Do you remember when doctors made house calls. Now those were the days. Free yardsticks and pencils were given away at the County Fair. Boys wore knickers to school and girls had to wear those horrid blue gymsuits with the bloomer-type bottoms. Wind-up victrolas played the songs of Nora Bayes, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and Lauritz Melchior. Even today I still play "Apple Blossom Time," "Harvest Moon," "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," "Peggy O'Neil," "Missouri Waltz," "Look For the Silver Lining," "Somewhere a Voice Is Calling," "Silver Threads Among the Gold" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."
Zane Gray was on the best-seller list. People were doing bird imitations to music. Whistling was in style. (I used to whistle all the time, but my pucker must be worn out! ) Once a week, as a child, I was allowed to buy the one thing I wanted most at the ice cream store. It was a lemon phosphate.
Strawberry and ice cream socials were held at various homes. Corn-husking bees with music and dancing were popular. Whoever found a red ear of corn earned the right to a kiss from anyone in the room! Newlyweds were always prepared (almost) for the expected horning or chivaree.
Sunday night song services were held at church. Everyone called out their favorite hymns and we sang one after another: "Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad," "Ivory Palaces," "From Sinking Sands He Lifted Me," "The Old Rugged Cross," "Blessed Assurance," "Yes, We Shall Gather At The River" and "I Love To Tell The Story."
The radio drummed into our ears such things as: "Oxydol's Own Ma Perkins," "Tony Wons Scrapbook," "Jack Armstrong - The All American Boy," "Fibber McGee and Molly," "Easy Aces," Orphan Annie saying "Fill your mug with Ovaltine," "Amos and Andy with (Buzz Me, Miss Blue and What a revoltin' development this is"), "I'm Buster Brown, I live in a shoe and here's my dog Tige, He lives in there, too" and my favorite commercial jingle for one of my favorite foods, "Tasty Yeast is tempting to the appetite, creamy wholesome food - try a luscious bite."
6 comments:
Hi Ginny, I remember Buster Brown and I wore one of those horrible gym suits, too. Some of the stuff I don't remember but do remember the hymns. I love this post but then I love all your posts.
Ginny - You hit on a few things this time that brought back some memories. Sunday night services - a thing of the past. Hymns and calling out your favorite. Radio programs. I am working on a story about that myself. The picture was in our head - sound came from the radio. Pre-TV. Do you remember that the shows had only ONE sponsor? Look at what TV has now and you don't know who sponsors what show. We who grew up in that era had some advantages over those today. Thanks.
I enjoyed reading your post today. I'm 66 but I can remember the church sing alongs where we called out hymn numbers and sang. We usually knew one person was going to ask for a particular hymn because they asked for the same one every time.
Yes! I had to climb a ladder.My knees were shaking.
Notice I didn't wear that helmet. Yuck!!
I am glad I don't remember those gym suits. I do remember the St Marys kids having to wear them.
Although, us public school kids had to wear the schools dreadful bathing suits in jr. high.
I remember the gym suits and the hymns and some of the radio shows. I also remember having singing school at church. That's where I learned the "shaped" notes.
I mentioned in my comment that I was working on a story about Radio. It is now published. Check it out.
Ginny, I'm worried about you! You haven't posted anything since 8-4. Are you ok?
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