Remember When

I'm starting this thread because there are so many old fogeys
like me on here, and we constantly hijack threads with 'remember
this'. Maybe we can go here when that urge hits us.

Remember how scared we were of the atomic bomb
in the 50's? My dad even built an underground bomb
shelter. He called it a tornado shelter but we found
out later what it was. I realize now how useless it
would have been, but peace of mind was hard to
come by. They had us hiding under our desks with
our hands over our heads at school, do you know how
terrifying that is to a little kid?

Go back to hijacking...we like it.

i may not be old enough to qualify (46),
but quite frankly i was pretty certain reagan was going to nuke something in the eighties...
i know it isn't nearly as surreal as "duck and cover" must have been though

My grandparents have a bomb shelter in their backyard. It's pretty much filled with water.

The biggest thing I remember is when some old fart would be talking about the good old days and my dad would jump right into his shit. I mean some guy talking about how he remembered when liver was a nickle a pound. My dad would tell him " Yeah, and you didn't have a nickle and neither did I. These are the good old days "

He was right about that in a lot of ways. In the 1950's if you could get your son to graduate from high school, get a GED, or an honorable discharge in the military, he could get a union job. In Baltimore that meant Fisher Body Works, Bethlehem Steel, or even Retail Clerks. I had to quit MT. St. Joe's in 11 grade to support my family.

At age 16 I was making $67 a week with FULL medical benefits. Butchers made $100 a week. A guy could buy a house , a car, and his wife could stay home with the kids. Those days are gone forever.

No, I did not walk 6 miles to school, uphill both ways. But I am amazed that I hardly ever see kids outside anymore. We rode bikes,
played baseball, raided the stockyard, etc. from sunup to sundown on weekends and all summer. No wonder there is so much childhood obesity.


My dad drove a cab for 20+ years, then got cataracts on his eyes. That's why I had to quit school. Years later, we would be at the race track and he would run into another driver. Usually the guy would be catching up, telling Dad how bad his kids were, or wife left him, etc. My Dad would always say " AW , you got your health don't you ? "

So happy 4th of JULY and if you have good good health, enjoy it !!!

In 1983, when they made the movie, "The Day After" described as a graphic, disturbing film about the effects of a devastating nuclear holocaust on small-town residents of eastern Kansas, they had telephone operators on stand by if anyone had a mental break. No one called,

Although there were apocalyptic movies back into the 1950's, after a transition period with the Planet of the Apes movies and the Vampire movies about New York, apocalyptic movies became pretty standard fare in the late 1970's. By 1983 people weren't scared of them, even if they were realistic.

Beyond the Time Barrier [ 1960 - US ] An Air Force test pilot accidently flies an experimental aircraft into the future, where a plague
The Last Woman on Earth [ 1960 - US ] A mysterious”incident” temporarily removes all the oxygen from the earth’s surface.
Panic in Year Zero [ 1962 - US ] As nuclear bombs explode in nearby Los Angeles, A father tries to protect his family.
In the Year 2889 [ 1967 - US ] A made for television, apocalyptic, sci-fi, movie about a futuristic nuclear war.
Night of the Living Dead [ 1968 - US ] When the dead begin to rise a group of strangers take refuge in a rural house.
No Blade of Grass [ 1970 - UK ] After a disease infects all cereal crops around the planet the world is plunged into starvation

Last Man on Earth [ 1964 - US ] Last Man on Earth is based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.
The Omega Man [ 1971 - US ] Biological warfare has devastated all life on Earth

Planet of the Apes [ 1968 - US ] 3 astronauts that survive a crash begin to explore the strange but familiar world around them.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes [ 1970 - US ] This is the second movie in the series of Planet of the Apes films
Escape from the Planet of the Apes [ 1972 - US ] This is the third in the series of 5 Planet of the Ape movies.
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes [ 1972 - US ]This is the fourth movie in the Planet of the Apes series.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes [ 1973 - US ]This is the fifth and final film in the series.


