OT: If you grew up in the 50's, you'll remember some of these things from that era.

[AzHusky]

I lived in Hartford till I was 10 (1960) my younger brother and I would walk all over the place and think nothing of it. We would cross the foot bridge over I91 to Riverside park to go fishing. Life was so much simpler then.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Born in the 50's but would say I grew up in the '60's.

Black and White TV, absolutely and of course all the western TV shows. My "kiddie" show was called Romper Room. My parents also did a lot of radio, the type of programs no longer being on, of course. Mom did "WOR" Rambling with Gambling in the morning, switched over to Don McNeil's Breakfast Club (where I got to "March around the Breakfast Table" (his kid's feature). Dad listened to Jean Shepherd at night and there were still serials like the Phantom available at least once a week. I don't think radio has much of a following any more.

You were not bombarded with sports 24/7; my folks were Yankees fans and that was about it. I remember odd things my Dad would sometimes put on - he always watched Army / Navy football and I remember him watching the famous Knicks game where Willis Reed limped on. Of course that was a bit later, but seemed random to teenager me. Boy, sports have changed.

As to the comments about folks being "different" and all - yes, it was an era of folks being picked on. I was, considered a bit of a sissy I think, but now would I think be considered a "nerd" more accurately. The suspected gay kids (and there were always the "gay" kids) who were not called that were picked on worse than I ever was, with a lot of name calling. My town was somewhat segregated, probably not that unusual in the '60's, the town was mostly middle class white (and with a significant "Jewish" population) but one area was predominantly black. Although there was only one high school, the black and white students did not mix much, because they largely didn't know each other, since the black students all went to one elementary school due to geography. This was changed after my time, I'm sure for the much better. It took a court order. No, we don't need to return to those days.

I'm glad I grew up in the later Baby Boomer generation, but as I just said, I'm not interested in reexperiencing it.

 

[CL82]

Born in the 50's but would say I grew up in the '60's.

Black and White TV, absolutely and of course all the western TV shows. My "kiddie" show was called Romper Room. My parents also did a lot of radio, the type of programs no longer being on, of course. Mom did "WOR" Rambling with Gambling in the morning, switched over to Don McNeil's Breakfast Club (where I got to "March around the Breakfast Table" (his kid's feature). Dad listened to Jean Shepherd at night and there were still serials like the Phantom available at least once a week. I don't think radio has much of a following any more.

I vaguely remember romper room, but I don’t think that I watched it. I definitely remember Rambling with Gambling‘s and I listened to it into adulthood when his son John Gambling had the show. (The show actually was three generations with John gambling being the grandson of the originator.) In one of those odd coincidences of life, as an adult I was friends with a family member of his by marriage. He would occasionally come into town for the holidays.

WOR had a lot of good radio, including Bob and Ray, who were hysterical. Joan Hamburg was another host on WOR. I knew her husband Mort through business. He was as quiet as she is vivacious.

Small world.

 

[Carnac]

One thing I failed to mention that existed for most of us in the 50’s were our parents and most of our aunts, uncles and cousins.

I remember the day the music died (and where I was) when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) died in a plane crash in Iowa in Feb 1959. I remember all of the top 40 radio stations announcing it. I remember seeing it later that day on TV news reports.

 

[UHF]

Doors to the House were frequently Unlocked even at night.

 

[UHF]

Duck and Cover

 

[UHF]

World Series day games

 

[UHF]

Party Lines when making Phone Calls.

Practicing Cursive Writing on the Blackboard.

 

[UHF]

Five and Dime stores such as Woolworths.

 

[UHF]

Seemed like almost everyone smoked. TV commercials advertised how cool smoking was.

Actors frequently smoked in movies. John Wayne smoked at least once in almost every movie. He lost a lung to cancer, after smoking 3+ packs of cigarettes per day.

 

[CL82]

Five and Dime stores such as Woolworths.

Penny candy.

 

[CL82]

Seemed like almost everyone smoked. TV commercials advertised how cool smoking was.

Actors frequently smoked in movies. John Wayne smoked at least once in almost every movie. He lost a lung to cancer, after smoking 3+ packs of cigarettes per day.

Smoking in restaurants. It would be very nasty now.

