Question from Jennifer:
Entertainment
Prior to the invention of television, or at least it's appearance in the common household, what was a typical source of entertainment for a family in the evening? And what would children typically do, whereas these days they may be playing video games?
Response from Tom:
This question is really good; just yesterday we were reminiscing about the old days. Well, in my early years, late 30s and 40s, we lived in the country and had to walk to school about 2 1/2 miles, where city kids also went. In the summer, it was never hard to find a baseball game going, and the ages of the kids were from 10 to 25 if they weren't in the military. We would go to a field (our cow pasture) and play scrubs, or hardball. Later in the evenings, we would sit around the radio and listen to FDR fireside chats and all kinds of programs. Green Hornet, Gang Busters, Bulldog Drummond, Inner sanctum, and comedy shows, like Fibber Magee and Molly, etc. In the summer, once a month, there would be a free air show; it was like a drive in theater, and you sat on the back of a truck or in the car and watched singers, dancers, comedians. They would then pass a hat, if you had a nickel or dime to give, they never pressed for it.
Question from Jennifer:
Dinnertime 20s and 30s
What was a typical dinner in the 20's or the 30's? What types of food did people typically eat?
Response from Kim D:
Well, I'm pretty sure it was all regional -- much more so than nowadays. We're a lot more "homogenized" with our ethnicity these days, food-wise. For example, I doubt if anyone north of Texas had ever heard of a burrito!
I think the best way to find the answer to your question would be to search through regional cookbooks that were printed during that time. I think it's safe to say, though, that things have changed quite a bit. For one thing, they don't seem to have been too afraid of sugar! I have an old recipe for lemon meringue pie from back then that has easily twice the sugar than what we would use today. Also, the meat and fat consumption was probably higher. That sort of thing...
You might also try searching through old newspapers' food sections.
Question from FTW:
Origin of Turnpike
I recently read a Civil War Diary where the individual referred to a "Turnpike." In today's world, I think of a Turnpike as a toll road on the East coast. Does anyone know the origin of the word Turnpike and what the original meaning was, prior to paved roads?
Response from R. Smith:
The turnpike was originally the pole or pike placed across the road like a gate. It would be turned after you paid your toll. A toll road thus had a "turnpike" at each end, which made it a turnpike road.
Question from Jennifer:
Trips to town
These days, it's nothing to make a trip to the grocery store at any time. Even for most farmers it's perhaps a ten mile trip. Before the use of automobiles, to go to town, was this a day's adventure? Was this a trip taken maybe once a month? What were the necessary items one would be sure to get on a trip to town?
Response from D. Coppenhaver:
My grandfather would take the extra corn he did not need and take it to the mill. Sometimes my grandmother and I would go along and she would get flour, large chunks of butter and lard, coffee, and other things they did not raise on the farm. And yes, it was an all day trip. I can still remember how good the coffee smelled when they would grind it right in front of you in the store. You did not get the supplies yourself. The store keeper had a long wooden pole with clamps on the end that he used to get the items off the top shelves of the racks.
We also used those days in town as a social event because my grandparents always seemed to spend hours standing in front of the store talking with old friends.
Those were truly the good old days, not because of what we did, but because it was done as a family. There was no rushing around to run in and get one item. And on the trip back home, there was always plenty of time to talk about the things we saw.
D. Coppenhaver
Question from Knapper:
The Milk Man
I remember little metal boxes on the porch where the milk man would put the fresh milk when he delivered it. Does anyone know WHEN they stopped delivering milk to the home?
Response from Tom Packard:
I remember the milk man delivering milk in the Milwaukee area with a horse and milk wagon. I can't be sure about Milwaukee, but can remember the delivery trucks in the Early 1950s. I know for sure in Cudahy WS. Huebner Dairy delivered milk up until 1954.
Response from Tom Mlinar:
I don't know where you live, I live in the Milwaukee area, and home milk deliveries were still being made in the late 50s although it was dying away rapidly. That was also about the time the ice deliveries began to end. The iceman delivered to homes and to taverns before refrigeration.
Tom
Question from Knapper:
Sock Hop
My grandson wanted to know what a sock hop was, so I figured others may want to know also.
The reason they called it a sock hop was because the dance was held in a school gym on the basketball court. We were not allowed to wear shoes on the gym floor, so you had to dance in your stocking feet. Thus the name sock hop.
Has anyone gone to a sock hop, that was held anywhere other then a school gym?
Comment from FTW:
Grandparents
I remember that my grandfather, Warren Hostetter, always wore a long sleeve shirt, even in the heat of summer when he was working out on the farm. And I never saw my grandmother, Marion Hostetter, wear slacks or a skirt. She always wore long dresses that went halfway between her knees and her ankles. Now that we live in an air conditioned world, I often wonder how they survived the heat of summer dressed like that.
Question from FTW:
Rumble Seats
I just read a letter from my Uncle Harvey Wike where he talks about an old Plymouth Convertible that my father owned during WW II. My uncle stated that it had a "rumple seat." I had always heard it referred to as a "rumble seat," so I wondered if my uncle had misspelled it. While checking the Internet, I only found 3 sites using the spelling "rumple," and a whole slew of sites using rumble.
So, here is my question. Does anyone know the correct spelling, or are they both correct? And if they are both correct, why are there two different spellings? Is this a geographical thing in the usage or what?
Response from Old Bill:
We always called it a rumple seat. I grew up in Southern Indiana and remember riding in my friend's car. There was a little round step build into the right rear fender that you had to use to get into the rumple seat.
The biggest problem I had was trying to keep from getting thrown out of the car when he went around the curves. There was nothing to hold onto and I almost fell out of his car one time. At my age, I have trouble remembering things, but I will never forget that ride.
Responses from Tom Mlinar:
Call it what you care to, but I had several cars that had (RUMBLE) seats as we called them. Never heard rumple till now. I have an old car now and [drive] to car shows and swap meets almost every weekend in the summertime, and there are a lot of cars there with rumble seats. Never heard them called anything else.
I live in Milwaukee area, I own a 1940 car today. I have owned many with "rumble" seats, and have never heard them called rumple. I go to car shows almost every weekend, and there are many cars with them, and I have friends that have them; they too never heard them referred to as rumple. But different parts of the country do call things different. Like water fountains [or] drinking fountains, here they are "bubblers".
Reply from Clyde:
What type of car from the 40's do you own now? Is it restored or customized? I wish the newer cars were as easy to work on as the old ones were.
Response from Tom Mlinar:
To Clyde: My car is a 1940 Packard. It is all original condition. I overhauled the engine, and repainted it the Packard Green original engine color. Other than that, it is as original as the day it was bought. It was bought at Milwaukee Packard Co. by a man from Ripon, WS., late 1940. He drove it till the war broke out then stored it until 1945. In late '45 he started to drive it again. In 1964, he traded it in on a new car in Ripon, and it was bought by a fellow in Manitowoc, WI. He had it for several years and [it] was purchased by another Manitowoc man. In the late 80s, my friend bought it and brought it to So. Milwaukee, and I bought it from him in 1995. It has had some minor body work done, and some touch up spots of paint, but remains original interior. It has wide white wall tires that were added just for looks. It was not standard in the 40s. I sent a picture to you, I think, but don't know how to get one on this page.
Published in U S Legacies Magazine March 2003
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