One for we "old geezers"..

[ironglow]

  With the giveaways promised by this Obuma gang, i tried to think of a parallel situation from the past..finally I hit on it !
        How many of you old geezers remember the cartoon series..'Lil Abner..by Al Capp ? Can you recall the "schmoo" series ?
   For those that can't recall and the "youngsters" here I'll explain the schmoos as best I recall.
  Schmoos were small creatures that looked like bowling pins with legs. When they fell in love, which was often..they mated and produced consumer goods ! That's right..toasters, wrenches, scooters, party dresses..whatever one could wish for. Somehow, Abner's home town of Dog Patch obtained a flock of schmoos.
   Residents figured these little critters would be just what Dog Patch needed, since these folks lived well below the "poverty line". Most of us can forsee what would happen if these little fellows simply furnished whatever the Dog Patch residents wanted..just like laying eggs.
  Soon, the ones that were working, gave up that bad habit. Children, not needing anything from the parents..rebelled..and everything in Dog Patch went rapidly down hill..leading toward certain ruin.
  Dog Patch had some citizens that had an active brain, so sensing the coming ruin..got rid of the schmoos..
        Unfortunately, in Washington, DC we have  over 500 members of Congress, many of which are not as bright as Dog Patch residents !
  They still think that a life filled with "freebees" is a good idea.

  BTW: I went by memory, if another geezer can correct my effort..please do so..

[torpedoman]

I suffer from C.R.S. but you recall seems to be dead on about the schmoos ,thanks for reminding me.

[wgr]

now i know why i have gray hair im getting old

[LONGTOM]

now i know why i have gray hair im getting old

What, you got hair?
I'm not to gray yet and at my rate might not ever be.
You got to have hair to turn gray don't you?


LONGTOM

[Gun Runner]

My hair is not turning gray, I just have a very large PART in the middle. 

Gun Runner

[williamlayton]

You youngun's just talk about being old. IG was old when he read about the Schmoos. He is so old that there is no word that describes him--not even ancient.
Too remember this episode of life is a credit too his mind he is so old.
He even looks old, why, he even looks older than he is.
The reason he lives in a small town is because he has outlived everybody there.
I know, I am older than he is.
In all actuality he IS AL CAPP.
 
Blessings

[bilmac]

I never read Lil Abner, it looks like I should have. If that series could be resurrected it should be required reading for all politicians. Maybe they could understand a comic strip,   well maybe.

[ironglow]

Right Bill;
   I'm so doggone old;

  1)  I walked 2 miles each way to a one room country school. Contrary to popular opinion though, only one way was up hill !
        In case anyone is wondering..the other way was DOWN hill..but if you have to ask that, you're older than I am..

  2) My first razor was double edged "blueblades"..

  3) I can remember when crackerjacks had metal prizes.

  4) I can remember when I heard radio commercials claim that " Lucky strike green has gone to war" !
                         No; I didn't think.."Hooray, my big brother can come home now !"

  5) I can remember when Dad used to resole our shoes.

  6) I can remember when we bought and sold eggs, milk, chicken & beef from our home farms..
       (and I never heard of anybody getting sick from salmonella)

  7) My first car had whitewalls 3" wide....well they weren't REAL whitewalls, they were white rubber rings,
       that were mounted just inside the rim..looked snazzy though..

  I can remember as a youngster,  Peters .22s @ 50 cents a box..not that I bought all that many though...

  9) My first car had a manual transmission, crank windows and was a hoot to drive..My 2007 Toyota is the same.

 10) During my first hitch with the Army, I shouldered an M1 and ate left over WW2 C-rations when in the field.

         



      ...Now Guys, I'll tell you a story Bill DIDN'T tell you;
       
        Here in the little hamlet where I live, our store has a side dining room where the owner Mike and his wife..serve
     coffee & doughnuts along with breakfasts in the morning, and sandwiches, subs & pizzas etc the rest of the day.
              When Bill stopped by, we both went up there for breakfast.
      We both ordered eggs, toast, bacon & homefries..Then we went into the side dining room, poured ourselves a cup of joe
    and started started sipping, while Edna started the breakfast on the grill..
          It was only a couple minutes before Edna came tripping into the dining room and said;
   
     "Hey fellas, I have your breakfasts ready..would you like me to run them through the blender before I bring them in ?"


