About 99.99% of the songs which I love were released before my birth year (1976).
Most of my faves were recorded between about 1954 and 1964. (I like your screen name, BTW!)
My mom was born in the late 40s. I do enjoy music from the 40s, 30s, and 20s.
These days, I seem to listen a lot to my favourite artists: Bobby Curtola, Jack Scott, Johnny Tillotson, The Beau-Marks. (Yup, I favour Canadian-born artists. I'm a lifelong Canadian.)
As for movies, mostly I enjoy 1930s mysteries, 1930s gangster films, 1940s film noir, early 1950s film noir, late 50s comedies, 1960s comedies, and a bunch of films from 1980-on. I've seen a bunch of silents which I enjoyed.
As a 40 year old, I should love anything that is 1980. Yeah right. What an AWFUL decade for entertainment!!! I like very few songs and movies from the 1980s. As for TV shows, I enjoyed a lot of 1980s sitcoms when I was a kid, but none of them had staying power with me (except The Cosby Show, and these days, I wouldn't watch that). As for the clothing which people wore in the 80s....the less I think about 1980s clothing and hairdos, the better.
As for How to Marry a Millionaire, it's a charming film which I can watch over and over again. I've heard a lot of complaints about how the film is so dated. Yup, it's dated 1953. What are people expecting to see in this film? Cell phones? Computers?
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen
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OnlyRocknRoll
8 years ago
Thanks for your post. You remind me that there are still a few people left who enjoy dialogue rather than diatribe.
Canada has produced some wonderful actors. I once spent 4 days in Ottawa with a friend from upstate New York. The people were so different and so much nicer than people from the USA. I remember that some of the people working in the hotel were very surprised that I could speak French. They didn't seem to know much about the history of the French in what is now the USA.
As for the 1980's, I certainly prefer that time to these awful days. Life really hasn't been worth living since about 1995.
My favourite Canadian: Gordon Lightfoot
"If you could read my mind, Love, what a tale my thoughts would tell..."
BTW, computers and cell phones are two of the worst, most damaging things to be invented in all of human history. By the next millennium the lemmings will have figured that out.
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Maximus Decimus Meridius
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MsELLERYqueen2
8 years ago
Ugh. I hated the 1980s. I was glad when that decade finally ended. For me, life really began in 1991, when I turned 15.
My favourite Canadian celebrities: Bobby Curtola (who passed away a few weeks ago), Jack Scott, The Beau-Marks.
Runners-up: Paul Anka, Gordon Lightfoot, The Diamonds, The Crew-Cuts.
As for computers and cell phones, they have their pros and their cons.
Pros:
I've always loved written correspondence, so internet posting works for me. I remember the days when I had pen pals, but the letters were few and far between. On internet chat groups, I can post every day and it's written correspondence.
Cell phones are good for on-the-road emergencies.
Cons:
I think that some folks have gone WAY overboard with facebook. In fact, whenever I happen to overhear a conversation in a public place, it's pretty much guaranteed to be about facebook: fb friends, likes/dislikes of a post, etc. And nope, I'm not eavesdropping. I'm standing near them and they're talking too loudly. Oh, I suspect that they WANT to be overheard.
A lot of forums now have the like/dislike feature for the user comments. I realize that people should be able to express their opinions, but geez, this is really going overboard. If they agree/disagree with something that has been written, why don't they just reply to the person?
As for cell phones, I'm totally against people walking/driving while using their phones (texting or talking on their phones). I also find it so rude when people have a loud conversation on their phones, even if those people are seated. Whatever happened to private phone conversations? Whatever happened to sitting down before texting (if such a thing ever existed)?
Oh well...
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen
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OnlyRocknRoll
8 years ago
It's gotten so that I hate to go shopping because ugly music in the store, and people yapping on their phones will be inflicted upon me. I just bought a box of earplugs to wear when I shop.
I agree that a cell phone can be useful in an emergency, but people have gone way overboard with them. Most of what you are forced to hear is utter inanity and banality. Actually requiring them as a part of someone's job?. How the heck do they think that work got done before?
I should distinguish between the computer and the internet. The computer is just an abused tool now enslaved to the internet. What's pathetic is that people believe that smart phones and the internet are keeping them 'connected'. This is no longer a face to face society. Now people need devices and social media for that. All of it could be eliminated tomorrow and it would not affect me much. I'd rather have an IBM Selectric II and a ream of paper anyway.