Soylent Green [ 1973 - US ] Soylent Green takes place in the not so distant future in New York City.
Where Have All The People Gone [ 1974 - US ] Solar flares destroy a majority of the inhabitants of earth.
Survivors [ 1975 - UK ] The world's population is almost annihilated by a mysterious pandemic.
A Boy And His Dog [ 1975 - US ] Post-nuclear follows the adventures of desert nomad Vic (Don Johnson) and his dog
The Ultimate Warrior [ 1975 - US ] It's Post Apocalyptic New York.
The Noah [ 1975 - US ]It tells the tale of a man called, Noah (Robert Strauss) who’s the world ...
Logan's Run [ 1976 - UK ] All cares and pleasures are provided for in this futuristic domed city, but no one lives past their 30th birthday.
Wizards [ 1977 - US ] Two million years after a devastating nuclear war changed the face of the earth that few humans survived.
Damnation Alley [ 1977 - US ] This 70’s B movie is a kind of post-nuclear road movie although it isn’t fantastic it’s not dreadful either.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers [ 1978 - US ] A reimagining of the 1950’s sci-fi classic of the same name,
Dawn of the Dead (1978) Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead...
Nightwing [ 1979 - US ] An ancient Indian chief summons the end of the world. Soon after a swarm of bats attack a village.
Ravagers [ 1979 - US ] Post-apocalyptic thriller set in the aftermath of a global catastrophe where lawless bands roam the earth
Mad Max [ 1979 - Australia ] In this bleak dystopian future, a ruthless bike gang

1964 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Quote: buzzpaff

In the 1950's if you could get your son to graduate from high school, get a GED, !

Remember, though, in the 50's there were no GED's,
in the 60's either. You had to actually go back to
HS to get a diploma. We always had several guys in their 20's
in the senior class when I was in HS. It was common place,
we thought nothing of it. And girls were forced to drop
out if they got pregnant.

Quote: FinsRule

My grandparents have a bomb shelter in their backyard. It's pretty much filled with water.

Thats funny, ours was always flooding and the sump
pumps were going. I would have hated the damp smelly
place if we ever had to use it. I was always afraid a tree
would fall on the entrance and trap us down there.

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)

Watched it recently. Pretty good movie.

Bob, I got my GED in the USAF in 1962.

But I went to Catholic grade school. I can remember 2 17 years olds in my 6th grade class. Both their last names end in " SKI "

Sister would keep several of us for detention. But if she left the room they would go out the window, down the fire escape, and
ride off on their Harley's.

But just like Blues Brothers, they would never try anything like that in front of " The Penguin. LOL

Seems unfair, pregnant girls had to drops out, I got detention when one of the Xaverian Brothers caught me with a pack of rubbers in my wallet. NO FAIR

BOB did kids in your neighborhood, farm, whatever, spend all day outside?

Also, like me, was the only reason you did not do much real bad stuff, is because jail was one thing, but Dad waiting till I got out. NO WAY !

Plus now everybody has tattoos. When i was growng up the rule was never get a tattoo where the judge can see it. LLOL

When my parents built their second house in 1959, there was a bomb shelter in it. And when the neighboring house was built, they put a bomb shelter in that one.

I remember there was a NIKE site in Finleyville, and during the Cuban missile crisis sonic booms were common in southwest Allegheny County, south of Pittsburgh. We had fire drills and air raid drills, where we got under the desks. Like that would have helped!

Panic in the Year Zero is actually pretty good. Ray Milland is awesome in it.

Quote: buzzpaff

Bob, I got my GED in the USAF in 1962.

It was available to service members since the 40's. It
was gradually made available to the public in the 60's.
I didn't hear of it till 1974 when my cousin took it.

Quote: buzzpaff

BOB did kids in your neighborhood, farm, whatever, spend all day outside?

We had to, my mother wouldn't let us in the house unless
it was raining. Who wanted to be at home, it was boring.

" We had fire drills and air raid drills, where we got under the desks. Like that would have helped!"

But it seemed to make sense when we were kids. LOL

Quote: buzzpaff

" We had fire drills and air raid drills, where we got under the desks. Like that would have helped!"

But it seemed to make sense when we were kids. LOL

We went out into the hallways and put our heads between our knees. The actual concept of what a city would be like right after a nuclear bomb was not even close in my consciousness in elementry school though. (your parents are probably gone and nothing outside looks the same, assuming you yourself survived)

Hell, Buster Brown shoe store had a fluoroscope xray machine. You could see your toe bones inside the shoes. Like radiation can't hurt LOL

Remember running down to the drug store to use the tube tester when the B&W TV went on the blitz LOL

Or Winky Dink and YOU where you put a clear piece of plastic on TV screen to draw a bridge so Winky could cross the river.

Quote: buzzpaff

Remember running down to the drug store to use the tube tester when the B&W TV went on the blitz LOL

My dad hated when the TV repairman had to come to the house.
My dad thought he could fix everything, but the TV baffled him.
Playing with the rabbit ears to get good reception was the hobby
of all of us. Tin foil on the top worked real good.

The tube tester usually only tested the filaments. In 1969 I worked with a guy at AT&t who's sideline was fixing TV's .

AT&T had a real tube tested, checked everything. If that did not fix the TV he would tell them it was not worth fixing.

