What a Life: Childhood memories in black and white

Wesley brought it all back to me (Wesley Eads is our precocious nearly 6-year-old great-grandson) after I told him a bit about what life was like when I was his age.

After it sunk into his sponge-brain, he recalled that I had told him we had no TV, and when that finally did arrive, it was "black and white."

He asked his "Nana" Dottie Foley: "Nana, was everything black and white in the olden days?"

After a few chuckles as the episode was related to the elders, it started the juices flowing — the "black and white" juices.

If you may be in the same age range as your favorite columnist (80s) some of the things I bring up may trigger some special memories of your own, and for the majority of you, who are considerably younger, you may enjoy reading what life was like before the computer age.

I told Wesley about what I had that may have come closest to a personal electronic amusement device — my crystal set.

For your information, a crystal radio receiver, also called a crystal set, is a simple radio receiver. It uses only the power of the received radio signal to produce sound, it needed no batteries, etc.

It is named for its most important component, a crystal detector, originally made from a piece of crystalline mineral such as galena.

The user had a little lever to manipulate a "cat's whisker" over the surface of the crystal, until a radio signal was picked up. (This crystal component is now called a diode.)

I had a little single headphone on one ear to listen to the radio. I’m afraid Wes wasn't too impressed. This is the same Wesley who has his iPad permanently attached to his person.

Some of the things that surfaced from the depths of my memory were products popular with the kids of my generation.

I remember rushing home from school when I was in first grade to plop down in front of the huge console radio in our living room and listen to "Superman," "The Lone Ranger" and "Jack Armstrong, the all American Boy."

All of the programs were serialized (daily episodes) and only 15 minutes long.

It was the products advertised that I really remember, for instance, as I recall, the sponsor for "Jack Armstrong" was a chocolate powder that we mixed with milk that was supposed to give the kids who consumed it tons of energy, vitamins and any other beneficial attribute the manufacturer could imagine.

The negative with the McClellan household was the cost. "It’ll have to wait," Mom said.

The radio announcer always told us: "Boys and girls, be sure to remind Mom to pick up a can of Ovaltine the next time she is at the grocery store!" That same refrain was repeated after every product aimed at us kids, including cereals, such as: Kellogg's Pep, Wheaties, Grape Nuts and Cheerioats (the precursor of Cheerios).

I think it was Pep that included a couple of sheets of printed paper that when cut out and pasted together turned into a 3-dimensional model of a WWII fighter airplane. My brother Lowell loved them, and we mailed in a quarter to Kellogg's and received a whole set of the planes.

Lots more fun than an iPad, I’m thinking.

Many of the cereal manufacturers would advertise premiums that kids could obtain by saving up the boxtops from the product, and when the required number were accumulated, we mailed them in with possibly "A thin dime" and would get the premium in return. I recall such things as a "Decoder Ring" where special messages that were broadcast during the radio programs that could only be decoded with the use of the Decoder Ring. The premiums were always described with plenty of adjectives, such as "Amazing" or "Super Secret." You just knew they were going to be wonderful.

And usually, they weren't.

It wasn't just us kids that could accumulate premiums, for I recall my Mom buying Mother's Oats oatmeal because they packed a piece of glassware or some kitchen device such as a measuring cup or egg slicer in their packaging. I recall eating many a meal off of some of those premiums.

Yep, it was a special time — and by the way, should any of you happen to have a few Cheerioats boxtops laying around — I need a couple more to get my Decoder Ring.

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