The Old Timers Club

[NorthWesterner]

1. Blackjack chewing gum - yep, though I didn't like it.
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water -- oh, yes. bit the top off and spat it out. Pretty lame, but...
3. Candy cigarettes - of course. Remember trying to freak out your parents by "smoking" one? They were too smart for that, but we didn't know it.
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles. Yep. And even before that, the red Coke chest coolers filled with ice and water that you reached into and froze your hand getting out your glass bottle and it had the bottle opener on the side. Popping the top had nothing to do with pulling a metal ring.
5. Restaurants with tableside jukeboxes -- well, I wouldn't call them restaurants, but diners, of ourse.
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers -- yep. Milkman left it in a box outside the back door. Sometimes in winter, before we got to it the cream would freeze and push up the top and we would lick the cream off, if we got up before our parents did and they didn't catch us! Milkman also left eggs, butter, cottage cheese.
7. Party lines -- had one. South China eight ring two. Still had that phone out in the boonies long after most places had converted. And do you remember trying to place a long distance call to one of those phones and having the long distance operator refuse to believe that there was such a phone number as "South China eight ring two"? She thought we were just playing with her.
8. Newsreels before the movie-- or course. Movietone.
9. P.F. Flyers -- wore them.
10. Butch wax -- I wasn't allowed to use it, but my friends did.
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive - 6933) -- Elmwood was our prefix.
12. Peashooters -- yes, and boy did I get in trouble when we shot out the window in the neighbor's henhouse with our peashooters! Our parents were not impressed with our accuracy or power.
13. Howdy Doody -- It's Howdy Doody time, It's Howdy Doody time. Bob Smith and Howdy Doo, say Howdy Doo to YOu.
14. 45 RPM records -- still have a few hanging around here. And even have a few plastic center plugs for them. But 45s are modern. I also have a few 78s.
15. S&H Green Stamps -- lick and stick. Of course.
16. Hi-fi's -- come on, that's MODERN stuff. We had a crank Victrola in the cottage.
17. Metal ice trays with lever -- of course
18. Mimeograph paper -- and I also remember typing stencils and having to correct them with that awful smelling fluid.
19. Blue flashbulb -- yep
20. Beanie and Cecil -- no. Who were they?
21. Roller skate keys -- had them. The metal wheels made a racket and three quarters on the concrete floor of the garage! Remember "I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key?" I always suspeected ther was a risque element to that song.
22. Cork popguns -- had one.
23. Drive-ins -- Oh boy, do I remember. Our family car was a Rambler with the reclining seats. Boy, do I remember drive-ins. Course, I don't remember the movies I was supposed to be seeing! <g>
24. Studebakers -- we owned one. A green one.
25. Wash tub wringers -- had one on the porch of the cottage.
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young If you remembered 6-10 = You are
getting older If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age If you
remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

24 out of 25.
Just how old is dirt? Cause that's me!

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Funny thing, but it seems that the harder I work, the luckier I get.