Today vs. the good old days
Monday October 15, 2007 -- Jim Taylor, Streamway Villa resident
How often have you heard the expression “those were the days”? When recalling happy or exciting events of the past? One of today’s generations may answer “too darn often.”

For many nursing home residents the good old days refer to the first half of the twentieth century. Let’s begin with a few of the good things.          

In 1904 the Wright brothers began the air age, making the first successful flight. Later in the half century passenger air travel began. Horseless carriages began flooding our streets. This was due to Henry Ford’s manufacturing innovation, the assembly line. To help in the home, such items as the vacuum cleaner, the refrigerator and the clothes dryer were invented. During this time span skylines became more spectacular with the appearance of skyscrapers first in Chicago, then big time in New York, culminating with the Chrysler and Empire State buildings, both soaring to over 1,000 ft.

In medicine many advances were made. Here are a few. In the 20’s in Toronto, led by Canadian Dr. Frederick Banting, research led to the discovery of insulin. Penicillin and good old aspirin were developed. Near the end of the era, sodium pentathol was rapidly replacing ether as the chief anesthetic. 

For entertainment, there was a great variety of things to do, watch or listen to. People danced everywhere, from country jigs and square dances to the great music of the big band era. You could dance to the likes of Paul Whiteman, Glen Miller, the Dorseys, Ellington and many more. Dance ranging from the Charleston and fox trot to the jive and jitterbug.
           
You could watch such classic movies as Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz or Casablanca. On your radio you could tune into such classics as Amos & Andy, Lux Radio Theater and One Man’s Family. They provided no picture but really fired up the imagination. Radio also brought you the voices of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Kate Smith, Rudy Vaile, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Bing Crosby and many, many more.

Now for a paragraph on Canada in this era. In sports the Maple Leafs won their first Stanley Cup under that name. Lionel Conacher, a champion in several sports was voted Canada’s athlete of the half century. In the immediate post WW2 years a young Ottawa lady, Barbara Ann Scott dominated women’s figure skating.

In 1934 Callendar Ont. found itself on the world map with the birth of the Dionne quintuplets, the first set to survive.

Every era has its dark side. Let’s reflect on that.

We’ll start with April, 1912 when the super liner Titanic struck an iceberg and sank causing a loss of nearly 2,000 lives. Two years later came the onset of the first World War. At its end in 1918 it was called the “war to end all wars,” WRONG. Near the end of a decade called the “roaring 20’s,” the stock market crashed, beginning the great depression, an era of unemployment, poverty and bread lines. Families could not afford to go out to be entertained so radio reached its height of popularity. In 1939, this bleak period was virtually halted with the beginning of the second World War. Factories closed and deserted by the depression re-opened and converted to manufacturing for the war effort. This created jobs and money. Being then part of the British Empire, when England declared war on Germany, so did Canada. Canadians enlisted by the thousands. The void left in the work force was filled mostly by women, in a spectacularly efficient manner.

Though we were never under attack, we who had loved ones involved almost dreaded picking up the mail. Needless to say we were all happy in ’45 when it ended and those who served began coming home. 

So there you have a commentary on both sides of a half century. For those who represent our more recent past, the present and our future, what do you think, more good or more bad? You be the judge.

— more to come