late 70's.. 

[debk]

As old as the hills.

Remember, my lifetime hobby has been collecting, and reading, old newsmagazines.

Ahemmm......since I am older than you...does that make me a mountain instead of a hill?

And yes I remember the Mitch Miller show....my mother watched it every week.

Those "little" records with one song on each side were called "45's".....they were what you bought if you couldn't afford the album, or the band hadn't recorded one yet.

One of the first ones I bought with my own money was....the Beatles....I Want to Hold Your Hand...

[RobJohnson]

Personal massagers were really heavy and had to be plugged into the wall.

[lizard]

I remember when VCRs first came out and you had a choice of BETA or VHS.  I also remember paying 55 cents for a pack of cigarettes......out of a cigarette machine (haven't seen one of those in umpteen years!)   

[JohnnyReb]

Cars with one tail light and having to give hand signals.

TV and we only got one channel.....but it had Amos and Andy.

Saturday night around the radio........Boston Blackie, friend to those who have no friends.......The Shadow knows.....etc.

Vaccum brakes on trailer trucks (I even drove a few with vaccum brakes....my knees are still shaking)

Farm and heavy equipment without "ROPS"......not even an umbrella.

The Chick-a-lac Chick-a-lac sound of a well tuned A-model ford most any time not just at some antique car show.

Chopped off A-model wood saw between the slab pile and the firewood pile.

....and John Deere tractors went putt-putt-putt instead of hmmmmmmmm.

Family getting together for hand churned ice cream and ice cold watermelons on sunday afternoon.

[Atomic Lib Smasher]

Cigarettes must be going $40/carton these days don't you think?

I pay about 37 bucks for a carton of Camels now. When I first started 15 years ago, they were less than 20 bucks a carton and gas was less than a buck.

[Splashdown]

The first record I ever owned was "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers. I was in first or second grade.

Wide World of Sports was on ABC every weekend. "The Thrill of Victory....The Agony of Defeat."


I owned a pair of roller skates that required a key to use.


The channels on the UHF frequency were the coolest channels.

[franksolich]

Automobiles where the headlight dimmer/brightener was a button on the floor and one pushed it with the left foot. 

Rather than being on the steering column.

This is so cool; I wonder why they stopped it.

[NHSparky]

Childhood memories, such as they are:

When the President went on television to address the nation, he was on EVERY channel.  All FOUR of them.

The networks hadn't gone to all-color broadcasting yet. (NBC did, IIRC, around 1968).

I got a .22 rifle for my 8th birthday and NOBODY in the neighborhood had a cow over it, because all the other kids were shooting them, or larger.

Penny candy really WAS a penny.  Sometimes TWO for a penny.

The really good home stereo systems had 7" reel-to-reel decks (which, BTW, are as good at fidelity as CD's.)

[lizard]

Automobiles where the headlight dimmer/brightener was a button on the floor and one pushed it with the left foot. 

Rather than being on the steering column.

This is so cool; I wonder why they stopped it.

I wholeheartedly agree with you on this.  I always loved the dimmer switch being in the floor.  We have a dump truck that is old enough it still has it in the floor.   

[Eupher]

I think JohnnyReb can go back further than most, based on his last post!

Back in the day, you could get milk delivered to your doorstep. To keep it from freezing, the house I grew up in had a milk chute. The milkman put the full bottles in the milk chute and picked up the empties.

Speaking of milk, back in the day there was no such animal as "2%", "1%" or "0.5%". Milk was milk, even if it had cream on top.

Light switches had buttons rather than a flip-type lever.

Houses were drafty, because heating them was relatively cheap. Coal chutes, anyone?

Back in the day, wringer washers were the bomb. People actually had clothes lines and used them. When was the last time you saw anybody hang their laundry out on the line to dry?

Women wore dresses most of the time, not just to get dressed up. And wore those goofy hats too, especially in church.

Back in the day, shirts had to be ironed. There wasn't any of that "permanent press" stuff.

You actually got free stuff at the gas station, which also included a car repair garage. Remember the "ding ding" when your car actually ran over the air hose, alerting the attendant to come out and pump your gas, check your oil, and wash your windshield? Oh, and no such thing as credit cards at the pump, either. Cash or check, but who ever wrote a check at the gas station? S&H green stamps, sets of tumblers, and FREE MAPS.

[debk]

My mother always had a skirt on when she went out....even to the grocery store. Shorts or slacks were for at home. Gloves to church and always...always had on a hat, chapel veil or doily(me).

Our milk was always delivered. I remember when it came in glass bottles with a little paper top. Cream was on the top. In the wintertime, if it was really cold, you had to make sure to get it as soon as the milkman delivered it...cause it could freeze and the bottle would burst.

We didn't have a dryer until the late 60's and my stepmother still hung the stuff out to dry if possible.

We did have a coal chute when I was really little.

Party lines on the telephone....especially at my grandma's house. She would always tell me when my parents would call (grandma was in IL, parents were in IA) that I had to be careful what I said on the phone, because someone could be listening in....

[NHSparky]

We had no coal chute, because we had no basement.  Dad taught me to split wood at age 9 and I hauled it from the barn to the house daily, along with some coal to put in at night.

One-room schoolhouses.  Yes, I went to one briefly when I lived between (read: well outside) Ogalalla and Paxton, Nebraska.

And I forgot about party lines.  We still had them (for a couple of years, IIRC) when we first moved to Idaho.

[Inga]

Back in the the day my grandpa use to take us kids to the store for a RC cola and a peanut roundie.

Back in the day we use to listen to Sons of the Pioneers.

Back in the day we could go to the lake without paying to get in.No gates.

Back in the day I got a bag full of penny candy, and only spend .10 cent.

Back in the day we would have house parties with Chubby Checkers playing.

[Peter3_1]

I thought we were imparting wisdom to the callow youth? Well, remember the future is PLASTICS my boy, PLASTICS.

And if you like nature walks, NEVER FORGET:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZANKFxrcKU

[JohnnyReb]

Monkey Grip patches for innertubes.......and the hot patch machine on the side of every filling station.

....and asking for cigarettes didn't entail a 15 minute discussion.....

You ask for, "Winstons"
Clerk asks, "Full flavor, lights or ultra lights?"
You say, "Full flavor."
Clerk says, "Short or 100's?"
You say, "Shorts."
Clerk says, "Soft pack or box?"
You say, "Soft pack?"
Clerk says, "Menthol or regular?"
You say, "Regular?"
Clerk says, "Sorry, but we're out of those."

Same goes for soft drinks these days. Bottle, can or plastic.....large, larger or the great big one.......regular, diet, decaffeinated, with lemon or some other fruit.....sheeesh a fellow could die of thirst before he could order a Coke.