# Let's remember the Good Old Days! /s **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062 "2023-08-04T18:25:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/21 "2023-08-05T00:29:36Z")
Those People stayed in their part of town, and worked the jobs that were right for them. Women stayed home, or at least stuck to the jobs that were right for them. Good Girls Didn’t. If a girl got pregnant, she must have failed in her duty to slap the guy’s face and say “How dare you?” Rape was perpetrated by strangers who jumped out of alleyways. If you knew the guy, it wasn’t rape: you led him on and he couldn’t help himself. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/22 "2023-08-05T01:07:35Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I remember smoking in both those venues, back in the 1960’s. In the US midwest. Michigan, to be precise. I used to frequent the TLA theater on South Street, Philadelphia quite often when I was a student in Philly back in the 70s. It was the first theater in Philadelphia to show _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ (they showed it weekly for a very long time) and I used to take first dates there (if they were cool with Rocky Horror, they were cool with me). Not only did they not ban smoking tobacco in the theater, they _kinda_ allowed smoking marijuana, too. The ushers would go up and down the aisles a couple of times during each show, and if they saw you smoking a joint, they’d squirt you in the face with a water pistol. But, that was the extent of it. If they didn’t douse your joint, they just shrugged and went on to squirt someone else. I got squirted a few times, but I had quick reflexes, so no harm, no foul. But, yeah, smoking in general was allowed almost everywhere back then. I did get an embarrassing intercom warning in an Acme grocery store one time. _“You, on aisle 5, put out that cigarette now!”_ Heck, a bit before my time, doctors used to [prescribe](https://www.bhclinics.com/single-post/2019/12/11/doctors-prescribed-healthy-cigarette-brands#:~:text=From%20the%201930%E2%80%99s%20to%20the%201950%E2%80%99s%2C%20patients%20were,blame%20when%20it%20came%20to%20illnesses%2C%20not%20cigarettes.) cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/23 "2023-08-05T08:12:26Z")
Remember when Trump was never mentioned in any political discussion? Ah yes! The Good Old Days. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/24 "2023-08-05T12:45:13Z")
There’s a radio episode of _Dragnet_ from the early 1950s where iirc Joe Friday is recovering in the Hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest, and they bring him a carton of cigarettes as a gift to pass the time. One of the commercials for same, Mel Torme suggests “Pick up a carton for the weekend”. They were clearly made of sterner stuff back then. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/25 "2023-08-05T12:56:35Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I remember smoking in both those venues, back in the 1960’s. In the US midwest. Michigan, to be precise. When I started University in 1965, smoking was allowed in the classrooms, including for professors. It must have been hell for non-smokers. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/26 "2023-08-05T14:16:33Z")
I even remember a pulmonologist smoking at the nursing station while making rounds in 1984, during my residency. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/27 "2023-08-05T14:18:30Z")
There was no diet soda or lite beer and “Sugar” was proudly proclaimed on the names of breakfast cereals. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/28 "2023-08-05T14:44:46Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > “Dallas has asthma! maybe it is the Christmas trees.” No, it is probably everyone smoking in a closed up house or car. The rate of ear infections among children has dropped significantly since it became taboo to smoke in the home. > **[Kids who live with smokers have more ear infections](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kids-smokers/kids-who-live-with-smokers-have-more-ear-infections-idINTRE78778020110908/)** > > Kids whose parents smoke are more likely to get ear infections and have hearing problems, according to a new review paper. > [@Common\_Tater](#): > > There’s a radio episode of _Dragnet_ from the early 1950s where iirc Joe Friday is recovering in the Hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest, and they bring him a carton of cigarettes as a gift to pass the time. There’s a clip online of a guy playing a game show where you have to guess what he did/who he is; the guy was a witness to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. It being the 1950s, he’s pushing 100. But it also being the 1950s, a guest on the show gets a carton of cigarettes for their appearance (a nod to the sponsor). Of course, at his age…if you watch, you nod knowingly when the host explains that he doesn’t smoke cigarettes. So instead, _they give him pipe tobacco, because back then even budding centenarians smoked something_. (I can’t seem to find an unedited clip on YouTube) > [@Chefguy](#): > > When I started University in 1965, smoking was allowed in the classrooms, including for professors. I had a first year law school class in 2000, taught by a professor who had been there for some 40 years (he had written our torts textbook!). One of his written class rules was no smoking. We thought it was a joke at first, but it clearly dated back to when that was a legitimate option for students (the other rule that I recall was “no hats”. He also made you stand when called, and would walk to the far side of the room to hear you speak. Later I recognized that he was subtlety teaching about courtroom decorum) … But, yes, the good old days, when police would not intercede in domestic violence until serious injury occurred because it was a “family matter”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/29 "2023-08-05T14:53:14Z")
