Oh, ok.  I didn't have the slightest idea.  For all I knew it was street hockey with a can. ROFL!

Quote - Yep that be how we played it too :O)

Good to know my memory hasn't failed me in all things. lol

It's often occured to me that if eating sugar, butter, eggs, beef etc. was really bad for you then there wouldn't be many elderly people around - they'd be dead by now because there weren't any substitutes for these items way back when :)

I was born in 1955 so I can definitely relate to the text. Along with everything that's been said you also didn't mouth off to your teachers because they'd smack you and if you ran home and bawled to your parents you'd get smacked again. That may sound a bit heavy handed but you didn't need metal detectors and security guards at school like you have today. It seems the chickens have come home to roost on a lot of 'enlightened' social policies concerning kids but that doesn't seem to stop the 'authorities' from coming up with new ones. I think you need a booklet from the motor vehicles department to know how to put a kid in your car these days. We used to ride in the back of a pickup truck along with the dog and nobody complained :)

I especially like the part about learning to deal with dissapointment. Now every kid needs to get a gold star whether they're in first place or last. That should ensure that we end up with a generation of adults where mediocrity will be the standard of achievemet. Hell, maybe they're just being proactive because if you tell little Johnny that he's a loser he may get an automatic weapon and waste the whole class :)

The important thing to remember is that if we can save the life of even one child then it's perfectly acceptable to stomp out the rights and fun of millions of other children in our persuit of the completely safe and idiot proof world where people would live forever if they would only eat right and give up all of their bad habits :)

- Rick

I recall an incident when I was in grade school Rick, it was just before a classroom party of some sort. A school buddy handed me a pen with wooden matches placed inside and told me it was a smoke bomb. Well I was foolish enough to pull the stem of the match, the smoke just filled the room and the smell of burning plastic and sulfur basically cancelled our party. Sent to the principals office I quickly put the blame on the kid that handed me this home made stink bomb. Before I could say anything more the principal gave me such a backhand across the face that it left me light headed. I was promptly sent back to my class (red faced) to apologize to my teacher and to my classmates. I dared not mention this to my parents, and the school didn't either as the principal dealt with me as he saw fit...Punishment was swift and very clear to me and no I didn't ever pull another match stick or visit that particular principal again. I'm not saying I found GOD that day but it made me think twice before acting out again.

Ah, the grand memories of youth. Born in 1965, I have toys made out of sharp metal and heavy rubber. Lincoln Logs were actually made out of wood, and I got splinters. Lead in the paint, asbestos in the ceiling tiles. Motgher watched Dark SHadows on tv and it warped my brain at an early age. Became a fan of Edgar Allan Poe in first grade when a teacher read to us: Leapfrog, and I learned my first big word: "conflagration."

Milk and cookie breaks in kindergarten, followed by recess on rusting, paint-flaking iron jungle jims and burning hot summer slides.

Rode our bikes everywhere, day or night, with hardly a reflector on it, but had playing card in the spokes to make noise.

Parents used the belt on us, washed out mouths out with soap, and teachers had a paddle on their desk and weren't afraid to use it (and our parents didn't mind). Teachers actually taught, forced us to learn about real things and not just placing on State test scores.

And don't forget we ate at concession stands run by kids and that weren't certified to serve food.

Boys played with boy dolls and not "Action Figures." Polyester was truly horrible and was quite flammable.

Comics were a quarter, and I could buy lots for my $3.00 allowence (and it took about 20 minutes to read and get a lot of story).

And we actually walked to school, through any weather, be it rain, sun, sleet, or 2 feet of snow.

And even though I love DVD's and the Internet, I know they helped top destroy my once perculating imagination. 

Ah, those were the days.

-- Jeff

I absolutely love this thread!!

Amazing how despite coming from different families and places that we have many similar memories. 

is adopting Jeff as her big brother

I wish my parents had watched stuff with vampires in it. 

We used to have nap time in Kindergarten.  What a great thing.  I think everybody should have nap time.

Man Dark Shadows I use to watch that daily it was great.

Me too Sandy...had a little crush on Barnabus...what can I say..I just liked vampire shows   

Have you seen the new show called Moonlight?  It's about another vampire detective who wants to be human again...like the old Forever Knight show...that I never missed.   :biggrin:

Moonlight is amazingly good. I had my doubts about it, but it was a kick-a** first season. Being a genre show on CBS has always been iffy (recall how creepy "American Gothic" was and how quickly it was mangled and cancelled; same with Wolf Lake). Moonlight has teeth, though :)

Back in Chicagoland, they used to have afternoon movies, and several times a year they had monster week. All of the great Hammer films in the afternoon right after school. I hated Elvis week, but monster week(s) were always my favorite. 

