Ah 1985...a Time for Nostalgia
Everywhere we turn we are reminded of years gone by. From the new craze in 50’s furniture and long skirts to 99 cent double, double, cheese, cheese, burger, burger, please and cherry cokes. I certainly don’t agree with the nostalgia in 50’s furniture or long skirts, but bringing back the 1955 version of double, double. cheese, cheese, burger, burgers please (for a limited time only) and cherry cokes is alright with me. Just think, for a limited time only, we can relive our younger days. It might cost us a little more to have a hamburger, cherry coke, and take in a movie now than it did then, but what the heck…it’s thirty years later.
Remember what a treat it was when we used to go to the local soda fountain and order a nickle cherry coke in a glass with ice? Now thirty years later, we have something brand new on the market…cherry coke. Wish I had thought of that. These days, we can run into the local 7-11 and for a mere 65 cents a can, we can enjoy our old time favorite, cherry coke in a recyclable aluminum can, or if we are really thirsty, we can spend a couple of dollars for the newest thing on the market…cherry coke in the super duper three litre plastic bottle. I think they call it a biggie of coke.
Now that we have our biggie of cherry coke we can run by McDonalds’ drive thru window and order our 99 cent double, double. cheese, cheese, burger, burger, please. And like magic, from the time we tell the big menu that talks what we want to eat, until we drive the few feet to the second pick-up window please, our 1955 treat is waiting for us in a Styrofoam box, just like the old days. The 99 cent price tag might be the same as 1955, but I doubt it. If a double double, cheese, cheese, burger, burger, please was 99 cents in 1955, I doubt that I ever en- joyed eating one. I don’t remember having that much money to spend on anything as frivolous as a hamburger in ‘55. I probably had to settle for the common ordinary 29 cent single, single, burger, burger wrapped in wax paper at the local slow drive-in.
Now that we have our tummies full of 50’s treats, why not entertain ourselves with a good old movie, like the old days. We have a lot of movies these days. For only $4.50 we have such great choices as “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” rated PG-13, or one of the many R rated movies that Hollywood has created for us. PG-13 are the clean movies, they have all the sex and violence that the R rated films have, but they delete the four letter words, just in case they would offend our 13 year old kids For the people who really like to be “entertain ed”. R rated movies have everything. Sex, violence and four lettered words. This is a bit of a change from the 50’s. I don’t remember having to worry about being offended by nudity, obscene language and violence at a $1 unrated John Wayne movie at the Fox Theatre in 1955. There is an alternative to spending $4.50 to go to the local movie theatre. We can always spring for four or five hundred dollars and buy ourselves the latest VHS video cassette recorder, hook it up to our TV and en- joy a rented movie in the privacy of our family room. The only problem with rented movies is that you usually end up with a dog because the one or two good movies have been rented out by the time you get there. For instance, the other night we rented “Tightrope” starring Clint Eastwood. Let me tell you. I have never seen a movie like this in my life. It was so dirty that the plants in the family room wilted from embarrassment.
So as you can see, if you really want to relive the old days, they are still out there. But as far as I am concerned, if I am going to relive the fifties. I will have to have one question answered for me: nickle cherry cokes in a glass with ice, single burgers that taste like wax paper and John Wayne…WHERE ARE YOU?
