I so fondly remember the Smothers Brothers.

When we about 12 or 13 my best friend's mother took us to see them live. After the show everyone was waiting at the stage door for them to come out. My friend's mother and her friend drove up and yelled at us to get in the car as if they were angry with up. Then we drove around the building near the dining room. Tommy Smothers was there and he was so sweet and kind to us. We had him all to ourselves and he chattered and bantered with us, Great memory.

Plenty of children's programming when I was small. Mickey Mouse Club when we first got our TV. Later we had lots of local programs, Captain Satellite, The Mayor Art Show, Popeye, Brother Buzz, Ding Dong School, Romper Room, The Howdy Doody Show, Our Gang along with tons of Saturday morning cartoons. Most other programming was family oriented also.

Which reminds me of the Kiddie Matinees every Saturday at the movie theater. We would get dropped off and get to see 2 movies, some cartoons and they would have a stage show with games and prizes. Later when I babysat was allowed to walk my three charges and leave them there giving teen-aged me a break for the afternoon. Then I would pick them up and walk them home.

Mimeograph machines at work to print my monthly schedule.

Rubber bootstrap to hold all my books together.

Having to wear the ugly romper gym suit for gym class.

Going out for lunch in junior high school we could get: hamburger, coke and French fries at the diner or fried rice, egg roll and a coke at the Chinese restaurant for $1.00.

They never called out my name at the end of Romper Room no matter how much I wished they did.

It was a big treat to go into the city and eat at Tad’s Steak House.

Rushing home to watch Dark Shadows.

anyone else iron their hair straight with an actual iron? Then use a large can as a roller over night? I used a dog food can :)

Roller skates that attached to your sneakers and you wound them tight with a skate key. They would always come undone. And of course we would skate in the street.

Having to wear the ugly romper gym suit for gym class.

I avoided the ugly romper era but they had them on hand as punishment if we forgot our uniforms of they didn't meet the clean test at the beginning of each week.

We had shower checks where we had to line up and the teachers would check that we were wet enough. Wouldn't fly today, they would be considered perverts. I remember us doing our best to roll up our panty girdles under our shorts and hoping they wouldn't check too closely under our towels. We would splash water on each other on all the exposed skin. With our teased out hair, girdles and stockings it was quite a feat to get dressed and to the next class after gym.

I never saw a drinking fountain in the street. Small town living I guess. There is a hand pump for water at our nearby day park on Superior. And an outhouse. They are very clean.

I remember the old wooden outhouse at the parks. Yuk Complete with resident spiders.

I had a car with curb feelers. I took them off.

Oh yeah, cars where an AM radio was an option ... and car clocks were analog and never kept good time. Side vent windows which my Dad would always use so the cigarette smoke got sucked out of the car. And the other floor vents with the knobs you'd pull to let air in...they always made litter bags which hung off the knobs.

Drive-in movie theaters. Car Hops. Gosh.....so many things to remember. The roller skates with the keys, Jump rope, red rover, red rover. Catching lightening bugs. When you were lucky enough to find bubble gum you wrapped it in wax paper and put it in the ice box sos you could chew it again the next day....gross!

"Roller skates that attached to your sneakers and you wound them tight with a skate key."

Yes...and they DID come undone! LOL...Dark Shadows and Barnabas Collins!

I remember going to In-N-Out and a burger and coke were 55 cents. Or filling up my VW's gas tank for about $3.

How about getting "dressed up" to get on an airplane?

Winky Dink, the first interactive TV game. Loved to put the Magic Screen on the tv and draw a bridge so Winky could cross the river then erase it fast before the bad person could catch him.

OMG...YES to Dark Shadows. I was so in love with Quentin (sigh)

One horse-drawn, rubber-tired, covered wagons hauling milk or bread or ice down almost all city streets - trucks for milk and bread in the country, but not ice for the icebox: rural folks had a pan of cold water in the basement. I don't remember egg wagons in either country or city.

Yes - those old mimeograph machines ... and typing off the masters before the print. I think I saw a few of them around here somewhere, a couple of years ago but haven't been near a machine in years.