Good to see other Dark Shadows fans. My mom never realized how much we understood of that show, or can recall, since we were just toddlers. But i have distinct memories of the frankenstein-type creature storyline and Quentin the werewolf ;)  

Drive-in movies! I can recall seeing most of the Planet of the Apes flicks at Drive-in theaters. The whole family in the car, with pillows and sleeping bags hearing the crackle of static over the speakers and staying from dusk until the last show ended and we kids were falling asleep and had to be carried back into the house :)

And don't forget the great books at the time: that were actually from the wirters' imagaination and not just media tie-in titles or longer septologies of meandering prose. Especially in the fantasy market, which hit it's zenith in the late 60's/early 70's with all of the great still active and turning out fantastic works: Heinlein, Ballard, Sturgeon, Clarke, Asimov, Moorcock -- and the bountiful reprints of Edagr Rice Burroughs and Robert Howard. And a young man named Stapehn King (being he was a household brand name). Forgot Phil K. Dick. Oops. 

Great time to grow up.

-- Jeff

Oh my...I had forgotten drive in movies.  When we were teenagers we would do everything we could to get in free...try lying about our age and even put people in the floorboard of the back seat with a quilt over them so they could hide and get in..until finally our small town started charging by the car instead of by the person...lol   It was great fun sitting outside and watching the movie...or staying inside and 'necking'  Anyone remember what that was?...lol

When I had my own family started and my son was very young...we would make up a bunch of hamburgers and take a cooler with soda and go to the drive in on weekends.
I think there may still be a drive in movie in Mo. somewhere.

Am I the only person who still goes to the drive-in?  We went 3 times last summer.  The sound comes over the car radio now, instead of those stupid little speakers.  There was one right in town here until a few years ago.  Now it's a 20 minute drive to the nearest one.

They have closed down all the ones I used to go to...I would have to do a google search to see if there are any around here for sure..and if there was it wouldn't be close or I would already know of it..  Heck, the nearest movie theatre is 20 miles from me and I live in a small town.

Wow, I guess you do live in a small town!

I love your sig line, btw.  It made me laugh out loud for real. LOL

Yes...population 3,000 or so....100 churches...4 schools...one bar...lol    The hospital is only a band-aid station but they at least have a landing pad for a life line helicopter in case of a real emergency. 
We used to have a movie theatre..where I saw all the Randolph Scott movies when I was little.  Mom would send us to the movies while she worked instead of hiring a baby sitter...back then no one worried about someone snatching their kids.   Now I use Netflix and cable tv..  :)

I am a big fan of the X Files..and the other day when I was watching a rerun I heard Fox Mulder saying that to the lone gunmen while they were trying to hack some computers and thought it would make a good sig...glad it made you laugh.

Quote - Have you seen the new show called Moonlight? 

I love that show too. It's a big hit for NBC and has been picked up as a regular series.  Now we just have to wait for the writers' strike to end so they can start filming new episodes.

How about home made slingshots,  frying a few ants with our magnifying glass or jumping the creek after a rain. Seeing who could leave the longest skid mark on the sidewalk with their mustang bicycle. Swinging as high as you could and then jumping off or spending the day on a merry-go-round. Boys and girls exposing themselves to each other with innocent snickering  and without any consequence to their actions. Jumping through the girls skipping rope, playing cowboy and indians without offending anyone but the crabby old lady next door. Peeking into windows and running off, sliding across  frozen ponds or jumpimg on thin ice. There was a day recently during a beautiful summer afternoon when I noticed there were no kids playing outside and I asked my wife where are all the neighborhood children... she said...probably playing nintendo or something! ........sad but true.

I remember 10 cent a gallon gas wars...loaves of bread for 15 cents a loaf,  a carton of cigarettes for $!.00 (name brands, no such thing as generic back then).  Let's see.  Hmmm.  My family had a game when traveling of being the first one to call out the name of oncoming cars....Year., make and model (I could recognize them all, be they Dodge, Oldsmobile, Chevy, Ford, Studebaker, DeSoto or whatever...nothing foreign was ever seen). 

My Dad would never think twice about picking up a military hitchhiker and if you ever broke down on the highway, you could be assured that a friendly trucker would stop and help you within 10 minutes. 

