Part One
What Did I Do For Entertainment When I Was Growing Up?
Throughout my childhood many of the games we played were made up games. Things we occupied ourselves with, without spending a cent such as Button, Button, Who’s Got The Button , I Spy, I’m Thinking Of An Object (give clues), Cat and Mouse, Horse or Hangman (Letter game), Map games( again giving clues to a specific place), just to name ones than come to my mind now. We would shoot big balls of paper into a waste basket for points, and for me when my parents were building a house and we lived in the finished basement, we just had bare bulb light fixtures for several years, the kind with a string to turn on the light. We used the large rubber bands to shoot .across the living/dining room which was a distance of 22 feet from light to light. You got so many points for hitting the string and the jackpot was if you actually turned the light on or off with your shot. These were some of the free to play indoor games.
We did not have TV in the 40s and early 50s, but we did have a console radio. We loved listening to the radio shows like “Fibber Magee and Mollie, Jack Benny, Amos and Andy, The Shadow, Mr. And Mrs. North, the Lone Ranger, Ma Perkins, Lux Present Hollywood, Abbott and Costello Show, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Ozzie and Harriet, The Adventures of Phillip Marlowe, Sam Spade, The Bell Telephone Hour, The Red Skeleton Show, The Bob Hope Show, Dick Tracy, The Chase and Sanborn Hour, The Dinah Shore Show, The Eddie Duchin Show, Dragnet, The Green Hornet, Grand Old Opry, Inner Sanctum, Gunsmoke, Life of Reilly, Kate Smith Show, My Friend Erma, Mr. Keen Tracer of Lost Persons, The Guiding Light, Queen For A Day, Art Linkletter’s House Party, What’s My Name, People Are Funny, The Hit Parade, Perry Mason and so many that I probably don’t remember. This was our entertainment, and yes we sometimes did sit around and look at the radio while our show was on.
We also read books, a lot of books, drew pictures, colored with crayons ( the ones that were brought home from school the year before) in coloring books, Cut out and played with paper dolls and even made our own clothes from them out of scrap paper or if we were lucky an old wallpaper book from the paint store.
One of our favorite pastimes was putting jig saw puzzles together. This was an activity that the entire family took part in. I would have to admit that my dad and I did the most on them though. We had board games, like Sorry, and Monopoly. And they got a lot of use. We played card games like Gin Rummy, Old Maid, Rook, Uno and others. Solitaire was always a favorite when there was no one to play with. We also played Chinese Checkers, Dominos and Checkers. Girls played dolls and boys played with tinker toys, erector sets and Lincoln logs and of course cars and trucks. We made tents over the dining room table and chairs. I really can’t say there were that many times when we were ever bored.
We were usually outside playing in the summertime. Ball games, tag, and hide and seek were big in my neighborhood. We road bicycles when we had one. I didn’t get my first bike until I was 10 which was a pretty common age for getting one. Parents felt that children should be old enough to learn to take care of them and learn all the safety rules. If you rode your bicycle after dark you had to have a front light and rear reflectors and it was enforced. Most bicycle light did not seem to last long so it was common to have a flashlight clamp on the handle bars. Most bicycles were the 26 inch one speeds and had a basket. I often ran to the grocery store on my bicycle for some of the neighbors and this would get me a nickel or dime tip for doing it. My first and only bicycle was a royal blue Monarch, 26 inch wheels , a basket in front and carrier on the rear fender. I even learned to replace spokes myself.
Our summer time Hide and Seek games were legendary. Kids from all over town came to our home base (a light pole on what is now referred to as 2nd street) . On any given day or early evening we could have as many as 15 playing and the ages might range from 6 or 7 years old up to late teens. We did get so we wondered why we never could find one teen couple. Hmmmmm.
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Comments: 38
This is a sharp contrast to my children who are dependent on TV, video games, and an expectation that new things will be provided, almost on a daily basis, to keep them happy. These are things that they find are limited when they visit with their Dad.
Recently, my son and I spent an hour and a half, in the car, reciting Peter Piper Picks... as many times as we could in succession. I actually got a big kick out f it, as did he, so we've revisited the game a few times.
Other than being a few years younger many of the same things I can relate to. The neighborhood I was raised in was just that, a neighborhood, not just a hood. All us kids played together and went to school together. We did have B&W TV with a coat hanger antenae. It was a special treat to got to someones house that had one of those new color TVs. It was Southern Calif so we were out most of the year but in the summer we could play till dark. We had to go in when we would hear our parents calling. Actually the first couple times were ignored but then when the middle name was used in calling, it meant business.
I havn't thought about the erector set for years and the hours of Chinese Checkers.............
I grew up in the 50s and 60s but it was much the same.
Wonderful!
There was even one day in the summer a few years ago that we had a chinese checker tournament when my daughter got a 7-in-one game set that had the game. She was obsessed with that game for well over a month before she moved on to another game.
Audery, I recognize many of the games you mentioned. We didn't have basements in my neighborhood so your rubberband and string-pull lightswitch was a new one!
I know I will think of more things, but we could make a dime go a long way. And what is this crap about the generation following mine, Bill. I think of a generation as being 20 years, and you sure as the dickens are not 20 years younger than I am. I am what my sign on says, 67.
Larry, I just bet you had the girls after you. Wasn't life simple and good then?
I remember listening to The Lone Ranger (The Looooooooone Ranger Rides AGAIN!!!!) as I was doing my little table-setting chore...
I remember my Mom listening to music as she did her morning chores: "Listen To The Mockingbird," and "Old Soldiers Never Die - They Just Fade Away," were two that caught my interest.
What a good memory-stirrer your pieces are, Audrey.
They would love for someone be help pass on this wonderful games and traditions.
I teach teenagers and I can assure you that even that age is not slow to jump in if they can do so without lack of status ;-).
Seriously, These are traditions which should be written down and passed on practicly to the next generations.
Trine
My sister and i spent hours quizzing each other with the question and answer books that came with our World Book encyclopedia and our Globe. Both of us loved to learn. I was GREAT at geography in class, always knew where an Indian river was or a province in China, always had a store of facts gleened from that encyclopedia. Learning and retaining that information was the game, as was the competition, to see who knew more.
I believe that the 2 games related above created the foundation for my particular artistic mindset and my life long love of reading and intellectual pursuits of many kinds, and i am forever grateful for them.
Once again you wrote another good story. I have to say though I remember going to my grandma's as a child, and my sister beat me at chinese checkers everytime. I just could not understand that game, and to this day I still can't comprend how to play regular checkers LOL.
It is just to bad that families don't get together nowadays and play games and stuff.