Things long gone

[Siam Sam]

Here's one I'll bet a lot of people on this Board won't remember: "Washers" that have rollers to wring the clothes through with a hand crank.

I remember my grandmother had one of those. It was in what was called "the wash house" outside the main house on my grandparents' property in a small Arkansas town. They bought the property in the early 1930s, and it must have seemed like the height of modern convenience back then.

[AHunter3]

Telex numbers and machines

Ditto machines and tests & homework run off in purple ink.

Reel to reel tape recorders.

Bell and Howell film projectors

metal toothpaste tubes

metal chapstick tubes

steel soda pop cans with the seam down one side

the detachable pull tabs that came off soda cans

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by AHunter3

the detachable pull tabs that came off soda cans

Remember they tried to replace those with two spots on top of the can you pushed in? That didn't go over too well. Who wants their bartender dunking his fingers in your beer?

[Jolly Roger]

Originally Posted by AHunter3

Telex numbers and machines

Ditto machines and tests & homework run off in purple ink.

Reel to reel tape recorders.

Bell and Howell film projectors

metal toothpaste tubes

metal chapstick tubes

steel soda pop cans with the seam down one side

the detachable pull tabs that came off soda cans

wow...ditto machines! I remember those!

[Bytegeist]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

wow...ditto machines! I remember those!

So do I. That strange purple ink you never saw anywhere else.

And as I recall, the fumes were quite intoxicating.

[Ponch8]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

wow...ditto machines! I remember those!

One thing I remember about dittoes had to do with the letter "o". Usually it would look like every other letter, but on most dittoes, a few O's were represented by a very thin ring. Somehow the letter "o" was just too much for the machines to handle.

[Dallas Jones]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

There's a type of candy I recall, colored wafers that came in I think it was a wax-paper tube. I remembered them when I saw "quarter waters" above, because I thought the poster might have meant "quarter wafers," but no. Does anyone else remember those? Flat discs about the circumference of quarters. They were not flavored in the sense of grape, strawberry etc, but each color did seem to have a distinct taste.

Do you mean Necco Wafers? They are still around and were just in the news last week. They are the latest casualty in politically correct food. They now have All Natural flavors. So they probably suck now.

http://www.slashfood.com/2009/10/27/...o-all-natural/

[needscoffee]

I recently got rid of my old slide rule.
Mangles - does anyone remember those? I had a dollhouse as a kid that had a toy mangle inside, but I don't know if I had ever seen one for real until recently.

[Zoe]

Do children still get copies of The Weekly Reader or My Weekly Reader in elementary school? Maybe I should check on the internet. I loved that little newspaper/magazine.

And I'm still trying to find just one more person who remembers the Saturday radio broadcast of a children's program called "Let's Pretend." Cue theme music: "Cream of Wheat -- It's so good to eat and we eat it every day..." I never missed it. It was broadcast from the same studio where Leterman is now.

[Harmonious Discord]

The old ones used to hunt the mammoth and we would feast for days after the kill. I miss those parties.

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by ghardester

Do you mean Necco Wafers? They are still around and were just in the news last week. They are the latest casualty in politically correct food. They now have All Natural flavors. So they probably suck now.

http://www.slashfood.com/2009/10/27/...o-all-natural/

That sure looks like them, except I don't recall them having a brand, and there was no writing on them. I suspect where I grew up in West Texas they had some sort of generic version. Of course, it's been several decades now, but that's not the wrapper either; it was plain wax paper as I recall.

[LilyoftheField]

Coal furnaces. Coal bin in the basement. Coal delivery truck backing into your driveway to dump coal down the chute into the coal bin. And let's not forget the fascination of watching Dad shovel the coal into the furnace on cold winter nights....

Fixing the TV was another Dad job - TV's went on the blink a lot more often back in the day. Dad would have to rummage around in the back of the set pulling out tubes and taking them up to the local hardware store to plug into the self-serve tube tester.

