As I was 'cruising' up
and down the aisles of an upcoming auction I noticed a trend. Sure,
there were the old items, the ones you would expect to see at an
'antique' auction. But there were items that I remembered as a kid,
items not dating back to the later 1800's and early 1900's, but
instead, the 1950's and 60's . I hope that doesn't make me an antique
too. But I was surprised by how vivid and sometimes funny some of the
memories were as I looked over a few of the items that would be up
for sale.
For example, there was
a small Motorola record player, the one with the special attachment
that was designed to play 45 rpm records, the hits of the day. I was
not the first in the neighborhood to have one, but I remember I was
pretty excited when I got one for my birthday.
The case was brown
leather and was special because, not only could it play 45s, it had
a little switch that allowed it to play 33's, 45s and 78s. To this
day, I still don't understand why there were so many different speeds. But it
was fun to play the 33s at the 78 speed.
I can still hear
mother with her words of warning. “You're going to break it,” she
would say. But it didn't break and the record player lasted for a
few years. Eventually, I stepped up to the 'stereo system',
with detachable speakers and all kinds of wires and its ugly white
imitation leather case. Who owns a white stereo? I guess I did!
But in today's music world,
it's one size fits all, the CD, and even that is being replaced by
downloads from “the cloud” to your telephone. Who knew back then you would be listening to music on a telephone, a phone small enough you carried it in your pocket.
Sticking with the music
theme for a moment, I remember the first car we had with a radio that
was 'factory installed'. Not all cars came with radios. It was a
special add-on, just like the automatic transmission. And the car...
a 1955 Plymouth station wagon, two tone color, white top and a
'sickly' green body and special bright shinny hub caps. What's a hub
cap you might ask? (I think I remember the car having some kind of
fins on it too. Looking back at pictures of the 1955 cars, they were
really ugly!)
A few aisles over from
the record player was a stack of games. Old games have become popular
items these day, especially if they are in the original boxes and in
good condition. One of the games in the pile was an early version of
a game called “Operation” It may have been one of the first early
battery operated games but from the looks and condition of the game
and box, someone may have forgotten to change or remove the
batteries. Corrosion!
I don't remember too
much about how the game was played and I wasn't sure if the contents in
the box was complete, with all the cards, etc, but I
wonder how many doctors today got their inspiration by playing
“Operation” at the kitchen table, grossing out their younger
brothers and sisters. And don't we still have a form of the game 'in
play' today? I think it's called Medicare!
Prompting a childhood
memory and still somewhat medically related.. I received a recent post to
my Facebook page.....Share If You Remember This....”Mercurochrome”.
Mercurochrome was a medicine cabinet requirement of all parents for
cuts and other injuries and when applied to a cut, “it burned like
hell'.
Mercurochrome had other
popular uses at the time as well. Being red in color, we used it as war paint,
painting our faces when playing cowboys and Indians, a game now
consider politically incorrect, but not by everyone!
I don't think you can
buy Mercurochrome anymore, can you? And wasn't there something else
called Merthiolate, that, when applied, caused similar pain, it not
worse? And it took days and a great deal of scrubbing to wash off.
Several weeks ago we
purchased a box containing an old Girl Scout and Brownie outfit, with
all the trimming, the buttons and pins, the hat and beanie. Judging
by the age of the dresses, I would suspect that ...yes...today, the
original owners of these dresses were probably pretty old, too old to
be scouts.
There was a time when
scouting was a very popular activity for both boys and girls. It was
a legitimate way to dress up in some type of uniform, memorize the
Pledge of Alliance to the flag, sing “God Bless America” way out
of tune, learn the skills for surviving on your own in the woods if
you got lost and become a expert in sales, marketing and fund
raising by selling pop corn or cookies.
Whether it was Cub
Scouts or Boy Scouts, Brownies or Girl Scouts, many of us joined.
Even some of the 'cool' kids joined and we hoped their mother or
father would pick us up and take us to the meeting so we could ride in their fancy new
cars. Those kids always brought the best snacks to the meetings too and besides, it wasn't about going to a meeting, it was about getting out of the house for a while.
(An aha moment here!
The Girls Scout leaders in our town were always the young, good looking moms. I think I just figured out why, on the camping trips, the boys
campsites and girls campsites were only a 'stones throw' from each
other. Gives new meaning to the term 'naughty' to troop leader'.)
It is a bit strange
what, where or when something will trigger one of those glorious or
embarrassing memories about growing up. There are some we
would like to forget and hope never to remember, like the swirly in the boys room for example (not me, of course), but looking back there are some
that were quite humorous and can, even today, bring the hint
of a smile or chuckle when we might least expect it.
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