The Fifties

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William H. (Bill) Barham

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There are a few here that will appreciate this. It was e-mailed to me.



LOST IN THE FIFTIES



A little house with three bedrooms and one car on the street,

A mower that you had to push to make the grass look neat.



In the kitchen on the wall we only had one phone,

And no need for recording things, someone was always home.



We only had a living room where we would congregate,

Unless it was at mealtime in the kitchen where we ate.



We had no need for family rooms or extra rooms to dine,

When meeting as a family just one room would work out fine



We only had one TV set, and channels, maybe two,

But always there was one of them with something worth the view.



For snacks we had potato chips that tasted like a chip,

And if you wanted flavor there was Lipton's onion dip.



Store-bought snacks were rare because my mother liked to cook,

And nothing can compare to snacks in Betty Crocker's book.



Weekend's were for family trips or staying home to play,

We all did things together -- even go to church to pray.



Sometimes we would separate to do things on our own,

But we knew where the others were, without our own cell phone.



Then there were the movies with your favorite movie star,

And nothing can compare to watching movies from your car.



Then there were the picnics at the peak of summer season,

Pack a lunch and find some trees and never need a reason.



Get a baseball game together with all the friends you know,

Have real action playing ball -- and no game video.



Remember when the doctor used to be the family friend,

And didn't need insurance or a lawyer to defend?



The way that he took care of you or what he had to do,

Because he took an oath and strived to do the best for you.



Remember going to the store when the sky's were oh so sunny,

And when you paid for what you got you used your very own money?



Nothing you had to swipe or punch, or put in some amount,

and you had a friendly cashier that actually could count?



The milkman went from door to door,

For just a few cents more than a trip to the store.



The mail was delivered right to your door,

Without the junk mail that we all deplore.



There was a time when just one glance was all that it would take,

And you would know the kind of car, the model and the make.



They didn't look like turtles trying to squeeze out every mile;

They were streamlined, white walls, fins, and really had some style.



One time the music that you played whenever you would jive,

Was from a vinyl, big-holed disc they called a forty-five.



The record player had a post to keep them all in line,

And then the records would drop down and play one at a time.



Oh sure, we had our problems then, just like we do today,

As always we were striving, to find a better way.



But how the simple lives we led, still seems like so much fun,

when the only way to explain a game, was just kick the can and run?



And why would boys put baseball cards between bicycle spokes,

And for a nickel red machines had little bottled Cokes?



This life seemed so much easier and slower in some ways,

I love the new technology but I really miss those days.



So time moves on and so do we, and nothing stays the same,

But I sure love to reminisce and walk down memory lane.





Uncle Billy
 
That is so true. Memories of drive in movies. OOOOps better not go there.:D;)

I just realized you said fifties. Heck that was more like the sixties right through to the early seventies.:eek:
 
The doctor came to my house then...Met my first wife at the drive In...I had a small 45 record player on the hump In the car In front.... We had the drive In's for root beer and hot dogs and they were great eating.. Milk was great but the cream came In those tiny bottles..(Wish I still had the box) You had cash or you didn't buy..drug store had the soda fountain and you could run a tab.....Walk the streets at night and not have an Amber Alert...Never heard of a killing..Fist Fights settled everything..(made alot of besrt friends after)..Dam we had a chance..The Kids now..My great grandkids They have a rough road ahead but they will adapt.......Alot of Memories Bill,,Mostly Good.except for a few years In the early-middle 60s...JR:) Also the TV went off at 9:00 It didn't come on till 4:00 In the afternoon...Damm I am old..But I look good...:)
 
Hey Jr,



We had a store in town called Jesse's Radio where we would buy our 45 rpm records. They were 97 cents and three cents tax for an even dollar. He, Jess, had about six glass booths with doors where you could actually take the record you were thinking of buying into to see if you liked it.

We didn't have a drive-in until the early sixties. I have great memories of that place. First of being really young and getting into friends trunks and sneaking in and then later when I was older of....well, we'll keep that secret. There's a Home Depot there now.

I remember the cream. I still have some of those bottles.

