Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[DelW]

You can still see them on tv shows

Cue mark - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Ah, I've seen those occasionally without spotting their significance.

 

[BingMan]

Movies where someone woke up in the middle of nowhere and could not contact anyone.


My dad was a cinema projectionist. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound Of Music were two films with intermissions. For The Sound Of Music, in an era before multiscreens and so where it was the only film showing, this resulted in my dad seeing it over 700 times, by when it was starting to lose its appeal to him...

My father told me that when "Gone with the Wind" was on in our local cinema it was split over two evenings. With two admission fees. Didn't go down well in West Yorkshire

 

[athro]

No I don’t think it is. If you type ‘joule’s brewery stone history’ into Google (or other Search Engine) there is quite a bit of information available.

Wikipedia:
James Joule was born in 1818, the son of Benjamin Joule (1784–1858), a wealthy brewer, and his wife, Alice Prescott, on New Bailey Street in Salford.

 

[70014IronDuke]

No I don’t think it is. If you type ‘joule’s brewery stone history’ into Google (or other Search Engine) there is quite a bit of information available.

Okey dokes - thanks!

 

[Western Lord]

My father told me that when "Gone with the Wind" was on in our local cinema it was split over two evenings. With two admission fees. Didn't go down well in West Yorkshire

I find that very hard to believe. The distributor (MGM) would not have allowed it. When the film finally appeared on TV (after several decades of profitable reissues in cinemas) it may have been split over two nights.

 

[gg1]

I find that very hard to believe. The distributor (MGM) would not have allowed it. When the film finally appeared on TV (after several decades of profitable reissues in cinemas) it may have been split over two nights.

Though if some small local British cinemas did do exactly that in 1939, was there realistically much likelihood of MGM ever finding out?

 

[Western Lord]

Though if some small local British cinemas did do exactly that in 1939, was there realistically much likelihood of MGM ever finding out?

Gone With the Wind was not released in the UK until 1940 and certainly would not have been available to small local cinemas for years. It played for four years at the Ritz Leicester Square and went out on general release on the ABC circuit. There were regular re-releases, one in 1957 on the Odeon circuit while in 1968 MGM "adapted" it to wide screen and re-released it in a ghastly 'Scope version.

 

[Lloyds siding]

Wikipedia:
James Joule was born in 1818, the son of Benjamin Joule (1784–1858), a wealthy brewer, and his wife, Alice Prescott, on New Bailey Street in Salford.

They are the same family: one brother set up a brewery in Salford, the other developed a brewery in Stone Our Story -Joules's brewery

 

[Harpo]

Gone With the Wind was not released in the UK until 1940 and certainly would not have been available to small local cinemas for years. It played for four years at the Ritz Leicester Square and went out on general release on the ABC circuit. There were regular re-releases, one in 1957 on the Odeon circuit while in 1968 MGM "adapted" it to wide screen and re-released it in a ghastly 'Scope version.

Worth hunting out is the ‘making of’ documentary which was also in a GWTW DVD box set. It’s an amazing programme.

 

[gg1]

Gone With the Wind was not released in the UK until 1940 and certainly would not have been available to small local cinemas for years. It played for four years at the Ritz Leicester Square and went out on general release on the ABC circuit. There were regular re-releases, one in 1957 on the Odeon circuit while in 1968 MGM "adapted" it to wide screen and re-released it in a ghastly 'Scope version.

Ok, wasn't aware of that but the exact year doesn't really matter, my point still stands. In the days when there were literally thousands of predominantly single screen cinemas in Britain, the chances of the distributor ever finding out if some cinemas were splitting a long film into 2 showings with 2 entry fees were negligible.

 

[BingMan]

I find that very hard to believe. The distributor (MGM) would not have allowed it. When the film finally appeared on TV (after several decades of profitable reissues in cinemas) it may have been split over two nights.

Hehad no reason to lie. And, for a Yorkshireman, the memory of having to pay double would rankle for decades

 

[Western Lord]

Ok, wasn't aware of that but the exact year doesn't really matter, my point still stands. In the days when there were literally thousands of predominantly single screen cinemas in Britain, the chances of the distributor ever finding out if some cinemas were splitting a long film into 2 showings with 2 entry fees were negligible.

The point is Gone With the Wind was not available to small independent cinemas and no circuit cinema would be allowed to do such a thing.

 

[KT550]

A bit off topic as I saw one in use just last week.
Hadn't seen one for years, certainly not being used.

Petrol pumps outside a shop/garage, where the car parks at the kerb and the fuel line swings over the pavement.

In Wainfleet All Saints, Lincolnshire.

 

[Ken X]

Dad was a fan of the double seats located at the back of cinemas. Went to a lot of films but didn't see much of the shows apparently.

 

[DelW]

A memory prompted by some posts in the "improvements to vehicles" discussion: in the days before hazard lights, if a bus broke down, the conductor would lift out the base cushion of a double seat and lean it against the back of the bus, to signal to other drivers that it wouldn't be going anywhere.