[kidneyfailure]

Originally Posted by Zoe

Do children still get copies of The Weekly Reader or My Weekly Reader in elementary school? Maybe I should check on the internet. I loved that little newspaper/magazine.

And I'm still trying to find just one more person who remembers the Saturday radio broadcast of a children's program called "Let's Pretend." Cue theme music: "Cream of Wheat -- It's so good to eat and we eat it every day..." I never missed it. It was broadcast from the same studio where Leterman is now.

Ah, Weekly Reader, I remember those pretty well. My teacher scolded me for drawing a beard and stitches on Hillary Clinton's face on the cover of one of my Weekly Readers.

Is Highlights Magazine still around?

[elmwood]

Originally Posted by AHunter3

Bell and Howell film projectors

God, those sucked. Half of the time, when a film was played, there was a stuttering motorboat engine-like sound that made the film unlistenable. "DBoBnB'tB fBoBrBgBeBtB tBhBeB fBoBuBrB mBaBjBoBrB fBoBoBdB gBrBoBuBpBsB!"

[Martini Enfield]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Here's one I'll bet a lot of people on this Board won't remember: "Washers" that have rollers to wring the clothes through with a hand crank.

I remember my grandmother had one of those. It was in what was called "the wash house" outside the main house on my grandparents' property in a small Arkansas town. They bought the property in the early 1930s, and it must have seemed like the height of modern convenience back then.

There were still a few of those in NZ when I was a kid ('80s/'90s) but they were invariably being used in on farms as a washing machine for workclothes (because they didn't require electricity, they could be kept in paddock sheds), or by elderly people who had purchased one new in 1946, and it worked perfectly for what they needed and had never broken down since, so they kept using it.

[elmwood]

Originally Posted by Ellen Cherry

How many of us had paper routes here? I was 12 and in the seventh grade when I had mine. Delivered them on my bike every afternoon, and each Saturday morning.

Afternoon dailies are almost gone too.

The Buffalo News is still delivered by traditional paper routes managed by children. The sight of large, blue Buffalo News boxes on tree lawns is relatively common; it's where the papers are dropped off to a "news mom" (it's always a woman) that then distributes them to the kids.

Also, the Buffalo News was an afternoon paper up until a few years ago. I know a lot of people, mostly senior citizens, that won't read the paper that was delivered in the early morning until dinnertime.

Originally Posted by chowder

On a Saturday night many moons ago when I was a mere sprog the guy used to come around shouting "Football Final".

When I was a child, I remember seeing late night "racing final" editions of daily papers, which were updated to include horse racing results throughout the country. Do racing final editions still exist?

[elmwood]

Originally Posted by kidneyfailure

Is Highlights Magazine still around?

Yup, only the covers aren't identical for each month like in the recent past. Every dentist in the US seems to have several back issues in the waiting room.

[elmwood]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Most Thai stations are not 24 hours, and there's still snow after they sign off in the wee hours.

Do they play the Thai national anthem before they sign off?

Stations in Buffalo played both the Canadian and American national anthems. However, stations in Canada played the Canadian anthem followed by God Save the Queen. Gee, thanks Canada. (Reminds me of the Canada-US friendship memorial in Fort Erie where the Ontario, Canadian and British flags are flown, but not the Stars and Stripes.)

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by elmwood

Do they play the Thai national anthem before they sign off?

I don't think so, but I'm not sure. If I'm up that late, I'm watching BBC. Thai TV stinks even at the best of times.

[moonstarssun]

I vaguely remember the national anthem playing before TV sign off (and I remember color bars and then snow after that). When I was really little, I apparently once turned off the TV just as a game my dad was watching was about to start. The national anthem played, and that meant TV was done.

Other TV-related things I remember: waiting for the TV to warm up, and watching the white dot slowly shrink and fade after turning it off. The big console TV in my grandparents' house.

I also remember there being a cartoon before the main feature at the movie theater--at least for kid's movies. That ended when I was pretty little, so don't know if that was still going on for non-kid movies (this was in the 70s).

