# Things that make me think I'm getting old



## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Things have changed a lot since I was a kid, enough to make me think I really am getting old.

1. I didn't watch TV when I was a kid. It didn't exist then.

2. My sister, who's a year younger than me, is a great-grandmother now.

3. The baseball cards that my mother threw out after I grew up, would be worth a fortune on eBay today. And you couldn't just buy packs of them - you got then one card at a time with a piece of bubble gum.

4. None of the fast food chains existed when I was a kid except for Krystal, and their tasty little hamburgers were only 5¢. To add insult to injury, they just closed the Krystal in our town.

5. I haven't seen a soda fountain in years. Many years. What happened to Coke floats and lime rickeys?

6. When I was a kid, only blockbuster movies were made in color. I remember when Ciinerama was the hot new thing in movies.

7. If I mention Buddy Holly to young people, they have no clue.

8. For what I paid for two scoops of ice cream at Bruster's yesterday, I could have bought out a supermarket when I was a kid. But I have to say that the butter pecan was fabulous.

9. My body makes a lot of noises that it didn't make when I was younger. This isn't a good thing, especially when my doctor reminds me that I could donate my body to science. I assume she means after I'm dead.

There were some more things I was going to add, but I forgot what they were. Maybe some of my fellow oldtimers can remember.


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I think you covered the field pretty well Jim, except for the "funny papers."


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

tsilver said:


> I think you covered the field pretty well Jim, except for the "funny papers."


Well, newspapers still have the funny papers, but they weren't in color back then. And we didn't have "Peanuts" until the late 1950s.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Mom & Dad can still remember exactly where they were, and what they were doing when MLKing & JFK were killed. 

Also they remember the time before the "Space race".

I grew up living in the same home as my great grandmother who lived to 97, and she moved to California in a covered wagon, and saw man walk on the moon. I always think of her when I think about the changes of the world in the last 100 years.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

My grandparents were all born before the Great War.  My paternal grandfather was born in 1902.   I often think back to what the world was like when they were born as well as what it was back when they were my age now ... and from there I compare the world at 1966 when I was born and now at 45 to imagine what it will be 45 years from now when I hit my 90's .....


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

I'm of the next generation (I know who Buddy Holly is--thanks to my dad!), but I'm starting to feel old just seeing how things have changed since I was a kid (heck, just in the time since my kids were born!).

Today I saw an episode of _Psyche_ with Judd Nelson playing a middle-aged, goofy and serious scientist.

In my head, he's still the rebel from _The Breakfast Club_. But the screen shows that he's aging. I felt rather old!


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Jim, I can identify with several of the things that you mentioned. We had a tv when I was little (b&w), and I loved to watch Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, and Ding Dong School. I remember when the first Sputnik went into space, and I remember Buddy Holly. The only fast food was McDonald's, and there were very few around, with none being at all close to where I grew up.

I also remember wanting to turn 12 so that I could pay a quarter to get into the movies. I also remember only seeing movies once until they finally showed up on tv, and that was many years later. 

Here are some more that I remember:
1. Drive-in movies
2. Seven-Up candy bars
3. Only diet pop was Tab.....Yuck! (We didn't know what butter and other foodstuffs could do to our bodies, 
though, so who cared?)
4. Milk came in bottles with a layer of cream at the top, and the milk was left in insulated milk coolers on the front porch.
5. A computer was the size of a room.
6. The only way to make a call was to tell the operator the number that we wanted to call. (Do the words "Number, please" ring a bell with anyone?)
7. All of the major players on "Bonanza" were still alive. (My first boyfriend looked a lot like Michael Landon.)
8. Superman, Batman and Robin, and Archie and Veronica were my favorite comic book characters.
9. The Ed Sullivan Show was on every Sunday evening.
10. My parents were born in 1911 and 1913. (They were really old when I was born. LOL)


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Those are super replies!

I just realized that all four of my grandparents were alive when the Battle of the Little Bighorn (aka Custer's Last Stand) was fought (1876).


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

If you all want to feel old, look at Shirley Temple movies and then a picture of her today.


