Every Boomer remembers test patterns. In the early days of television, each channel (usually one or two, that’s all we got) began the day and ended broadcasting with a test pattern on the screen. Most of us didn’t know what a test pattern was, really, or its purpose. All we knew that when the test pattern finally appeared (it took the tubes a while to warm up), there was nothing on the … [Read more...]

James Dean had captured the imagination and envy of most every young male in the mid-50s with his standout performance in Rebel Without a Cause. In the movie, also starring Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, Dean had rolled into town, a new kid on the block and oozing coolness. He was, in fact, beyond cool. He was the epitome of everything a young teen male would like to be - confident, rebellious, … [Read more...]

If you ever refer to refrigerator as an icebox – you are definitely a Boomer, or maybe even a pre-Boomer. Today, ice and refrigeration are part of our lives. It’s hard to imagine life without ice, but it wasn’t always that way. Until about 200 hundred years ago, ice was just something that happened in winter. In the 19th century, a few industrious sorts began shipping ice, harvested from … [Read more...]

Among the fastest growing segments of all the retail stores are “the dollar stores” – Dollar General, for example. Folks like the idea of buying stuff for a buck and they are flocking to dollar stores throughout the country. Boomers, however, remember the dime stores - “Five and Dime’s” we called them, once a staple on every main street in every town in America. As Christmas approaches, I … [Read more...]

Becoming a Boomer is not all it’s made out to be, even though they say we control 80% of all the spendable income in the United States. If that’s the case, Boomer wives control 99% of the 80%. So male Boomers aren’t much better off than they were as teenagers, when a gallon of gas sold for a quarter and vanilla Cokes at the malt shop were a dime Also, with Boomer-hood, comes Arthur, whether you … [Read more...]

We all listen to the radio. Spending many hours in our cars going to and from work or shopping, the radio is our constant companion. We check it for news, talk shows, sports updates, weather reports and the music genre of choice. But Boomers look back fondly to Golden Age of Radio, when a radio was truly the center of our lives. We recall our younger days, waking to radio programs and music. … [Read more...]

Countless Boomers will flock to the stores this month to buy what they hope will be welcomed toys for their grandkids, but there was a time when Boomer children also received great toys and gifts for Christmas. Toys were simpler back then, but no less appreciated. There were no computers or electronic games back then, nor cell phones with cameras or IPods. Bikes were overwhelming favorites … [Read more...]

My Dad was a child of the Depression. As such, nothing went to waste in our house, especially food and especially at Thanksgiving. My earliest memories of Thanksgiving at our modest two-bedroom home in Beckley, West Virginia were of a huge roasted turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy (Daddy made amazing gravy), succotash, collards, cranberry sauce, home made yeast rolls and pumpkin pie … [Read more...]

Are colors more vivid when you are young? It certainly seems so to this Ol’ Boomer. I remember a pair of red maple trees in our front yard in Lewisburg, WV. I was 11 the first year we lived in that house on Court Street. There was nothing unusual about those two trees in the spring and summer, other than the grass beneath them was always a good spot to catch a few night crawlers for fish … [Read more...]

There was a time when Americans eagerly greeted this particular door-to-door salesman. He was welcomed into the home for a chat and maybe a cup of coffee – sometimes for a bite of lunch. The well-respected visitor asked about the family and any news in the neighborhood, and then opened his case of wares. Most were brushes. He was, after all, The Fuller Brush Man The Fuller Brush Company dates … [Read more...]