One of the toys I loved as a kid (probably late 70s/early 80s) were books full of punch-out paper dolls, buildings, etc that you could make. I had one that was a zoo, a museum, a fort and I think a colony. They were educational toys, and I remember being fascinated by them. It took quite a while to assemble all the little pieces, but then you could set them up all different ways and play with them using the little people that came with them. No idea what they were called, but I remember thinking they were pretty cool.

[Martini Enfield]

TVNZ used to play a short cartoon of their station mascots, TV Kiwi and The Cat, turning off the equipment and lights in the station before going to sleep in one of the dishes on the broadcasting tower when they signed off for the evening, but IIRC they switched to 24 hour programming in the mid-90s.

Wiki says there's a Digital TV channel in NZ still using the sign off, though. That makes me happy for some reason. I always did like TV Kiwi and The Cat.

[Jolly Roger]

Remember ZOOM?

[Hockey Monkey]

Originally Posted by C3

We have a local dairy that still does home deliveries. Also, with more and more CSAs popping up, we have a few companies that will deliver fresh fruit & vegetables to your doorstep.

Yep! Ain't it wonderful?

[pabstist]

Remember home video game systems that used plug in game cartridges? The new systems all use discs (like CD's) now.

Between my Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Intellivision, and Colecovision I must have 300 carts. And all of those 300 separate games would probably fit on one modern disc. With much room to spare for another thousand games.

[kopek]

Originally Posted by FriarTed

Locally-produced entertainment TV shows. There are some local church shows, school-related shows, news shows (of course), but not talk/variety shows, game shows or hosted movies.

Hosted horror is actually making a strong come-back in a lot of places. New England has Penny Dreadfull, Western PA has Its Alive and Midnight Monster, Buffalo has had a couple lately (Off-beat Cinema?), Ohio has quite a bit going as well. Problem is most are re-run to death but at least they are getting made.

[Jolly Roger]

TV shows like Doctor Shock....I kinda miss that stuff, cheesey as it was. O course I miss MST3K, But Doctor ?Shock and shows like it were the precursor for them.

[Sternvogel]

Originally Posted by needscoffee

I tried to link to that thread when I posted this but
couldn't locate it. Probably looked on the wrong board.

Here it is.

[Milossarian]

The punchy sound of writing on a typewriter, rather than the clickety-clack of a computer keyboard.

There are adults now who've never heard it. Bizarre to me.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Originally Posted by C3

We have a local dairy that still does home deliveries. Also, with more and more CSAs popping up,

CSA's? What the heck are they?

Confederate States of America -- that's long since dead & gone.

[kittenblue]

Originally Posted by C3

I would love to find cigar boxes. My son went to a camp a couple years ago and the counselor had a bunch of them that the kids decorated. He keeps all his "treasures" in it - it's perfect. They're the perfect size for storing small things in. I was going to ask at our local tobacco store, but they closed down.

You can order them Here and from a few other places. Our local craft store has blank white ones, but I can't find them on their website.

I just bought two kerosene heater wicks this past season at the hardware store, so they are still out there!

Filmstrips. We used these a lot in school, especially Spanish. It was considered quite an honor to be the child chosen to turn the knob on the projector to advance the film when you heard the tone on the record that played along with it.There was much teasing and derision if you got out of synch, or turned the wrong way!

[AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet]

Used to be, you could drive into Boston (the "Combat Zone"-lower Washington street)

Twenty-ish years ago, when I was still in elementary school, I remember reading about the Combat Zone and for some reason I thought it was in Roxbury.
Here's another one............body worn FM devices/auditory trainers for deaf and hard of hearing kids. It was this box that you wore on your chest, and you had to wear a harness. *shudders*

[kidneyfailure]

Originally Posted by kittenblue

You can order them [url="http://blackcatcigars.com/cigarboxes.html"]Filmstrips. We used these a lot in school, especially Spanish. It was considered quite an honor to be the child chosen to turn the knob on the projector to advance the film when you heard the tone on the record that played along with it.There was much teasing and derision if you got out of synch, or turned the wrong way!