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## lisarusczyk (Jan 16, 2011)

Nothing makes me feel older than my stepsons and their sayings and tastes in TV and movies. I feel so out of touch.


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

Conversations that start with me saying "when I was in college," and my cow orker replying, "I wasn't born yet," or worse, "Yeah, my mother told me about doing that."


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## Marguerite (Jan 18, 2009)

I was talking to some people the other day and I told them that I didn't have a computer until after college.  That only the computer science kids had them.  They were astounded.  Then we talked about my first "car phone".  It was attached to the car and couldn't be removed from the company car.  They really laughed when they heard that in 1986, my company gave me a little tone maker to call in my numbers because a great many pay phones were still rotary dialed.  We were still reeling that the cost of a local call had jumped from $0.10 to $0.25 2 years before.  They all laughed and said that they were born between 1984 and 1986.  Ouch.  Now I feel old!


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

I'm in my late 30's and going back to college. I'm amazed by all these kids who don't pay any attention to where they're going and are both texting and listening to their Ipods, but manage to avoid running into people. I keep wanting to know who the heck they're talking to and why is it so important. When I was in high school, beepers were all the rage and I still wonder why anyone who wasn't working needed those. 

I had a great grandfather who was old enough to have fought in the US-Mexico War during Polk's administration, and I think this same great grandfather also was from Hannibal, MO around the same time as Sam Clemens....


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

Now you're making ME feel old ... I hung out with the computer science kids in my college, and they didn't have their own computers ... we all banged around on an old Xerox Sigma-9 mainframe ... with dial up 300 baud acoustic coupler modems. 

Heck, these young whippersnappers don't even know what an acoustic coupler is! (and yes, we sometimes rotary dialed the phone)


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I'm so old that...

- I remember JFK's assassination very well
- I remember penny candy (jawbreakers!)
- I used to use a switchboard like Ernestine used (and I remember Ernestine - and William Fbuckley and Mr. Vee-dal)
- I used to work at a soda fountain - if someone wanted a Coke, we had to mix the syrup with water
- Movies were .35 for a matinee - and included candy; at night it cost a whole dollar
- When we were sick the doctor came to the house
- We had a party line and couldn't make a phone call until the other people hung up
- Long distance calls were so expensive you only called at night and you talked very fast
- I remember having to actually get up to change the TV channel (but then, there were only three channels)

Ladies - remember what we had to wear every month?!?


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> Mom & Dad can still remember exactly where they were, and what they were doing when MLKing & JFK were killed.
> 
> Also they remember the time before the "Space race".
> 
> I grew up living in the same home as my great grandmother who lived to 97, and she moved to California in a covered wagon, and saw man walk on the moon. I always think of her when I think about the changes of the world in the last 100 years.


Boy, do I feel old, as I vividly remember where I was when JFK was shot (8th grade music class), as well as when Robert Kennedy and MLK were shot.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I suddenly feel so young. 


I'm on the road with 2 30yo guys and a 25yo guy - all single, no kids.  They knew I was older than them, but tonight when I told them I was 45 they made me show them my passport to prove it.  They thought I was older like 32-34 ....


  Ta-Dah!


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

I am 284 (in "cat years")  Gasp !!


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

Geoffrey said:


> I'm on the road with 2 30yo guys and a 25yo guy - all single, no kids. They knew I was older than them, but tonight when I told them I was 45 they made me show them my passport to prove it. They thought I was older like 32-34 ....


That's awesome! You must have good genes. I turn 50 in 1.5 months, and it hurts. Literally.  But I still look young(er), thankfully. No spider veins, wrinkles only show when I laugh. If I keep my hair colored, I can pass for late 30s/early 40s.

I remember when a handheld electronic calculator cost $300 and only did add, subtract, multiply and divide. And when you divided by zero, it would flip out.

I play World of Warcraft, and I'm the same age as some of my guildies' parents. Sometimes older.  Thankfully a couple of guildies are older than I am.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Whenever you are sure that you've contracted some horrible disease and you rush off to see your doctor and your doctor starts saying "You know, Mr. Carroll, as our bodies start to age..."


