Pneumatic Cashier

[patyrn]

In Smith & Goodwin, we used to wrap purchases in white paper with white string.  Very rarely was a paper sack ever used except when the sale was of sewing notions or small items.  My dad taught me to wrap packages that way, and he was left-handed (I am right-handed).  I still wrap and tie "upside down" and tie my shoes backwards because that is how I learned.  Duh...................

[W. Gray]

Anyone,

Was the Plaza theater in Howard ever equipped to show 3-D movies?

And, did it ever convert to a "CinemaScope" screen?

[jpbill]

No, I don't think the Plaza Theatre was ever equipped to show either 3D nor Cinemascope movies.  Cinemascope took a much wider screen than the Plaza had room for.  I think 3D took a different type projector.

[jarhead]

I remember going to a "flick" at Howard in the 60's that they gave you a funky pair of card board sunglasses with multi colored lenses that made the movie 'look" 3D

[Diane Amberg]

Was it 13 Ghosts by any chance? Those funny cardboard glasses had one red lens and one green lens. I probably have an old pair in my desk somewhere.

[W. Gray]

Thirteen Ghosts came out several years after the 3D craze ended, although you viewed the screen through similar red and blue lens cardboard glasses.

It was filmed in "IllusionO," which was a gimmick created by William Castle to draw people into the theater. And, with the tremendous advertising hype that said some theater goers might have a heart attack if they watched the movie, he did draw numbers into the theater--at least initially.

It probably also drew many people, like myself, who thought it was revived 3D.

If you wanted to see the scary ghost you looked through one colored lens. If you were scared to death and did not want see it, you looked through the other colored lens.

Comically, you could take off the glasses and still see the ghost. It also seems to me that there was some type of visual signal put on the screen to warn people when a ghost was about to appear.

I remember many girls that screamed but after about the second or third ghost, I wanted to get to the thirteenth quick so that I could get out of there. It still sticks in my mind as one of the biggest disappointments to ever come into a theater.

[W. Gray]

Someone can probably add a little more about these two items. One went further than the other, but neither did not get very far.

In the late 1950s, I attended a Home Show in Kansas City and one of the new items coming out was an in the kitchen incinerator.

No more taking out the trash to burn in a barrel on your back fence line. You burned it in your kitchen.

Trash was placed in a top loading white porcelain appliance that was about the size of an automatic washer. I don't recall if it had to be vented to the outside (surely it did) or how it was emptied of ash.

Don't know that I ever saw another one.


Something that was more successful that I tried in the 1970s was a trash compactor in the kitchen.

It did not work very well, though, and had a tendency to put out a trashy odor when the door was opened.

You had to put a few items in a small bin and then wait for the crusher plate to squeeze what you just put in.

After the ram plate came back up, you could put a few more items in and repeat. You could spent a good deal of time waiting for the process to work, especially when the bin was getting close to full.

But, most of the time stuff like plastic bottles and cereal boxes would pop right back up after it was supposed to have been crushed.

Forget about putting in newspapers. It did nothing to them. It became easier just to toss all the trash in the trash can.

In the eighties, I tried again with a "more powerful" trash compactor intended for the garage.

It did not seem to have any more compacting power than the one in the kitchen during the previous decade.

I think I might have read that for home use a trash compactor cannot have much crushing power for safety reasons. A compactor with automobile crushing power would probably cost much and cost more to operate. But, I think that was what some folks were expecting when they bought one of these machines.

[W. Gray]

It would not be appropriate to mention old things without mentioning the hula hoop craze of the late 50s and early 60s. The first time I tried one I felt really stupid by gyrating my body like Elvis as the hoop fell to the ground every time. But eventually I learned to keep it going around my waist. Never could make it go on an arm, or a foot, or my neck, or several at a time like some of the girls could do.

I recall the plastic hoops were of varying quality and started, maybe, at 69 cents with an average at 98 cents. We sold cheap hoops, medium hoops, and expensive hoops in the mom and pop grocery store where I worked. Seems like the 98 centers sold the best. But after the fad ended, you could not give them away.

In the mid 50s, the first hoops were made of wood by an Australian outfit. Wham O picked up on them in 1958 and released them in plastic and it was an instant success.

Walmart, today, has a weighted hula hoop available for $23.95, sold as a fitness item.

I wonder if the fitness center on Wabash Street has any of them?

[larryJ]

PLEASE BE ADVISED-------------------------THE HULA HOOP IS NOT DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At Christmas time, my wife bought a plastic hoop with lights that flashed when the hoop was in motion for our five-year-old granddaughter.  When she is here she practices, but has not yet mastered it.  She is getting better with each try.  So, the fad is not dead, yet.

Larryj

[Dee Gee]

No the hula hoop isn't dead the Wii fitness games has it in the program, where you stand on the Wii board and swing your hips as you would with a regular hoop and it counts how many you swing the hoop.