Here is Part 4 of Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge with Alona Tester’s geneameme on LoneTesterHQ.
16. What was entertainment when you were young?
Going to the Saturday matinee at the now-gone Capitol Theater in downtown Passaic. I remember paying a quarter for a double feature. If we were really lucky, the Three Stooges opened the show, live! They were from Paterson and, by the 1950’s, I think their careers had declined enough that they would do slapstick routines on Saturday mornings.
17. Do you remember what it was like when your family got a new fangled invention? (ie. telephone, TV, VCR, microwave, computer?)
I don’t remember anything about new fangled gadgets arriving in our home. I do remember the large black and white TV n the low TV stand that my baby brother pushed off onto the floor. I also remember my mother’s old wringer washer (which probably had been my grandmother’s), but, oddly, I don’t remember when we got a modern washer and drier.
18. Did your family have a TV? Was it b & w or color? And how many channels did you get?
We had a black and white TV until I was in my teens. Kids today are spoiled with choices – back then, we had channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 AND we had to get up and walk to the TV to change the channels.
19. Did your family move house when you were young? Do you remember it?
We moved in the middle of my sixth grade year because my parents didn’t want me to go to the local junior high. I hated the move, as I left my friends and a teacher I loved. I must have been really upset, too, as I was home sick on what was to be my first day at my new school.
20. Was your family involved in any natural disasters happening during your childhood (ie. fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake, etc.)?
New Jersey was in the path of Hurricane Donna, which left hundreds of miles of destruction in its path in September 1960. We had no school that day in anticipation of its arrival. However, the hurricane had lost its gale forces by the time it reached the metropolitan NY-NJ area. I remember sitting on our porch watching the storm until the wind blew rain on my friends and me, but even back then, I remember thinking it was much ado about nothing.