Here's an age test for you

[ccmanuals]

That's the Mitchell 300. About 50 years old. (I personally have two of them I got when I was a kid. Spent many hours in the Florida keys with that reel fishing off the 7 mile bridge and the Old Wooden bridge.)

[Paul Pless]

Ok, this should be an easy one for this group. remember, no cheating

Mitchell 300.

[Steve McMahon]

I am bored, googled it, wikipedia= Mitchell 300
Now I remember seeing the name on the old ones at the cottage.
My first reel was a Zebco spin cast.

[George Jung]

S & H stamps. good for 'lotsa things' - collect a book, trade them in.

[Paul Pless]

Hmmm, the only quintessential reel I remember was the funky Zebco with the cone shaped nose. Really good at tangling up fishing line as I recall.

This is 'the quintessential' fishing reel. Also really good at tangling up line, in some hands. But a really great reel nonetheless.

[Paul Pless]

A true temper rod probably. They were way out of vogue before I started fishing.

That reel is the perfected bait caster by Abu Garcia. Their modern reels are very similar to that reel. I have perhaps a dozen of them (the originals), they still work perfectly, some of them even smoother and further casting than brand new high end reels.

[purri]

^ I have a Swedish original Abu 7500. Going strong after 40 years.

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

This is 'the quintessential' fishing reel. Also really good at tangling up line, in some hands. But a really great reel nonetheless.

That's a heavy duty star-drag reel, booger. Mostly used in salt water way back when. And nobody in the old days had a reel that was anodized.
You got a picture of a Pfleuger, Akron, bait caster? That was heart's desire of all of us that fished in Lake Erie way back then.

[Robbie 2]

Ok, this should be an easy one for this group. remember, no cheating

Mitchel spinning reel..........Dad had one.

[Paul Pless]

That's a heavy duty star-drag reel, booger. Mostly used in salt water way back when. And nobody in the old days had a reel that was anodized.

This was the perfection of the baitcaster on a mass market scale. I'm pretty certain the first Ambassadeurs were red. There's more to freshwater fishing than the Great Lakes ya know. I find them generally not to be favored by purely saltwater fishermen although they are certainly capable of handling the corrosion if washed down.

[BrianW]

I remember learning how to use a mimeograph machine in high school (Torrance High, California).

In the movie 'Fast times at Ridgemont High', when Mr. Hand passes out paper to his class, all the kids smell the paper.

Today's high school kids probably don't get that visual joke.

[BrianW]

no cheating now.

Deer skin glove. You can still get those no problem.

[Norman Bernstein]

OK, since we've generalized the age test, here's one that I've had for quite a while... let's see just who the old farts really are!

Count how many you can remember... and then check the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles
5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive - 6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with levers
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulbs
20. Beanie and Cecil
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young (or suffering from
Alzheimer's)
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older If you remembered 11-15 =
Don't tell your age If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt! >>


(For the record, there's only one I don't remember: newsreels before the movie, #8)

[ccmanuals]

Yikes, I remember all 25. I even remember when you would go to the gas station and get a soda for .05 cents.

[Norman Bernstein]

I remember something that it seems no one else does: milk vending machines.

Back in the 50's, there were no 24 hour convenient stores.... but, across the street from my father's warehouse, there was a milk vending machine. You could drop in a couple of quarters, and out would pop a quart of fresh milk, any time of the day or night. I remember my mother calling my father often, usually at 5PM (he usually came home at 6PM), to ask him to pick up a quart of milk from the machine.

Perhaps it was a regional thing (in NJ), because I've never met anyone else who remembers this.

More common, perhaps, was an ice vending machine... which dispensed either cubes, or blocks. I haven't seen one in decades, but I remember they were fairly common.

[Mad Scientist]

Up until about 1970, the local drug store contained a machine for testing vacuum tubes. SWMBO has a radio which has tubes in it, and still works fine.

My first train set was Lionel. If I still had it, it would be worth all of $20, from what I've seen on Ebay.

Tom

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

You TV twinkies have me at a disadvantage. I grew up listening to radio serials.

Any of you know who played Sheriff Matt Dillon on the radio?
What soap opera had the character Shuffle Shover (sic)?
What radio drama touted the heroic efforts of the FBI?
What radio character opened each show by calling out "coming mother!"?
What was a "schmoo"?
What comic strip was Sis Boombah a character in?

[Bob Adams]

" I got a brand new pair of roller skates,You got a brand new key.I think that we should get together and try them out, to see ..."

Extra points if you know who sang this song...

Melinie. When I was on the air I featured it in a special I ran "Jukebox form Hell" A terrible song to get stuck in your head.

[ccmanuals]

So Bob, tell us about "on the air".

[varadero]

I remember learning how to use a mimeograph machine in high school (Torrance High, California).

In the movie 'Fast times at Ridgemont High', when Mr. Hand passes out paper to his class, all the kids smell the paper.

Today's high school kids probably don't get that visual joke.

High school kids! My wife doesn't get it.

[purri]

Melinie. When I was on the air I featured it in a special I ran "Jukebox form Hell" A terrible song to get stuck in your head.

I bet George Jung could tell you a tale or two about the lyrics...