Another guy bought a Quasar TV, had 4 printed circuit boards. First time it broke he was told he would have to bring it into the shop, 35 miles away, cause they never let the spare boardsgo anywhere LOL

In the 90's I collected old radios. My repair guy was in his
70's and owned a TV and radio repair shop from the late
40's thru the 80's.

He said in the 50's and 60's, twice a year, an IRS agent
would be on his doorstep when he opened, unannounced.
He would spend the entire day going over the books and
never found anything untoward. Of course my friend kept
two sets of books, he had 12 kids to support. But thats
how much money TV repairmen made in those days,
they were constantly watched by the Fed's. People almost
always paid in cash, there were no Visa's or Mastercard's
yet.

Anybody seen the movie Tin Men. About aluminum siding salesmen in Baltimore in 1963. Richard Dreyfus and Danny Devito.

Those characters reminded me of the guys that hung in the pool room. No cell phones back then, so when they had a prospect, the company would call and a slaesman would answer on the pool hall pay phone.

Occasionally Henry would throw a Dr Pepper bottle at the TV set there. Lots of 1940-50'a movie on TV. Every time somebody in a crime or detective movie needed an arsonist, hit man , safe cracker, etc they would go to the pool hall !

Interesting to think if you had asked this question in 2060, people might reminisce that:

Remember when people could ski at Crystal Mountain on Mt. Rainier? Remember when Aspen was a tourist resort? Now all the glaciers are gone and there's too many disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Remember when our kids could fly home for the holidays? Now there's only one airline and fuel prices make it waaaaay too expensive for such frivolous trips.

Remember when birds sang in the springtime? Now pesticides made the shells too thin and most have died out.

Remember when we drag-raced our Mustangs on the deserted highway on Saturday night? Now combustion engines are outlawed and electric cars are government-watched by the chip in the battery.

Remember when we could visit touristy destinations like Jackson, WY and Telluride, CO on long weekends? Now there's no flights there, housing is depressed and rail traffic has bypassed such nonsense towns. They're just ghost towns now.

Remember when we could make pointless trips to Wal-Mart for a bag of plastic crap? Now we make do with the same ball-point pen we've had for 5 years. Big-box stores died out decades ago and ma-n-pa local markets have made a comeback with fresh local produce. In fact, nothing is shipped OTR long-distance anymore (too expensive).

Remember when the US Post Office used to deliver any mail we sent for 45 cents? Too bad it went bankrupt back in 2015.

Remember when summers in America were only 90 degrees and we all had air conditioning to cool us off? Now populations have moved away from the equator making Canada and Russia the most populous countries by far.

Remember when we all went to Vegas for the weekend? Now $22/gal gas makes car travel illegal, air travel is the escape of the wealthy, and Lake Mead dried up back in 2023 anyway, so the desert reclaimed the desolate town in 2039.

The 4th of July hasn't changed at all. In the 50's we
went to watch the fireworks. Today we'll go and watch
the fireworks. In 1910 they did the same. None of
the holidays have changed. Even in the 50's the Detroit
Lions played on Thanksgiving day. There's comfort in
tradition.

Quote: EvenBob

...Even in the 50's the Detroit Lions played on Thanksgiving day. There's comfort in tradition.

Yea, but in the '50s the Lions often won on Thanksgiving. That's something they haven't done since 2003.

:)

(Note: I'm a Lions fan.)

Yes, pool halls served a sociological function similar to a hiring hall or a saloon of the American West. Information was shared about filing the front sight on a revolver so it doesn't snag on a pocket, the advantages of a 38 on a stripped down 32 frame, the soaking of rats with gasoline so as to get fires to start deep in the walls of a structure. It was the graduate school of the day and taught many men about locks, travel, how to deal with dogs by putting bread in your armpits.
Back in those days, The Sally would always have a bowl by the door with pieces of chalk so that a wandering man might be able to travel well and be able to "chalk a man up" if he encountered a situation such as being set upon by dogs when he approached a farmhouse for a stand-up or for used coffee grounds.

Quote: zippyboy

Interesting to think if you had asked this question in 2060, people might reminisce that:

Remember when people could ski at Crystal Mountain on Mt. Rainier? Remember when Aspen was a tourist resort? Now all the glaciers are gone and there's too many disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Remember when our kids could fly home for the holidays? Now there's only one airline and fuel prices make it waaaaay too expensive for such frivolous trips.

Remember when birds sang in the springtime? Now pesticides made the shells too thin and most have died out.

Remember when we drag-raced our Mustangs on the deserted highway on Saturday night? Now combustion engines are outlawed and electric cars are government-watched by the chip in the battery.