     Gotcha Bill !!

[Oldtimer]

Al Capp wanted to make the plural of schmoo to be like ox and oxen. so he called them schmooen, but it didn't catch on.  It took me a while to type this because I was still laughing at the idea of IG and Bill sipping their bacon and eggs.

[Skunk]

I'm not to gray yet and at my rate might not ever be.

Some folks are really lucky like that. My wife's old Kentuck dad is in his 80s and doesn't have a gray hair on his head. Heck, my hair started turning gray when I was in my late 20s.

[kitchawan kid]

I do remember the schmoo,our school had it as a mascot,a painted rock formation near the play ground.How many out there remember .15 cent beer and every third one was free..25 a pack of smokes.

[AtlLaw]

I remember the Schmoos!    Haven't thought of them in years though...    Isn't it sad how the important memories in life just slip away...  

Anyway, I don't remember the story line about them at all.    For some reason the only thing I remember is I thinking their reason for being was that they were good to eat...    No tellin where that came from!  

[SHOOTALL]

you really aren't old unless you remember when they made dirt and you saw Moby Dick as a minnow !

[kitchawan kid]

Iam so old I remember sitting around staring at the radio.

[SHOOTALL]

I'm only 54 but remember seeing a crank phone that was still in use

[kitchawan kid]

I'll top you one,remember an icebox? with a little tray under it to catch the water,we through them out and now yippes pay hundreds for them now.

[woodchukhntr]

If I remember correctly, the schmoos would also sacrifice themselves by becoming food when the humans were hungry.  Now that's one things the liberals never seem to do, sacrifice!

[rockbilly]

Remember well.  Not only did they provide the wanted goods, but if I remember correctly they also became whatever the folks wanted to eat, chicken, ham, etc. Course 'Lil Abner has been gone for a long while, and some of us can't remember much further back than yesterday.

Some of dem members of congress still think they can feed us that "Rainbow Stew" that ole Merle sang about many years ago.  Between the Schmoo and the stew we could all be fat.

[SHOOTALL]

Yep ice boxs , pie safes too.
do you remember the drink machines that were filled with water ? a kid with a straw was in high cotton !

[AtlLaw]

if I remember correctly they also became whatever the folks wanted to eat, chicken, ham, etc.

Well I'll be... I was right about associating them with food!      Man, I be so cool I amaze my own dern self!    What a mind!  What a memory!  What...  a ... what...   ...   what were we talking about?   

[Skunk]

if I remember correctly they also became whatever the folks wanted to eat, chicken, ham, etc.

Well I'll be... I was right about associating them with food!      Man, I be so cool I amaze my own dern self!    What a mind!  What a memory!  What...  a ... what...   ...   what were we talking about?  

LOL AtlLaw, I aways enjoy your posts.

[williamlayton]

They didn't have Insure though,
That little town is so small the STOP sign doubles as a city limits on both sides.
We had a great time that day, I will remember it always.
I'm gonna go back again as the old man won't come this way---besides, I like that part of the country--before November and after Arpil.
Blessings

[ironglow]

 you will be welcomed back anytime Bill.
 
   I tried to post a pic, but it didn't work...

[Cowpox]

I had nearly forgotten the Schmoos.  As I recall, they originated in the rather dreary country of Lower Slobvollia.  It was always cloudy and snowing, and everyone pushed their way around in snow that was nearly armpit deep.

The Schmoos, while they could produce any item you desired, were mainly food in Lower Slobvollia, because nothing else grew there.  Schmoos ran around on top of the snow, and loved people to the point that they would run up and ask if they were hungry, and would ask what they wanted to eat, then make themselves taste like whatever they wanted.

All Little Abner ever ate was pork chops, so that was what they tasted like for him.  They were NEVER killed, but people just took bites out of them until they were full (Didn't even have to bend over, because the snow held the Schmoos at mouth level), the Schmoos would then grow back the part that was eaten.

