Exceptional 1950's & 60's - a letter to the Millennials and Generation Z In Days Gone By by Dawn Munro

In Days Gone By... Old was Mom and Dad; really old was anyone with white hair. Picture... (the 1950's and sixties...) pickling, preserving, canning crocheting, tatting, knitting darning socks... slippers and idiot mittens, lacy edging for linens, home-baked shortbread in fancy tins for Christmas... Picnics and family vacations -- "Are we there yet?" Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Phyllis Diller, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and The Ed Sullivan Show -- "A really big shoe..." Lamb Chop and the Friendly Giant Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Doris Day and all those wonderful musicals... trick or treating with pillowcases -- costumes thrown together from what was in the house: a gypsy, a pirate, a robot, a gypsy again because -- "I LOVE gypsies!" (and colourful scarves for the head, hoop earrings and flared skirts were always available.) Walking to school with friends. Valentines you painstakingly addressed by hand. Ice skating on the school rink until your toes nearly fell off with the cold and warming them in the oven when you got home... Saving pennies in a piggy bank until proud as a peacock, you have your first bank account and passbook; five whole dollars birthday money from Great Auntie! Double-dutch skipping and marbles at recess in spring and fall. Hoola hoops and slinkies, etch-a-sketch , paint-by-numbers, a Chatty Cathy doll -- she talked! Five cents for a bag of assorted penny candies; (a 'dime bag' wasn't drugs!) You were rich with candy, when you had a ten-cent bag. You couldn't wait to share with your best friend... Silver dollars from 'Uncle' Bill when he'd visit, up from the big city (Toronto). Twenty-five cents for an allowance. A Saturday matinee: three cartoons, two features, a pop and a popcorn, sitting right up front, or maybe in the balcony so you could spy on your big sister and her boyfriend. Trixie Beldon, Little Women, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Anne of Green Gables, Huckleberry Finn and many more -- all books she knew you'd love from your sister -- the same sister you spied on in the balcony of the Strand Theatre... the one who bought you a real amethyst necklace and matching earrings for your 13th birthday -- her feelings were really hurt when she found out you'd lost them, even though it was years later... Summertime and the easy living...a polka-dotted, two piece bathing suit and the town swimming pool -- " Boy-crazy!" Mood rings and Frankie Avalon, Gidget, and dancing the twist. Writing a fan letter to Hayley Mills, and getting an answer! Oxfords and bobby socks, pleated skirts and practice kissing with Elvis Presley's Blue Hawaii album... July 21, 1969 Everyone gathered in the living room to watch the first step onto the moon, Neil Armstrong on a big black and white TV occupying center stage -- "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Please... put down the cell phone, the laptop, the tablet -- let's do something together. Time passes quickly. Recognized Author Notes Videos courtesy of YouTube.

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