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In re-reading my 1950s memoir, the first thing that popped into my mind was how much I omitted. How could I have forgotten how low the cost of living was back then? It was during the 1950s that the minimum wage finally reached $1.00 an hour! Making 50 dollars a week was really considered good money. The annual salary of my first civil service job was $2,750 - a year, just a tad more than my present monthly pension. Of course there were no such things as credit cards. Man, don't get me started. Oops, too late...

When I matriculated at the University of Illinois in 1951, no entrance exams were required. The only pre-requisite was that you were a resident of the state. For one semester the tuition was FORTY DOLLARS, and dormitory room and board $350!

And, yes, when it came to other things, we did straighten our manes with hot combs and a special pomade that made taming wild locks easier, preparing them for the curling irons that finished off the job leaving only the final task of styling your hair into a page-boy and bangs. With no malls or Asian technicians, if we wanted our ears pierced we went to the old lady down the block who knew how to perform this surgery with alcohol, a needle, and a cork. The needle's thread was saturated with vaseline which you later pulled back and forth to keep the holes in your lobes open. The second phase of this procedure called for you to replace this cruddy thread with little broom straws until healing was complete and you were ready to insert your gold loops - if you hadn't succumbed to infection first.

Viginity was a prized possession in those days. I remember me and my girlfriends forming a Virgins club, proudly touting our status. I also remember being totally miffed when during a pajama party where, after binging on strawberry KoolAid, it was revealed that everybody in the club but me was lying about their chastity. BTW, condoms were called "rubbers" in those days...

There were no birth control pills either. And breast feeding enjoyed little popularity. New mothers sterilized glass bottles and rubber nipples in a special device created for this purpose, feeding their infants a formula made up of Carnation cream, boiled water and Karo syrup. No pampers; cloth diapers and, if you could afford it, diaper service which for a weekly fee would do all the dirty work for you, hauling away the the soiled stinkers replacing them with a batch of newly-laundered ones. No tampons either. EW.

No color TVs or VCRs or DVDs. CDs or even 45s? Nope, just 78-inch vinyl discs which we played on the turn table of a record player where an arm that contained a needle miraculously produced the sounds of doo-wop quartets or such favorites as Nat Cole and Billy Eckstein and Sarah Vaughn - and Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. Hi-fi was the big thing before stereo. If you were a jazz buff you pretended to get into the frenzied be-bop of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, or feigned coolness and grooved on other artists like Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck and the 4 Freshmen. No digital cameras. Polaroids with their instant prints were all the rage.

Aaah, those were the days... Thanks for bearing with me while I strolled down memory lane once more. As Lil Wayne sez: "Life is short. A midget tol me dat."

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Even better than the first -- thanks!

Interestingly, during a recent vacation I was speaking to a gentleman who grew up a few blocks from where I was raised; expect he is at least 30 years my senior. The most stricking thing was that his recollections of his childhood were very similiar to mine.

When I contrast this with the differences of kids you came just 20 years after me... welll we may as well have been born 1,000 years apart.

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I'm kinda thinking that obesity is more common in the present than it was in the 50s, Troy. The average woman nowadays is a size 14. Back then I’d say this figure was closer to a size 11. Of course there were always fat people around who had to endure being teased about their size. But skinniness was not necessarily considered an asset, either, - unless you were rich. And - your question jogs my memory more…

In the 50s decade, not only were we not as overweight as we are now but we were also not as preoccupied with losing weight, and there were no fad diets flooding the market every few months, - no micro-wave ovens to enable quick snacking. What possibly contributed to keeping our weight lower then, was the lack of fast food outlets. Of course, if you went looking, you could always find a little hot dog stand or a hamburger joint and in black neighborhoods there were fish and chicken shacks and greasy spoon diners but in those days there were no big franchises like McDonalds or KFC gracing every corner, or chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Applebees. Drive-up eating facilities serviced by car-hops were just starting to appear. Oh-oh. Here I gooooo.

The 50s era was also when drive-in outdoor movie venues became popular, their concept allowing the whole family to enjoy a night out together where they could view the latest releases from the comfort of their cars. These places served as lovers lanes, too, for those who didn’t mind making out in the cramped back seat of a Ford... Motels hadn’t come into widespread existence then, either.

