Synopsis

Memories of Times Past, A Nostalgic Collection of Personal Stories and Photographs Recalling the Way Life Was in the Early Part of the Twentieth Century recounts over 200 personal stories the author has collected recalling the first half of the last century--stories that are often amusing, sometimes hard to believe, but always interesting. In an era of “information overload” these selective vignettes and photographs about real peoples’ lives provide a nostalgic look at an often-forgotten personal history.

Some examples

When I was a kid in the forties the milkman came to our house every day in a horse and wagon. Mom would put the number of empty bottles that we needed out on the porch and he would exchange them for full ones. When you put the milk bottles out you put the money on top. Or, during the war when milk was rationed, you put out a milk ticket hooked on with a clothespin. I can’t imagine that today because the money or the milk would probably be gone by the time we got up! It was whole milk of course, none of this nonfat or one-percent fat stuff we have now. The cream would float to the top because it was heavier, and then mom would carefully drain that off and put it in a container for dad’s coffee. In the winter if we kids got to it first we would eat the frozen flakes of cream on top. In those days we didn’t know that fat clogged arteries, and we didn’t know that it made you fat, so if we had it in any form, we ate it and didn’t feel a bit guilty.

- Bill Toaker, retired butcher, born 1931

 

Back then everyone had a popular song that had special meaning for them; reminding them of their anniversary, or their first love, or prom night, or the boy who broke their heart; and these songs were little mementos in our lives that always rekindled those memories whenever we heard them. In the forties and fifties every significant event in our lives seemed to be linked to a popular song. During the war years it was songs like “Now is the Hour, “Over There,” and “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To.” There were a lot of pretty Irish songs too like “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” and “How Are Things in Gloccamorro?” and of course that old tearjerker “Danny Boy.” On the classical side there was Caruso and Benjamino Gigli and Maria Callas singing love duets from grand opera, and romantic Italian street songs such as “O Sole O’Mio.”

We could dance to the songs back then, snuggling up and melting into our partners arms as Bing Crosby crooned; maybe even putting our head on our date’s shoulder. The sentimental ballads of Frank Sinatra were great to dance to, and later smooch to while listening to a scratchy long-playing record that we’d paid for with the last eighty cents of our allowance. The big problem then was that you had to interrupt your groping and pawing to get up and turn the record over. That was a good break for the girls, but frustrating for the boys. Then they developed record players where you could stack about five or six records at a time so the music would last longer, but it wasn’t good for the records, and they wore out sooner.

- Michelle Ringer, boutique owner, born 1936 in Montreal

 

This personalized review of the past century provides a captivating summary of the amazing evolutionary changes we have experienced, and will remind some of us of the way we used to live and, for others, discover what it was like for our parents and grandparents.