Magic Fifties Memories

(Print this  page to savor it!)Author unknown....I added memories sent to me and  also those I recalled. Enjoy!        

                                  Click the theme song !

Read slowly and enjoy........If you are old enough...take the stroll...Close your eyes. And go back...before the Internet ... Before semiautomatics and crack...before chronic and indo...before SEGA or Super Nintendo... Way back... 

I'm talking 'bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sitting on the porch, Simon Says, Kick the Can, Red Light, Green Light. Lunch Boxes with a Thermos...that broke, Chocolate milk, going home for lunch, Penny Candy from the store, Hopscotch, butterscotch, double-dutch, jump rope, Roller skates with metal wheels- Skate-keys - Adjustable skates-Going to the roller rink! Jacks, Mother May I?, Hula Hoops, and Sunflower seeds, Whist and Old Maid and Crazy Eights, Wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom, Running through the sprinkler, Running behind The DDT truck, circle pins, bobby pins, Spoolies, Fizzies, Mickey Mouse Club, Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, Spin & Marty...all in black & white. 

When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going somewhere. Bedtime, climbing trees, making forts...Coasters made from orange crates and an old skate, Backyard Shows, Lemonade stands, Slip and Slide (attached to the garden hose), glittered macaroni, Colorforms, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Sitting on the curb, Staring at clouds, Jumping down the steps, Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights, "company," Ribbon candy, angel hair on the Christmas tree. Running from the guards at Halloween with pillow sacks of  giant nickel Hershey bars. Ringing doorbells and disappearing in a fit of laughter. The jingle  of the pink and white ice cream truck and a 7 cent popsicle. Stealing ice chips from the back of the Hood delivery truck. Punks and sparklers on the 4th of July.  Jackie Gleason as "the poor soul," White gloves, Easter bonnets, walking to church, walking to the Community Center, Being tickled to death, Running till you were out of 
breath, Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt, Being tired from playin'...Remember that? Not stepping on a crack...or you'll break your mother's back... 

Paper chains at Christmas, Glass wax window stencils! Silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington...the smell of paste, book bags and Evening in Paris...Crowding around in a circle for the 'after-school fight,' then running when the teacher came. Abba Zabba bars and peanut logs. What about the girl that had the big bubbly handwriting...who dotted her "I's" with hearts?? The Stroll, the twist, the monkey, popcorn balls, & sock hops. Ankle socks before nylons! Rolled up jean shorts. Flats.... taps on a guy's Snap jack buckle  shoes. Vitalis!

Remember when... When there were two types of sneakers for girls  (Keds and PF Flyers) and the only time you wore them at school, was for 
"gym." And the girls had those ugly uniforms. When it took five minutes for 
the TV to warm up. When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school. The smell of Old Spice, Dad in his  gray brimmed hat, white shirt, and scrolled wingtips. When nobody owned a pure bred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance and another quarter a huge bonus. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. 

When girls neither dated nor kissed until late 
high school, if then.  When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done everyday and wore high heels. 

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

When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes, or towels hidden inside 
the box. When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to 
carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it. When 
it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real 
restaurant with your parents. When they threatened to keep kids back a grade 
if they failed...and did. When the worst thing you could do at school was 
smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum. And the prom was in the 
auditorium and we danced to an orchestra, and all the girls wore pastel 
gowns and the boys wore suits for the first time and we stayed out all night.

Remember playing monopoly for days, the chore of hanging clothes on the line, making popcorn in a big pot with oil to start and shaking and shaking it!  Or Jiffy pop that turned charcoal if you got distracted!  Taking walks at night...

How about Playhouse 90? Charlie McCarthy, Jack Paar, Augie Dogie and Doggy Daddy, and Quickdraw McGraw? Who could forget Beanie and Cecil?! ( the seasick sea serpent)
How about girls who wore giant curlers for Saturday night dates and kept them  hidden under T-shaped silk scarves? Then these same girls re-rolled again LATER, and slept?! on bristles that poked  like porcupine needles!
Blondex shampoo was a must,  (If you're a blonde, blondex is perfect for you....) 

Remember manual lawnmowers? And filling the plastic pool with water the first warm day of summer? Of course it was DAYS before the water was warm enough to swim in but did we care? How about classic words like "fink" and "dink", and "yeah, right!"
Corvettes, B. Altmans, miniature glass animals from Woolworth's, Pennywhistle shoes by Thom McCann , and Heaven Scent cologne by Helena Rubinstein?? Bucky Beaver, Chunky chocolate squares, Clearasil, and Noxema. "Take it off, take it off, take it all off!"  VERY risque!

Phone numbers starting with a word....like Locust 3-5334 or Olympic 3-6026. Saturday matinees with tons of cartoons, 5c and 10c stores with wooden floors, Going for a ride in the car as 'something to do', 45's (only 2 songs) and a case to hold them! When "Wonderful World of Disney" was the only color TV program! Adjusting the rabbit ears on the TV, ooooh and those aluminum glasses that made your teeth chill...!

'Sifting' flour (according to the Betty Crocker Cookie Book at Christmastime), Real balogna sandwiches (Who can find that  same balogna today?) and TV jingles that danced in your head and got stuck there! (Mr. Clean takes care of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute...)  Seesaw and kaylah at the playground, fire flies flickering at night, and a twilight soak in Mr. Bubble.