You can't buy lovely stationery anymore. You can't buy a decent notebook or pen. I'm glad that I kept some of my cartridge pens. When they run out of ink I buy ink at an art store and then fill them using a syringe. But there is no one who writes anymore. At the top of my closet is a large green hat box (yes! a hat box)that contains 20-25 years of letters. Sometimes I get them out in order to reminisce.
The 1980's were a good time for me. I remember that time fondly. By 1990, everything started going south. It gets worse every year.
Ciao!
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Maximus Decimus Meridius
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MsELLERYqueen2
8 years ago
I've been unhappy with music in public places ever since I was a kid. Not much I can do about it. I just tune it out. Earplugs are a good idea. At least I can listen to my beloved music at home and in my car.
I agree with you about cell phones, but I just remember the advantages of cell phones and I just grin and bear it. Again, earplugs are a good idea for public places. I'm good at tuning out people who talk on their phones in public, just like I tune out crappy music being played in stores.
I still see notebooks and pens on sale, mostly the school supplies types. Not sure about stationery, because what would I do with it? Who still writes letters? I wish that I could have a few pen pals still, but that will not happen. At least I can still do written correspondence online. Besides, most of my former pen pals took way too long to reply. I used to reply the day that I received their letters.
A hat box? I never had one of those because I never wore hats. They went out of style before my time. But I've seen them in older films and they are so classy-looking...perfect for storing letters in them once the hat has been removed.
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen
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OnlyRocknRoll
8 years ago
When I was a child, I didn't like hats either. Especially the ones with a chin strap. But, Mom used to buy us each a new one every Easter along with new white cotton gloves (I kept losing mine).
My Mom had great hats. Especially the big red one made of Milano straw. I still have some of mine and wear them in summer for protection from the sun. Just like I started using sun block before it became popular. Now there are a least 50 varieties but the one I used was named Sol Bar
There were 4 stores where I bought beautiful stationery and greeting cards. Long gone. Mill Deckle Vellum was my favorite type of paper. I also still have my left-handed set of Calligraphy pens/nibs.
I haven't had a pen pal since the Vietnam War ended. In school the Sisters encouraged us to write to these guys. I guess some had no family. I exchanged letters with this one guy for about a year. When the war ended we lost track of each other. I was still writing a lot of letters in 1976!
In 1976 a first class air mail stamp was 5 cents. You did not need to dial an area code on the phone. Gasoline was less than a dollar a gallon. It was a VERY different world and I miss it. I don't say that it was a better world, but it was SIMPLER. Who wants life to get more complicated?
Thanks for the exchange. I was beginning to think that IMDb was full of just horrible people posting their vitriol. A favourite memory for me: In the days when I cooked A LOT, I invited my Mom to my place for dinner. In her usual fashion she put on my apron and was bustling around my kitchen when I put Glenn Miller on my stereo. She came vaulting out of the kitchen. She was shocked/surprised that I liked that music. She didn't like much from my generation. Except for a couple of things. 'Born on the Bayou'. 'Graceland', and 'Alligator Stomp'. I had never been there at the time but I guess that LA LOUISIANE was inside of me. just like the first time I heard powwow drums.
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Maximus Decimus Meridius
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MsELLERYqueen2
8 years ago
Gloves definitely went out of style before my time. Who on earth wore them in the eighties?
I'm also glad that pads were invented before I hit puberty. Those belts must have been unbearable!
I had pen pals in the eighties and early nineties. Not sure when I wrote my last-ever letter. Unfortunately, I never kept any letters. I did keep the notes that my friends wrote me in high school, but I got rid of them ages ago. Those would have been kind of embarrassing to keep, I think. We had these fun ways of folding them and everything. The most fun was passing them during class, trying not to get caught.
I remember the days when I didn't have to dial an area code on the phone. Up until a few years ago, in my province (Alberta), it was possible to do so with local calls. Only long-distance calls required the area code. A few years ago, it became mandatory to dial the area code for local calls because another area code was going to be introduced to the province (or something like that). (By the way, I heard that a lot of draft dodgers made it to my country in the sixties and seventies. I'm not the daughter of a draft dodger.)
Music? I think my parents are still surprised that I love 1950s and 1960s music, even though I've been hooked on that music ever since I heard the song "Mr. Sandman" played in the film Back to the Future, which I saw when I was a pre-teen (on VHS). And why not? When I was a kid, my dad played a lot of Harry Belafonte and Nana Mouskouri. So I've been exposed to music from before my time ever since I was a little kid. I remember sitting in school, wondering why so many of the other kids liked Madonna and Michael Jackson. 32 years later, I still can't figure it out.
