A Letter to my Grandchildren

What was it like in the 1940s when I was your age?  Very different. Milk was delivered daily in bottles: a milk-wagon, drawn by a tired, plodding old horse, appeared on East 9th Street three times a week before we sat down to breakfast. There were also daily visits from a horse-drawn vegetable truck. An itinerant knife-sharpener came once every couple of months. And also a very old man with a large sack thrown over his back, singing out in the loudest voice I've ever heard, 'I cash clothes." There were squarish automobiles (Packards, DeSotos, Studebakers), but far fewer than today -- so few that kids would play punchball and stickball right in the middle of the street, just stepping to the side to let that occasional car whizz by. Kids also skated in the street, using clunky metal skates that attached to the shoe by turning a "skate key." There was no television, but everyone listened to the radio. "Portable" radios were as big as bread boxes. Some people had refrigerators (much smaller than modern ones), but most had "iceboxes." Every week, an ice delivery man would haul a block of ice (about a foot-and-a-half square if I remember correctly) with large tongs and set it in the icebox. Coal was delivered in barrels: men with heavy gloves would roll the barrels from the truck to the ground-level coal chute. All telephones were attached to the wall with wires. Long distance phone calls were expensive and only for emergencies. People did not communicate by e-mail or by texting, but by means of postcards and letters. A "letter" was a piece of paper on which whole paragraphs were written; it was inserted into an "envelope" and put in a "mail box" for delivery. Hard to believe, I know. There were no word processors. I learned to write using a "straight pen." There were no dvd's or cd's or streaming. Instead, we had "records," vinyl discs 12-inches in diameter which were placed on a rotating "turntable" on which rested a hand with a stylus, at first steel and then later diamond. It was primitive, I know, but it worked rather well. There were no credit cards. Some people had checking accounts, but 99% of commercial transactions were completed with "money." When I started at P. S. 217, in 1944, I wore "knickers" (pants that went to just below the knee and were held in place with elastic) and long socks. You can sometimes see knickers in old illustrated books or in clothes museums. Men always wore hats: fedoras or derbies or panamas or bowlers or pork-pies, usually made of felt. Women wore hats too, some with veils, most of them godawful ugly. Young folks "courted." In those days, before people became intimate, they would go through a period in which they would "date" and talk and get to know each other. This period could last for weeks or even months. Astonishing, I know, but trust me, it happened that way in the old days. "The past is another country; they do things differently there."      

Comments

[Don Z. Block]

I thought it was "Buy Cash Clothes!" I never understood what the guy was wailing, but I knew he wanted clothing.

The horse-drawn vegetable wagon was driven by a gimpy guy named Max, right? He would usually park on the corner of H and 9th.

[Vivian Hussein de St. Vrain]

Hi Stewie: thanks for commenting. Yes, you're absolutely right that the old clothes man's refrain was "I cash clothes." I had forgotten; thanks for reminding me. My tour of duty with the cub scouts was very brief -- not more than a couple of weeks before I dropped out, as far as I can remember, but thanks to you I now recall the name Malcolm Karkenny. And also: it wasn't us that had the TV with one of those magnifying glasses in front of it. We were tv-less until the 1952 World Series, when my father finally succumbed to extreme social pressure from me and my brothers. Or perhaps he wanted to see the games himself.

[Stuart Blickstein]

Although, as you well know, I'm not your grandchild, I really enjoyed this post.
The clothing man sang out "I cash clothes". I cannot tell you how many years of hearing that cry were required for me to decipher it. I also remember playing punch ball or stickball on your block as a Cub Scout. When we first started, and I heard someone yell "car", I thought that they were calling our patrol leader, Malcolm Karkenny. So, whenever I wanted him to throw the ball to me, or attract his attention for some other reason, I yelled "car". Lord only knows how many times I sent the den scurrying for no reason. What a doofus (sp.?) I was.

I also remember your TV. It had some sort of projection device so it was really big for the day.

Regards,
Stuart
Bear cub, Wolf den

[TAPS]

Did you have a refrigerator or an ice box? How big was your school? I know what a letter is! (And I know what a envelope is and a mailbox is.) -taps

Dear TAPS: We had a refrigerator. My grandparents had an icebox. My school was a five-round, meaning there were five first grade classes, five second, etc. About 35 children in each class, grades kindergarten to 8.