I understand that after reading this you may believe that those of us who grew up in the 40’s are spending too much time living in the past. However, my opinions are my own, and if yours are different, so be it.

Having grown up in New York City, it’s wonderful to think of those good old days. Being a kid then meant feeling free to walk around without being afraid all the time. The bus was the best way to get where you wanted to go, and even the subway was one wonderful means of transportation.  One can't forget the double decker buses that only cost a dime, and took you for a ride all the way down to Washington Square, and back home again if you wanted.  

As an only child, I spent a lot of time by myself. Manhattan was one great place to live. If your allowance was big enough, you could go downtown on Saturdays and see a movie and watch a show at the Capitol or the Roxy theatre. The movies were fun to watch, and then there would be a show on the stage. I saw Frank Sinatra, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, the Glen Miller band, the Ink Spots, Gene Krupa, a great drummer, and many of the performers who were famous in those days, and remain an integral part of twentieth century entertainment. Being alone seemed perfectly normal back then, and as I remember it, the sun shined much more often then it does these days.

 
The library wasn’t around the corner, so I could take a bus and go there alone. Fear wasn’t the way of my world, only the fear that the war would never be over. The one thing that made me upset was that we couldn’t get Double Bubble Gum, but my uncle Wiley was able to get some on the black market for me. We bought savings stamps in school, and collected tin foil to help the “war effort.” Life seemed rather simple as I recall.

 
I had the radio to listen to, and records that played on a Victrola my father had in the living room, with the best collection of music you’ve ever heard. On Sundays, when he wasn’t teaching American History in the New York High Schools, we’d spend hours dancing to his music. Names like Enrico Caruso, Johann Strauss, Fritz Kreisler and Lois Armstrong were as familiar to me as the Beatles would become in the 1950's.  

 

if you weren’t lucky enough to grow up where and when I did, some of this may not sound familiar. As far as I am concerned, those were the good old days. Keep your Facebook and texting. Please give me a telephone and “Portia Faces Life” at 5 pm on the radio, and most importantly, President Roosevelt with the good news that the war was over. Those are the memories I will continue to cherish as long as I live.