However, my favorite characters from the strip were Hairless Joe and Lonesome Polecat.  Remember those two?  Hairless Joe looked a lot like Ally Opp, and all you could see of his face, through the hair and beard, was his nose.  Lonesome Polecat was a little Kickapoo Indian, and whenever you see those two, they were draging dead horses, old tires, outhouses, or other discarded stuff to a cave, where they threw these items into a big tub on a fire, and turned them into Kickapoo Joy Juice, which always blew the top of their heads off, when they drank it.  Loved Lil' Abner !!!!

[ironglow]

  Cowpox;
  ...As Bob Hope would say,"thanks for the memories"..I had completely forgotten those characters until you just mentioned them. I do recall though, that there was one day in each year or several years, when the ladies in Dog Patch could propose to the gents. It was called "Sadie Hawkins day"..I believe, in honor of Abner's pipe smoking mother.
         In my time, high schools had "Sadie Hawkins" dances..when the gals could ask the guys out to the dance.  ..Didn't do me any good though, shucks..I had to wrap a strip of bacon around my neck, just to get the dog to lick me !
   Your description of Slobvollia (Slobovia ?) with all the snow and cold..sounds like where I live..since all this "global warming" kicked into high gear..

[nw_hunter]

I remember going to Kress five and dime, and Mom would get me a Smoo balloon!
Comic books back then were a nickel, and the really thick ones were a dime.

But as I grew older, I liked Lil Abner because of  Daisy Mae, Moon Beam McSwine, Hopeful Mudd, and the one and only Stupefying Jones

"I miss Al Capp"

[no guns here]

Dang y'all are old...

One of my earliest memories is going with mom and dad to pick out the new color tv.  I remember watching "Wagon Train" on the black and white though.  Why isn't it still on?

Nothing really dramatic in my memories I guess.  Nothing like yours anyway.

8 oz Coke bottles for 10 cents at the local hardware store.  Bottle hung on a rack in the case and you had to slide them out.  Stacked in wooden crates in the corner...

Banana seats and high rise handle bars...  grip tassels were cool...

Window A/C was a blessing...

Eating at diner's was good food (and still is if you can find one)...

Transistor radios were great... especially if they would tune in "FM"!  Do kids today know what AM is?

45's and 33's...

Needles (not to stick in your arm... to listen to music)

Well that's enough nostalgia.  Time to head home for the day...


ngh

[AtlLaw]

smokin rabbit tabaccer, stealin quart mason jars full of home made likker, makin out in the hay loft, yup, good times, good times...

[Cowpox]

Dangitall Ironglow,

    Why did you have to remind me of the Sadie Hawkins nightmare ?

    I wasn't as lucky as you.  I got "the invite" every year, through Jr and Sr High.  Never the girl of my dreams, mind you.  But always the ugliest girl (and it always changed year to year) within two years of me.

    Being from a small school (about 30 students per grade), everyone knew you, and to decline a Sadie Hawkins invitation meant you were insulted, brow beaten, and sometimes beat up by every female you knew.  I only wish I had thought of your bacon around the neck trick.  It might have KEPT them from licking my neck during the slow dances !!

    It is fun to see everyone recalling the old memories.  Like you other guys, I can remember stuff from way back.  I fact, about my earliest memory is going to the Prom with Dad, and going home with Mom ?

    This great memory seems to have failed me on the shmoo though.  Lil' Abner brought them to Dogpatch from The Forbidden Vally of The Scmoo. I'm thinking Lower Slobbovia (they had nothing) is where Dogpatch took the Shmoos when they had to get rid of them.

     Take a refresher course.  I Googled Lil' Abner and found this site.  Use the links at the bottom, to visit forgotten characters, like Btfspik, Fearless Fostik, Senator Phogbound, etc.     

                        http://www.lil-abner.com/slobovia.html             

   

   

[LONGTOM]

AMOS & ANDY and KINGFISH.
Try making a tv show like that now a days!

Uncle MILTIE

The SHAWDOW KNOWS

MA & PA KETTLE

starter buttons on the floor board of the car

vacume wipers

using hand signals to make a turn

everyone you see on the street knows you or knew your dad by name and it was mostly preceaded by Mr.!

The soda pop being a nickle and don't forget the two cent deposit on the bottle!

who had seatbelts?

if you shot it you ate it.
I still do!

Man, take me back!!!


LONGTOM