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## ReaderK (Jan 5, 2011)

Cliff Ball said:


> I'm in my late 30's and going back to college.


 //sympathetic hug & kudos!!

I went back to school in my late 30's and got my degree almost 20 years - to the day - when I received my High School Graduation. It was the best thing I've ever done - and I promise you that you will not regret it. I'm in my 40's now and thinking of returning for my Masters - education seems to be like labor...after a few years you forget how much it hurt and are willing to do it again! LOL

My fiancee has a 16 year old who doesn't get to spend a lot of time with us, but we try to have meaningful conversation when he's around. It's hard to grasp that he doesn't remember a time where there weren't computers in every house, the space shuttle disaster happened long before his birth, and the Vietnam War is to him what WWII is to me (I was born in the late 1960's). He has no clue what "Helter Skelter" means, Disco was some strange dance thing that people did in the 70's, he gives me a blank stare when I ask him if he knows what "Watergate" is, and he's always had to keep the doors locked in his house. "Pensions" are a foreign concept to him, as is staying at a job for more than 18 months. For him, government has always been influenced by lobbyists and corporations, and guys have always worn eyeliner (ugh...don't ask...). He's always had metal detectors or law enforcement on his school premises. Movies have never cost under $5, even for a matinee. He's never even seen a pushbutton telephone or a corded telephone, much less a rotary one! VCR's are dinosaur technology to him (heh...can you guys say Betamax?). If we ever lost the remote, he'd never realize that you can manually change the channel - and he's never been without cable (never mind UHF channels).

It is very sobering to see the world from his perspective, but on the other hand, he also grew up in a world of plenty - he's never had to deal with gas/food shortages, never had to worry about being bored due to the plethora of entertainment, and has always had alarm systems built into the house to give him a sense of security. I dunno...there are many things I would love to return to in my youth - but there are some good things that come with time. Who would have thought 40 years ago, that you could connect to so many people and learn so much just by connecting to this silly thing called the Internet?


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## Martel47 (Jun 14, 2010)

4Katie said:


> I'm so old that...
> 
> - Movies were .35 for a matinee - and included candy; at night it cost a whole dollar...
> - I remember having to actually get up to change the TV channel (but then, there were only three channels)


I'm not _that_ old, but I used to work at movie theaters, and when I started the evening price was less than current matinee prices. I think matinee was $4.25 and evening was $5. When I was a kid, I wanted a remote control, but I was dad's remote. He'd have me get up to change the channel for him!

I also remember when managers and supervisory staff were lucky to earn the current minimum wage.


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## Tatiana (Aug 20, 2010)

Cindy416 said:


> Boy, do I feel old, as I vividly remember where I was when JFK was shot (8th grade music class), as well as when Robert Kennedy and MLK were shot.


So do I, now I feel old also!


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I know I'm getting old, because there have been a number of occasions over the last couple of years where I've realized some story I'm relating to family/friends is one I've told them before. (Fortunately, most of the time they're as old or older than I am, so they don't remark on it, either due to not remembering it, or out of courtesy for the fact that I've listened to repeat stores from them.)


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

Last December 8th my cow orkers and I were chatting about how we couldn't believe it had been thirty years ... the parttime girl in her mid-twenties had no idea what had happened. At least we didn't have to explain The Beatles before we could tell the rest of the story.

(yes, the vaugeness is intentional, trying to see who I can catch out for not being old enough ...)


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

ReaderK said:


> //sympathetic hug & kudos!!
> 
> I went back to school in my late 30's and got my degree almost 20 years - to the day - when I received my High School Graduation. It was the best thing I've ever done - and I promise you that you will not regret it. I'm in my 40's now and thinking of returning for my Masters - education seems to be like labor...after a few years you forget how much it hurt and are willing to do it again! LOL
> 
> ...


Actually, I spent the last 6 years going for my first BA, then the economy tanked right as I was graduating(after I had lost my job due to budget cuts), so now I'm back in going for a 2nd BA so I can hopefully bring my GPA up enough to pursue an MA in Technical Writing. I did go to school every two years after high school, but didn't get serious about it until 7 years ago. I feel like I've been in school forever!

