Things Forgotten

Here's two and a half that I haven't thought of for years.
 
Elevator operators.  When I was a kid, all the buildings had an elevator operator that sat on a little stool in the corner, had a long cane-like thing, and a special droning announcement voice. He operated that little fence he closed each time everyone packed in and then opened it at the floor. In the older buildings, he had a lever that he actually "drove" the elevator and had to raise and lower the compartment to match the entrance. You actually saw the doors go by with big numbers on them. They didn't always match up the compartments, so they always would drone. "watch your step". In the department stores, they not only called the floor, they announced the departments on the floor. Newer buildings with the push buttons like we have today still had the operators. I guess they figured we were too stupid to push the button for the floor we wanted so they had someone sitting on a dunce chair in the corner doing the same thing with their long cane to block your passage until all was clear.
 
Then there was this prissy guy that walked around like he had a really tight underwear. They ranged from really stuck up jerks to very effeminate. The only person walking around in a three piece suit on the floor seemingly doing nothing. I don't think there are any Floorwalkers around anymore. Most places don't give a flying rip how you're shopping experience was. Now they have folks dressed in regular clothes usually eating or drinking something pretending to be customers spying on you. We've gone from making sure you were a happy customer to making sure you're not a thief. They actually had these people at one time who were usually off-duty police officers called Store Detectives. They only handled the clean-up and called the cops after an employee reported suspicous behaviour rather then walk the floors. If it turned out that you really didn't steal anything, these guys made sure you did. Most places called them the "Store Dick". They really were. Now they're adrenaline and testosterone fueled 18 y/o with a walkie talkie and act like a pack of wolves at the exit.
 
Anyone remember going a days shopping and not coming home with anything. One of the last questions they asked you if you wanted it in a bag or delivered to your home. The brightly colored truck would arrive announcing to your neighbors how classy you were to shop at their store by design. That was also a time when the box you put out on the street or yard and made sure you cut holes in it for the kids to play in it served a dual purpose to announce that you bought something expensive and of status. Your neighbors had to know that you bought a 25" console TV and pretty soon they'd better get one too no matter that it cost 1/2 a car. No problem. Those little metal plates in the leather case and "Revolving Credit" or "Charge It" made it all better. They never bothered to explain the revolving part, but I think it was vaugely something like your dad skewered and roasting slowly on a rotisserie on "Easy Terms".

Wow! Dawn-you reminded me of th elevator operators  at Gimbels! And Mom and I would go "downtown" for lunch and shopping...awesome memories!

 How about the rubber mat in front of store doors that actuated the door in the first automated doors?
 
The mink department?
 
Stores that were only for you to store your minks in?
 
Bluing.

Hardware stores with creeky oiled wooden floors that had EVERYTHING!

Cigarette girls & cigarette (tug of war) machines.

I think my Father has a cigarette in his hand on the way to tea...and shopping for a new coat! Marone!

Speaking of Coats..... How about KNICKERS (and canvas Tennis Shoes) KINDERGARTEN FIRST DAY PHOTO.

Thumbing through the newest Sears or JP Penny catalog, seeing a shotgun or rifle you wanted and calling them up. I think when we lost that, it was a big red flag - as to what was coming and how much our world was about to change.

I think when Sears  killed Roebuck and removed all of his traces, it changed.
Back in the day, Sears and Roebuck had a fella in a lifeguard tower in the parking lot directing you to empty parking spaces. The store was stocked with retired craftsmen that  showed how to do your own repairs.

Our local Sears store had the traffic control guy on the roof with a bullhorn (Inglewood, CA) I used to have to remind my mother to open her window so she could here the guy's directions..."Black Studebaker, one more aisle, turn left, space on the right halfway up....   Blue Buick follow the Studebaker take the space across the aisle from her."
 
BTW Roebuck sold his interest in the company to Sears, then disappeared for a generation. Late in the Depression he applied for a job at a Sears Store, and was hired to be a 'Clelebrity PR type at Store-Openings during the recovery era and during WWWII. He out lived Sears by many years.
 
