Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Do you remember things that never happened? Evidently I do.

There was a time when we 'Watched' the radio!

There was an interesting part of my life that is seldom paralleled. My dad was a preacher. He once pastored a church that had a two bedroom parsonage. At that time I was in the seventh grade and Shirl was in High school (She is much older than I! LOL). Dad knew his tenure there would not be long enough for another parsonage to be built. So he opted to put me in the back yard, because Shirl needed her privacy, she was growing up (you know boobs and stuff). We had a large back yard. He moved a small trailer in the rear with elec.


That was my home, well mine and my dog Ace. Back then you were lucky to have a radio and I had one. The radio had no cover or knobs. I could move the selecting capacitor with my finger to find stations. Ace and I would listen to the radio for hours into the night. I knew all the programs. Mr & Mrs North, The Squeaking Door, the FBI in Peace and War, Oh there was Matt Dillon and ‘Gun Smoke’. The Green Hornet , Johnny Dollar, Lum & Abner, The Great Guildersleeve, Boston Blackie and many more.
The funny thing is there were two programs I loved, that no one seems to remember. I cannot find a record of them on the archives of the internet. They were:

“If By a Stroke of Fate” (that I mentioned in an earlier blog entry) and “Can you Top This?”
Now the first one was a “What if?” serious program, but the other was strictly a fifteen minute program of telling jokes. The Audience would send in jokes, supposedly a professional comedian would tell it in front of a live audience and some kind of noise meter would judge the applause. I loved it and lay there and laughed and laughed. Ace thought I had gone crazy for fifteen minutes. But he seemed to understand I would get over this problem.


(As I said, We Watched the Radio!)

I remember even writing a joke and sending it in, of course mine was never used, but I wish I could remember the joke now.
Please tell me if you ever heard one of these programs, I know I am not making it up!

Nite Shipslog
PS: One of Will Rogers’ sayings was:
Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

PS2..I just found a mention of ‘can you top this’ on the net.



11 comments:

Ally Lifewithally said...

Just popped in to say Hello ~ glad you found mention of one of the programmes on the net ~ what wonderful times we had just watching the Radio ~ Ally x

shirl72 said...

I am not that much older and be careful what you say. You are right behind me. I just remember TV
programs. LOL

Shirl

Paula said...

You must have felt very important having your own apartment of sorts. You're right about watching the radio. Guess we thought we might miss something.

Anonymous said...

HOW ABOUT 'OUR MISS BROOKS'?
AMOS N' ANDY.
FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY.

I SLEPT IN A BACK ROOM OF OUR COUNTRY STORE.
GOOD BATTERY RADIO.
'MONTGOMERY WARD' WINDCHARGER CHARGED THE BATTERY. sam

Anonymous said...

Jack, being 79 years of age I remember all those programs you mentioned,with the exception of "What If/" The only other one I remember is "Gang Busters" which I think was on Friday night at 10 PM.
We had a large Wurlitzer (s/p) set that also had a record player.I know was purchased prior to or in 1941 had a tag on it that it could be adapted for Televison, which we never did. Remember well Dec, &, 1941 as we listened to Pres. Roosevelt and his "Day in Infamy" speech.
"Can You Top This" was a favorite of mine also.
We of course watched the radio sitting on the floor in front of it. I built my on set, that I was proun of. which ran on a C battery. Thinking back I think that was the only size battery we ever had at that time.
"Hit parade" was my sisters favorite.
What a time or a boy to recall. I got a pair of boots with a penknife inserted on the top side of them for Christmas and that was probably the only gift I got that year.
We had fun and enjoyed life but it sure was differant than is is today.
Enjoy your daily blog and admire your ability of recall. I only have that in my dreams and then I orget them when I awake.
Stay cool and hydrated, Bill

betty said...

never heard of those radio programs, Jack, but being MUCH younger than you (LOL, getting back at you for saying Shirl was much older than you), we didn't listen to as many radio programs as TV was sooo definitely coming onto the scene. I mainly remember just listening to music on the radio. That joke program sounded like a good one; I think they need to bring that back and only allow good clean jokes. I think we need lots more laughs these days :)

stay cool; not sure if you are affected by the heat of the East Coast, but keep cool and well hydrated!

betty

Sheila Y said...

I listened to WSM at night sometime...that was the only time I could pick it up on my radio in my room. They had a bit about 'the old prospectors' I wish I could here again. Take care, Sheila

~mel said...

How cool was that ~ having your own place in the seventh grade. I would have loved a set up like that! I had to share the upstairs area ~ 2 big rooms with my sisters and the boys got the downstairs bedroom. There were six girls in our family and 3 boys ... so we had territorial issues at times. BUT... truth be told ~ those were some good ol' days.

Fred Alton said...

"If By A Stroke of Fate" and "Can You Top This" must have been programs before my time. Of course since I'm so much younger than you I can't remember those two - but I do remember all the other -rograms you mentioned. I can remember lying on the couch with my head next to the old radio cabinet as I listed to one after the other for three or four hours - concluding with the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday Nights over WSM-650 on your radio dial! ☺

Lucy said...

We had to charge the battery on the tractor to even have ours on at all. Usually was saved for Joe Louis fights, or the death of a president.

Dar said...

Weeellllll! I only remember Jack Benny! I, too, am so much younger than you, Jack Darnell! I am in awe, however, of your memory...you sure have me beat there. I would get those memory pills, but danged if I can remember what they're called?
Great entry...
Hope you're keeping cool as you.
BlessYouBoth