 
There you go. Good times. The kids played football and baseball in the empty lot somewhere close by. Not in organized baseball leagues, like now that remove all the kids from the neighborhood. I think it is a shame that you can go around our town or most places during the summer and hardly find any kids in the neighborhood. They are all off either playing or watching a sibling play at some complex in organized sports. Soccer/ baseball/ football/basketball. Too bad they don't get to run around and play a game when they want and work out the disagreements that come up on thier own, work out social skills without adults calling someone safe or out. We would start a game almost anywhere we were and it usually never finished or never finished with the players that started. Kids would come and go during the game. Stop and go down to the creek or pond for awhile and then back to the lot to play if the game was still going. Lot less pressure and more fun.:D:D
 
I bet I carried 50 people Into the drive In In the trunk...Lost a girlfriend when I wanted her to ride In In the trunk..HEE..Those bottles are worth money now...I wish I could go back there..But you can't go back...Times were better when I was a kid..The weatherman didn't have a degree,but he was a weatherman.. he hit It on the head everytime,,Now there wrong 15 minutes before the storm hits...Kids now do Not know what it's like to be a kid..At least we did have a chance to be kids,,we didn't have anything except what we could scrounge up but I don't remember being bored..Remember when Mom made you go pick the switch for the whipping..I learned to get a log after the first time I got a small whiipy branch..HA HA AHAhh I got one she couldn't lift.......:D
 
PS the Korean war was over (TIE) -Only war was a gas war,No ONe getting killed at the time..gas was 19 cents a gallon..people had jobs..You could leave keys In your car and not lock your home doors..Jeeze Just think People could give you there word and It ment something,,,Thats how I was raised...JR
 
Hey Bill remember your firs real Jump...HA HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAH :eek:
 
Pre-removal of God from our country attempts. Pre-ACLU A wonderful world indeed. :)
 
Bill thank you for the memories . I had to stop what I was doing and think back "daydream if you will" I fell blessed just to be able to have the memory of that era in my thoughts these days. Gas at 26 cents a gallon !



Mark:rolleyes:
 
Boy are you a stick in the mud! I remember having to hide under our desks during nuclear warnings. I remember my 10 year old neighbor diving off and old piling and getting shoulder deep stuck in the mud and we couldn't get him out, I remember having to eat fish at school on Friday's because of the Catholics, I remember, well it doesn't matter. Every one of any of those issues could be debated ad infinitum but the point is a very few of us were having fun remembering. Nobody said progress was bad Greg, though I truly believe a lot of it is.

Especially when I have to wear SEATBELTS while school buses carrying children in this country do not.

I know you've been under a lot of strain lately but you didn't have to be a spoilsport.



Uncle Billy
 
I remember my mother and uncles talking about how much better things were back in the 30's when kids played baseball and kick the can in a vacant lot and you could leave the windows up at night and not worry about anyone breaking in and swinging from a tire swing into the river and the milkman delivered fresh milk to the door and the doctor came to your house when you were sick. They completly forgot about the great drepression and the fact that half the nation was out of work and starving and their father (my grandfather) had a stroke because of failed investments and the lumber yard he owned went bankrupt. My point is things always seem better when you are a kid and have no worries.



Harpo
 
"Stick in the mud...." Nah, but I too have only good memories of being a kid... The reality was much different, I am sure.
 
I have some bad ones Greg. I just don't want to think of them.. When's the last time you heard "stick in the mud?"
 
The fifties memories are "ok"... The last half of the 60s "sucked".... Although, I am told I had a good time in THailand, just wish I could remember any part of that littlke side trip other than waking up in jail!
 
Gotta love those soda bottles that you got two cents deposit back. Always hunted along the roadways until I had enough to go buy a coke with soda in it!
 
There used to be these outdoor coolers that general stores and service had that had kind of a grid in them. I think Coca Cola or Nehi actually owned them. Anyway, the grid system would kinda hold the bottles of soft-drinks by the neck. When you put in the correct amount of money you could slide the drink around the grid until the drink got to the place where the grid released the bottle of pop. Well, not to be outdone by machinery we as preteens always had an opener and straw with us. That way we could, without getting any bottles of pop out, open the bottles and then drink our fill....leaving the empty bottles behind. Shame on us:(



Uncle Billy
 
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