Radio Days
Laying comfortably
on the softly carpeted
living room floor.
To be snug and warm
on a cold winter day
with your brother
or sister beneath
mommy and daddy’s fluffy,
down filled blanket.
To smell the scent of
grandpa’s aftershave
and feel his arms about you
as you sit snuggly on his lap.
To close your eyes,
To be carried away:
“RETURN WITH US NOW TO THOSE THRILLING DAYS OF
YESTERYEAR WHERE OUT OF THE DISTANCE COMES
THE THUNDEROUS HOOF BEATS OF THE GREAT HORSE
SILVER! THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN!”
With our imaginations wide open
we could see them!
They were there!
There!
There’s
the Lone Ranger and his great horse Silver!
There’s Tonto and Scout!
“HI-HO, SILVER, AWAY!”
On Saturday mornings:
“Cream of Wheat is so good to eat,
yes we have it every day.
We sing this song,
it’ll make us strong,
and it makes us shout hooray!”
“Cream of Wheat presents,
‘Let’s pretend’!
Today the story of
‘The Princess and the Pea’!”
“Grand Central Station!
Crossroads of a thousand lives!”
“Corless Archer!
America’s Junior Miss!”
Raptly listening.
Imagining.
Being there!
Run home from school.
Go to the store for mom.
Take a package of Twinkies
and a glass of milk and,
sitting on the floor in front of the radio:
“Jaaack Armstrong, the All American Boy!”
“Captainnn Midniiight!”
“The Green Hornet!”
“Look, up in the sky!”
“It’s a bird
It’s a plane
It’s Superman!”
Eat supper.
Take the garbage to the can.
Rush through homework.
Back on the floor again because:
“It’s time for Jack Benny!”
“Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy!”
“Fanny Brice as Baby Snooks!”
“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
The Shadow knows!”
“Today, April twelfth, nineteen-hundred, forty-five,
our president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
died suddenly of a massive cerebral hemorrhage in
Warm Springs, Georgia.”
“God save America!”
“Today, May eighth, nineteen hundred, forty-five,
Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces.”
“The war in Europe is over!”
“Today, August, fourteenth, nineteen hundred, forty-five,
Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces.”
“WORLD WAR TWO IS OVER!”
We, and our radios, were there.
©October 25, 2013 / Mark M. Lichterman
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I remember so well THE LONE RANGER here in UK, but on TV...
Your descriptions of childhood are so heart warming....
Best wishes for this New Year,
Diana....
Anna
Ron
I wrote a book, "Reflections from the Great Depression and WWII" that goes back into a time when life was much more wholesome and pure.
What has all the advances of technology done for us? Have we become more blind and dumb? Give me the 1950's any day, the age of innocence.
My mother worked 7days a week 8-10 hrs. a day for over three years producing radar sets for our troops. During that time, she never took one day off even on Christmas of New Years. She did her part to help win the war and she told me that she would do it all over again. She made History in my book. We will never see another generation like hers again... Amen