ANY REALLY "YOUNG" FOLKS THAT REMEMBER THE SIXTIES AND FIFTIES?

[chickisoup]

Hi everyone!

I posted this story on another "old folks" thread and no one seemed to even know what I was talking about so I thought I would try again since it is about the season and just might kick up a fun conversation. Here goes.

Anyone remember those awful Christmas trees of the 60's?

My mom had to have every one and I HATED them!
First came the aluminum ones that you couldn't put lights on so you had to shine a floodlight on it and of course you had to have the thing with rotating 3 colored cellophane disks so it changed color like a stoplight. The thing looked to me like a giant tv antenna gone berserk!　
Next came the real trees that had been "flocked". Remember those? They had been sprayed so heavily with some sort of foam you could barely tell there was a tree under there! When you tried to decorate one the foam would either fall off or stick to everything. Oh, and of course, my oh so traditional mother just HAD to have a pink one! Nothing said Christmas like this thing that looked like a huge lump of cotton candy standing in the corner smelling like a vinyl car seat!

Ok, who's next?

 

[sourland]

Heck, I can take you back to the 40's. Our Christmas trees were wild cut red cedars. Lights were those big multi color jobbies. Decorations were colored paper loops made into chains and popcorn and fresh cranberry strings - had to be careful not to poke yourself with the needle when stringing the popcorn and cranberries. We never had the rotating colored disc, but one of our neighbors did. Hey, we had the first television in our little town. Why us? Haven't a clue, but all of the kids would be at our house watching TV, and I would be up on the mountain doing good stuff. Anyone else here who used to listen to Amos and Andy on the radio?

 

[gander007]

Yes as it was the mid sixties before we got a T.V and it was because
a new show was coming on and my dad wanted to see it the name
of the show was Star Track ah most people never heard of it ...
trees we always had to cut our own but yes I do remember the
aluminum and the pink and the frosted snow white ones that all
made a mess the huge lights that had to be taken out of the huge
boxes every year and untangled and hung all over the house and
yard art and the towns and cities would decorate all the light poles
and the stores were the place to go .... how did that go those were
the days ....


gander007

 

[chickisoup]

I remember those huge bulbs too and how hot those things could get ! The first tv show I remember is Gunsmoke. My dad bought one of those things you put over the screen that was supposed to make it look like it was in color. It was green across the bottom, kind of pinkish across the middle and blue on the top. The first time ol Hoss and Little Jo went riding up the hill and turned from green to pink to blue me and my brothers laughed so hard my dad got mad and took it off!

 

[drumstick diva]

I remember our little Philco tv in the early 50's. We used to watch Lassie & Rin Tin Tin, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, and Smiley Burnett used to play John Sheldon - joined by Rext he Wonder Horse. Also drank lots of Ovaltine to get a secret decoder ring from Ovaltine. My parents also said I could have a dog if I won the contest to name Lassies puppies - kinda weird since Lassie on tv was a boy. Of course never won.

We also watched Amos N' Andy on TV, Garfield Goose, Ding Dong School, Two Ton Baker, Uncle Johnny Coons , Super Circus, Flash Gordon, Sky King, etc.. Broadcasting went off early at night and the screen would just show a test pattern. We also listened to the radio for the Xmas series The Cinnamon Bear, Most of the shows I guess were just local telecasts so I don't imagine anyone else has heard of them.

I remember race horses, Nashua & Swaps.

 

[sourland]

Swaps - whatta horse.

 

[chickisoup]

Wow! You are right, I don't recognize some of the shows but then we were one of the last to get a tv and I really don't remember listening to the radio. You have an amazing memory!!! Like you mentioned on another thread, I remember the air raid drills but mostly we had tornado drills because of where we lived.

I remember the door to door sales men trying to sell all those bomb shelters. Had to laugh when I saw that very same design, the one made out of fiberglass that looks like a giant ping pong ball, being sold by a company in town but now they are selling them as storm/root cellars.

We lived in Michigan when I was growing up in a small town a ways north between flint and Detroit. I actually worked as a rollerskating carhop! My brothers were older than me and were into drag racing at the track in Detroit and souped up street rods. My oldest brother's 57 Chevy was the envy of every guy in town. The house was always full of guys covered in grease and to me they all were so cool!

 

[sourland]

'Air raid drills' - scared the crap out of this little kid. I was preparing for the END.

 

[memphis]

We always had a fresh tree strung with those huge multi colored lights, ornaments & tinsel. It sure made the house smell good! My aunt had one of the silver trees with the colored wheel. Never had seen one before & was facinated! Remember my Mon wouldn't miss Perry Mason. I used to sneak into the "den" at night & watch Johnny Carson with dad.

 

[sourland]

Tinsel - our tree always had tinsel. We had to put it on 1 strand at a time. If you put it on in clumps, you got in trouble. My evil sister would grab mine away and throw it on the tree. Then she would call our mother and say, "He's just throwing it on the tree."

Real tinsel was very pretty - hated the plastic stuff.