Man, I loved those crappy filmstrips. It meant you got to sit in the dark for 30 minutes and the teacher wouldn't know what the hell you were doing. And the strips themselves were always 30 years old (early seasons of The Simpsons had the best film strip parodies). Sometimes the filmstrip would last so long it wouldn't be finished by the time class was over!

The school where I teach uses Powerpoint for our presentations. I'd kind of like to see the reactions from the students if they saw an old filmstrip like I grew up with.

[Harmonious Discord]

Originally Posted by Martini Enfield

There were still a few of those in NZ when I was a kid ('80s/'90s) but they were invariably being used in on farms as a washing machine for workclothes (because they didn't require electricity, they could be kept in paddock sheds), or by elderly people who had purchased one new in 1946, and it worked perfectly for what they needed and had never broken down since, so they kept using it.

Ma used one in the mid 60's until it pulled her arm into the rollers. It popped open the rollers when it got almost to the shoulder. The new washer was in the house in a week. Some Mexican immigrants bought the old one. These washers were known to have ripped off arms and scalps, also to have permanently damaged arms and hands not ripped off.

[Angel of Doubt]

Originally Posted by Harmonious Discord

Ma used one in the mid 60's until it pulled her arm into the rollers. It popped open the rollers when it got almost to the shoulder. The new washer was in the house in a week. Some Mexican immigrants bought the old one. These washers were known to have ripped off arms and scalps, also to have permanently damaged arms and hands not ripped off.

Hence the old expression "(whatever)..since Ma got her tit caught in the wringer)

Oooowwch!
Was her arm OK?

[Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Lower Sukhumvit Road is chock-a-block with streetwalkers at night over here...

Does anyone else think this is an awesome name for a street frequested by prostitutes?

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Short shorts on NBA players.

Ads to sell Grit in the backs of comic books.

Black quarterbacks as oddities, invariably described as "athletic."

Local wrestling shows.

One heavyweight boxing champ, and championship bouts on regular TV.

Inkwells on school desks.

Ashtrays in stores.

[Yorikke]

Originally Posted by Peter Morris

google is your friend

http://harlemhubris.blogspot.com/200...e-quarter.html

Ah, Lil' Hugs.

Joe

[Mr. Moto]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

Here's one I'll bet a lot of people on this Board won't remember: "Washers" that have rollers to wring the clothes through with a hand crank.

I remember my grandmother had one of those. It was in what was called "the wash house" outside the main house on my grandparents' property in a small Arkansas town. They bought the property in the early 1930s, and it must have seemed like the height of modern convenience back then.

You can still buy one new.

[Icerigger]

More ancient A-V tales.

Speaking of filmstrip projectors, in most cases there was a beep sound to advance the film. I went to parochial school so we were often shown religious themed filmstrips and instead of a beep there was the strumming of a harp.

Also when we were shown a movie in class I remember the huge metal boxes with canvas buckle straps the film reels came in.

[CalMeacham]

Speaking of filmstrip projectors, in most cases there was a beep sound to advance the film. I went to parochial school so we were often shown religious themed filmstrips and instead of a beep there was the strumming of a harp.

??


Our religious filmstrips also had the beep. I don't recall ever having a harp.

[CalMeacham]

Is Highlights Magazine still around?

Yup. Still comes out of Columbus, Ohio.

http://www.highlights.com/

[Diogenes the Cynic]

My kids get Highlights .

[Icerigger]

Our religious filmstrips also had the beep. I don't recall ever having a harp.

Catholic grade school, we had harps.

Speaking of Highlights, at work we get a sample copy from time to time and I must confess sometimes I do the "find the object" game. Occasionally I miss one of those pesky things.

