Down Memory Lane

xxx

The Rifleman: The Sharpshooter. Season 1 Episode 1. 03/07/58. Lucas and Mark decide to enter a local turkey shoot to make money to buy a ranch.

 

 

 The Dick VanDyke Show. The Sick Boy and The Sitter. Season 1, Episode 1. 10/03/61. Comedy writer Rob Petrie talks his wife Laura into leaving their "sick" son with a baby sitter while they attend a big party.

Remember....?

When the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test, or chew gum

And the banquets were in the cafeteria and we danced to a jukebox later, and all the girls wore fluffy pastel gowns and the boys wore suits and we were allowed to stay out 'till midnight

When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber and watch drag races

And no one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked

And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever had a key

Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like "that cloud looks like a..."

And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the ruled of the game? Back then, baseball was not a psychological group learning experience-it was a game.

Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger

And everyone knew about Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk

When everyone was familiar with the sound of a real mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder mixed with sugar

When being sent to the prinicpal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we all survived because their love was greater than the threat.

And...with all our progress...don't you wish,...just once...you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace...and share it with the children of today....

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

And was it really that long ago?

 

 

You may have grown up in the fifties if you heard your parents say...

I'll tell you one thing, if thing keep going the way they are it's going to be impossible to buy a weeks groceries for $20.00.

Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long until $5,000.00 will only buy a used one.

Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?

If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.

When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 50 cents a gallon?

I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by saying 'damn' in Gone With The Wind, it seems every movie has a 'hell' or  'damn' in it.

Also, it won't be long until couples are sleeping in the same bed in the movies. What is this world coming to?

Pretty soon you won't be able to buy a good 10 cent cigar.

I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it here in Texas.

Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,00.00 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president.

 

 

Oh--we can't forget Woolworth's--loved that place!!

 

The Land That Made Me, Me.

Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot, 
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me.

For Ike was in the White House in that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.

We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.

We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.

And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with Lipstick, in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.

We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp.
And Reagan was a Democrat whose co-star was a chimp.

We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T.,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the Land That Made Me, Me.
We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.

For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis; was forever in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson, and Zeppelins were not Led.

And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.

And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-ed in the Land That Made Me, Me.

We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.

And hardware was a boxof nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Buicks came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.

And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the Land That Made Me, Me.

We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal tea

Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the Land That Made Me, Me.

There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill

 

And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents in the Land That Made Me, Me.

But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the Land That Made Me, Me.

So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the Land That Made Me, Me.

Buddy Winn sent this to me. I thought it was very good.

 

 

It is indeed ironic that we spent our school years yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostaligic about our school days. Isabel Waxman

 

 

How's This For Nostalgia?
 
All the girls had ugly gym uniforms? And wore tennis shoes not $200 Nike's!


 
 
 
 
It took three minutes for the TV to warm up?
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
Nobody owned a purebred dog?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When a quarter was a decent allowance?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a  penny?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed... and they did it!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went  steady?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lying on your back in the grass with your friends... and saying things like, 'That cloud looks like a... '?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger...


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just  once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And our summers were filled with bike rides, Hula Hoops, and visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.


 
 
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yeah, I remember that'?
 
Remember Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell , Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.
 
 
 


 
 
How  Many Of These Do You Remember?
Candy cigarettes...


 
Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside...


 
 
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles...
 
Coffee shops with Table Side Jukeboxes...
 
Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum...


 
 
 
 
Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers...


 
 
Newsreels before the movie...
 


 
 
Telephone numbers with a word prefix...( Yukon 2-601). Party lines...


 
 
Peashooters...
 


 
 
Hi-Fi's  & 45 RPM records...


 
 
78 RPM records...


 
 
Green  Stamps...


 
 
Mimeograph paper...


 
 
 
 
The Fort Apache Play Set...


 
Do You Remember a Time When Decisions were made by going...
'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'?
 
 
 
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'Do Over!'?
 
'Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest?


 
 
Catching The Fireflies Could Happily Occupy An Entire Evening?


 
 
It wasn't odd to have two or three 'Best
Friends'...
 
 


 
 
 
Having a Weapon in School meant being caught with a Slingshot?


 
 
 
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?


 
 
'Oly-oly-oxen-free' made perfect sense?


 
 
 
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
 


 
 
The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team?


 
 
 
War was a card game?


 
 
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?


 
 
 
Taking drugs meant orange flavored chewable aspirin?


 
 
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?