Remember when we could visit touristy destinations like Jackson, WY and Telluride, CO on long weekends? Now there's no flights there, housing is depressed and rail traffic has bypassed such nonsense towns. They're just ghost towns now.

Remember when we could make pointless trips to Wal-Mart for a bag of plastic crap? Now we make do with the same ball-point pen we've had for 5 years. Big-box stores died out decades ago and ma-n-pa local markets have made a comeback with fresh local produce. In fact, nothing is shipped OTR long-distance anymore (too expensive).

Remember when the US Post Office used to deliver any mail we sent for 45 cents? Too bad it went bankrupt back in 2015.

Remember when summers in America were only 90 degrees and we all had air conditioning to cool us off? Now populations have moved away from the equator making Canada and Russia the most populous countries by far.

Remember when we all went to Vegas for the weekend? Now $22/gal gas makes car travel illegal, air travel is the escape of the wealthy, and Lake Mead dried up back in 2023 anyway, so the desert reclaimed the desolate town in 2039.

That is prescient stuff, Zip.

Quote: EvenBob

Remember, though, in the 50's there were no GED's,
in the 60's either. You had to actually go back to
HS to get a diploma. We always had several guys in their 20's
in the senior class when I was in HS. It was common place,
we thought nothing of it. And girls were forced to drop
out if they got pregnant.

IIRC I saw once that the GED was instituted right after WWII as they both didn't want and didn't feel right about 20-23 year olds who just fought the war mixing at the local HS. But that is what it was, a last-ditch thing for someone who had very bad circumstances to get the paper to move up into more education or a better slot at work. It was not what it has become, which is a way for kids to quit school then get a paper saying they know all the material. Today if I see a a young person with a GED, unless they have a good reason like supporting the family I see a quitter. Many people do.

On the bomb shelter/nuclear disaster thing, I tell younger people that if you have no memory of the 1980s you just not understand the mentality of the USA having a real and capable enemy. I still remember the "relief" you got when the EBS said "this is only a test." Comparing it to the 1950s I am sure the fear was greater in the 1950s, but in the 1950s you knew it was still bombers and there would be a few hours at the least for it to play out, and the bombers could be shot down. In the 1980s it was ICBMs and you knew you had no chance, even if we had figured out SDI.

Quote: EvenBob

I realize now how useless it would have been, but peace of mind was hard to come by.

Well, most of the area hit by a nuclear weapon is only hit by tornado or lower level pressure and fallout. That way, all you need is a tornado shelter with a few extra supplies to greatly increase your chances of survival.

Quote: zippyboy

Remember when people could ski at Crystal Mountain on Mt. Rainier? Remember when Aspen was a tourist resort? Now all the glaciers are gone and there's too many disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Remember when summers in America were only 90 degrees and we all had air conditioning to cool us off? Now populations have moved away from the equator making Canada and Russia the most populous countries by far.

Laying it on a little thick aren't you?
It's too late: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/russia-may-lose-15-000-lives-15-billion-of-economic-output-in-heat-wave.html

Quote: P90

Laying it on a little thick aren't you?
It's too late: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-10/russia-may-lose-15-000-lives-15-billion-of-economic-output-in-heat-wave.html

The article is 2 years old.

Quote: EvenBob

The article is 2 years old.

Remember when people thought of Global Warming as a real thing and not a communist conspiracy to trick Americans into driving smaller cars and developing more fuel-efficient engines?

Quote: P90

Remember when people thought of Global Warming as a real thing and not a communist conspiracy to trick Americans into driving smaller cars and developing more fuel-efficient engines?

Remember in the 70's when people thought we were
moving into the next ice age? Remember when people
thought the world would end on Y2K? People will believe
whatever they're told to believe, like the earth is flat
or eating spinach will make you strong because it has
iron in it.

Quote: EvenBob

People will believe whatever they're told to believe,...

All the world's religions are counting on it.

The Lions used to play the Green Bay packers every Thanksgiving day. Then Vince Lombardi sissied out of the game.

Hobos had their own sign language and used chalk to identify whether you could get a meal at a house, had to work for it, etc.

In 1950's a friend of mine from the pool room got arrested. Seems they had been some robberies in a neighborhood. His wife had been spotted putting chalk marks in front of houses after talking to whoever answered the door. Actually the marks let Pipe know if they
had a baby boy or girl. His wife would pretend she had the wrong house, but chat up the person or look inside.

Then Pipe would show up hours later, say he was a professional photographer, had heard from a friend about their beautiful baby.
Ask permission to photograph the baby for this big contest. Well, of course if they asked, he would sell them copies LOL

Cops turned him loose the next day. We called him Pipe because he used to smoke cigarette butts straight up in his pipe.

