Things change
As the decades go flying by, I find myself wondering whatever happened to people and things that once were a part of my everyday life, people such as the......: Hatcheck girls. During the 1930s, '40s and '50s, 95 percent of all American men and women wore hats, making it essential for most public businesses to include a hatcheck room on the premises.
Elevator operators. Anyone remembers those people? Before the "do-it-yourself" push-button era of the 1960s came along, uniformed attendants stood like well-mannered soldiers at the elevator controls, waiting to take their riders to a requested floor. They were sometimes called "elevator jockeys."
The Edsel. Though it may sound like something you'd eat with beer and chips, Edsels weren't eaten, they were driven. When this innovative car, created and produced by the Ford Company, hit showroom floors, it caused quite a public stir. Some people loved it. But the majority hated it, and the Edsel became Ford's biggest sales dud. Door-to-door salesmen. Hard to believe, but there once was a time when products and food were brought to us door-to-door.
The Watkins man delivered our cooking and medicinal needs; the Fuller brush man, our household wares; the delivery boy, our groceries; the milkman, our fresh cream; the Avon Lady, our cosTmetics; the produce man, our vegetables; our fishmonger, our sea bass; and the bakery truck, our warm breakfast rolls. Nylon stockings. Before pantyhose came along and eliminated the need for a garter belt, the American woman of the 1940s and '50s covered her legs in stockings made of luxurious nylon.
But nylons had one big drawback; their seams always needed straightening. "Are my seams straight?" was the common lament of the fashionable woman. House dresses and frilly aprons. Before "wash and wear" and blue jeans came along, American homemakers wore feminine cotton dresses with well-starched collars. To protect these dresses, every homemaker wore a frilly white apron.
A strand of white pearls completed her daily ensemble. Cigarette holders. Silly as it may seem by today's standards, smoking cigarettes was once fashionable and considered very sophisticated. A long cigarette holder was considered a stylish accessory to a smoker's wardrobe. President FDR's use of a cigarette holder did a lot to promote this style trend. Shoeshine stands.
Before Nike made sneakers fashionable for everyone from the chairman of the board to granny, a man was judged by the shine on his shoes. A 25-cent shoeshine made a man feel like a million. Ten-cents' worth? Not too long ago, a dime could buy you a phone call, a Hershey bar, a double-scoop ice cream cone, a postage stamp or a cherry cola from the soda fountain bar. Hope chests.
These were most popular in the 1940s and 50s... Every woman planning a marriage had one of these in her bedroom... huge wooden chests lined in fine cedar that held things for setting up her future household. It was customary for the engaged young lady to fill the cedar chest, or "Hope Chest", with romantic keepsakes, fashionable nightgowns, pure white linens, silver service and crystals--all the necessary items for a bride to begin her married life. The 25-cent "kiddy" matinee.
On Saturday afternoons, kids under 12 flocked to their local theaters to enjoy the kiddy matinees. Two mercury head dimes and a buffalo nickel entitled us to see two full-length adventure films, three cartoons and coming attractions. Candy bars were a nickel. Full-service gas stations. It was only a few years back that I could still get my gas pumped by a service station attendant, yet he was one of a dying breed, that now has died and gone...
Before self-service was the rule, the full-service aisle was where most women pulled up their cars for service. Smiling attendants pumped our gas, washed our car windows and checked the oil, tires and radiator water--all for 40 cents a gallon. Oh yes, those were the days, my friend, those were the days! Soupy Sales.
No, that's not a brand of seafood or alphabet soup. For those under 40, who don't remember, "Soupy" with pal "White Fang," was a funny, pie-throwing comic from TV's early days. Others of his ilk include, "Time for Beanie," "Kukla, Fran and Ollie" and "Howdy Doody." Eight-track tapes. Just after LPs and before cassettes and CDs came along, the eight-track tape was all the rage.
The bulky eight tracks were cumbersome and low in quality when compared to the super sound of today's paper-thin CDs. Phonograph records. Remember those? Round black vinyl things with a hole in the center? They came in 45, 78 and 33 1/3 rpms. They're gathering dust now in closets and trunks, but the music they produced was once as important to us as the CD is to today's generation. Accordion music.
The accordion wasn't always a hated instrument. It was once beloved by the public during the 1930s, '40s and '50s. The serenade of a strolling concertina set the mood for a romantic evening. The popular sounds of accordionist Dick Contino and polka maestro Lawrence Welk had everybody playing and dancing to the strains of the musical "squeeze box."
Blue-chip stamps. Blue-chip stamps replaced the green stamps of the 1940s. Remember green stamps? And just as we did in previous years, we faithfully pasted these stamps inside our booklets, redeeming them for a variety of free gifts. Wouldn't it be nice today to get more than just a bill at the checkout counter? It sure would help to soothe the escalating food bills.
The three-cent stamp. Yes, in the 1940s, I can remember when it took only three cents to mail a letter. A postcard could be mailed for a penny. Everybody could afford to send long lists of Christmas cards at holiday time. Unfortunately, due to the high price of postage, Christmas card lists keep getting shorter and shorter. House calls. Having our family doctor come to our homes to treat us in our sickbeds was a luxury enjoyed by the 1950s family. The sound of his reassuring voice, a spoonful of medicine and his friendly bedside manner helped to bring about a speedy recovery.
A cup of coffee and some friendly conversation were his only additional fees for the service. One of my mom's favorite sayings was, "There's an advantage and disadvantage to almost everything". As I grow older I appreciate her words now more than ever. For instance, there's a great advantage to owning a microwave. It gives us quick and easy cooking and reheats a cup of coffee almost instantly.
But gone now are the aromas we grew up with, the warm and welcoming smell of coffee simmering on the stove and garlic frying in the pan. The newest invention, the digital computer camera, makes it almost impossible to take a bad picture. No more guess work, no more taking the film to the drug store and waiting for development.
It also means there will be no more excitement or anticipation as we tear open the photo envelope with eager expectancy to see how those vacation pictures and birthday photos came out. The bad photo has been eliminated and with it the fun and anticipation of picture taking. And so, like so many things from my generation, it will eventually be relegated to the past, mentioned and remembered only occationally in nostalgia columns such as mine.
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