[BrianW]

High school kids! My wife doesn't get it.

Ah, a lucky man! Pics?

[varadero]

Ah, a lucky man! Pics?

Another day, another thread.
"Wooden Boat magazine" Reader's wives!

[ChaseKenyon]

I remember something that it seems no one else does: milk vending machines.

Back in the 50's, there were no 24 hour convenient stores.... but, across the street from my father's warehouse, there was a milk vending machine. You could drop in a couple of quarters, and out would pop a quart of fresh milk, any time of the day or night. I remember my mother calling my father often, usually at 5PM (he usually came home at 6PM), to ask him to pick up a quart of milk from the machine.

Perhaps it was a regional thing (in NJ), because I've never met anyone else who remembers this.

More common, perhaps, was an ice vending machine... which dispensed either cubes, or blocks. I haven't seen one in decades, but I remember they were fairly common.

Yeah I remember. In CT they were usually in front of the Laundromat. The night shift keeper had to fill it up before he closed up at 9:00 PM.

So you remember, in New England anyway why if it was a really cold night in the winter you covered the little milk basket with four bottles (quarts) or six slightly smaller with a heavy grocery store paper bag before picking the basket up?

The cardboard caps could deform quite a bit as the milk froze. Then the slightest jostle and the glass bottles would explode. Mom always reminded me but one morning when the family was dragging
and I did not want to be late for 2nd grade I forget. After old doc Stretch put 17 stitches in my hand and wrist I never forgot.

The egg farm delivered two days a week. If you wanted chicken for the table You ordered it for next egg day. How many and how many lbs. the egg man Herb Schnabel was later my 4H leader.

Sea food came from the sales room at the fancy seafood restaurant. (it was a side addition).

Beef came from the meat market down the state hwy a bit (we had a very low population density much less than here in NH with a town of 1200 year round and 1800 residents/property owners).

I really miss a nice ice cold "Bubble Up" from the soda tank.

Royal Crown really was the best of the colas.

and for all other types of soda you had :Peoquot, like the casino tribe.

Pedal cars

Hammond Organs

rotating Leslie speakers

erector sets

lincoln logs
Lawn Darts
Daisy guns
cap pistols
home made camp trailers and boats
hula hoops
real Frisbee pie plates
Automat flood court/restaurants
Lionell 3 track train sets, and the more expensive and better detailed
American Flyer trains.
Waving goodbye to dad as his Connie takes off
Iver Johnson bicycles
No Interstate Highways
Rivers all over the country's industrial core cities catching on fire
The 55 Huricane
wood skis without edges that had to lacquered twice a season
bear trap bindings
Cubco bindings
pedal sewing machines (what I used for a master tailoring course in 4H)
oil bath auto air cleaners
how insanely low at the roof a 53-55 and hawks Studebaker coupes really were. (door handle level to an Oldsmobile.)
Split window VW bugs
annual DDT stay inside while the corp dusters spray mosquito control.
10 inch screen TVs
Tube Hi fi mono sets.
no radial tires
glass belted tires
kingpins instead of ball joints
Studebaker and Jaguar the only volume production cars with disc front oar all brakes standard equipment..(1963)
metal wheeled skateboards.
Mac and cheese came only one way ....... Velveta
cigarette pack sized shredded wheat
Kool aid that cam with out sugar
sloped front door cloths washers and to finish
a "Mangle" to press them on
Bongo Boards

more to come this is fun Norm

[ChaseKenyon]

Up until about 1970, the local drug store contained a machine for testing vacuum tubes. SWMBO has a radio which has tubes in it, and still works fine.

My first train set was Lionel. If I still had it, it would be worth all of $20, from what I've seen on Ebay.

Tom

Should have had an American Flyer.

I had one like this in collector condition #1

Dad sold it as well as the 34,000 mile 48 Studebaker Land Cruiser while I was over seas playing games with the Russians and such.

American Flyer "Pony Express" Union Pacific w/orig. Boxes Starting bid:	US $2,700.00

I also had two fairly rare "smokers" one many car Freight and one freight and passenger.
They really did smoke like a real coal burning steam train. Y had these little smoke vials cut the tip off and squeeze it into the stack and off you go. very realistic.

[Bob Adams]

So Bob, tell us about "on the air".

Had my FCC ticket from being involved in building Maryland's first on air high school FM station. FM was an upstart so kids were OK! Did a couple years on a 25,000 watt station,1975-1978 got demoted to overnight after I pissed the PD off. I subsequently quit, having answered the "Big Bambu" question at an in studio party with a bunch of other jocks.

[Norman Bernstein]

So you remember, in New England anyway why if it was a really cold night in the winter you covered the little milk basket with four bottles (quarts) or six slightly smaller with a heavy grocery store paper bag before picking the basket up?

The cardboard caps could deform quite a bit as the milk froze. Then the slightest jostle and the glass bottles would explode. Mom always reminded me but one morning when the family was dragging
and I did not want to be late for 2nd grade I forget. After old doc Stretch put 17 stitches in my hand and wrist I never forgot.