[AskNott]

One of the cheap candies was called candy buttons, little dots of candy in three rows, stuck on long strips of paper. I could never get the candy off without a little piece of paper on it. There were also Nik-L-Nips which were tiny wax bottles, each with about half an ounce of sweet flavored liquid inside. Some kids would chew on the bottle when it was empty. Ick.

Our town of about 60,000 had two dairies, Best-Ever and Davis, with home delivery routes. Most homes had a little insulated metal dairy box on the porch. There was also the Omar bakery man. We quit the Omar man, because he would con our babysitter into taking extra stuff Mom had not ordered.

At one time in the late 1950s, Mom's Chevy and Evil Dad's Buick both had the fuel fillers concealed behind the tail lights. Some parents would play a trick on their kids with the windshield wipers. The wiper motor ran on engine vacuum. The dad would have a kid put a hand on the inside of the windshield, and the dad would push on the gas pedal to drop the vacuum and stop the wiper. For a while, the kid would think his hand could stop the wipers.

When I was, oh, maybe 12, we heard somewhere that if we wiped toothpaste on the outside of menthol cigarettes, let it dry, and smoked them, we'd get woozy, sorta drunk. We tried it, and got sorta dizzy. However, being non-smoking 12-year-olds, simply smoking cigarettes would have gotten us woozy.

There's a joke among midwestern housewives of that generation that a gal could call herself an experienced and adventurous cook if she was on her second bottle of Tobasco Sauce.

[Icerigger]

What about caps as in cap guns, do they still make them? There were two kinds, the red paper rolls with little bumps of powder and the yellow plastic rings with pellets.

[ShibbOleth]

Originally Posted by Wheelz

Does anyone else think this is an awesome name for a street frequested by prostitutes?

Not if you know how it's pronounced. Sook-uhm-wit

Sort of like how Phuket Island, with many similar denizens, is not pronounced the way you'd think. But Koh Phi Phi is pronounced sort of like "Go Pee Pee". Sort of (the "Go" has more a glottal stop than an aspirated vowel at the end).

[carnivorousplant]

Originally Posted by Icerigger

There were two kinds, the red paper rolls with little bumps of powder and the yellow plastic rings with pellets.

Don't forget the round green ones with stickum. Either worked well when hit with a brick.

[Peter Morris]

Originally Posted by AskNott

One of the cheap candies was called candy buttons, little dots of candy in three rows, stuck on long strips of paper. I could never get the candy off without a little piece of paper on it. There were also Nik-L-Nips which were tiny wax bottles, each with about half an ounce of sweet flavored liquid inside. Some kids would chew on the bottle when it was empty. Ick.

Both still available

http://www.oldtimecandy.com/top-candy.htm

[SirRay]

Originally Posted by elmwood

When I was a child, I remember seeing late night "racing final" editions of daily papers, which were updated to include horse racing results throughout the country. Do racing final editions still exist?

This past Sunday morning (8 Nov 2009), I went to buy the Sunday NY Daily News - the store had 2 editions mixed in the stack, one a 'City Final', and one the 'Racing Final' - each with 2 different headline stories. Scanning through the front pages, the Racing Final seemed the later one (with the House HCR vote on the front page, and a illegal apartment blaze story inside, as opposed to the City Final which had the apartment blaze on the front page, and no House vote story), so I took the Racing final.
I guess that means racing trumps the city or something, I don't know...

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by pabstist

Remember home video game systems that used plug in game cartridges? The new systems all use discs (like CD's) now.

Between my Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Intellivision, and Colecovision I must have 300 carts. And all of those 300 separate games would probably fit on one modern disc. With much room to spare for another thousand games.

Long time ago? My wife was pregnant with our first kid when the 2600 came out. Almost yesterday. And yes, I have an Atari 2600 clone build into a joystick only slightly bigger than the original which plugs into the TV and has a dozen or so games on it, including Adventure. I also have a PS2 disk with a few dozen Activision games.

What I miss are continuous showing movies. In the old days you could go into a neighborhood theater any time, in the middle of a show, and stay as long as you wanted. No one kicked you out between showings.