Since I'm technically one of those people who could go to College/Career class at church, I feel way too old to be hanging around a bunch of kids, er 20 year olds, since I'm practically old enough to be their parents, at least if they're under 20. But, I also feel too young to be in the singles class, which is filled with people my parents' age. I can't relate to either group 

At the moment, I'm glad I have no kids, because it must be a pain raising kids with all of this technology. How would you ground them when their rooms have a computer, cell phone, video game system, etc?


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## cmg.sweet (Jul 6, 2010)

stormhawk said:


> Last December 8th my cow orkers and I were chatting about how we couldn't believe it had been thirty years ... the parttime girl in her mid-twenties had no idea what had happened. At least we didn't have to explain The Beatles before we could tell the rest of the story.
> 
> (yes, the vaugeness is intentional, trying to see who I can catch out for not being old enough ...)


I'm not old enough, but I did get a little teary eyed while standing in a certain memorial location in Central Park last May.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Buddy Holly? What about Sonny James or Bill Haley?


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## cc84 (Aug 6, 2010)

I like this thread. I'm 26 so i guess i'm someone that might make some of you feel old, but i actually think i was born in the wrong era. I dislike much of the modern world. I hate the music, the attitudes of a lot of young people. I think been born in the 50's or 60's would have been better for me, i could have been around when the great music was here, the great film stars, when everything was just better in my eyes. I like listening to how things used to be.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I remember getting our family's first television (it only arrived in New Zealand in 1960, and reception didn't reach our small town for some years after that).

I remember getting our family's first washing machine.

Manual telephone exchange, with operator saying, "Number please".

We used slide rules in our High School maths classes.

"Party lines" on the phone. My then-boyfriend (now husband) was on one with about a dozen households, and we must've driven them up the wall (we were also very aware that people could easily listen in).

No one had computers, not even businesses (*possibly* one or two corporate headquarters/govt depts). Bank balances were updated by hand in our funny little cardboard bankbooks. No credit cards or EFT-POS. Withdrawing money if you were away from home was a Big Deal.

Long-distance phone calls were really expensive.

When a new movie arrived at the local cinema, queues would often stretch around two corners of the block.

All my university essays were handwritten (my handwriting must've been a lot more legible then).


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## caracara (May 23, 2010)

Cliff Ball said:


> At the moment, I'm glad I have no kids, because it must be a pain raising kids with all of this technology. How would you ground them when their rooms have a computer, cell phone, video game system, etc?


It's not that hard. No tv in their room, no computer in their room, and take their phone. Trust me, it works. I just recently got a laptop so my room was pretty anti-technology. And it is possible to live without cable, my parents still refuse to get it. The great thing is my parents can never take my books, I have too many, plus I need my Kindle for school reading.

The annoying thing now is that public school teachers seem to think every student has access to internet and printer... *shakes head*


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

DH and I had to explain to a friend of mine who James Dean was (I'm 30 and he's 37.  My friend is maybe 20)


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

> We used slide rules in our High School maths classes.


DH still has his slide rule. The kids think it's hysterical.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

4Katie said:


> DH still has his slide rule. The kids think it's hysterical.


We have a couple of them around our house, too. I remember buying my DH a hand-held calculator for a graduation present (accounting degree) in 1973, and the darned thing cost close to $100! Now, you can buy one for a dollar.


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

Sometimes I fall asleep in the middle of wr,mb tiah; zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Cindy416 said:


> We have a couple of them around our house, too. I remember buying my DH a hand-held calculator for a graduation present (accounting degree) in 1973, and the darned thing cost close to $100! Now, you can buy one for a dollar.


My college roommate's calculator, bought in '75 I think, cost him about $140, I think, though it had a few bells and whistles on it for people like him in an engineering field.

PS: Last time I used a slide rule was probably senior year of high school class of '74. The math department had one desktop calculator at that time, which we thought was quite amazing. (I'm not sure if it even did square roots or not.)