When you saw the blinking light on the answering machine - usually you knew who the blinkers were, did you, samkarenorkaren and Annie?

ole joyful

Ah joyful...the smell of mimeograph paper...it was like a high.

Yes back then the blinks were from people we actually wanted to hear from. Now the blinks are always from rachel at card services or threats from the IRS or something about our car warranty...

How about the velour type seats with the doily on the headrest on airplanes. I remember sometimes DH and I would go on dates - a trip to Idlewild (now Kennedy) airport and watch people coming and going from their flights and the family reunions, hugs and tears. It was a big deal to fly back then. Now it's as common place as going to the grocery store. Well, before Corona, anyway. :-)))

Remember Saturday afternoon matinees at the movie house and comic books cost 25 cents or less?

Remember when movies began with a short news reel about the war?

Remember when postage for a post card cost 3 cents and 5 cents for a first class letter?

Remember when a Model A Ford was not an old car?

Remember when a High School education was plenty for making a living wage?

I remember dressing up. We used to dress up to travel. I always had to wear a hat to church and I'd spend so much time coordinating my hat with my outfit. I remember Mom made me this luscious spring coat and a dress underneath that matched the lining fabric on the coat just to wear to church. We used to put on our "sunday best". We dressed up for special occasions and even the theater and to go out to dinner.

Now I even see people wearing cut offs to a wake...

I am so enjoying this thread. I want to comment on each one! Re the world of tv back then... I STILL look forward to Sunday evenings and I KNOW it is because of Ed Sullivan. That was the be- all and end-all ultimate. To this day, I don't really watch much tv but I still think Sunday night has something special. It's a shame because after all these years, I have to admit I end up a bit disappointed.

And for the record, I had a "I LOVE PAUL" button.

DH is older than I and he still remembers the black out shades on the apartment windows when he grew up in NYC during the war. He also remembers getting in big trouble for eating a bite of butter which was like gold during the war with the ration coupons.

Loved Sunday nights, watching The Wonderful World of Disney. Color tv was relatively new -- which network was it with the peacock, that dipped its head then unfurled its colorful feathers? (well for many years those of us with black & white tv's assumed it was in color!)

I remember the "air raid sirens" as mentioned earlier here. I was very young, and the whole scenario is still embedded in my mind. We lived next door to the elementary school, which used a siren to call the kids into school at the beginning of each day. When practice air raids became a thing in WW11, we got a phone call at our house when there was to be an air raid. My Mom then ran over to the school and set off the siren. Four blasts told the community to turn off all lights in their homes. Another phone call at home a few minutes later would give the "all clear" and my older sister or Dad would turn on the lights in our home which told my Mom at the school house to blow the siren 2 times for all clear. I never hear a siren still today that I don't think of those frightening times when I was a small child.

Our blinking light was usually family member. Water fountains were in the parks. Forest preserves had hand pump and wooden outhouse.

Remember when you could watch game shows all day on any channel?

Every summer we were budding entrepreneurs with Kool Aid stands. We charged a penny for a dixie cup of it. And it was pure profit, since our parents paid for the Kool Aid, sugar and cups!

I remember going to the beach as a young teen...the place smelled like coppertone as that's what everyone used, and as you walked along the beach you heard all the same music as everyone had their transistor radios tuned to Cousin Brucie.

Never heard it used for an air raid, but the little town Up North we used to visit had a "noon whistle" -- that was fun to listen for, as a kid!

"...the place smelled like Coppertone..."

I loved that smell! :-)

Remember when you got dressed up to go on a plane. And you got a nice meal.

Yes our town had the noon siren too. It was used to call the volunteer fire dept members to a fire in case of emergency. I don't think they've used it in quite a few years now. If you were near it when it went off, it scared the daylights out of you.

I am enjoying this thread, too. Like salonva said, I wish I could comment on them. I remember when cars had bench seats in the front and I always sat right next to my boyfriend. No seatbelts, and I bet some girls went right through the windshield in an accident. Now there’s something NOT to miss.

i am laughing about rolling up,your skirt. I always did that as I walked to the bus stop. How about carrying your books in your arms , not a back pack. Boys balanced them against their hip.