 

Pea shooters
 
Al!  You are so cute!

Remember getting your phone bill and it actually was an IBM computer punch card. If you had access to a keypunch maybe you tried adding a few extra punches to the card before sending it back with your payment.  Do not bend, fold, staple (or spindle) or mutilate.
 
Bury me face down 9 edge leading!

Ha ha ha! Glad to hear my joke had no basis in fact.
Al, you're right, they did specify the car you were in.

Corporate used to present a different story. Roebuck was just a watch repair guy that Sears drew into the original surplus watch sale business to repair and guide business decisions regarding buyout of obsolete,unwanted,or surplus timepieces. Sears just knew the public wanted cheap watches and he could undersell the competition by playing the surplus market, but knew nothing about the product itself. The story goes that Sears himself kept getting bored and selling out the business to Roebuck several times, then getting back in. BTW, they were the very first store to indroduce the private store parking lot.
 

mayor al
 
BTW Roebuck sold his interest in the company to Sears, then disappeared for a generation. Late in the Depression he applied for a job at a Sears Store, and was hired to be a 'Clelebrity PR type at Store-Openings during the recovery era and during WWWII. He out lived Sears by many years.
 
 

My version of the Sear's  story is paraphrased a lot due to lapse of time- It originated in one of the episodes of Emperor's of Industry series on A&E or Discovery network. I used it and the Jack Daniels chapter (before Brown-Foreman bought the JD Label) in my Economics classes.
 
    Yes Roebuck was the fix-it guy, then the CFO who grew very frustrated with Sear's somewhat reckless "Scheme's" that would make any Walmart development opponents scream "FOUL" !   But Roebuck got the last laugh,,,Sears died at 49, Roebuck lasted almost double that !

I was all set to say an old-school billiard parlor...and here come Cordele Recreation Parlor. I miss the old-school smoky pool games on the waterfront. Today...it's usually more about the full bar and music (headache to follow) and it usually means $50 before all is said and done.

Time for a game of darts or sprinkle the alley wax...and play some shuffleboard bowling.

Incinerators.  (I really should read the older posts)

CC,
  Not sure about Jersey, but the Pool Hall Atmosphere is alive and kicking in many towns around us here in Indiana. They are cleverly disguised behind American Legion, VFW, and KofC signs!
 
Mar, That was one of my childhood chores...burning the trash. usually every other day... Incinerator in the back yard

Free telephone books delivered to your door with all the residential addresses listed in the white pages.
 
Inkwells in school desks, where you could dip your straight pen.
For that matter, they taught penmanship in school.
 
 
 

Lloyd, 
I think I get six different phone books each year. Some by the phone companies like Verizon, frontier, and AT&T, others by corporations I assume are linked the the phone companies...like Yellowbook and US West.  Some yellow...some white...some the traditional 2 color division.
 
During my grandson's one year stay with us last year...9th grade for him, I don't think he turned in a single hand-written report or paper. Everything was either printed on my computer-printer, or memory-chipped to school and printed in class. The only exception to that were his spiral-bound notes in science. Hand written anything is becoming a lost art.

Telegrams stop

Not the Western Union send money grams stop There are a few private services for weddings birthdays I love you....I think it's about a dollar a word stop

CB clubs Do truckers still use the CB?

Saw this on facebook:
 

DawnT


Has anyone mentioned the days b4 tamper proof packaging? It seems weird to get a bottle or box now that can be opened without some sort of seal.

Glass aspirin bottles with metal screw caps.

Glass mayonnaise jars. 

Mumbly Peg
Paper Airplanes
Cootie Catchers
shooting paper clips with rubber bands
Hitchiking
Plastic coverings for car seats
3 Martini lunches

chewingthefat


Mumbly Peg
Paper Airplanes
Cootie Catchers
shooting paper clips with rubber bands
Hitchiking
Plastic coverings for car seats
3 Martini lunches

Well, I don't see many people hitchhiking these days, but the other stuff is still pretty standard. Why, lleechef and I were playing mumbletypeg just yesterday. She won my Barlow knife from me.