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

What a trip back in time this is! I remember all those things. Perhaps what makes me feel old is that all my doctors are now young enough to be my children, maybe even grandchildren. I grew up thinking doctors were friendly old men with gray hair. Not true anymore. Now I'm the one with the gray hair. Sobering.

Joyce


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Joyce DeBacco said:


> What a trip back in time this is! I remember all those things. Perhaps what makes me feel old is that all my doctors are now young enough to be my children, maybe even grandchildren. I grew up thinking doctors were friendly old men with gray hair. Not true anymore. Now I'm the one with the gray hair. Sobering.
> 
> Joyce


I used to like the idea of a doctor being older than me, presumably making him wiser. Now I want a doctor who is younger than me, making him closer to his med school days and more likely to be up to date on all the latest medical advances.


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## mamiller (Apr 28, 2009)

I went to pick my nieces up from school (ages 8 and 10).  In order to do so I needed 

a.) photo ID 
b.) A special pass that contains a number of which my nieces bear the same pass and number 
c.) had to wait an hour as they dismiss children by that pass number and then check my ID and pass.

I agree we need to protect our children, but gosh a lot has changed since the bell used to ring and I ran all the way home.


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

Stray hairs growing on my chin


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Joyce DeBacco said:


> What a trip back in time this is! I remember all those things. Perhaps what makes me feel old is that all my doctors are now young enough to be my children, maybe even grandchildren. I grew up thinking doctors were friendly old men with gray hair. Not true anymore. Now I'm the one with the gray hair. Sobering.
> 
> Joyce


That reminds me of the late, great Erma Bombeck who said it was her policy to NEVER go to a gynecologist who was younger than her cookie sheets. I loved it then and I love it now!


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

I remembered when in the late 1970s the Georgia Tech bookstore stopped selling sliderules. Pocket calculators were so cheap by then that everyone used them.

I still have my K&E laminated non-hygroscopic bamboo sliderule. And I remember how to use it.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Being (at the time) a Nuclear Researcher (kinda) my sliderule was magnesium so that it would never warp and be even temporarily inaccurate.


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

When I look in the mirror, I'm looking good again which means my eyes have gotten worse


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## MartyS (Feb 3, 2011)

stormhawk said:


> Last December 8th my cow orkers and I were chatting about how we couldn't believe it had been thirty years ... the parttime girl in her mid-twenties had no idea what had happened. At least we didn't have to explain The Beatles before we could tell the rest of the story.
> 
> (yes, the vaugeness is intentional, trying to see who I can catch out for not being old enough ...)


Wow, hard to believe it's been that long, I can remember that like it was yesterday, watching Monday Night Football...


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I've read that your nose and ears continue growing even when you're an adult.  I looked in the mirror today and darn it--it's true, it's true.


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

I had to explain Romper Room to a 20-something last week. 

Including the Magic Mirror. 

She did briefly claim that she knew who Captain Kangaroo was, until we challenged her to name his best friend.

Then the three actual adults in the room broke into song ... the theme of a local kid's show ... "I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing along with me ..."

She thinks we're all mad.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

_On weekday mornings, three now legendary TV shows were aimed at preschoolers: Romper Room, Ding Dong School, and Captain Kangaroo. Romper Room and Ding Dong School were similar shows where the hostesses, "Miss Nancy" and "Miss Frances," respectively, led their group of toddlers in games, exercises, and songs. Captain Kangaroo, featuring Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Green Jeans, and a cast of zany regulars, first aired in 1955 and became one of the longest-running shows in TV history. Only Sesame Street, which premiered in 1969, ran for a longer time._


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

JimC1946 said:


> _On weekday mornings, three now legendary TV shows were aimed at preschoolers: Romper Room, Ding Dong School, and Captain Kangaroo. Romper Room and Ding Dong School were similar shows where the hostesses, "Miss Nancy" and "Miss Frances," respectively, led their group of toddlers in games, exercises, and songs. Captain Kangaroo, featuring Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Green Jeans, and a cast of zany regulars, first aired in 1955 and became one of the longest-running shows in TV history. Only Sesame Street, which premiered in 1969, ran for a longer time._


Ahhhh, the memories, especially of Miss Frances looking into her mirror (frame) and saying, "I see Jimmy, and I see Cindy....."