Hot 50 Top Singles - 1958

Volare by Domenico Modugno

All I Have to Do is Dream by The Everly Brothers

Witch Doctor by David Seville

Patricia by Perez Prado

Catch a Falling Star by Perry Como

Tequila by The Champs

Return to Me by Dean Martin

The Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley

Get a Job by The Silhouettes

All on AM radio!

Jim, I still have Witch Doctor and Purple People Eater on 45's. :-) Perry Como...loved him.

Someone mentioned rolling up skirts. When I was in junior high they would have us kneel and measure the distance from our hems to the floor. Public school dress codes were pretty tight back then. I guess that's one reason some of us are so appalled at what we see today.

Hot top 50 singles - 1960

Theme from A Summer Place - Percy Faith

Cathy's Clown - The Every Brothers

Teen Angel - Mark Dinning

It's Now or Never - Elvis Presley

The Twist - Chubby Checker

Alley Oop - The Hollywood Argyles

I'm Sorry - Brenda Lee

Puppy Love - Paul Anka

"Theme from A Summer Place - Percy Faith"

Top favorite. I can just get lost in that music.

Elvis - Can't Help Falling in Love

Just about anything from Roy Orbison

How about Jay and the Americans? I always thought Jay Black's voice was underrated. This video shows he kept that voice a long time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMJKEhEHzfA

Oh yes rolling up the skirt of my uniform in high school. I think I wore that skirt all four years. Each year it took fewer rolls to get it to the length I wanted.

Instead of noon day sirens, the local church bell pealed at noon.

I loved my roller skates and skated in the street too. Indian chalk to draw masterpieces on the sidewalk or street. Playing ball with a Spalding.

Besides selling lemonade, my friends and I sold comic books.

I still have a transistor radio to use during power outages. I put it under my pillow and fell asleep listening to Cousin Brucie. My mother took it out from under my pillow and turned it off after I was asleep.

Riding public transportation to school with my bus pass.

Buying ice cream from the ice cream truck.

Going to the candy store to buy a candy bar for a nickel or penny candy or Bazooka bubble gum.

The high schools held mixers on Friday nights with student bands.

Did anyone else go to the Jewish deli to get a "half of rye seedless" or the newsstand to get the 4 star final but never the paper on top of the pile?

My hair was down to my waist, I rolled it in orange juice cans. Slept with most of my head hanging off the bed.

I remember when transistor radios came out. I begged for one. I got it on my birthday, it was a bright green. I listened to Motown hits mostly.

I watched American Bandstand religiously. Also the Dobie Gillis show.

It was a time of a bit of rebellion for me. I started smoking, cigarettes were $.25.

I cashed in pop bottles to buy them from the cigarette machine at a gas station.

Who was born in 1958

Michael Jackson

Ellen DeGeneres

Madonna

Prince

Alec Baldwin

Jamie Lee Curtis

Kevin Bacon

Tim Burton

Popular movies in 1958

Vertigo - James Steward, Kim Novak

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman

Gigi - Leslie Caron, Maurice Cevalier

I remember it was a big deal in 7th grade when girls were finally allowed to wear pants to school. Although they didn't allow jeans (which they called "dungarees".)

Reading all the good times memories in the posts above. Yes we 'older' folks grew up in much simpler times. This piece from the current Readers Digest tells it like it was 'back then' verses now.

Simpler Times

My ten year old daughter: Can I go to my friends house?

Me: Take your phone and text me every 20 minutes to tell me that your ok.

Me, when I was 10: I'm off to the abandoned quarry with my pals.

Mom: Dinner's at 5.

I remember being so embarrassed if my slip or bra strap was showing! Rolling those skirts up was hard to do wearing a full slip. Half slips were the best.

Lgmd, that was us! Not the quarry (it wasn’t in biking distance) or “the woods” at the end of our street (forbidden territory), but we would bike to the creek and play explorer along the banks. I’m sure our parents didn’t know! We could go uptown but only if we told our parents.