Can you imagine keeping a kid's attention with a viewmaster or stereo viewer and a box of old time stereo cards?
 
Do stationary supplies still sell those spikes on a stand to impale bills and receipts. I haven't seen one of those in years.
 
Real Army Navy stores. Not the later import junk store ones like Army Eagle Navy.
 
Sporting goods stores that actually sold sporting goods like camping gear, drilled bowling balls, sold guns and fishing tackle. Now they are glorified shoe and clothes stores by the same name.
 
Old style funeral directors that didn't have a chapel or even maybe didn't have a reposing room. All they did was the preparations and provided transportation, and chairs Funerals were held at churches and wakes at the deceased home with 24hr watch. Maybe this was just a southern thing, but still around by the 60's.
 
Live programs on the east coast were televised live, but Kinescope recordings on film were made for the west coast instead of video tape.
 
The post office's mascot for years was the little guy with the harmonica. Mail trucks and boxes were an olive drab green instead of the colors they adopted in the late 60's. Your mailman drove a bike with a triangular kickstand and huge basket.
 
Those long,glass tubular bottles that alka seltzer came in with the hard foam insert to protect them from breaking. The tablets went flat b4 the tube was finished and they came up with the foil packages. It was Speedy, not "I can't believe I ate the whole thing".
 
Hand cranked can openers that mounted on the kitchen wall and swung away when not in use.
 
They still sold washers with wringers. Sears did well into the 60's, so did Firestone.
 
Reddy Kilowatt. He's retired now with other mascots like the Michilien man, Tony the tiger, 3sso's tiger in your tank, Mr. Peanut, and the Dino's from Sinclair.
 
Texaco's man with the star gave up trying to sell Jack Benny more then a gallon of gas. 
 
Silver Certificates. Savings Bonds for children.
 
Boy's title was "Master"
 
Coin operated hair dryers.
 
Soda's with cyclamates and the dietetic food section in a store was meant for diabetics where you found the Sweeta and Sacchrine. Oh yes, when TAB bottles weren't round, but slightly oval. Everybody peeled away the cork speta in soft drink bottle caps to see if they were a secret winner even if there was no promotion. My parents friends won a color tv that way. I guess I should also mention bottle caps and church keys
 
Seago, Metrical, Figurines
 
Car oil came in cardboard containers with metal lids. That puncturing nozze that was used to open and pour the oil. Gas stations would do anything to get you to fill up over 8 gallons.
 
If something was made in Japan it was considered junk no matter how good it was, it was still cheap.
 
When labor union leaders spoke, politicians jumped and listened.
 
Tube testers in pharmacies, department stores, and hardware stores. TV repair places were everywhere, even drive-in types. None would fix a transistor radio or anything with transistors. You had to send them back to the importer.
Edit:
 
Kid's played with inner tubes from tires.  They were also cut across the tube to be recycled into large rubber bands. Two were ideal for your school books. 
  
  
 

 
There are still plenty of sporting goods stores around doing what they've always done.
 
I saw one of those can openers at the hardware store a little while ago.
 
The mail carriers I remember always walked, carrying a big leather bag.
 
I've been around a long time and Viewmasters and stero viewers never kept my attention.
 
As to those spikes, I remember when, in the early '70s, OSHA made The Associated Press get rid of them because they were a hazard to the editors and teletype operators who used them

I want to know who thought pantyhose were better than stockings?

Eh. No.

The reception set-up package where every table of guests gets several bottles of hard liquor for the table.. I think I owe my life to the set-up package. I don't think I would have been born without it.

Did anyone stay at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in the '60s?  If so, you might remember that every guest checking in got a welcome box filled with all sorts of goodies.