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 Rewind the Fifties
Visitors Scrapbook Page 5

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I remember the 50s as a time of absolute optimism...of course, why wouldn't I, I was very very young!

I miss most:

Jocko's Rocket Ship, Alan Freed and American Bandstand
Sugar Jets Cereal....anyone else remember them?
Miss Frances and Romper Room...do be a "DO BEE"
The Mickey Mouse Club, especially the Spin & Marty series
Ed Sullivan
The orange tapioca (or was it orange coconut?) pudding My-T-Fine used to make....ditto for Cherry Vanilla....
Believing what people told me
The smell of the warm sun on green grass in the early summer mornings
Watching fireflies
New York AM rock and roll radio stations
Live television
...and lots of other stuff...

This site is great!

 I love the 50's images and the MIDIs and the cars...and...well, everything! I never lived through the 1950's, but I really wish I could have. I collect anything having to do with the 50's, and your site has been very helpful towards my endless search for 50's images to put on my bedroom walls and for informational resources.

Back in the old days

 of the Internet before there was the WWW (World Wide Web) oh say around 1992..... there were sites called "gopher holes." A system that pre-dates the World Wide Web for organizing and displaying files on Internet servers. A Gopher server presents its contents as a hierarchically structured list of files. With the ascendance of the Web, most Gopher databases are being converted to Web sites which can be more easily accessed via Web search engines. Gophers are software following a simple protocol for tunneling through a TCP/IP internet. They present information in a menu-like fashion. Although gophers are rapidly becoming obsolete, they still contain quite a bit of useful information.

The point of this is that before the 28.8K Modem and High-Speed Internet Backbones, these "holes" were text based and anyone who had a site needed to be a good writer. graphics, if used at all were sparse. Nowadays it seems writing in a entertaining and humorous way has given way to Graphics and Music.

This is why when I Visited Carol's Site I was so impressed. Carol has taken the current trend of Graphics and Music and combined it with entertaining and humorous writing. This is not to say that there aren't other sites like Carol's, because there are, but Carols is one of the best. A truly refreshing site in a sea of sites that have nothing to say. Carol is currently 'out' saving Horses, Goats, Dogs and anything else on four legs. To say she Loves Animals is a understatement. Best to just go Visit her Site when you are finished here.

Here's a very small sample of her writing that she sent me 30 minutes after I asked for it.

I would be delighted

 to contribute to your scrapbook of memories. I remember my father throwing all five kids into a 55 Ford and tolling down the road listening to AM Radio headed for the A&W Root Beer Stand. It was shaped like a barrel of root beer and the car hop would come out to take our order dressed in a thousand crinkly petticoats under a felt skirt that spun out in a perfect circle. My father said if she sat down, her petticoats would stick straight up and tickle her nose. My mother said "Bill the children" and he laughed. He always said that and she answered the same each time. When the order came the mugs had been dipped in water and frozen so there was a coating of ice on them (AW Home of the frosty mug) and it would slick off and the root beer would get behind it. If you tilted them up real quick, they would burp at you from the gas escaping out of the soda trapped behind the ice.

The order came on a little tray that clipped on the side window and stayed there (unless like my brother did you reached up from the back window and pushed on it...in that case it came in and landed in the driver's lap!).

The other things I remember are the games we played at dusk in the street. Mother May I, Red Rover, Kick the Can, Tag, and Mumbly Peg (also called chicken).

Think that's what I miss the most about the 50's, you could play at dusk and there was no talk of watch out for strangers. Everyone watched out for all the children (had it's bad side...wrong deeds were known at home before we could return there and concoct a good story for why it wasn't me Mom), Sunday was Chicken Dinner and Family Drive after church day, and the week-ends and summers stretched forever.

Carol's Site "The Last Refuge"

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What do MIDI files, Spotted Donkeys and Indian Motorcycles have in common?

 ..... well....nothing, but sometimes one thing leads to another. When Ruth first visited my site she told me about a version of a MIDI she had that was better then the one I was using and said I might want to check it out on her site. Well I did, it was, and now I have it here.

 MIDI's are only a small part of what Ruth has at her site. She also has great Spotted Donkey photos and stories. Some of them (the photos and stories) are very funny. Now then, as for the Indian Motorcycle, read Ruth's emails to me.

Somewhere in my archives

 of zillions of photos I have some really nice ones I took of a friend's old but perfectly restored Indian motorcycle. These bikes were classics. Back in the old days, they were the motorcycles ridden by the Massachusetts State Police. I think they were made in Springfield, Mass. When I locate the pictures, I'll scan a couple and e-mail them to you. Not sure of the year of the bike, but I could find out for you.

then this came ......