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

I'll bet you didn't know that Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show was originally played by Bob Keeshan, who eventually left the show and became Captain Kangaroo.

You need to read my book!


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

JimC1946 said:


> I'll bet you didn't know that Clarabell the Clown on the Howdy Doody Show was originally played by Bob Keeshan, who eventually left the show and became Captain Kangaroo.
> 
> You need to read my book!


I guess I DO need to read your book. I'll check into it.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

I love reading this thread and knowing there are people as old as I am out there.  JFK was killed on my 13th birthday.

Jim, one of the best things about the baseball card was the gum.  In a sheet.  Tasted fantastic.

My mother would send my brother and me out the door on weekends virtually saying "only come home if you're bleeding".  She had no clue where we were.

I feel old when I read People magazine and get through it in 5 minutes because all I can think is "who are these people"?

I remember Roy Rogers, Crusader Rabbit, Sky King, Fury, and Saturday baseball when there was only one tv camera behind home plate.  "Fans, that ball was tagged".

A friend of mine does transcription of medical records.  She sent me this line from a transcription.  Fits me to a T.

""Well-nourished, pleasantly confused white female in no acute distress."  Another favorite of hers is: "elderly 53-year-old female".....

Age Rules!


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

spotsmom said:


> ... and Saturday baseball when there was only one tv camera behind home plate. "Fans, that ball was tagged".


That sounds like Dizzy Dean!


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

JimC1946 said:


> That sounds like Dizzy Dean!


I went to a '68 series game, Willie Horton knocking mud off his cleats.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

I miss Patsy Cline.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Philip Chen said:


> I miss Patsy Cline.


You and millions of other fans. My wife and I saw the show "Always...Patsy Cline" on stage a few years ago. It was super.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

JimC1946 said:


> You and millions of other fans. My wife and I saw the show "Always...Patsy Cline" on stage a few years ago. It was super.


I saw that in a dinner theater a few years ago, and the music teacher at my school had the lead. She has a wonderful voice, and did a great job. My kids will probably have "Crazy" played at my funeral since it's one of my favorite songs to listen to, play, and sing. (The fact that it the title might be fitting is inescapable.)

Love the reference to Sky King, too. I watched that nearly every Saturday morning when I was a kid. It was on at 11, and I thought Penny had a wonderful life with her uncle Sky.


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

I loved Captain Kangaroo, and I did know (thanks to my Mom) that he was the original Clarabell.  Because she would tell us things over and over (and over), it stuck and we remembered things.  I loved the rabbit, but I was pretty little then so I just remember the little glasses-- I've worn glasses since I was two, and he was the only character around at that time that wore glasses.  That includes Sesame Street-- no kids or critters wore glasses.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I loved Hoot Gibson and Hopalong Cassidy on saturday am.
then the TV went to a test screen until the evening.
On the weekend watched the BigTop with Mary Hartline, America's Sweetheart.


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

Cindy416 said:


> I saw that in a dinner theater a few years ago, and the music teacher at my school had the lead. She has a wonderful voice, and did a great job. My kids will probably have "Crazy" played at my funeral since it's one of my favorite songs to listen to, play, and sing. (The fact that it the title might be fitting is inescapable.)
> 
> Love the reference to Sky King, too. I watched that nearly every Saturday morning when I was a kid. It was on at 11, and I thought Penny had a wonderful life with her uncle Sky.


Her life was cut short like too many of our great singers of that age in a plane crash: Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper...






Quiz: who was the singer who was supposed to be on that plane, but gave up his seat for the Big Bopper?


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

Philip Chen said:


> Quiz: who was the singer who was supposed to be on that plane, but gave up his seat for the Big Bopper?


Waylon Jennings.

We could do a great 1950s-1960s trivia thread!


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Jim!!  It was Dizzy Dean!!!!  Good memory (for an old fart)!


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

spotsmom said:


> I love reading this thread and knowing there are people as old as I am out there.
> 
> "...I remember...Sky King..."


OOoooo OOOoooooo I loved SKY KING.....