 

[75A]

A bit off topic as I saw one in use just last week.
Hadn't seen one for years, certainly not being used.

Petrol pumps outside a shop/garage, where the car parks at the kerb and the fuel line swings over the pavement.

In Wainfleet All Saints, Lincolnshire.

Went past one today in Killough, County Down.

 

[Indigo Soup]

Petrol pumps outside a shop/garage, where the car parks at the kerb and the fuel line swings over the pavement.

There's one such establishment in my town. At least, it's allegedly still open. I've seen the pumps in use precisely once, the interior of the garage looks like it's somewhere between a closing-down sale and the aftermath of a ram raid, and the owner was exceptionally rude to my wife when she phoned up about a car repair.

 

[Ediswan]

A memory prompted by some posts in the "improvements to vehicles" discussion: in the days before hazard lights, if a bus broke down, the conductor would lift out the base cushion of a double seat and lean it against the back of the bus, to signal to other drivers that it wouldn't be going anywhere.

That had the benefit of being unambiguous, once explained.

 

[simonw]

Sound and sane government in the U.S..

 

[swt_passenger]

Ah, I've seen those occasionally without spotting their significance.

I had the purpose of the ‘motor and over dots‘ explained, it would have been in the mid 70s, and after that I kept seeing them in the top right hand corner, presumably until much longer reels became usual.

 

[The exile]

A memory prompted by some posts in the "improvements to vehicles" discussion: in the days before hazard lights, if a bus broke down, the conductor would lift out the base cushion of a double seat and lean it against the back of the bus, to signal to other drivers that it wouldn't be going anywhere.

How widespread was that? The publication celebrating 150 years of bus services in London (1979?) described it as a habit peculiar to London - but I’d witnessed on many occasions in Edinburgh.

 

[GordonT]

Common practice throughout the former Scottish Bus Group companies.

 

[DelW]

How widespread was that? The publication celebrating 150 years of bus services in London (1979?) described it as a habit peculiar to London - but I’d witnessed on many occasions in Edinburgh.

I'm fairly sure I've seen it done in Birmingham in the 1950s or 60s, but we also spent some of the school holidays with my grandparents in north London, and I might be mixing it up with a memory from there.

 

[GordonT]

Expensive "Basildon Bond" letter writing pads which were often in blue with an ornate front cover. Stretching my memory a bit but I think the first page was a page of ruled lines which were black on a white sheet to facilitate writing on the remaining unlined quality blue pages by placing the lined page behind the page you were writing your letter on to keep your writing straight?

 

[simonw]

Expensive "Basildon Bond" letter writing pads which were often in blue with an ornate front cover. Stretching my memory a bit but I think the first page was a page of ruled lines which were black on a white sheet to facilitate writing on the remaining unlined quality blue pages by placing the lined page behind the page you were writing your letter on to keep your writing straight?

Still available at rymans

Buy Basildon Bond Writing Paper & Pads Online – Ryman

Get the latest deals

www.ryman.co.uk

 

[Bald Rick]

Expensive "Basildon Bond" letter writing pads which were often in blue with an ornate front cover. Stretching my memory a bit but I think the first page was a page of ruled lines which were black on a white sheet to facilitate writing on the remaining unlined quality blue pages by placing the lined page behind the page you were writing your letter on to keep your writing straight?

On a related subject - Russ Abbott!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

On a related subject - Russ Abbott!

Ah yes... On the train... "My name is Bond... Basildon Bond..."

Every line with four syllables and spoken in the rhythm of the train on jointed track.

 

[Harpo]

Expensive "Basildon Bond" letter writing pads which were often in blue with an ornate front cover.

Hand written letters. Maybe letters generally? (Although the NHS seems utterly fixated on snail mail.)

 

[najaB]

Hand written letters. Maybe letters generally? (Although the NHS seems utterly fixated on snail mail.)

If you miss receiving snailail then sign up for an E*Trade account (mine came courtesy of work).

Every transaction or change seems to result in at least three or four letters. The record so far was six different letters to tell me that 2¢ was deposited to my account for some reason and then removed.

 

[GusB]

Expensive "Basildon Bond" letter writing pads which were often in blue with an ornate front cover. Stretching my memory a bit but I think the first page was a page of ruled lines which were black on a white sheet to facilitate writing on the remaining unlined quality blue pages by placing the lined page behind the page you were writing your letter on to keep your writing straight?

My mum used Basildon Bond writing pads - those she preferred had a purple-ish logo on the front, if I remember correctly.

On a related subject - Russ Abbott!

"I love a party with a happy atmosphere". Thanks for planting that earworm!

Hand written letters. Maybe letters generally? (Although the NHS seems utterly fixated on snail mail.)

I rather miss sending and receiving hand-written letters. When I first moved away from home to go to university it wasn't easy to contact people by phone - mobiles were around, but out of reach for most of the population. The only way to keep in touch with school friends who'd moved away to other places was by letter. I did have have the ability to send email, but access was only generally granted to people who needed to use the UNIX servers as part of their courses and there was no guarantee that friends in other places would have access at their end.