Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2021 i Reminisce

Even with today’s advances in technology—perhaps because of them—where clips of everything from little Trudie tying her shoes to a schnauzer barking “hello” are a click away on a smartphone, words written in the hand of one we love are precious. As our feature “Letter Perfect” (page 30) proves, these notes, however ordinary they seemed then, gain value as time turns the familiar and plentiful into the distant and rare. I cherish a letter my late brother, Terry, wrote me in 1979 during his earliest days as a reporter in Fort Frances, Ontario, a town 18 hours northwest of Toronto in the province’s vast timber region. Terry was a long way from home and missing it, but the pictures he took around town glow with curiosity about his new surroundings.…

Nils Bohlin designed ejection seats before he became a safety engineer for Swedish automaker Volvo. There, Bohlin designed a restraint that held the upper body in place during a crash, making it far safer than just a lap belt. Volvo patented the design in 1962, and that year the term buckle up came into common use, according to Merriam-Webster (see page 12). In an act of generosity, Volvo opened up the patent so other automakers could add the safety measure. The company is satisfied with taking the credit, thus the proud slogan: “There’s a little bit of Volvo in every car.”…

WHEN WE CHILDREN WERE 3, 4 AND 5, OUR FATHER DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT. THROUGH THE YEARS, A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE SHARED THEIR MEMORIES OF HIM, WHICH WAS COMFORTING. They described what a kind, thoughtful family man Justus LaVerne Ridall was, and they said that his relationship with my mother was true love. Though I wanted to know more, I couldn’t because I lost him at such a young age. I collected all the stories about him in a corner of my heart, trying as a child to piece together this man who was my father. I do remember a few brief moments of him—like snapshots. As I grew up, I kept the image I had of him close. Flash forward 50 years when his mother, my Grandmama,…

TEMPORARY WAVE Gillette Co. bought the thriving Toni Permanent Wave Co. in 1948 in the midst of a diversification kick. Over the next few years, it introduced more Toni-branded products, but most of them failed. Viv appeared in 1954 and lasted only a few months, despite an exciting ad campaign featuring eye-popping visuals like this one. SPARE NO EXPENSE Revlon was the undisputed leader in lipstick and nail polish in the postwar years, which gave it the confidence to spend big on advertising. Full color photo print ads like this Life spot were pricey, and therefore rare, in the 1940s. BRAND ROYALTY Louis Philippe was a French-born businessman whose New York cosmetics company devised an indelible lipstick, which sold under various labels, including Angelus and Incarnat. That his own name was similar…

WORD WISE This takes an entry from our Time Capsule word list and traces how it came into common use. We start with “Buckle Up.” Page 14 CLASSIC CARS Car expert Russ Maki looks at an innovation, iconic design or unusual event in automotive history. This month, he writes about the 80th anniversary of the Jeep. Page 58 BRUSH WITH FAME This is the new name for our department about readers’ close encounters with celebrities. Page 50 NAME THAT CAR The car challenge will now be an exclusive feature of Reminisce Extra. Keep Reminisce coming every month! Subscribe today: REMINISCE.COM/EXTRASPECIAL IN THE NEXT ISSUE • Life in a Vintage Lustron• Soldiers’ Letters Home• Zamboni’s Puckish History…

Oozing charm and manly charisma, Burt Reynolds knocked around in TV bit parts for almost a decade until in 1962, he landed the role of Quint Asper on the CBS Western Gunsmoke. Reynolds played a mixed-race blacksmith who becomes deputy to Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness). He left in 1965, taking his gruff good looks to the movies. Indeed, despite some critically acclaimed roles, Reynolds is best remembered as the hirsute, good ol’ boy action star of the 1970s Smokey and the Bandit movies. He was a Southerner by choice, not by birth. He was born Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. in Lansing, Michigan, and raised in Riviera Beach, Florida. For years, he claimed to have been born in Waycross, Georgia, but in his 2015 memoir, he admitted he made it…

The clerk who answered the phone at Erickson’s Quality Store in Viola, Illinois, always stretched out the name: “Quaaaality.” This impressed on callers that they’d reached the store that sold only high-quality items, such as Del Monte, Monarch and Libby’s canned goods that were difficult to get during World War II. Mr. Erickson was a terrific salesman. Shoppers rarely turned him down when he suggested they “really should try” something. The customer was king—or queen, mostly. Besides Mr. Erickson and me, his wife, Dorothy, and Loretta Esp waited on customers. Shoppers read their lists to us and we gathered items one at a time. No supermarket efficiency for us! Although wartime shortages were a constant theme, most people didn’t complain, knowing soldiers had it so much worse. Our shelves were…

