Jim Stillman
NevarIn the olden days…
October 20th 2007 15:05
My very favorite 21 year old granddaughter, Jessica, send us a booklet entitled “1956 Memories”, a collection of news items and prices from that year. Jessica suggested that this material would recall what was going on when I was her present age.
I still recall some of the vintage advertisements. The Nash Rambler was a car that brought snickers to high school lads: reclining seats that could become a bed. The ad proclaimed that the Rambler was a car that offered “complete new luxury that rivals $5,000 cars”.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that $5000 in today’s dollars is $37,058.
Of course if you wanted to drive anywhere, one would need gas, then 22˘ per gallon. While I was in high school and in the early 1950’s, the cost of fuel was steady at 15˘ per gallon. I still recall the day I went to buy gas at a local store in Miami and came home proclaiming the end of the world, gas had hit 30˘!
According to the booklet (and my recollection), postage stamps were – and had been “forever”) 3˘, ground coffee, 85˘ per pound, and fresh bread, 18˘ per loaf!
Tickets to the movies hovered at 75˘, a guy could go on a date –- at least in my hometown – with $7 or $8 in his pocket and usually have changed! I am very fortunate not to have sons; the cost of a senior prom now is in the $150 -$175 range; of course our daughters needed new dresses, hair style and whatever girls require.
Average income was $4500 per year. That makes me feel as little better. I graduated Columbia Law School three years later, was hired by a medium-sized prestigious law firm and paid $13,000 annually; after I passed the Bar examination and was a real lawyer, my salary was increased $10 per week. I have a nephew who was admitted to the New York Bar a few years ago. The average starting salary for a new attorney now is in the six figures (before the decimal point).
Oh the good old days.
I still recall some of the vintage advertisements. The Nash Rambler was a car that brought snickers to high school lads: reclining seats that could become a bed. The ad proclaimed that the Rambler was a car that offered “complete new luxury that rivals $5,000 cars”.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that $5000 in today’s dollars is $37,058.
Of course if you wanted to drive anywhere, one would need gas, then 22˘ per gallon. While I was in high school and in the early 1950’s, the cost of fuel was steady at 15˘ per gallon. I still recall the day I went to buy gas at a local store in Miami and came home proclaiming the end of the world, gas had hit 30˘!
According to the booklet (and my recollection), postage stamps were – and had been “forever”) 3˘, ground coffee, 85˘ per pound, and fresh bread, 18˘ per loaf!
Tickets to the movies hovered at 75˘, a guy could go on a date –- at least in my hometown – with $7 or $8 in his pocket and usually have changed! I am very fortunate not to have sons; the cost of a senior prom now is in the $150 -$175 range; of course our daughters needed new dresses, hair style and whatever girls require.
Average income was $4500 per year. That makes me feel as little better. I graduated Columbia Law School three years later, was hired by a medium-sized prestigious law firm and paid $13,000 annually; after I passed the Bar examination and was a real lawyer, my salary was increased $10 per week. I have a nephew who was admitted to the New York Bar a few years ago. The average starting salary for a new attorney now is in the six figures (before the decimal point).
Oh the good old days.
| 60 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by youranter
youranter
Opinions
opinionatedranter
Tales From The Green Lantern
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
Pop Rock Factory
Like youranter - the ice cream van (playing Greensleeves) would traverse the streets, the milkman and baker would deliver in the wee-small hours of the morning (collecting the money left conveniently on the front door step), your neighbours would bring in your washing (if it looked like rain) - and yes the back door was never locked.
Bread was still sliced either thick or thin depending on your preference, the postman still rode a push bike, wore a uniform (complete with cap) and blew a whistle to let you know he'd made a delivery and there was always someone to serve you petrol (gas), check your oil, water and tyres.
Could go on - but thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
MNG
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
in my era and country, things were a little different, but the same in many ways too.
I also remember the saw dust floor sof the butchers, the Tip Top man at the front door each morning with his wicker basket of bread baked so recently it was still giving off that heady yeasty aroma, the "bottle-o" (empty glass bottle collector), the rag man, the grocer, the day when the small bottle of Coke JUMPED from six pence to SEVEN PENCE!!!
This was the cause of much consternation in my school's playground!
A large brown paper bag of lollies (candy) cost two shillings, and you selected each lolly with careful consideration, and the gentleman or lady behind the counter waited patiently and politely for you to ...errr...ummm...decide!
The disappearance of the halfpenny! (pronounced 'hay-penny')
A LARGE fish and chips cost one shilling (ten cents)...that jumped too, to two shillings!! (twenty cents).
Squash soft drink...gone...it had real tiny bits of orange 'muscles' (as I called them) in the bottom of the bottle!
Woodroofs lemonade and Anscol Ice Cream...NONE have ever been better than them! Oh, and the best of all, SNOW CAP...a delightful soft drink, that was dark like cola, and had a creamy foam top when poured.
And last, but NOT LEAST...FIRECRACKERS!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!
cheers...tanx for the memories...as the song goes...!
fog
Comment by Anonymous