My How Times Have Changed

We grew up in an era, that when compared to the time in which my daughter, Julie and all her cousins were growing up; was a simple life. If taken back in time to live as we did; Julie would find it as difficult as we would, should we be hurled back to when our mother lived. The generation of today would absolutely never survive any of these eras.

Our mode of communication a phone, that sat on a desk in our dinning room. This phone was shared by everyone in the house. Today, there are phones in every room and each person in the house has their own cell phone. Julie had her own phone number with a phone in her room. That in itself was unheard of in the 50's.

You know how kids are always saying they are bored; well they certainly would be, but we were not. I spent many evenings with my dad listening to such radio shows as "Henry Aldrich" and the "Shadow". We had one T.V. nestled in a corner under a window in our living room. There were very few channels to watch. There were only a few children's programs. My earliest memories are watching "Howdy Doody", "Kukla Fran and Ollie" and "Beannie & Cecil". My sisters remember a program called "Winky-Dink and You". This was an interactive program that children could participate in by sending away for a kit that included a plastic screen that stuck to the T.V. screen with static electricity. Crayons were used to draw on the screen to assist the character out of his predicament. If a character needed to cross a river with no bridge, the viewer would draw a line so a crossing could be made to escape trouble.

Watching T.V. was a family event. The Colgate Comedy Hour was one of my favorites. I especially remember Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as well as Martha Rea. I think mother liked Ed Sullivan a lot. Who can forget Senior Wences-ventriloquist with Pedro, (head in a box), and Johnny the hand puppet. I loved to dance. I took ballet for a while and enjoyed watching The Marge and Gower Champion show. I was fascinated by the artistic dancing of these two people.

There were no electronic gizmos to download your music on to and listen with a head set or ear buds. I spent many hours listening to my parents' 78 RPM records on a phonograph. Music has always been my passion. The slow dance music of the 40s had a rich mellow quality about it. I enjoy watching the old movies today that have that music. They dressed so elegantly when they went out dancing. While listening to the records, I often would imagine wearing those satin gowns. My sisters, Michele and Lynn and I, would put on performances in our up stairs hallway. We sang the songs we had learned from the records. One of our favorites was "Sisters", Rosemary Clooney. She also sang "This Old House"; and so did we.