The thrill of finding a double yolk egg. Grinding your own meat or potatoes on the grinder that was set up on the kitchen table. The red and white checkered "oil cloth".
Jello and six delicious flavors. Jack Benny. Bread boxes. Shelling peas. Cleaning stringbeans. Peeling apples. The orange juice squeezer and the strainer. A glass of orange juice and a tablespoon of Cod Liver Oil before going to school in the morning.
The Dairy Store , one barrel for the sweet butter and one barrel for the salted butter. The store clerk, taking the pencil kept behind his ear and tallying up the items on a brown paper bag - almost as fast as a modern day computer. 3 cents deposit on milk bottles that was refunded when they were brought back to the store. The milkman who delivered milk products right to your door according to the note tucked into a milk bottle listing the products you wanted.
Irons and ironing boards. Double kitchen sinks, the left side for washing the dishes and the right and larger side for washing clothes. The washboard. The outdoor clothes lines and the clothes pins for drying. The Chinese laundry (we called them the Chinks) for our sheets, pillow cases, shirts, towels and the men's shirts (with or without starch) in the collars. Early type washing machines with a separate "wringer", the clothes passing between the two roller that you hand cranked. Cloth diapers. The ladies wore "cloth rags" when they had the "curse".
Ice boxes with a pan underneath on the floor to catch the melting ice. Salt and pepper shakers. A sugar bowl that sat in the middle of the dining room table. A butter dish with the butter knife. A candy dish for the children in the living room.
A phone that was attached to a jack in the wall. And when you made a call, there was always a real person's voice on the other end and not a recording. Women who handled food had to wear a hair net. Everyone in the public swimming pool had to wear a bathing cap.
Girdles were for the extra belly fat. Garters and garter belts were to hold up your silk stockings. Often turning around, trying to keep the seams straight on the back of your legs. Open toe shoes. Shoe repair shops for new soles and heels. Electric hair perms with wires and curlers.that came straight down from the ceiling to which your hair was attached. Rollers and pin curls. Waves and most everyone's desire for curly hair. Just like Shirley Temple.
"Coupons" in the popular magazines for free samples of cold cream (usually Pond's) and other products. The yellow song sheets for the lyrics of the most popular songs. Sheet music stuffed into the piano bench. The fascination of player pianos that played all by themself. Victrolas and 78's. His Master's Voice.
The "I Cash Clothes" man yelling out as he came down the street. The truck with the merry-go-round that went from street to street. The Good Humor man and the "lucky stick". Movie theatres that looked like palaces. The newsreels, the cartoons, the two feature films and the noisy section for kids, especially on Saturdays. The ushers with white gloves and a flashlight. Toys. Metal toy soldiers for the boys and Shirley Temple dolls for the girls. Dolls with their own trunk and tiny hangers. Teddy Bears. Stamp collections. Airplane kits with balsa wood and glue. Playgrounds with monkey bars, see-saws and swings. Libraries. The Dewey Decimal System and the library card.
A string around a loose tooth and the other end of the string tied to a doorknob. The tooth fairy who would leave a dime under the pillow in exchange for the tooth. Roller skates and keys to tighten them to your shoe. Two wheel skates for the more advanced skaters. Wooden sleds. Swings that were tied to the limbs of trees. An old inner tire for swimming. Iodine for the many scrapes and bruises.
Ovaline. Hot chicken soup when you came down with a cold. My-T-Fine chocolate pudding with a glob of fleshly whipped heavy cream. Seltzer bottles delivered to your door.
Cars with the clutch from the floor with a round handle the size of a larger marble. Different color marbles. Tops with a string that you pulled that would make it spin. Blocks for learning the alphabet. Coloring books. Comic books that weren't funny with Superman or the Green Hornet on the cover. Jacks. Jack in the box, popcorn with a prize. Those in prison who, we were told, had only bread and water. So children, eat everything on your plate. Think of all those starving children in China.
Apartments with built in bookcases and sunken living rooms. Bay windows. The lucky apartment dwellers who had three to four "exposures" so as to keep cool in the summer. Sitting next to a fan on those very hot days of summer. Open fire hydrants. Apartment supers who hosed off the street in front of their building most every day. Ashcans, which were filled with ash and not garbage.
The New York World's Fair of 1941. The General Motor's exhibit of the world of tomorrow with super highways and the traffic running along smoothly. Super electrical applicances of refrigators and toasters. And all the beautiful and very happy people in this world of tomorrow.
Today is the world that once was tomorrow.
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