Childhood, I was a child in the 30's and 40's, how times have changed. I am on a Facebook site, "I Grew Up in the 40's ... etc." and it brings back so many memories. When I see all the memories of our youth I feel sorry for the kids today, then miss out on so much ... character molding ... just sitting and watching either a computer screen or a TV screen. We played in dirt, caught lightening bugs, played in an alley, spent a lot of time in our alley. We got orange crates from the corner market, nailed roller skates to them, and made ... I don't know we called them. I know if the small skate wheels got caught in a rut, the ensuing accident could throw you a few feet.
We stayed out and played till the streetlights came on, then it was time to go home. We would take a bath, put on pajamas and head downstairs to listen to the old Philco Radio. Amos and Andy, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, and, we used our ..... imagination. Mom was there, so was Dad, often, my brother, occasionally some neighbors might drop by .... or earlier in the evening, we would all sit on the front porch, wave a lot, talk with neighbors who dropped by, and from that viewpoint, knew all that was going on in the neighborhood.
In the afternoon I would work on my Crystal Radio Set. I once ordered a private detective course from the Johnson Smith Catalog, a world of entertainment just in that catalog. Once I ordered X-ray glasses so I could look through girls dresses, they didn't work. I ordered a lot of items from that catalog, and did it all while listening to Jack Armstrong and Captain Midnight and all the other afternoon radio shows.
I remember that .... well .... spitting was big then. It was a ... thing .... spitters were tough, it was a ... man thing. You ended a conversation with a spit .... especially an argument or a heated discussion. It was the period at the end of the sentence. You had to practice it though, nothing more embarrassing than .... looking cool and confident, giving ..... the glance ..... defiantly spitting, and it drools on to your chin. Nothing worse.