Around 5, we‘d hear various whistles and bells, and we all knew what kid belonged to which summons.

We were grade-schoolers, it was the 60s.

I remember the afternoon of December 7 1941, I was 5 yrs. 20 and I9 yr old brothers, another young guy who worked for my Dad, Mother, Dad, Grandmother and I setting in the dinning room. Still today I can still hear Dad’s worker saying “ I’m enlisting tomorrow” he did and gone. Both of brother were in service six months later.

Then I remember August 14 1945... I was visiting my grandparents in southern Illinois, (they lived in the country, the real country) suddenly we heard gunshots, the wall phone ringing, news of “the war is over” my first thoughts “my brothers are coming home”. So long ago, gosh just how old am I.. WOW.

I remember working at a filling station. When filling a tank with gasoline, I washed the windshield and checked the engine oil level. The two grades of gasoline were called regular and Ethyl or high test. A rag was carried, dangling from a back pocket, for a hand wipe. Many gas pumps did not have automatic shut-offs. The operator had to listen and manually slow the flow when he heard the tank topping out, and then, stopping the fill.

Boys equipped their jalopies with wolf whistle horns. Factory performance cars were Mercury from Ford and Oldsmobile "Olds" from GM.

A cheap date was a walk in the park; A more expensive one was going to a movie, buying popcorn, and afterward having a soft serve cone at the Dairy Queen. A popular activity was roller skating on Friday or Saturday night. The nicer skating rinks had live organ music.

Remember going to the roller rink when you were a kid? Remember buying those glowsticks we'd all get and wore while we were skating? Remember outdoor theaters? A lot of these kinds of places just aren't as popular as they used to be, and I can't understand why. I had a blast hanging out there when I was younger.

I was a total rink rat when I was a kid. I won my first transistor radio (first place ladies all ages) in a speed skating contest for the public. I think I must have been around 11. Because I won most of the races I had to start back at the wall instead of the starting line along with a couple of older girls that were in speed club.

My older brother worked as a floor guard and in the summer I would go with him to open up and stay all day when I didn't have a competition. Sunday was club day and we had classes and practice. Then private lessons after school during the week. Friday nights there was a sock hop after the last session. So much fun and all the rink romances . LOL

The manager's daughter and I were friends and we both got puppies at around the same time. We would bring them to the rink with us and they'd run around with us while we skated until the rink opened for the public.

But, less pleasant memories, do you remember the fear of polio? My parents wouldn't let me go to pools or movies for children, which were mostly cartoons.

Cruising down the strip on every weekend. Hanging out at the burger stands. Car clubs and motorcycle clubs. After the above rink closed we went to another on weekends. I met an older girl there whose dad would give us the keys to his car while he stayed to skate
the second session. We would change out of our skating clothes into the requisite black clothing and off we went for a couple of hours. Then come back with the car at closing time. I would pile in the car with my brother and his friend and we would be off to go get a late night pizza or stop at a coffee shop for donuts and hot chocolate.

Remember the drag strips? My friend and I would walk almost 5 miles to get there. On Sundays the motorcycle scrambles were held. We would meet the the crew from our locals in the pits. Feeling so mature drinking beer and hanging out. LOL

At the drag strip itself I saw Craig Breedlove in one of his early Spirit of America cars there. so many fun memories of those days. Nothing but some weak fencing between us and the cars. When I did demo derby my kids couldn't even be near the pits. Times change.

My Mom enjoyed bowling. We went duck pin bowling when I was a kid...not sure they even have that any more...

Annie, though far and few between there is a few places that still have duck pins. Until 5 years ago we belonged to a social club that formed at the turn of the century when the town near me was a steel mill town. Everything was manual. We had high school boys set up the pins and return the balls down the rails. I played every Tuesday with a group of women during the winter. There was BSing , snacking, laughter and drinking with some bowling in between. Lol.

I miss drive in theaters. It would be great to have them now so we could go to a movie and remain socially distanced. However, as teens I would say we were definitely not distanced from each other in those steamy cars.