Guess what!

 I found the Indian photos!
Oh, by the way, this gorgeous classic bike (I think it's a 1954) belongs to a friend of mine named Joe (he's sitting on it in a couple photos), who lives in New Braintree, MA. He bought the bike from some guy who had had it stored in his barn for years and years. It was practically like new, but Joe and another bikey friend spent a couple months going over it with a fine-tooth comb and restoring it back to perfect! He even had someone make custom-made saddle bags for it, with all those jazzy silver studs. I doubt if Joe is online or even has a computer. He runs a construction business (like backhoes, bulldozers, etc.), and he spends his life outdoors working long hard hours on all that heavy equipment. But he has a great personal collection of old cars, mostly Cadillac's--you know, the beautiful old El Dorado's with the two tons of chrome, big fat wide whitewall tires, and the long fins--the way Cadillac's should have always stayed! They were so COOL! The true land yacht! Nowadays you can't tell a Caddy from a scrunchy little import unless you go look at the label! They used to stand out in a crowd, like a colorful hot air balloon!

If Joe in MA is out there, here is your bike, get in touch and let me borrow it for a few weeks..... or one of your Cadillac's.

Joe's Indian Motorcycle

Image	File Name	Size
	indian1	36K		indian2	27K
	indian3	32K		indian4	29K
	indian5	21K		indian6	19K

Thanks Ruth and Joe ..... 12/27/97

Visit Ruth....Kalara Arabians & ASSociates Two Websites in One!
Kalara Arabians MIDI Jukebox and
Kalara ASSociates Spotted and Spotless Donkeys
Come Visit to Hear Great Music and See Great Photos!

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Here's a guestbook entry from Scott who wrote this:

Comments:

I very much enjoyed visiting your website. You seem to concentrate on the teenage view point, which is understandable, it was an era marked by Rock 'n Roll. Put Davy Crockett there, and remember the little kids of that era. **Grin** How about Lawrence Welk for the Old timers and maybe Gunsmoke should be mentioned. Try "I Like Ike", and Howdy Doody Time . The vast majority of Americans were unaware of it,(no CNN back then) but our Soldiers did severe in Vietnam, and some died there, long before the 1965 commitment of large scaled land forces. While America was "sleeping" during the 50's many things were happening, like "Little Rock" (again no CNN). You did capture much of that era and should be praised for the hard work and effort you put into your website. Please mention Mickey Mantle and I Love Lucy some place on your 50's site!

Thanks Scott, many of these things will be coming in the months ahead. (12/30/97)

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Here's a entry from Paul Evans

Comments:

 Great page. It's obvious that you loved the 50's. Well, I was there. A-writin' and a-singin'. I'm sort of represented at your site by Troy Donahue (He recorded a song of mine, "Live Young" for his movie, "Palm Springs Weekend") and, of course, Elvis. (I had four songs recorded by the King.) I also had a hit myself in 1959, "Seven Little Girls". I've put up a new song about the 50's at my home page. Check it out if you get the chance and, if you do get to it, enjoy!

Paul Evans Recording Artist and Songwriter
Paul Evans' hit records and songwriting hits from the 50s to the 80s.Personal statistics. The music scene in the 60s. Writing for Elvis.

"(Paul) I was a part of the 50s.
(Girls) We were a part of it, too.
(All) If you weren't part of it - deep in the heart of it -
We feel sorry for you."

Thanks Paul (01/03/98)

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Here's an note from Justin who sent this email and a photo of his car.

Just writing  you to quickly to let you know how much I enjoyed your site. I'm in constant search for an information on the fifties. I thought I would send you a pic of my car in case you wanted to post it or just for your personal enjoyment. Being only 18 years old it's hard to find anyone anymore my age that is interesting in this sort of thing... Very nice site....

Click to enlarge

Thanks Justin Jan. 09 1998

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Here's some email from Doc

I also am a Viet Vet.

 Combat Medic 1st Plt H Troop 17th Arm Cav till I got hit in March of 69. Good veterans page but I'm here looking for some sort a picture of a 65 rambler Ambassador 990. I bought one today, sight unseen, and i can't seem to bring up a picture in my mind. A buddy (82nd ABN) whose a car dealer in KC called me with this Ambassador with 51K original car, straight and clean, with new tires, ready to run back to New Mexico.. Since I was born in Kenosha I could cruze in an Ambassador though I used to throw rocks at em back then.

click to enlarge

Thanks Doc... old cars don't die, they get bought up by Vietnam Vets? Jan 10, 1998

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Here's email from Bonnie

Hey

 I'm sitting here in the Drive In at your site...did you mention cramming all the kids and snacks in the car for a cheap nite out? (Mom wasn't about to pay their price for their popcorn) Then drive in's built swing sets near the screen in my neck of the woods...

