My Birthday 63
Last week was my birthday; I told my wife and kids not to use 63 candles since I cannot afford to have them wax poetic over my birthday. A single candle would do; more than that however, would require me to use up most of my lung capacity. But they didn't listen.
After we doused the flames and painted the ceiling white again, I began to reminisce about my first birthday party. I was 6 years old (that's right, no parties from 1 to 5) and we were living on Riverside Drive in New York City. The year was 1951.
I remember:
- My mother using a sprinkle bottle when ironing my shirts.
- I had a pair of steel roller skates with keys to tighten the clamp around your shoes.
- My mother wore white gloves when she went out.
- There was a street vendor on Broadway that would charge you 25 cents to take a picture of you sitting on his pony.
- Most candy was a penny or a nickel.
- A glass of coke was 5 cents.
- Glass Bottles of Coke were sold in coolers filled with ice water.
- Coke had real sugar.
- Playing with Marbles was fun.
- Spinning a top could keep you occupied for hours.
- Erector Sets.
- It was legal for kids to buy chemistry sets filled with stuff that could kill or maim.
- You could play with toy guns without raising an eyebrow.
- A home entertainment system was a handful of Jacks.
- Coonskin Caps.
- Women wore girdles, garters, and slips under dresses.
- If someone said Kotex or Trojan in the classroom, all the kids guffawed.
- If you said F*K in public, an adult would scold you.
- If you talked loudly during a movie an usher would throw you out.
- You actually walked to school alone and came home for lunch by yourself (yes even at age 6!).
- You adjusted the TV with metal rabbit ears and by standing in funny positions.
- There were 5 TV stations and most stopped broadcasting by midnight except for the Late Late Show.
- Bowling Alleys had human pinsetters who worked for 10 cents a game.
- Shoe Shines cost a dime.
- Saturday Afternoons in Movie Theaters cost 25 cents.
- Hot Dogs were a dime.
- Chewing on Turkish Taffy at the movies would sometimes pull out your silver fillings.
- If you missed an episode of the Honeymooners there was no way to see it again.
- I won 6 baby chicks at Easter Time at a drawing in the movie theater.
- People died from a mysterious illness they called 'C' which eventually I found out was cancer.
- There was only white bread, rye and pumpernickel.
- Toasters worked forever and if they did break you would get them fixed.
- Toasters only had one setting: ON or not.
- Toasters had serial numbers.
- There was no news on TV. Everyone read the newspaper.
- Parakeets cost 69 cents.
- You could buy turtles at the pet shop.
- No one bought dogs from a kennel, you just picked one off the street.
- There were unleashed, unlicensed, un-owned dogs roaming the streets.
- It was very easy to step in dog poop.
- There were 5 cereal choices at the grocery store.
- You hung your laundry on a clothes line to dry.
- Porn was black and white photos if you were lucky enough to find them. Only the adults had film.
- Kids shared the same spoon when eating from a big container of ice cream in school.
- We swam naked at the YMCA.
- You did not know one single person who smoked marijuana. And if you did, you would run away from him.
- You took a picture by holding the camera by your stomach. If anyone moved even slightly the photo was ruined.
- Cigarettes were 25 cents a pack.
- Our family doctor smoked while examining me.
- No one cared if you climbed trees.
- You played in the streets with cars going by.
- You could play games with a broom handle and a rubber ball. You did not need a $500 console.
- Most problems in school were with kids talking or chewing gum. Drugs or violence were not even on the radar.
- An eggman delivered our eggs.
- No one had credit cards.
- People went door to door to sell you things.
- Phone numbers began with letters such as FEderal 9-xxxx.
- If it said "Made in Japan" it was junk.
- Buses were a nickel and you could pay in pennies.
- People picked up pennies in the street.
- All the dimes and quarters in your pocket were 90% silver.
- You could go to the bank and ask for silver dollars.
- If you got to the airport 10 minutes before the flight took off you still had time to get on with no one checking you for anything.
- Dentists, doctors and assistants stayed in the room when they X-Rayed you.
- Anything that sliced was called "Magic", as in Magic Tomato Slicer".
- Everything else was called blah-blah-O-MATIC, the Juice-o-matic, the ice-o-matic, the veg-o-matic.
- People smoked in the movies, circus, ballgames, stores, offices, hospital rooms, police stations, and in schools.
- Toy cowboys and Indians were made of painted Lead.
- It cost 3 cents to mail a letter. Postcards were a penny.
- Gasoline was less than 19 cents a gallon.
- Some steering wheels had knobs to help you turn the wheel with one hand.
- Dodgeball was fun and no one died.
- People delivered blocks of ice to your house.
Now let me add a bit of perspective. I mentioned that gasoline cost less than 19 cents per gallon. In terms of modern purchasing power that comes out to more than $6.00 ($1.50 adjusted for inflation and $4.50 adjusted for buying power). So in a certain regard, gasoline is actually cheap, which is why 3 buck a gallon gas has not had any appreciable affect on inflation. See Gasoline Prices in Perspective Cato Institute.