Grandparents can be reluctant to go into detail about the past, sometimes just dropping tidbits of information. Our submitter did an excellent job piecing together clues and using multiple sources so that young Christina’s fascinating story emerged. Female ancestors can be a challenge to research. Consider creating a timeline for each ancestor and work on filling in the gaps. Here are a few ways to begin: ■ Create a timeline with dates you have and then work on identifying the rest.■ For married women, look for records using the surname of their husband.■ For unmarried and young women, search using the surname of their father. Search death records and wills, census records, and records of marriages, divorces and children’s births. Note the subject’s age at each event. Consider doing a…

WHEN I LEFT FOR COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS IN 1972, IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD EVER BEEN AWAY FROM HOME. Even though it was only a four-hour drive to my family in Chamois, Missouri, I was homesick. Our dormitory didn’t have phones in the rooms. Communication from family came to me at P.O. Box 469, Point Lookout, MO. I would receive letters, cards and, occasionally, a pink slip that told me I had a package too large to fit in the mailbox. The post office became an important link to my family. Not only did I get letters from Mom and Dad, I received letters from my grandmothers, aunts, cousins and, later, from my brother in the military. I always wrote a letter back. It’s a wonder I…

American officials in the 1950s began to backpedal on domestic trade laws that looked out for mom and pops. Big companies were allowed to get volume discounts, ushering in the age of retail's mark-down giants: Walmart, Target, Kmart and Kohl's, among others, all opened their first stores in 1962. Shoppers willingly accepted a lower level of service than they got at the department stores that reigned Main Street, since the goods were similar and the prices were lower. ✓ Walton's 5&10 opened in 1950 in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was a winner, and inspired owner Sam Walton to launch a discount chain, with the first store in neighboring Rogers in 1962. When the chain expanded into other small cities it kept rural customers as its focus. ✓ Wide aisles, fast checkout…

R.J. GOERKE DEPARTMENT STORE IN Elizabeth, New Jersey, billed itself correctly as "the fashion center of Union County.” The six-story department store had a teen fashion board made up of area high school girls. I represented Cranford High School. We met monthly with the buyer for junior dresses and sportswear, and discussed fashion trends. One trend was wearing wool Bermuda shorts to sporting events during the winter, with our coats flying wide open. We froze—but we were trendy. I thought it best not to disturb the display in the case, so I turned around to take the designs she wanted from the drawers. As my 16th birthday neared, I applied for a part-time sales position to work after school on Thursday nights and Saturdays. It was easy to get the job…

ACROSS 1 Cherry-filled chocolate sponge cake, 2 words 6 Corporate abbreviation 8 Egg and milk punch 9 Relaxation center 10 Light cake made using vegetable oil 11 High 12 Comment after eating a superb cake 14 Summer in French 16 Dessert named for the weight of its ingredients, 2 words 18 Nord’s opposite 21 Crimson-colored layer cake, 2 words 25 Setting for croquet matches 28 Custard-filled layer cake topped with chocolate, 3 words 33 Cake with pineapple on top, 2 words 36 Tater 38 “America, the Beautiful” closer 40 Cake ingredient 41 Sharpshooter Oakley 42 Caribbean holiday cake (and a liquor) 43 Creamy chocolate candy DOWN 1 Ring-shaped cake 2 Light sponge cake made with egg whites, 2 words 3 Bite-sized chocolate candy 4 Nebraska city famous for steaks 5…

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Nothing pleased me more than when my dad called to me from the den where he was watching TV, “Hey, Rob. Make me a gin and tonic, would ya?” This may seem like questionable parenting of an 8-year-old, but I loved the feeling of importance in performing this special chore. And he always had just one. I’d run to the barrel-shaped liquor cabinet. Its brass latch was heavy, and the door was hard to open. Inside, it was dark and sweet-smelling. There was no telling how old the schnapps, bourbon and vodka were; most of the liquors were from the days when Mom and Dad entertained before they had children. I liked the purple velvet bag that held one bottle, and the tag hanging around the neck of another. I…

NEWSPAPER ROUTES Did you deliver your hometown newspaper? Tell us about the experience. Did you master the art of tossing the paper on the doorstep without breaking a window? Who was your most interesting customer? What was the paper like—did you read it before delivering it? Label your story and photos “Extra! Extra!” THE DAY I LEARNED TO… Finish that sentence with a story about the day you learned a special skill and what it meant to you. Was it the day you figured out how to whistle? Write your name? Knit? Swim, skate or ski? Work a power drill? Did someone teach you or did you learn by yourself? Label your story and photos “The Day I Learned To.” PICK THREE Here’s a fun idea: Select three pictures that…