Listening to Come Go with Me now...boy you have lots of info I sure didn't remember, some of course I didn't know. Scrapbook and chrome table info..a riot!

BTW I have lots of old 45's here Wil's brother sent before he died..We never got the 78's and now we have no idea where they are!

If I find a picture of my husbands 55 Merc can I send it to you for a scan? It was red and white but I'll lay you odds I only have it in black/white. That's what he had when we got married in 1960.

Here's email from Cindy: 

Oh man!  While trying to find some good nostalgia pages, I got to yours through excite search and what great memories you brought back! Just love it!

Hubby and I love the old cars (he wants a '32 rod so bad) hopefully one of these days he gets his fondest wish! My first car was a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, black & white. Never forget the day my dad and I went to pick it up. Some guy had had it sitting on blocks among the weeds in his backyard for ages. Sold it to us for $150 cash. Paint job was excellent, interior was great - sitting there all that time hadn't dimmed its exterior luster! (They made 'em better back then guys!)

My dad worked for Ford Motor Co. and had been a car buff forever. When I was little, he always had some old 1930's Dodge(s) or whatever he was working on in the garage. Anyway, he stuck a battery in the '56, tires, completely rewired the engine himself - and "voila" away I went, hair flying in the breeze. I was somewhat of a tomboy back then, "peeling out", etc.

Oh well! A bunch of us kids went downtown to the auditorium one night to hear some local bands play, and the police politely pulled me over because my glasspacks were "just too loud little lady!" Threw a rod one day backing out of the driveway to go to work, so my Dad stuck a new engine in, had the interior redone and eventually sold my honey of a car to some guy in Victoria, Texas (we're from San Antonio). God, I do miss it! (Our move to Texas in 1964 was done in my Dad's 1946 Cadillac, another treasure.) Sorry to be rambling on, you got me all nostalgic now! In your swap meet pages, I'd love to post something sometime if this is for whatever - (just cars?).

My grandmother had given me a doll in 1958 or 1959 called "Poor Pitiful Pearl." I'd sure like to find someone willing to sell one still in the box & with all the goodies. I haven't had any luck searching around anywhere yet. Anyway, thanks so much for so much fun this morning (I should have been doing housework). Cindy

I sent her a pic of my '32 Ford (1/18 Scale) ..... then this one came.

Thanks for the picture of your great new '32! Wants to make you jump in and take off, right? (I also bought my husband some mini's - Hot Wheels, that is! He took his little rod to work with him to put on his desk.)

He used to race speedboats and had a jeep he used to race years ago in California. He built a t-bucket (I think that's what you called it, the pictures look exactly like the pic in your email though, so I'm not sure.) He's got a lot of photos in a scrapbook of all the steps in building it. Pretty neat.

Another story that came to my mind after this morning was regarding a 1967 Dodge I had as a second car in the early 70's. I had to laugh when I remembered it. It was a pale yellow with black interior (the model escapes me, it'll probably come to me later). Two door, and it had a pretty good size engine in it, in other words when you punched it, she really took off. Anyway, the only problem was that part of the back of the muffler (tailpipe?) kept coming off (you guys probably know what the heck it could have been) but when it popped off, was it ever LOUD! (I remember a guy I dated in high school used to race on some side road someplace with the other guys, and he used to "open the dumps?" (Whatever that meant.) Anyway, my car sounded louder than that.

The solution was to wire a tin can to the tailpipe! Ha! (Seriously!) My husband always told me not to "goose" it, or the darn thing would come off. Oh, geez, I couldn't resist it sometimes though! (We were in our late 20's then.) So after a hard day at the office, well, I'd get awful anxious to get home, so off came the tin can and I'd just pray I wouldn't get a ticket before I got there. My '63 Chevy is another story! Gotta run! And thanks again!

Thanks Cindy, your memories will live forever on this Site (04/01/98)

Here's a little mail and a photo from Wayne

Here is a picture of my first car.

 This picture isn't the actual car, but it is the same model. It is a '49 Crosley wagon

click to enlarge

Thanks Wayne April 11, 1998

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