I grew up in NJ, not New England, but it was the same thing.... in the summertime, the milkman would put a big piece of ice in with the bottles in your milkbox.... in the winter, there would often be a bunch of newspaper over the bottles, for insulation. He delivered eggs, butter, sour cream, and cream cheese, as well.

That wasn't the only thing that was delivered, though.... There was the bread man, who would leave bread, rolls, and on Saturdays, a coffee cake, tied with string to the door knob. The soda man would deliver a case of soda (mixed flavors, in quart bottles, plus a couple of seltzer bottles, the kind with the syphon at the top, for my Dad). Every now and then, the man who sharpened knives rolled through the neighborhood, clanging a bell...

Sea food came from the sales room at the fancy seafood restaurant. (it was a side addition).

There's a couple of seafood restaurants with retail seafood outlets attached, even today..... nearby my home.

Beef came from the meat market down the state hwy a bit (we had a very low population density much less than here in NH with a town of 1200 year round and 1800 residents/property owners).

My Mom bought our meat from a genuine butcher shop. Haven't really seen one of those in a while.

and for all other types of soda you had :Peoquot, like the casino tribe.

Around here, the soda came from Cliquot Club..... the factory is about a mile from my daughter house, still standing, but out of business and empty for many years now.

Hammond Organs
rotating Leslie speakers

Still around...

[TomF]

[rotating Leslie speakers] Still around...

and around and around and ...

[Bob Adams]

and around and around and ...

Ayup...

[Shang]

You TV twinkies have me at a disadvantage. I grew up listening to radio serials.

Any of you know who played Sheriff Matt Dillon on the radio?
...Conrad (Wm.?)
What soap opera had the character Shuffle Shover (sic)?
DunKnow.
What radio drama touted the heroic efforts of the FBI?
Gang Busters
What radio character opened each show by calling out "coming mother!"?
Henry Aldrich
What was a "schmoo"?
A bowling-pin shaped edible critter in Al Capp's Little Abner cartoon strip
What comic strip was Sis Boombah a character in?
Pogo

And from Pogo, complete this line: "We ain't got manners...but we got charm... "

Oh, and Sgt. Preston of the Northwest Mounted Police: What was the name of his lead dog?

[Shang]

That one's easy - Yukon King. (our german shepherd was named King).

Still no answer to this one? I thought it would be easy. The show ran every Sunday morning for years in Chicago after Flash Gordon and before The Lone Ranger.

1. Actor, 2. Character, 3. Sidekick's name?

Can't remember who played The Cisco Kid, but I do remember who played his sidekick Pancho: Leo Carillo.

[Willin']

It's amazing the number of current acts that still tour with Hammond B-3s and leslies, much to the chagrin of my backstage buddies!

[ccmanuals]

Anyone want to take a shot at this guy.

[Shang]

Anyone want to take a shot at this guy.

Whip Wilson
NO! I blurted that out too quickly !
That is Lash Larue!

[Shang]

Here is Whip Wilson.

[blacksmith]

Back to the skate key.....you put it on a string and put it around your neck like a a necklace.That way you wouldn't lose it through a hole in your pants pocket. Never saw a brass skate key.And ,you took an old skate apart,nailed the toe and heel pieces to the ends of a 2x4, nailed a wooden fruit box to one end of the 2x4,and you had a sidewalk scooter!

[Bob Cleek]

We used to nail them to the two by four without the fruit box. They were the first "skateboards." That was like in the late 50's or so. Those metal skates went obsolete when "Keds" and "Converse High Tops" became popular. You couldn't get the clamps that were tightened with the key to grab over the edge of the sole like we did with "hard shoes" (with leather soles.) How many of you youngsters remember wearing "hard shoes" to play in? Mmmm?

Anybody ever have one of these?



Known as a "flexy," it was essentially a sled on wheels. We rode them down the hills in San Francisco. The braking system (push down on the handles and a metal bar went against the front wheels) was essentially non-existent. Similarly, steering was limiited. You didn't steer them, you aimed them. There was no such thing as a helmet in those days. I saw one friend ride one under the middle of an old fashioned moving streetcar which was passing at the bottom of the hill. We figured he was a gonner for sure, but he emerged unscathed out the other side. The old "iron horse" streetcars had enough clearance it never touched him. I think the motorman had a heart attack or something, because the streetcar stopped and an ambulance came... at which point we made ourselves scarce.

The "flexy" is perhaps one of the best examples of the truth of the maxim, "It ain't fun unless your mother thinks it's dangerous." They were fun. And they were dangerous. More than one kid got killed on a "flexy."

[Bob Adams]

It's amazing the number of current acts that still tour with Hammond B-3s and leslies, much to the chagrin of my backstage buddies!

That's because for "the sound" you just can't beat the tone wheel.

[purri]

We had horse drawn block ice carts, milk carts, bakers carts, clothes prop carts, bottle collectors carts and until the 70's street sweeper carts. And that's in a capital city that grew from 1.5M to 3M over 25 years. (now at 5M)

[ccmanuals]

The thing I remember most vividly is the 2 cent bottle (not carton) of milk in elementary school. Mom would pack my baloney sandwich and give me 2 cents for the milk.

[David W Pratt]

Mitchell Garcia