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| Jack Webb or SGT Friday |
These are the ramblings of a sick woman. I've taken lots of naps and drunk lots of water (with just a little bit of lemon juice, it goes down easier) and listened to lots of podcasts on the iPod. My favorite? The replays of old time radio classics from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Within that, I LOVE to listen to Jack Webb as Sgt. Friday on Dragnet, I just love his voice. He's kind of hunky too (which I didn't know until I looked him up just now). Occasionally I will hear someone's voice that I can recognize from another genre, TV or Movies and it's kind of cool to hear. (Col. Potter from MASH was a regular on Dragnet). We listened to War of the Worlds by Orson Welles and it was so funny! Cory said he couldn't believe that anyone EVER thought it was real, but I could see how if that was your main source of news and you tuned in just at the right time how it might be confusing.
Anyway, it's gotten me thinking, most of them come with the original commercials that played with the program on the radio. Some just make me laugh, like Wildroot Cream Oil Hair Tonic it's "great for training children's hair". Some of the cigarette brands were preferred by doctors during that age "It's WISE to smoke Fatima cigarettes". Occasionally there will be a reference to "The War" which always catches my attention. It makes me think of my Gram who I miss so much. She lived through those times and may have even been listening to those same radio programs (maybe not, I know they were poor and lived on a farm). Looking back, she has been one of the most influential people in my life and she will always be. Thankfully I have a lifetime of memories with my Gram to reflect back on. After Cory and I married she was very sympathetic to our situation. She was a war bride too. Which brings me to today's topic. The War.
I get a lot of sympathy when Cory's deployed. I'm not saying it's well deserved, holding your breath every time the doorbell rings 'just in case' can't be easy for anyone. It's not easy to look back on a year of our lives and realize he wasn't at home then. But I have so many resources and so many places to turn for help. I got extra pay that made life a little more comfortable and I was able to hear from Cory almost every single day. We could instant message and video chat so that I knew he was doing well. It wasn't like that for my Gram. My Grandpa was injured in France and she got the most vague telegram from the war department telling her that he was wounded. I can't imagine the days and weeks of agony until she got word that he was OK. It took him months to get home on a hospital ship and he had to have one of the nurses write his letters home since he was wounded in his shoulder. I live in an area where there are military families, but the majority of our neighbors aren't in the service. Back then, everyone was facing the same thing. Everyone was holding their breath, just in case.
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| The Great Gildersleeve |
The newest podcast that I've been listening to is The Great Gildersleeve which was apparently a spin-off from the Fibber McGee and Molly show. It's pretty good as far as old time radio shows go. He's got the most hilarious laugh and he's raising his niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy. The neighborhood druggist has the BEST voice ever! Kind of what you imagine a fly or a basset hound must talk like. Before or after almost every episode there's some reference to rationing (Parkay margarine was only 2 ration points), to the war effort, or how to support families back home (since their fathers were in the service and mom had gone to help in the factories). I can't imagine what it would be like to be involved in a world war just after the great depression. There was hardly enough for everyone and then the focus was to send it all overseas to help our "boys in uniform". How united must the country have been? I wonder how life was then and I look back wishing I could see it. Just to see the amazing things people were capable of. Not that there aren't amazing things happening now but I wish I could have seen it.
I'm an old romantic, watching so much PBS growing up made me imagine myself through the ages of time (Jeffrey would have been so cute in a tiny man suit with short pants and long socks and his hair combed over). The main thing I think we're lacking in society? Well among other things, it's getting dressed to leave the house. I LOVE it on I Love Lucy when they change to "go down to the store" instead of schlepping down in their housecoats and slippers. I say that sitting here in a pair of sweats, but I HAVE been sick all week. So apparently being sick makes me sentimental and want to curl up with my down comforter and iPod. But I guess my point was that they don't make shows like that anymore.
1 comment:
Thanks for the wonderful insight into who you are. It helps us see what we have more clearly when we take the opportunity to look back. I remember things my mom used to do in our home because she lived during the "Great Depression". No food was wasted, you used leftovers in something. Like leftover hamburger in eggs, leftover corn in eggs...you get the idea, yum. You had one of something; one pair of shoes, one good dress, one pair of jeans, one coat, etc. And going out to eat was an event because it happened so infrequently. We listened to talking radio programs while we did our Saturday chores, which included hanging out the laundry and then bringing it in. I think the record was holding 10 clothespins at once in my mouth. We then sprinkled the clothes with water (after waiting all afternoon for them to dry!!), rolled them up, put them in a duffle bag and placed them in the freezer!!! The next day when you ironed them the wrinkles came right out.
I love watching "I Love Lucy" reruns because I can study the incredible things she wore. She had style and would you kill to have a waist that size? Unfortunately we don't see much of dressing up anymore. We have become such a casual society. I think that's why Sunday is such a special day for me because everyone looks so put together.
I hope you feel better soon.
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