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## Ruth Harris (Dec 26, 2010)

I remember when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
I remember pin curls and garter belts.
I remember zombie movies Dad showed on our home projector.
I remember home-grown tomatoes.
I remember gas station attendants.
I remember when white was the only color permitted on tennis courts.
I remember home perms and the ad "Which twin has the Toni?"
I remember chlorophyll toothpaste.
I remember the Stork Club and El Morocco.
I remember Bonwit Teller and B. Altman.

I remember lots but I can't remember what I had for dinner last night...;-)


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I remember when "damn" was the worse thing you could say in a movie.  Now anything goes.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

Penny to Songbird, Penny to Songbird!


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

Thinking about things of the past is a history. "Forever young" should be the attitude.
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Wish you all the very best.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Kate Smith singing.
And the Paul Whiteman band.


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## Michael Harris (Jan 1, 2011)

What makes me feel old is when people find out I worked on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and met the Beatles at the airport on their first trip to the United States, they say to me, "Really?  I wasn't even born then."

I guess I'll really BE old when say, "Who are the Beatles?"


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## Philip Chen (Aug 8, 2010)

Michael Harris said:


> What makes me feel old is when people find out I worked on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and met the Beatles at the airport on their first trip to the United States, they say to me, "Really? I wasn't even born then."
> 
> I guess I'll really BE old when say, "Who are the Beatles?"


Wow, what a great thing to have in your background. My biggest brush with fame was getting to dance with Annette Funicello on the Milt Grant Sock Hop. I wonder if she remembers.


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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Oh wow.  People who have actually met the Beatles (my dream) and danced with Annette (my husband's dream).  I did get to meet Peter & Gordon and Tom Jones.  Does that count?


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

spotsmom said:


> Oh wow. People who have actually met the Beatles (my dream) and danced with Annette (my husband's dream). I did get to meet Peter & Gordon and Tom Jones. Does that count?


Meeting Tom Jones would count with me, as he's my all-time favorite singer. (Don't get me wrong. I loved the Beatles and other groups of the '50's, '60's, and '70's, but one as much as Tom Jones.)


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I got to see the Four Lads in a cabaret venue, so we got to meet them.
Yeah I know - big whooop.


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## Michael Harris (Jan 1, 2011)

> Wow, what a great thing to have in your background. My biggest brush with fame was getting to dance with Annette Funicello on the Milt Grant Sock Hop. I wonder if she remembers.





> Insert Quote
> Oh wow. People who have actually met the Beatles (my dream) and danced with Annette (my husband's dream). I did get to meet Peter & Gordon and Tom Jones. Does that count?


@Philip
@spotsmom
Annette Funicello! Peter & Gordon! Tom Jones! All of that counts! I don't know whether that makes me young or old, but I never met any of them. But I do know that two weeks before the Beatles arrived, I called reporters to ask them to join me at the airport and all of them said no. The day before they arrived, Beatlemania crossed the Atlantic and they pleaded with me to come. I said yes of course. I don't know if that makes me young or old, but saying anything else would have been stupid!


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

Michael Harris said:


> I guess I'll really BE old when say, "Who are the Beatles?"


I won't date anyone who can't name all of them. Plus the two extras ...


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## julieannfelicity (Jun 28, 2010)

kcmay said:


> That's awesome! You must have good genes. I turn 50 in 1.5 months, and it hurts. Literally.  But I still look young(er), thankfully. No spider veins, wrinkles only show when I laugh. If I keep my hair colored, I can pass for late 30s/early 40s.


OMG KC, I thought you were my age (29)!

I remember Buddy Holly, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire (and not just because of the Madonna song), Jeanne Crain, Bozo the Clown, and the Mickey Mouse club with Fred and Annette.

Why? Because my adopted father was born in 1929 and made me watch classic movies, read older books, and listen to older music.  (AND he was on the Bozo show as 'Clank the Robot' and 'General Funn') And I'm so thankful he did. I wanted to be Ginger Rogers so bad! I remember when she died, I cried and missed school. I was in 8th grade.


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

I know I'm really old when I try to cut my toenails.


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