Reliving the 60s, 70s, and 80s

 

A Child in the 50s, Part 4

Music either came from an AM radio station, or from records, 45s (seen above) or LPs (long-playing albums). You put the big spindle on the record player to fit the hole in the 45s (one song per side, one play-thru only), or you could put an adapter (see below) in the big hole. Otherwise if you left the big thick spindle off, you'd have the skinny spindle you'd need for the little hole in the LP.

Set the needle arm on the edge of the record. Once it played, the arm would automatically swing back, another record would drop down onto the turntable, on top of the other record, and the needle would set itself at the beginning edge again.

You could go a good 15 minutes of having listening pure enjoyment before you'd run out of records and either had to lift them up and re-stack them, or flip them over to listen to side B.

A Child in the 50s, Part 3

You could hear the ice cream coming from a mile away. The incessant "Pop Goes the Weasel" tune it played must have driven the poor ice cream man insane by the end of the day.

There was a lazy susan sitting on a cart by the back door leading into the garage. Mom always put a dime there for me so that when I heard the music, I could go get a popsicle. Cherry. And if I broke it in half lengthwise, I could enjoy some of it now and save the rest of it for later.

A Child in the 50s, Part 2

Saturday nights, my parents would have my brother and I take an early bath and dress up in our pajamas. We'd then load into the car, complete with blankets and pillows in the back seat, and go to the drive-in. There was a swing set and whirl-a-gig right at the front, underneath the screen, where we'd go play until it was show time.

Daddy always hung the heavy metal speaker on the back seat window. That way it wouldn't blast directly into his ear, and we didn't mind the loud noise. He'd visit the Refreshments area in the back of the complex for popcorn and soft drinks before the first movie started (which was usually a double feature.)

There was always a cartoon at the beginning. Usually a Warner Brothers one. My brother and I would be able to watch the first movie before falling asleep (that's how I saw "Pillow Talk" with Rock Hudson and Doris Day). Sometimes we'd stay for the second movie, and sometimes we'd leave because often the second film was too adult for kids (I remember bits and pieces of the original "Psycho" that way.)

A Child in the 50s

I'm going to spend the rest of this month letting you know what it was like growing up in the 50s and early 60s.

Ahh, nostalgia.

The only week day show for kids was in the morning. I diligently woke up and tuned into The Treasure House and Captain Kangaroo to see if Bunny Rabbit would drop ping pong balls on him. To this day I can still hum the theme song.