We enjoyed trick or treating and never once had to worry about our candy, popcorn balls or apples being dangerous.  I remember Katy Keene and Archie comics and playing with paper dolls.  Dressing up with my mom's old clothes and falling down while trying to walk in her high heels at the age of four.  (We wore silky gloves and hats to church and Easter was my fav holiday because my older sister and I got new outfits then, no hand-me-downs),

I remember the Spic and Span commercials during the breaks on Search For Tomorrow, my mom's favorite soap opera.  Charlie Chan and Flash Gordon after school on TV.  I remember my dad playing for hours with the first color TV, changing Bonanza's fire from blue to green, just for kicks.

I remember my mom drinking nickle cups of coffee, with as many refills as she could handle, my dad's haircuts were 50 cents a week (buzz cut).  I remember D.A.'s (duck's a$$) and penny loafers,  and saddle oxfords.  I remember finally being old enough for seamed stockings and garter belts--what a wonderful feel on the legs back then..super sheer and silky.  Not a rough, mesh pantyhose back then.  I remember horse hair petticoats (at least two worn to make our skirts stand out properly.  I remember wearing a moistened blue colored pencil as eye shadow and back-combing my hair to the ceiling, but we called it ratting and teaseing.

I remember sock-hops and the makeout pits and cherry stealing in the summer.  I remember water balloon fights and snowball forts and being in love with Hoppalong Cassidy because he had a white horse named Topper and was featured on our milk bottles that were delivered to our door every morning.  I remember Doctor's making house calls and my dad helping me build a birdhouse, while I was home from school with the chickenpocks.  I remember my dad teaching me to shoot his guns at the age of five, loved them ever since.  Grandpa letting me drive the old pickup through the orchard at 10, while he loaded the back end with boxes of apples.  I remember bell bottom pants and my first pair of stirruped stretch pants and my first two piece bathing suit.  I remember rolling up the waistband of my skirts, to make them shorter and then much later, just after high school graduation, pantyhose and miniskirts hit our little hick town.

Gads...I think I'm gonna cry.  I miss the good old days!!  Thanks for letting me stroll down memory lane.  Wow...the stroll, the twist, the jerk, the bump and good old American Bandstand!!  How about Texas John Slaughter, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot and Huckleberry Hound...Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Woody Woodpecker... and my fav...Foghorn Leghorn.

I could go on for hours...but I have a new image to make for tomorrow,.  so I'll say adios to all and good night Gracie.or Mrs. Calabash, whereever you are.

Another difference between then and now was that there wasn't such a media saturation as we have now. So when something was big enough to make an impact it really made a big splash. I remember when the Beatles' music hit the streets here in Buffalo and up and down the street you'd hear their music playing on small transistor radios and the kids were going wild over it.

Remember the first James Bond movie?

That was another thing I remember - people actually were outside of their houses! My Mom would send me to the corner store for something and it would take a half hour to get back home because you had to stop and talk to all the neighbors who were sitting on the front porch :)

• Rick

Shucks...I remember the first Elvis song.   :biggrin:

And yes, I did see the Ed Sullivan show that wouldn't show Elvis from the waist down....
That makes me older than dirt doesn't it??   lol

Quote - Shucks...I remember the first Elvis song.   :biggrin:

And yes, I did see the Ed Sullivan show that wouldn't show Elvis from the waist down....
That makes me older than dirt doesn't it??   lol

**Older than dirt??  lol  Not a bit, Annie.  I'd say it puts you in great company!!  ;o)

I've got original records (not vinyls, but heavy, breakable glass type, 78rpm, Victor and Decca) of Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor from the 1920's.  Of course they were given to me by my deceased grandmother, but I still know who they were and the kids today, just have no clue! 

Sadly, when we're all gone, I'm afraid much of our heritage will be lost with us.  I don't know what my son might do with 80+ year old treasures that may be over 100 years by the time he gets them.  I'd love for them to be preserved within the family, but I'll have no say, when I'm six feet under.  :o(**

My 18-year-old daughter Lizzie was thrilled when she found out the Beatles had a song called Dizzy Miss Lizzy.  She had it on her MySpace page for months.  Although after she'd listened to John talking about a song "off our new LP" she had to ask me what an LP was. LOL.

I know what you mean about preserving things...I have 3 sons..all grown...and I don't think any of them would truly be interested in preserving very much...lol
My youngest son did take a golden gloves medal my dad won in the army during ww2...I think that's the oldest thing he owns.   :rolleyes:

Quote - Gads...I think I'm gonna cry.  I miss the good old days!!

Me too!

:crying:

can add me to the oldies list too, LOL...boy those WERE great days! 

After reading that it's a wonder any of us survived to adulthood.

Born in 1960 - Does anyone remember an item called "Creepy Crawlers" ?  It was a heated unit that made rubber like bugs.  You'd pour this liquid stuff into a  mold & put it in a heated tray type thing & when it boiled it was ready to take out & cool and out popped a rubber spider etc etc.

