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It's always fun to listen to Millennials and post Millenials talk about the good old days. You tube is full of folks who do some cursory research and think what they've found is gospel, but...
"Unfamiliar and shocking" says the narrator.
1. Aluminum Christmas tree. Artificial Christmas trees were not new. But it was an early example of a decent looking tree at a price that was reasonable. The aluminum tree was available not just in plain sparkly metal, but also in green and red, neither of which were very popular. I never saw one of those color wheel things operating outside of a store, although I did see aluminum trees in peoples houses. The attitude of most people was negative toward aluminum trees even in the 1950s, and the real death of them came with the arrival of much more life-like artificials with plastic needles. I swear I've seen silver trees more recently, but I wouldn't doubt those had plastic needles, too. People who liked the aluminum trees would say they didn't need tinsel. Real trees with tinsel, or more correctly lametta, are gorgeous, but it ain't no fun to clean up the strands from the tree and the floor around the tree once Christmas is over.
2. Bubble lights. We called them bubblers and like many other gimmicks over the years they did add a lot to the tree. My family had a string of them and we enjoyed them. Unfortunately everyone who wanted them bought them early on and when the bubblers began to die, as all Christmas lights did in those days before LEDs, you couldn't replace them because they'd stopped making them due to slow sales.
3. Dreaded "Jello-everything." Well, the fact was that except for fruit in Jello, Jello-everything was more of a wishful, company sales pitch than a reality. Shredded raw carrots in Jello wasn't disgusting, but it was a lot of work for little pay off. That was about as far as Jello-everything went where I lived. My mother, long after the 1950's, started making a Jello replacement for traditional cranberry sauce. It contained pecan halves, both green grape halves and crushed cranberrys, and mini marshmellows. I miss it.
4. Listening to the radio. I don't know why listening to the radio before most people had TVs would seem shocking... I remember listening to stories on the radio, but I think we got a TV in 1950 before Christmas. Before 1954 scripted radio programs were dying out, replaced by rock and roll music 24/7. I don't know of any kid in our school, no matter how poor, that didn't have a TV in the house by then. There were people, poorer still, who no doubt missed the stories on the radio.
5. Christmas cards with year-end letters. Heck, I get complaints if my Christmas cards don't include letters, now... My mother used to put off writing her letters and her cards would get sent out in January. I'm sure the rest of the family got used to her quirks.
"Unfamiliar and shocking" says the narrator.
1. Aluminum Christmas tree. Artificial Christmas trees were not new. But it was an early example of a decent looking tree at a price that was reasonable. The aluminum tree was available not just in plain sparkly metal, but also in green and red, neither of which were very popular. I never saw one of those color wheel things operating outside of a store, although I did see aluminum trees in peoples houses. The attitude of most people was negative toward aluminum trees even in the 1950s, and the real death of them came with the arrival of much more life-like artificials with plastic needles. I swear I've seen silver trees more recently, but I wouldn't doubt those had plastic needles, too. People who liked the aluminum trees would say they didn't need tinsel. Real trees with tinsel, or more correctly lametta, are gorgeous, but it ain't no fun to clean up the strands from the tree and the floor around the tree once Christmas is over.
2. Bubble lights. We called them bubblers and like many other gimmicks over the years they did add a lot to the tree. My family had a string of them and we enjoyed them. Unfortunately everyone who wanted them bought them early on and when the bubblers began to die, as all Christmas lights did in those days before LEDs, you couldn't replace them because they'd stopped making them due to slow sales.
3. Dreaded "Jello-everything." Well, the fact was that except for fruit in Jello, Jello-everything was more of a wishful, company sales pitch than a reality. Shredded raw carrots in Jello wasn't disgusting, but it was a lot of work for little pay off. That was about as far as Jello-everything went where I lived. My mother, long after the 1950's, started making a Jello replacement for traditional cranberry sauce. It contained pecan halves, both green grape halves and crushed cranberrys, and mini marshmellows. I miss it.
4. Listening to the radio. I don't know why listening to the radio before most people had TVs would seem shocking... I remember listening to stories on the radio, but I think we got a TV in 1950 before Christmas. Before 1954 scripted radio programs were dying out, replaced by rock and roll music 24/7. I don't know of any kid in our school, no matter how poor, that didn't have a TV in the house by then. There were people, poorer still, who no doubt missed the stories on the radio.
5. Christmas cards with year-end letters. Heck, I get complaints if my Christmas cards don't include letters, now... My mother used to put off writing her letters and her cards would get sent out in January. I'm sure the rest of the family got used to her quirks.
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