Here are some fairly new 'Remember whens'

Remember when you got free matches when you bought a pack of cigarettes?

Remember when you could get a free map at the gas station?

Remember when appliances had knobs?

Remember when cars had white-wall tires?

My grand daughter asked me the other day , why do I say wind down the window in my car ?

Remember vent windows on cars? Sneaking into drive-in movies but hiding in the " rumble seat" ?

All the fuss when seat belts first came out? OMG , what if your car rolls into a creek and you are trapped in a seat belt.

Remember when Am was rock and roll stations. Only classical music was on FM.

Remember when the candy store sold cigarettes for a penny apiece ? a pack was 15 cents.

Remember when a bottle of Coca Cola was in 6 oz glass bottles only ? And betting on who had a bottle from farthest away as the plant was on the bottom ?

Remember the first remote for the TV. It had a cable and there were only 3 channels anyway ? LOL

Well, I look back ... and laugh.

I remember that duck and cover nonsense... annoying then, annoying now. I was never worried about nuclear war. I remember some doctor's wife changing the water in their bombshelter every two weeks and I recall laughing at them.

I guess I've always been too skeptical to fall for the common wisdom of the day.

Remember when you had sex for the first time?

Remember when you sighed because you were alone at the time?

Quote: FleaStiff

I was never worried about nuclear war..

Well, it's entirely controlled by humans. I don't know if that is worrisome.

Quote: buzzpaff

Remember the first remote for the TV. It had a cable and there were only 3 channels anyway ? LOL

Remember when as a kid, YOU were your dad's "remote" for the TV?

Remember when your dad offered you a dollar to take his work boots off but never gave it?

Quote: EvenBob

People will believe whatever they're told to believe, like the earth is flat or eating spinach will make you strong because it has iron in it.

Yeah. I'm just surprised at how so many otherwise intelligent people know for damn sure that anthropogenic global warming [is real and the end is nigh]/[is not real and communist plot], while the more I know on the matter, the least certainty I have in estimating what degree of influence the evidence is most weighted towards and which should be considered the threshold for significance.

Quote: MrV

Remember when you had sex for the first time?
Remember when you sighed because you were alone at the time?

I think that was the case for most everyone since church stopped enforcing its ban on sword sharpening.

Quote: RogerKint

Remember when your dad offered you a dollar to take his work boots off but never gave it?

My dad would pay me and my friends 25 cent each to clean up the yard. 15 cents for the movies, 5 cents for a soda. 5 cents for the candy machine .

Later he worked for ABC vending refiling the soda machines at the movies. Some days I got to go with him and see 10 or 15 minutes of different movies.

A nickel was worth enough then to use slugs. Dad would give me the slugs from the soda machine to use in the candy machine. LOL

I remember when you tried to carefully put a needle on a vinyl record and not scratch it. For years, I practiced what would be the reverse of someone elses musical creation. Who knew?

I also remember when seeing old records that were sometimes red or yellow instead of black. Some were 78 rpm, I think.

Quote: rxwine

I also remember when seeing old records that were sometimes red or yellow instead of black. Some were 78 rpm, I think.

There were periodic fads along those lines. My brother's copy of the Beatles' White Album was printed on white acetate or vynil or whatever it was really. In the early 80s this took off for a while, and I recall records in multiple colors. Disney sold a "single" of its parks parade soundtrack with a print under transparent vynil for a while.

How pissed did you get when your kid sister lost the plastic insert and you could not listen to your 45's ?

In the 50's and 60's and maybe the 70's, you could hit your
kids whenever they needed it. Even in public. It was nothing
to see a mother holding a kids hand in the air and whapping
him on the butt 5 or 6 times and the kid screaming his head
off. Do that now and you'll lose the kid and go to prison.

Thats why the little darlings are so well behaved these days.

And yes, some drive-ins really had girls on roller skates
that took your order. Even in the dead of winter, but no skates.

Quote: buzzpaff

My dad would pay me and my friends 25 cent each to clean up the yard. 15 cents for the movies, 5 cents for a soda. 5 cents for the candy machine .

In 1958 I got 50 cents a week allowance and that was
huge. I could buy 5 comic books. Or a bunch of candy
and 2 new comic books and go to the library and trade
old comics for used ones they had in boxes. I loved reading
comics more than anything in the world, until I discovered
the Hardy Boys when I was 10.

Quote: rxwine

I also remember when seeing old records that were sometimes red or yellow instead of black. Some were 78 rpm, I think.

Supposedly they would sometimes put a print of a picture on the vinyl, so you could watch the band spin round and round. I have heard these are very collectible. Sooner or later one might show up at G&S Pawn?