We've Come a Long Way

Up until my eleventh year, my family belonged to an obscure religion affectionately known as “The Way,” as in the “way, the truth and the light.” As I look back on it, many of their teachings are closely aligned with the Mennonites or maybe even the Amish. Plain and simple pretty much was the order of living day by day. Anything worldly was forbidden, thus females could not wear any makeup, or have short hairdos. The only books we had in the home were encyclopedias, because they were considered information only. Any other book was considered worldly. It was fully out of the question then to have a radio, television or heaven forbid to attend any movies. I always felt a little conflicted when visiting a friend’s house, and they had the “sinful” radio on. It was during these years that I learned to sing and harmonize. For entertainment my sister Pam and I would sit at the piano for hours playing hymns, alternating singing the melody and the harmony. Although different hymns to what I’m accustomed to now, I feel sure this is where I first developed my love of hymns.

We stopped attending “The Way,” and soon after that my parents divorced. Our first television set (1961) was a beautiful piece of modern furniture, the wood being blonde and the screen quite large. I remember the wood around the sides, top and bottom was just one continuous piece that had been molded all around the set. I used to love to run my hand around it because it was so smooth. Some of my favorite shows were “I Love Lucy,” “Rawhide,” “Rin Tin Tin,” “The Patty Duke Show,” ”Lassie,” “Perry Mason,” “Let’s Go,” and later on “You Asked For It,” and Alan Funt’s “Candid Camera.” Of course I always loved a good variety show such as “The Dean Martin Show” or “The Bob Hope Show.” In those early years, the reception was so bad, all you could see were a few fuzzy lines and things, but that never stopped us from being enthralled with the tube. Our imaginations were able to fill in the gaps.

My favorite television commercial showed two little girls playing in a field – one wearing a white white dress, and the other wearing a dingy white dress, and the jingle went:

“Someone’s Mum just doesn’t know,
What someone’s Mum really ought to know,
Then someone’s Mum better get to know
That persil washes whiter
Whiter, whiter….persil washes whiter.”

It was very catchy and I can still sing it to this day.

I loved listening to the old weekly radio serials, as they were always so dramatic. Often an actor would say something quite benign such as “Someone just opened the barn door Mr. Smith,” and you’d get these spine tingling chills down your back. Dad would always listen to the BBC news every night with a small transistor radio. Maybe that’s where I developed my need to hear and read the news everyday. I also loved to listen to music as I did the housework. I’d take the broom handle and sing along with the Ray Coniff singers and others into my imaginary microphone. The old record player was in high demand at these times.

I loved all the music of the 60’s and 70’s, and can sing along to just about every one of them. I still remember at the age of 14 (1964), sitting in the back of the school bus with my boyfriend Paul, holding hands as the Beatles latest song “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” was playing. I was crazy about the Beatles, and at one time had many of their records. I was crazy about Paul too, but that’s another story. ☺

Leland and I have a big old “Majestic” console radio in our house that used to be his grandparents. We use it now as a piece of furniture to place knick knacks on, but I’m sure it brought hours of listening pleasure to many over the years.

I don’t remember the name of the first movie I ever saw, but I do remember being terrified. I was totally into it, and during one part of the movie two men got into a shoving match and it made me very scared. Soon we were going to the movies on a regular basis on Saturdays, and I remember if you didn’t mind sitting on the front three rows you only had to pay three cents per ticket. Now the back three rows is where the teenagers would sit who didn’t really come to see the movie, but to make out.

Since New-Zealand is a commonwealth country, before every function, or at any event you can think of, we always stood and sang “God Save the Queen.” The movie theatre was no exception. This probably explains an embarrassing situation I found myself in one Sunday when Leland and I were newly weds (back in the day). We were in church, and the hymn we were to sing was “My Country ‘tis of Thee” which is sung to the same tune as “God Save the Queen.” The organist played the prelude to the hymn and automatically I blurted out “God Save Our Gracious Queen,” before I realized everyone else was singing a different hymn.

Leland and I really enjoy going to a good movie, but I have a much harder time watching a movie at home, probably because I’m thinking of all the things that need to be done. My all time favorite movies are harmless simplistic little girl movies such as Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and The Sound of Music.

Television has gone from actually having to get up off the couch and turn knobs, to remote controls, then videos and now DVDs that you can play through your TV. The television itself has gone from being large and bulky to flat screens which take up much less room, unless you’re into the big screen. I know there’s something else out there to replace DVD’s, and who knows what after that. Amazingly, we even have the ability to hook up our camcorders and cameras to watch images we’ve taken. Now with tivo we can record anything we might have missed, or even during a show we can freeze the screen for a while (if the phone rings), or even just go back and replay something. We have come a long way.



Written by Hilda Snow Gamette
November 19, 2008