They had this same thing for jewelry/flowers etc etc.

Gads we were also allowed to make jewelery with teeny beads!!!!

I loved Dark Shadows watched it all the time.  Outside of that I was always outside playing various forms of tag/hide n seek/hopscotch/roller skating(no helmuts/knee pads etc etc)

In our neighborhood the people with kids had these HUGE bells on flagpole type things.  Each bell was distinctive in sound.  When it was time for kids to go home the parents would go ring the bells LOL

In the summertime we walked down the railroad tracks to the trestle that went over the creek...then we walked the creek to the first swimmin' hole.  It always took a long time because we had to try to catch fish and crawdads with our hands along the way.  We were at least 2 miles from home by then and couldn't hear a bell if we wanted to.  :D    We just knew what time we had to be home.
In Missouri there's a creek or river within seeing distance from wherever you are..lol

Our guardian angels must have worked overtime in those days....sheesh.

Quote - Born in 1960 - Does anyone remember an item called "Creepy Crawlers" ?  It was a heated unit that made rubber like bugs.  You'd pour this liquid stuff into a  mold & put it in a heated tray type thing & when it boiled it was ready to take out & cool and out popped a rubber spider etc etc.

I didn't remember it until I just read this, and in the back of my head some mysterious voice sang "creeeepy craw-lers!" ROFL!!

Oh, in regards to the playground equipment.  When I had my own swing set or went to the park, my Dad always brought a roll of wax paper & waxed down the slide so we could all go down faster & smoother!  I hated getting butt burn on the sticky slides LOL!

Quote - Born in 1960 - Does anyone remember an item called "Creepy Crawlers" ?  It was a heated unit that made rubber like bugs.  You'd pour this liquid stuff into a  mold & put it in a heated tray type thing & when it boiled it was ready to take out & cool and out popped a rubber spider etc etc.

They had this same thing for jewelry/flowers etc etc.

OMG! I had totally forgotten about those! I didn't have any but my brother did.  I remember there was a television show here called "Kid's Bids."  You collected empty bags from Old Dutch Potato Chips and then you could go on the show and bid on toys and games.

My brother and I had been collecting for ages, and then we heard that the show was going to go off the air. Somehow we were able to go and cash in our chip bags for some toys on the last day of the show.  My brother got that creepy crawlie thing and I got a bunch of Barbie stuff and I can't remember what else.

Yeah we had light brights too, with little tiny plastic pegs to swallow and choke on!

I still have mine! My dollhouse(before Barbies) was metal with sharp edges and the furniture was small & put together type - I never swallowed or choked.  Tinker Toys were still wood as well.

I saw the same house in the Movie "Walk the line" LOL

At school I had a water pistol (squirt gun in USA?), and one day furtively filled it with dilute sulphuric acid from the chemistry lab.  The fun we had!

NB This wasn't intended for squirting fellow schoolmates (though there were one or two that I wouldn't have minded hosing with it).  It just made an impressive sizzle when you squirted rocks.  Before the day was out the plastic melted and rotted my pants pocket -- it all got a bit Alienish.

Stolen railroad detonators made a pretty good bang if you hurled half a brick at one.

Anyone else remember getting told that if you turn the knob to fast on the TV it would fall off?  Of course you wouldn't believe your parents,  until you were standing there changing channels with a pair of pliers.  Then my grandparents got a new TV with a brand new thingy called a remote control. And it had only three buttons!  Can you imagine?

And how about Frisbees?   My dad got so tired of having to get on the roof to get the Frisbee down. 

After reading about Unicorst's mulbeery tree made me  really miss the old apple tree.   It was perfect to sit in during the summer and read.  I could fill up on the apples and hide from the parents when they wanted me to do chores.   I actually cried when that stupid tornado took it out.

I remember jamming a TV knob back on more than once, in hopes that it would still work. LOL.

Count me in, too!

Plastic garbage bags and cardboard toboggans down the hill and having to grab a small stump or go off the edge.  No one ever missed that stump!

Go carts with brakes?  We had no use for brakes.  We'd stop when we either wiped out or hit something!

And cable?  I was 15 before we got cable and a color TV.  Before that it was black and white and the CBC.  Funny, I never watched much TV when I was a kid and in high school classmates would be talking about shows called "Gilligan's Island" and the "Monkees" and other such things that I'd never heard of.

We'd also go swimming without lifeguards or play down in the gully all day.  No one drowned or got molested.

1971 here. One manager today called me old when I said I was 37. I looked at him and said, but I can push the body just as hard as my teens. I couldn't believe it, he said I was old!