Remember being able to walk or bicycle ride anywhere and no one worried
about you getting "snatched"? We worried about copperhead snakes on our
shortcuts through the woods,  poison ivy, but never strangers. 
Remember red pistachio nuts that you used as fingernails....and lightening
bug fingernails...(gross now, but fun then)!  Freeze tag, TV tag, Chinese
jump rope, 7-up, spending the day cracking open coconuts that floated up in
the canals ...and eating them...(cholesterol what?) Neccos, Bazooka, chocolate egg creams...Mighty Mouse, Gumby...
How about ... grow your own sea-monkeys that you could buy from the back of
comic books and superballs in every color of the rainbow!

Daisy bb guns-Cap guns with holster-Rolling hoops with a cross stick
Homemade stilts-Wooden scooters made from discarded metal skates
Wooden box wagons made with discarded wheels
Baby buggies-Metal strollers-sling shots, homemade of course!

When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay 
rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady and girls wore a 
class ring with an inch of wrapped dental floss coated with pastel frost 
nail polish so it would fit her finger. 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. No one ever had a key. Cars got a new look every year and we knew all the makes and models. 
And 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 rules of the game. 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 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 the 80's and 90's...??????  Can they ever feel like we did about...

Dick and Jane-Baby Sally- Spot- Jack and Janet-Tip and Mitten-penny loafers - Girl Scout cookies-jukeboxes - white wall tires - Schwinn bikes - the twist -Mary Hartline and silver ice skates-"Love of Life"- "The Secret Storm"-diners - prom gowns of taffeta and chiffon that flared outward from the waist down- Queen for a Day- rhinestone pins and tiaras-Sky King and My Friend Flicka-bomb shelters - Leave it to Beaver -styrofoam surfboards-grandparents on weekends- loose change - cheap gas -  A&W rootbeer - cruisin - 45s - the bop - malts- mini skirts - Sadie Hawkins Day- - pedal pushers - rumble seats - hop scotch - pogo sticks - stilts -Davy Crockett - Bandstand - bell bottoms - madras shirts - rearview mirror- fuzzy dice -Elvis-pedal cars-frappes-ice cream scoops in wax paper cones and chrome holders that gleamed-booths and stools that rotated- vinyl seats-ponytails - ducktails - going steady - Mr. Magoo - polio vaccine - -root beer barrels - Car 54 Where are You? - Brylcream - Lassie -  brown hair nets-  Toni perms (who can forget that smell!)-Dippity-Do & Sun In-formica counters- powdered milk-knotty pine- Ovaltine - cool cat -hip chick- flip hairdo's and  falls that made you like Bardot- How about ironing your hair?-Bobby pins without the rubber tips-Hair Dryers with the hose and hood that billowed out over the juice can rollers-Jean Shrimpton-fishnet stockings-Yardley make-up-Archie comics-the Beatles !

The Red Hat Society still recalls, "Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day, you'll have good luck!", "Bread and butter come to supper!"  "Star light, star bright, wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight!" or how about Andy Devine's voice?  "Plunk your magic TWANGER, froggy!" Guess that was a Buster Brown shoe commercial?  Who didn't love,"Say good night, Gracie" Do you also recall when...

The dimmer switch for your headlights was on the floor board?  Studebakers -
Blue flashbulbs in your camera?- How about Top Value and S&H Green Stamps? Metal ice cube trays with a lever to pull up so the ice would turn loose. Manual typewriters, carbon paper,  mimeograph paper! 

Or the how about the rainbow of crinolines drying in the sun after receiving a dipping in extra stiff starch? Or a baby-bottle sterilizer and making formula from scratch? Can openers called "church keys"? Silk stockings and garter belts! Remember drinking Moxie or Tab? Flicker rings? Using clothes-pins and card-board on the spokes of your bike to make it rip! Or using tin-cans and smashing them so they locked onto your shoe-soles then running around the neighborhood making sounds like horses! Shower baths in the backyard and holding a finger over the end of the hose! The Ted Mack Amateur Hour. How about...

Drive-In Movies
Speakers that never worked
Sneaking in - in the trunk of the car (what..you never did that? LOL)

Skinny-dipping- Rope on a tree and swinging out over the lake

Using dandelions to measure your like or dislike for butter
Riding in the fun-house at the local amusement park
When cotton-candy came on a paper stick instead of a bag at the grocery store!

Ice Cream cones only came in Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. Ice cream cups with wooden spoons. Dixie Cups tasting like velvet!

The circuit doctor making house calls with BIG hypodermic needles; everyone got the same cough medicine...Chericol and he mixed it

Drinking water from the hose-Running through the sprinkler-Pick-up Sticks- I Spy-YOU'VE GOT COOTIES!
Church singin's at all the churches: yours mine and theirs


Are you  someone who can still recall  3D glasses, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, Jack Armstrong the All American Boy, The Shadow knows...Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk, National Velvet...Liz Taylor...Pie, as well as the sound of a real mower and the smell of wet grass or autumn leaves on a Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides, skates with keys at the 4 corners, playing in Cowboy land, baseball games, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar?  If so... GOOD FOR YOU!

Isn't great to be able to look  back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?