The alternate to drive-ins were the neighborhood movie palaces where a double feature would be appearing. Yes, TWO full-length movies! There were no multi-plexes or such things as “starting times” or “reserved” seats. You bought your ticket, and were allowed to go right in, many times arriving in the middle of a picture which necessitated your sitting tight until you got to the part where you came in. If you wanted to, you could actually stay and watch the pictures over and over again because patrons didn’t have to vacate the premises until closing time. The big movie stars of the 1950s were such luminaries as Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe and Paul Newman. Black faces on the silver screen were few and far between. Dorothy Dandridge, and Harry Belafonte were one-hit wonders. Sidney Poitier was lucky enough to do a little better. And did I mention that air conditioning was not standard equipment in either a house or a car back then? It was a luxury pretty much limited to public places like movie houses, which in the summer time advertised it as an extra added attraction.

Well, Troy, I got carried away again. But these are opportunities I take advantage of - since nobody else does. I realize that this reminiscing may only be fun to people like me, who observe life as much as they participate in it. I am assuming that anyone who finds my reminiscences boring will bypass them, which is why their titles give a hint that they will be nostalgic in content. I understand any indifference to my recollections because I have contemporaries who have no interest in re-visiting the past or who even remember much about what went on “back in the day“. I recently talked to an old friend in California, and she expressed no wish to stir up memories and was just grateful for every day the Lord sent, wanting to spend her time praising His name and doting on her grandchildren. Age obviously dealt differently with us. As Lil Wayne sez: “Throw dirt on me and grow a wild flower. Fuck the earth and get a child out of her.”

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Cynique, nice. I LOVE hearing your perspective.

I remember when the first McDonalds came to my neighborhood (Spanish Harlem) it was in the mid 70’s and is still open. I rarely had the money to do. We went after I graduated from Jr. High School – that was a BIG treat! Today I only go to a McDonalds if I’m on the highway and I’m hungry.

They built an Applebee‘s in Harlem, right on 125th street. Like the Starbucks on the same street it is doing very well. I hate chain restaurants. I avoid them unless there are no other options. Increasingly, in many cities, there are no options.

One of the things I dislike about 2010 is the increasing sameness of everything. I swear, I can be in a mall in Anchorage Alaska, look at the stores, and can’t tell if I’m in Dallas, TX, or Willow Grove PA. They will all have a Barnes and noble, a Wall Mart, an Outback, Radioshack, etc. And all of those cities will all have a Power 99 radio station playing the same, mostly mediocre, music. When they are not play bad music then tell be doing telephone pranks or dishing up dirt on some celebrity.

I can see where one might like the idea of multiplexes, but it is like having a couple hundred stations to choose from on cable TV now. 99.9% of the stuff you don’t want to see and ½ the stuff you do watch is rarely turns out to be worth the time.

And why does every Black actor today have to be a former rap star, singer or comedian? It has been so long since we’ve seen good acting I think most of us have forgotten what it looks like. I saw Denzel in Fences and he, and the rest of the cast, reminded me what good acting is...

I remember going to the drive-in. When we visited my cousins in North Carolina, as kids, we would sit on the roof of the car. The last close to my home in NYC (I believe), closed in the 80’s. By then I owned a car and would take dates to the drive in. It was a cool date cause most NY Women did not have cars and had never been to a drivein movie.

I remember when no one had AC too. I often wonder how we made it. We had electric fans. We would also play in the water blasting out of a fire hydrant. Few of us had cars, so that was not an issue. I do recall my mom putting on baby powder and just lying on the bed, under the fan, to stay cool.

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Your input is equally interesting, Troy, because you are a baby boomer from Harlem, a whole different breed than me.

I certainly agree that our pop culture environment has a cookie-cutter pattern to it. A certain scenario replicates itself all over America. And, in many ways, we have become materialistic automatons, everybody striving for the same tangible gratifications of goods and services, as Capitalism takes on the status of a religion. And, so it goes...

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...I just re-read what I wrote. I'm surprised you could interpret anything I put down -- sorry about that mellow.gif

Cynique, I would be willing to bet it is harder to raise a child, for everyone, today than it was 50 years ago. The negative external influences are far greater nowadays. What do you think?

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