In the thirties, the most fun was going to the movies. We were lucky to have sound — which just came in a few years before — and it made everything seem real. One of our first movies was “Public Enemy” starring James Cagney, who smashed a grapefruit on his girlfriend’s face. Then came Johnny…
Many of us grew up when neighborhood american drugstores sold little but drugs and sodas. In the 1940s, as we perched on green vinyl stools at a marble-topped soda fountain slurping our Green Rivers, who knew that from such humble beginnings would spring Walgreen’s and McDonald’s? My drugstore, at the corner of Cedar, Meacham and…
When someone complains about how “things ain’t like they used to be,” the “used to be” is often the 1950s. Drawing from narrow, selective memories, we 60- and 70-somethings remember fondly the sweet innocence of that era. The idyllic domesticity of Father Knows Best. The unsullied humor of I Love Lucy. The temperance of kids,…
Here’s a little story about the love of Philco radios and the many radio programs from days long gone. In the first grade, I had trouble understanding what this school stuff was all about. Sylvia Gardner was the star of the class. She was always the first to shoot up her hands with the right…
Not long ago, I returned to my hometown of Park Ridge, Illinois. I wanted to see if the essence of the town in which I grew up was still there, or if it had been overrun by sterile highways, gigantic malls, and a tsunami of franchised restaurants. I was pleased to find that I still…
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