Why not join us on the Classic Film Board? There are others who have memories of the Vietnam War days, etc.
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen
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OnlyRocknRoll
8 years ago
Will you please send me a link to that board or the www address? I no longer know anyone who loves film and music as much as I do.
As for 'pads', I did my days in hell with the 'sanitary belt'---quelle horreur! When I was in my last semester of college, the pad with the stick on strip was first introduced. Every store in the vicinity sold out by the afternoon.
If, and when you have time or the inclination, send me a list of your favorite films. What is the first film that you ever saw? Mine was 'Tom Thumb' with my Dad the summer before he died. I saw 'West Side Story' recently and I actually cried. I MUST be getting old...
As for Harry Belafonte: "Down the way where the nights are gay and the sun shines daily on the mountain top, I took a trip on a sailing ship and when I reached Jamaica I made a stop..."
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Maximus Decimus Meridius
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MsELLERYqueen2
8 years ago
When approximately was the pad introduced? I'm not trying to guess your age (you said it was introduced during your last semester of college). I'm just curious when it happened. By the late eighties when I hit puberty, I was using pads only.
I wonder how filming of classics was done? Somehow, the belt was never visible on any of the actresses. The directors must have done some fancy camera work during certain days of the month.
Favourite films: too many to list. Mostly I like:
1930s mysteries and gangster films
1940s film noir
early 1950s film noir
late 1950s comedies
1960s comedies (especially early sixties)
various from 1980 - on.
I'm no fan of most 1970s films, although I love some TV shows from that era (especially Ellery Queen).
I've seen a bunch of silents and I enjoyed them.
Not sure what's the first film I ever saw.
Here is the link to the classic film board:
http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000010/threads/
Also, if you select "news and community" and then select "message boards", you'll get a list of general message boards, like "film noir", "westerns", "comedies", etc. There are general chat boards, like the Watercooler (where I hang out sometimes). For brave individuals, there is the Politics board and also the Soapbox. I am not brave.
Hope that helps!
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen
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OnlyRocknRoll
8 years ago
Did you ever read any of the Ellery Queen novels? I was into British detective fiction for quite a while. Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, etc.
Well, the pad existed in the 60's. I was referring to the one that did not need a belt. That was in Spring semester 1974. The same time that Burt Reynolds posed nude for Cosmo magazine. He was too short and hairy for me. Not my type at all.
My Mom is 27 years older than I am. They were still using rags when she was a young girl. A friend once told me that she was in Greece visiting extended family in the 60's and they were still using rags then burning the rags outside. She was appalled, hopped a bus to Athens to go to the USA PX. She wasn't related to military, but based on her US passport they let her shop there for pads. I've been done with all that mess since 2002.
I used to work at a MAJOR, well respected university. In our favorite decade, the 80's, someone there decided that they could save pennies by no longer providing paper toilet seat covers and ladies 'paper products'. Some man-jerk must have done that! I used to keep a selection of napkins, pads, and tampons at the bottom of one of my file cabinets. Somehow, the word got out and from time to time some poor girl with a stricken look on her face would show up at my office door and I immediately knew what she needed.
Thanks for the info. I will certainly check those out.
I am not brave either. It's difficult when you lose your physical strength. I'm not sure that I was ever brave. But, when I was young, I was FIERCE. Somewhere, maybe still in the USA, is a guy who has my perfect upper and lower bite dentition print on his left bicep.
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Maximus Decimus Meridius
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MsELLERYqueen2
8 years ago
Thanks for the info on pads! I figure I have about 10 to 15 more years to go before I'm done with the nonsense. The sooner, the better.
I first heard about "the belt" when I read the novel "Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret." by Judy Blume. I read it when I was a preteen and I asked my mom about it. From what I've heard, new versions of the novel have the girl using a pad. What's next? Will she be talking on a cell phone? If I ever choose to reread books which I read as a kid, I would like to find original copies of the books.
I'm pretty indifferent to Burt Reynolds. I've heard about how he was such a charmer in the 70s and 80s. Not my type at all.
Yup, I've read a bunch of the Ellery Queen novels, mostly the earlier ones. I really prefer mysteries from before about 1950...especially ones from the 20s and 30s. I've read a lot of Agatha Christie mysteries, too...also John Dickson Carr, Mignon Eberhart, and some others. I enjoy radio plays as well. Lots of them posted on archive.org. I love the Suspense series.
Regarding your last paragraph...I sense a story which I hope you'll tell.
Maybe I'll see you on the classics board!
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen
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