Timeless humor. Snappy suits. That signature golf swing. All belong to Johnny Carson, above, who started his 30-year gig hosting NBC’s The Tonight Show on Oct. 2, 1962. What highlights can you dial up? 1 Carson’s moniker as a young magician playing the local Kiwanis club in Norfolk, Nebraska. 2 Carson took over the show from this host. 3 The leader of The Tonight Show’s band from 1967 to ’92. 4 More than 45 million viewers watch this guest’s wedding to Miss Vicki in 1969. 5 The talk show host wears a feathered turban to play this “all-knowing seer.” 6 These exotic animal experts bring alligators, gorillas and marmosets on the show. 7 A gray wig and wire-rim glasses transform Carson into this cranky older woman. 8 The Tonight Show’s most frequent guest, he appears more than 131…

MY DAD, NORMAN PORCH, LEFT HOME AT AGE 19 WHEN HE WAS DRAFTED TO SERVE N WORLD WAR II. He never returned after the war because he and my mother, Dixie, settled in Bremerton, Washington. But their hometown of Anita, Iowa, was always “back home” to them. And, yes, I am named after their hometown. For years afterward, Dad often sat at the kitchen table to write letters to family members back in Iowa, always in his perfect Palmer Method script. Recently, my cousin found one of Dad’s letters among her late mother’s belongings. Her mom, Patty Stockham, was one of my dad’s four sisters, and she lived near Anita her entire life. Patty’s letter from Dad was a round-robin letter from Sept. 15, 1959, and read by several members of the…

SHORTLY AFTER OUR DAD PASSED AWAY IN 2011, WE CAME UPON A SHOEBOX OF LETTERS DATED FROM 1946 TO 1948. IT SAT UNTOUCHED FOR DECADES IN AN ATTIC. The box was a treasure-trove of correspondence between our father, Donald Pegler, a 17-year-old soldier in the Army in 1946, and his family in Chicago. While the bulk of the letters were written while he was stationed in Japan, his service in Texas and Washington, as well as the arduous voyage to Asia, were also documented. Apparently, his parents and Grandma Pearl saved every letter, photograph and cartoon. The collection depicts the life (and imagination) of a young soldier. We learn how he coped with ailments, from scarlet fever to ringworm, insatiable hunger and extreme weather. He describes being severely injured when…

MY BROTHER JOEY AND I SHARED an English racer—and we each got it for a week at time in 1971, when I was 16. It was his week to have the bike, but I needed to get to the Gimbel Brothers Department Store in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. I had just pierced my ears, and I wanted to buy my first pair of grown-up earrings. But when I asked Joey if I could take the bike, he said “Nope,” and pedaled away. Since Joey was being a bum, I had to walk the four miles because I didn’t want to pay for the bus ride. I'd saved exactly what I needed for the 24K gold earrings, which were advertised for $15.24. At the store, the clerk brought out the velvet box…

My sister Mona and I loved to ice-skate on a small pond near our house in the 1970s. We were teenagers, and enjoyed pretending that we were Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill. In my family, skates were an “extra,” something I needed to earn money to buy for myself. I’d found a pair of black ones at a rummage sale. Only boys wore black skates, but they were all I could afford, so I brought them along to the pond. Mona acted smug about the white skates she’d borrowed. Our Aunt Lucy lived nearby, and sometimes met us at the pond. We figured that, at 36, she was much too old to skate. When I brought out the black skates, she noticed how I frowned putting them on. She asked…

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FIND HATTIE’S HATPIN Hattie has lost a hatpin in this issue! If you find it, tell us at reminisce.com/hatpin. We’ll randomly select winners to receive a year’s subscription to Reminisce. In the Dec/Jan issue, we disguised the hatpin as a walking stick on page 56. There’s no purchase necessary to enter to win. Purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes is open to legal residents age 18 years or older of the U.S., its territories and possessions, or of Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec). Sweepstakes begins on 1/14/21 and ends on 3/17/21. Visit reminisce.com/hatties-hatpin-rules-rem for official rules. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Sweepstakes sponsored by RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC. TRIVIAL PURSUITS, PAGE 13: 1. The Great Carsoni 2. Jack Paar 3. Doc Severinsen 4. Tiny Tim 5. Carnac the…