 

[caramel]

Front door open all night and only the screen door locked. Dads' car never locked. Milk in bottles with the cream on top. We even had an old butter churn on the farm and my dad was always on his ham radio.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Some of these things persisted thru the 50s and 60s into the 70s and early 80s when I was growing up. We didn't lock doors, kids were pretty free to go around without adult supervision, stuff like that. I don't know when that all changed.

 

[Topsail]

I remember buying milk for lunch in little glass bottles for 2 cents ..

 

[Bigboote]

Doors to the House were frequently Unlocked even at night.

Our doors were never locked. I remember one time I came home from college. Got dropped off by my ride on I-95 and hitchhiked to my house about 5 miles off the highway. I got home and the damn doors were locked. I had to climb in through a window about 5-6 feet off the ground. I had to try really hard not to break the antique gate-leg table that was right inside the window.

Speaking of kids' shows: There were local kids' shows. I was on the Mr Goober show (channel 8) when I was about 6 or 7. We also had Ranger Andy on channel 3.

 

[Stymie]

Seemed like almost everyone smoked. TV commercials advertised how cool smoking was.

Actors frequently smoked in movies. John Wayne smoked at least once in almost every movie. He lost a lung to cancer, after smoking 3+ packs of cigarettes per day.

Guests smoked and got soused on talk shows.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I vaguely remember romper room, but I don’t think that I watched it. I definitely remember Rambling with Gambling‘s and I listened to it into adulthood when his son John Gambling had the show. (The show actually was three generations with John gambling being the grandson of the originator.) In one of those odd coincidences of life, as an adult I was friends with a family member of his by marriage. He would occasionally come into town for the holidays.

WOR had a lot of good radio, including Bob and Ray, who were hysterical. Joan Hamburg was another host on WOR. I knew her husband Mort through business. He was as quiet as she is vivacious.

Small world.

Oh yes. I heard Bob and Ray too. In addition to Joan Hamburg (who my mother listened to) there were the Fitzgerald's (Ed and Pegeen) and another couple that had hour long shows during the morning hours. Mom kept the radio on close to all day when she was home. And their helicopter pilots - doing traffic - one crashed and died. The other promoted some charities and yes, my mother faithfully donated because he recommended them.

Another radio program my parents listened to was Norman Vincent Peale's Sunday sermons. Not sure if they were on WOR or not.

 

[Griggs]

Savin Rock in West Haven. Valley Drive-in on Division Ave. in Derby.
Seaside Park in Bridgeport. Fast pitch softball was big. Selling Coca-Cola in Yale Bowl. Delivering Journal-Courier in the morning, The New Haven Register in the afternoon. All high school football games were 10:30 on Saturday morning. Sunday blue laws. Vonetti's Ice Cream Parlor on Main St. in Derby. Frank Gifford and Sam Huff. Anyone play corkball ?

 

[Carnac]

My mother kept the radio on all day also. It made the day go by faster. You always knew the hour of the day by what program was on. Remember the Paul Harvey Show? We listened to his show every day. He had a very distinctive voice and delivery.

I remember Romper Room, Kukla, Fran & Ollie. Howdy Doody, Soupy Sales, Bozo the clown, Engineer Bill, and Sheriff John. These children shows were products of our local TV stations. Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons along with Crusader Rabbit, Buggs Bunny and Popeye.

 

[Hoops66]

I remember that hitchhiking was common, safe and very economical...better than Uber. Also, the Saturday AM test pattern signaled the start of a morning of great kid TV watching. Ah, yes, and then there was Payola. Ugh.

 

[Jingo]

In the 50s, when the street lights came on, I came into my house and put away my Spaldeen and box of chalk so my brother couldn't get them. Next, I turned on WINS and listened to the Alan Freed show all night. I went to all of Freed's rock-n-roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount which was just a few blocks from my high school, Brooklyn Tech. Occasionally I did homework while listening to the radio, cuz Tech was an elite school and some of its courses were tough!

 

[Dogstar]

Wasn’t great for women, either

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WOW!!!!!!

 

[AzHusky]

Listen to Sandy Beach on WDRC and Bob Steel on WTIC.

 

[Bigboote]

Listen to Sandy Beach on WDRC and Bob Steel on WTIC.

I loved Bob Steele’s family stories about Uncle Stainless and Cousin Cold-rolled. And his word of the day.