AH, the Good Old Days! 1968. When Mayor Daley used air freshener to brighten up the city, for the Democratic National Convention. Tear Gas scent. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/30 "2023-08-05T15:18:09Z")
We didn’t have seatbelts or fire-resistant pyjamas or miniature microphones or video games. We used to fly through windshields in flaming pyjamas while shouting into watermelons and chewing the bark off of trees and we liked it! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5x7S2H-g60c/maxresdefault.jpg "Grumpy Old Man 1 - Saturday Night Live") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7S2H-g60c) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/31 "2023-08-05T15:21:34Z")
Remember when your entire life could be derailed at the whim of a “group of your peers” to go fight a war in a place you never heard of and may never return from? Good times! ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/32 "2023-08-05T15:26:32Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > “Sugar” was proudly proclaimed on the names of breakfast cereals. Yea, [Sugar Crisp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Crisp) changed its name to Golden Crisp in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/33 "2023-08-05T15:28:00Z")
One of the more annoying traits of some of my older friends ( early to mid 70s ) is their enthusiastic pining for the low prices of the time of their youth…while studiously ignoring their lower incomes of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/34 "2023-08-05T15:32:08Z")
Cops could (and did) get away with anything, since there were no video cameras around. (While I think there has been some improvements, some cops today still act badly even when they’re on camera. But there’s another thread for that.) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/35 "2023-08-05T18:51:44Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Yea, [Sugar Crisp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Crisp) changed its name to Golden Crisp in the 1980s. And the Kellogg’s version - Sugar Smacks - became Honey Smacks. > [@BrickBat](#): > > One of the more annoying traits of some of my older friends ( early to mid 70s ) is their enthusiastic pining for the low prices of the time of their youth…while studiously ignoring their lower incomes of the time. I’ve heard that as an aphorism > [@](#): > > Nostalgia is the ability to remember yesterday’s prices while forgetting yesterday’s wages. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/36 "2023-08-05T19:19:31Z")
Almost all beer was American Pilsner. 🤮 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/37 "2023-08-05T19:28:27Z")
But Hamms had those really cool blown plastic backlit bar signs with the apparently moving falling water. 1960s illusionary magic > Hamms: From the land of sky-blue waters. I can still hear the happy upbeat music despite being about 10 and years short of my first beer when the ads were pulled from TV. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/38 "2023-08-05T19:51:09Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I can still hear the happy upbeat music Ah, the Hamm’s bear! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8njwKklop_w/hqdefault.jpg "Hamm's Beer Commercial Land of Sky Blue Waters 1979") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8njwKklop_w) ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/39 "2023-08-05T22:31:55Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Good Girls Didn’t. If a girl got pregnant, she must have failed in her duty to slap the guy’s face and say “How dare you?” If her family had any money she could “visit relatives” for a few months. Reputation preserved, problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/40 "2023-08-06T00:23:12Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I don’t think you could smoke in movie theaters. I birthed my daughter in the mid '70s, I was on a ward with five other women and I was the only one who didn’t smoke and the only one breastfeeding. They kept me there three days and I thought I was gonna die. There was no such thing as a non-smoking room unless you could afford a private room and I had to threaten the nurses with a lawsuit if they gave my daughter a bottle at night because they didn’t want to bring her to me for feeding–but they had NO problem lovingly telling me about how she was crying herself sick in the nursery. The Good Old Days can suck a fat one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062.md?page=3)