Old Stuff

 

The other day seemed like a good day to spend some time thinking about Big Foot, aka Sasquatch/Yeti/etc., but then I came across some good olde black and white movies on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. I adore b/w movies. I love b/w photos as well and am enjoying their return to popularity.  I have to tell you though – when she was little - my granddaughter used to think that there was a time when the world was black and white – this from her looking through my collection of old photos that were taken with my family’s Kodak Brownie. Some of the pics were developed on paper that was scalloped on the edges. Remember those?  I discovered this belief of hers when she used the phrase, “You know, Nanny, ... back when the world was black and white”.  We laugh about it today – sort of a Wizard of Ox comment really.  I can see why she thought that. Makes sense to me. I still find it to be a remarkable thought and comment for a wee one. Then again – she is a remarkable kid.

Back to the b/w movies.  I have to mention that people seemed to be, on the whole, much thinner back then. Many of the women enjoyed the freedom of the braless and men were inclined to wear more goopy stuff in their hair. (No wonder there were so many doilies on the backs of chairs in those days.) Both men and women wore rather impressive hats. Smoking cigarettes and cigars was common place. The cars were enormous and actually had leg room in the back seat. Nylon stockings had seams. Ah the good olde days. Yes – I am old enough to remember when paper bags were blamed for the destruction of trees and plastic bags were touted as the solution. (Thank you to the person who thought of that last sentence. I just changed one word to “touted” … it’s so perfect in the way it suggests aggressiveness and pestering. I find that there are a lot of things being "touted" these days. I am sort of sick of it.)

Anyway – all of this got me to thinking about old stuff and I, shortly after that (for some unknown reason), came across some old advertising catch phrases or labels that I just simply must share with you. I am sort of repurposing them here.

 

Nico Cigarettes: The smooth taste expectant mothers crave!

No flies on me …. Thanks to DDT.

The Bayer Co., LTD: Compressed Tablets – Heroin Hydrochloride

Let this magic mineral, ASBESTOS, protect the buildings on your farm!

Always trust Science.

 

Now the Nico ad has been found to be fake, but….  The ad for DDT is real – an ad for the Black Flag Company. I checked on the Bayer Company ad to discover that they did produce the heroin hydrochloride elixir as a cough suppressant -- with most unhappy side effects -- as I am sure you would suspect. (This was at least a century ago. Hopefully drug companies are doing better today. Many are counting on it - even betting their lives on it.) The Asbestos ad is also real – an ad used by the Johns Manville company – a manufacturer of insulation and roofing materials.

The world does change, and hopefully improve, but then thinking about some of the side effects of medicines of our age and especially looking at the last phrase – “Trust the Science” … well…. Quite frankly -- I cannot keep up with the incessant mutability of Science these days. I sometimes wonder if Science is worthy of capitalization.  It is hard to “keep the faith, baby…”  I find myself thinking that in some ways the more things change, the more they stay the same.  I also wonder if anyone believed any of those advertising claims back then. I am thinking they did. I think that people do want to trust. It’s just so hard sometimes. It is becoming harder and harder. “Everyone lies” comes to mind.

To take this one step further.  I guess the question this brings to mind today is: “Who checks the fact checkers?” It seems like every day things thought to be untrue are being revealed as true after taking a harder look – you know … on closer investigation.  To make things even more complicated, the reverse is also true. Again – “Who checks the fact checkers?”  Can we trust them?  This matters most of the time. I so want to be able to trust.

Perhaps there is a reason why I love to escape to old b/w movies. I love when the world “seemed” black and white. Shades of gray complicate things. So do lies.  

Popcorn anyone?