[A Snake]

Bish,

You must be the official "Old Coot" for this thread. Nobody else mentioned ration stamps or FDR. I can remember Truman, but not FDR.

I do remember our first phone was an oak box with two silver bells and a hand crank. I got to see the swithboard and watch the town operator plug in the wires to connect calls. You really had to watch what you said in those days....she 'knew all". Our first dial phone only required 4 numbers to dial in town and all calls out of town were operator assisted.

The first TV in town was owned by the local banker and had a 100 foot high antenna. He had to offer TV viewing to get his neightbors to let him put the guy wires in their yards. The picture only came in once in a while between lots of snow the size of small peas.

We got milk in glass bottles too. In the winter, they would freeze and push the cream up like a plug with the paper cap on top.

Mickey Mouse was black and wore only red shorts.

Kites were made of carefully carved fruit box wood and coverd with newspaper. Later, they came ready made for 10 cents and a ball of kite string was 10 cents.

The frizbee was a coffee can lid or an old worn out record (until it broke)

A skate board was a 2x4 with an old clamp on skate on the bottom and a wooden box with handles.

The rich kid had a real English bike with 3 speeds and the rest of us had old Columbia's or Schwinns if we were lucky. My first bike was a Firestone Flyer.

Our fishin' car and Dad's work car was a '31 Model A coupe. Like a lot of people, he took out the rumble seat and put in a little short pick-up box in it's place.

The Friday night fights on the radio were sponsored by Gillette. "You'll look sharp and you'll feel sharp too."

Right after the fights came the Lone Ranger and The Shadow. Also Amos and Andy and Suspense.

I saw Shane in the theater when it first came out......$.35

My first trip to 100mph was with my Dad in his brand spanking new 1954 Olds Super 88. And you wonder where my itch for speed came from! He made me swear I wouldn't tell Mom and I didn't for over 30 years. Long after they went their separate ways.

Excalibur reminded me of the "Good Old Days" in a logging town. I remember Cottage Grove as he does, when logging trucks ruled the road and you were either a farmer or worked in the mill or were a logger. There wasn't much else and real men drank Lucky Lager.

Almost forgot. I remember the first soda in cans. It was called Can A Pop and the cans were steel, not aluminum. Same with beer cans and a real man could crush a beer can with one hand.

Al