🤔 1923-1973 Do You Remember...

[Anonymous]

👍Tell us about YOUR "good old days"......

BORN: Age 50 - 1973, Age 60 - 1963, Age 70 - 1953, Age 80 - 1943, Age 90 - 1933, Age 100 - 1923.

[LisaS961881]

[SereneSeagull]

That was when salesman had what seemed like knowledge of the products they sold.  Hard to find now.! 

[MsStretch]

Remember those foot 'gauges' you had to stand on to measure your shoe size and then when you tried the shoes on, you walked around the store to see how they felt, but there was always the "obligatory" break-in period so the walk-around was sort of a moot point?

[GailL1]

Wasn’t there some sort of an X-ray machine in the shoe store to check out your feet - for what?  

[papawofboo]

I never saw one. 

My mother wanted the width of her thumb between toe and end of shoe.

[SereneSeagull]

I still see some parents doing that today.  The ol’ thumb ruler!

[LisaS961881]

    Yup!  To give you “some room to grow! 😊

[GailL1]

This was it “A Shoe Fitting Fluoroscope”   Pic of the machine and below that is a pic of how it was viewed and what they saw.

We got hit with a lot of radiation when we were younger.  

[LeeS4949]

 OK ! Have to admit I was stumped.. ( a common occurrence for me, just sayin ) Based on it 's function I'm sorta glad i missed this one.

[GailL1]

@LeeS4949 @MsStretch @papawofboo @LisaS961881 

The shoe fitting fluoroscope had to have been around 1953 - 1957 - we were also very poor - so who knows, maybe we were the test subjects.  

At the time, I thought it was cool - now, well, definitely not so much.  But that is why I remembered it - but I did need to look it up to determine if my memory was correct. Like I said earlier,  I was very, tiny so maybe they just wanted to see if my feet were formed correctly.  This pic came from a museum - Oak Ridge Tenn. 

My Dad was a brickmason and he did some work on something nuclear in OakRidge, TN.    Maybe now I know why I am not only  tiny but also glow in the dark 😲

Oak Ridge, TN was evidently a big nuclear/ radiation site and I guess still is - lots of history.

Oak Ridge,TN.gov - About Oak Ridge - What Makes a City Great 

from the link ~

Oak Ridge was built under a cloak of secrecy by the United States government during World War II as a major site of the Manhattan Project, the massive wartime effort that produced the world's first atomic weapons.

US Dept of Energy - Oak Ridge, TN 

[LisaS961881]

 Geez Gail, you’re right - looking back, in those days everyone was just more trusting.  
At the time, It seemed like this machine would revolutionize the process of finding the perfect fitting shoe.

 I found a bit more info in this Smithsonian article:

Better Feet Through Radiation

[MsStretch]

@GailL1 , these X-ray machines were definitely after my time.  Oh my, this must have been one of those "state-of-the-art" "modern-day" (at the time) contraptions when I was still getting fitted. We never had anything so futuristic in the shoes stores I went in. 😁

[papawofboo]

Never seen one or heard of one. Course I grew up in a very small town that didn't have a doctors office much less a shoe store.

[LisaS961881]

….that gave me a giggle - I remember 2nd grader me sitting in the chair at the dentist thinking, “Hmmmm….if this this so safe, then why are they all running out of the room before they do it to me?

[SereneSeagull]

Yes, So true and obvious, and yet we had to listen to elders and not question! 

[MsStretch]

@LisaS961881 , I still think that. Drape me with a leaded heavy bib and then leave, before they zap my mouth, an open orifice to the innards of my body, with those "dangerous, radioactive" x-rays.  Talk about moot points, what good is protecting my chest going to do? 🩻

[GailL1]

Evidently they are still around for history buffs - $ 90 on ebay - Maybe that was when shoes were all made in one country and size was more standardize - I don’t find that anymore.

[SereneSeagull]

I still see these in some stores!

[LeeS4949]

 I'm not exactly sure why but getting this used on me was fun somehow.. I guess its use faded away with family Sunday dinners,Drs who made house calls, and courtesy to strangers.. sad..

[LisaS961881]

   Yes!  We had to put our foot on this!  

    I do remember that I enjoyed the whole process of the salesman meticulously measuring my foot, then locating several styles, followed by my trying on each pair, then finally selecting “just the right” shoe for the season.  
Now, just like at the grocery store check out, most of this procedure is now our responsibility.  And somehow it’s just not such an adventure anymore! 😉

[LisaS961881]

    I certainly do remember that “break-in period”!  And I usually chose Mary Janes anyway.   Mary Jane’s and white ankle socks - with or without lace….  

[LeeS4949]

 Oh yes,the twice a year shoe trip.. Once in the fall for a new pair of "clod hopper" boots for winter,and another trip in spring for sneakers.. 

[LisaS961881]

 Does anyone else still have something like this in their home?  Remember when, whether it was a wedding, a nightclub, a restaurant or a bar, you always picked up a matchbook ? 

[LeeS4949]

 Do they even make book matches anymore or have they done away with those as well?

[papawofboo]

I don't think they do. Way back they were a necessary, I remember when you bought a pace of cigarettes they would give you a book.

[LisaS961881]

    Since the Pandemic, I haven’t seen them in restaurants, but I did attend a wedding last June where there were matchbooks as part of the table favors.

    I suppose that there is no longer such a demand for them.

    Smoking was certainly ingrained in mid-century culture though.
    I remember that our circa 1965 living room set had heavy glass ashtrays that matched the marble pattern of the end tables - and neither of my parents smoked.  They were sold as a necessary part of the ensemble. 🥴

    I never smoked, but I always nabbed one of these wherever I went as a souvenir.

    I believe you’re right though.  They are no longer necessary, and in another few years they’ll be gone too!

[DaveMcK]

[LeeS4949]

 Simple is still the best!!!

[DaveMcK]

[papawofboo]

I remember when the one bathroom was an outhouse, taking a bath in a #3 wash tub, being the youngest meant being last to bath. I thought that a phone on the wall was the best of the best. The only net was a fishing net. TV had rabbit ears but couldn't use them because we were too far away from stations. Had an antenna, many was the time that had to go outside to turn it so you could get a picture.

Don't know about you people but I am sure glad for the smart people who advanced us from these parts of the "good ole days".