AAAAH!

[Dismuke]

Now that is the most intersting test pattern I have ever seen in my life. It beats those multi-color bars on today's TV's.

If you look at the test pattern closely, you will see "Horizontal Resolution" and "Freq In Kilocycles." Do you know exactly what is that these test patterns were supposed to test? Was the image supposed to somehow look different if the transmission quality and/or one's receiver was somehow not up to snuff?

You must remember that back in those days, it was all about looks! The littlest things had a design!

Indeed. That was even true for inexpensive, mass produced items as well. What an era.

 

[jamespowers]

I suppose my grandfather was right about TV in 1948 then. I bet there wasn't much on though. :cheers1:

Regards to all,

J

 

[Wild Root]

:cheers1: To the golden era!

Root.

 

[jamespowers]

Indeed. That was even true for inexpensive, mass produced items as well. What an era.

Yeah. Even the junk was good. Work-a-day stuff lasted longer than expensive stuff today. Man what an era. Everything was made in this country by citizens and not slave labor. Is it any wonder that they made products correctly?
Cars were meant to only last three years because they would be traded in for the new model after that time but were the Big Three turning out junk? NO!
The CEOs might not have cared but the regular assembly line worker cared about the work he did. The car came out right whether they liked it or not---no planned obsolescence came out of the factory. They just kept running and running. Just ask someone who still owns one.

Regards to all,

J

 

[BellyTank]

They hadn't thought of that idea yet- planned obsolescence-
And they didn't have the technology to make junk yet-

B
T

 

[jamespowers]

I like that. That is true in so many ways. Ever hear Grandpa talk about cars and stuff being recalled? No, there was no need to recall any thing of that era.

Well, that was before car makers decided to add a bunch of stuff into our cars that do nothing more than distract you from concentrating on what you are in the car to do---drive. This is not to mention the shaving, newspaper reading and farding that goes on in cars.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

With all due respect, I must disagree. There was plenty of junk being manufactured during the "golden era." Perhaps just as much junk as is being produced today.

For instance, in the post World War I years, consumer demand for all types of products soared considerably and many, many companies were started in an attempt to supply them. People wanted new "luxury" durable goods such as cars, phonographs, radios and appliances. And there were all sorts of companies seeking to profit from this buy creating rather shoddy goods that still could find a market. This boom continued into the late 20's although by the mid-to-late 20's many of these start-up companies had gone bust or had been taken over. During the 30's, the onset of the Depression meant that there was a similar demand for cheap goods, particularly cheap luxuries and companies gladly suppied them.

For example, the Model T Ford was a notoriously unreliable machine. The design of the motor meant that expensive overhauls were necessary after relatively few miles (even by the standards of the time.) In fact, apparently Sinclair Lewis's unsavory character "Babbitt" was named for the babbitt bearings in the Model T, a cheaply-designed part of the car that was commonly known to fail. People of that period would be amazed that today we expect cars to last for over 100,000 miles, with many people having cars with two or even three hundred thousand miles on them. Such high milage was just not expected of their cars.

Wild Root, the reason why there were few recalls is because of the legal atmosphere of the time, not the quality of the products. There were certainly even more recall-worthy products made then than now, but there was little reason to recall them. People were not as litigious as they are now, and class action dangerous-product lawsuits were very, very rare perhaps even non-existant. Consumers were not very safety-concious about what products they bought, a trend that would continue up into the post-war period. Businesses were afraid to try to sell products based on safety features for fear consumers would think their products were unsafe and not buy them. An excellent example of this is the addition of seat belts to cars. The Big Three resisted adding seatbelts as long as they could, even while on many European cars they were a standard feature.

Lastly, one of the main reasons why many people think vintage products were better is because cheap junk doesn't last, and usually isn't saved. People save what they think is valuable or what they think is useful. The Model T whose engine blew up in 1921 after 2000 miles does not exist today, it went to the scrapyard long, long ago. The antique cars that exist today are the survivors, almost certainly being the better cars quality-wise that had been produced. The same is true of many consumer products. And this is why, ironically, many of the most valuable antique collectables are things that were dirt cheap back when they were new, but were mostly thrown away or broken (certain types of children's toys for instance.)

Sure the "golden era" was great. I love it too, but we must be realistic about it. There were plenty of negatives, it was no Utopia.

 

[Wild Root]

Farding JP? Whats farding... Did you mean farting?

I'm sure there was plenty of that going on even in the golden era

Root.

 

[Wild Root]

it was no Utopia

Vladimir Berkov, very true my friend.
I agree that it was no utopia! I mean hey, the whole world was in a great depression and money was hard to come by. That’s one reason why crime was so high! People who were good and wholesome for the most part became thieves worked for a mob just to feed their families. They were hard times and we shouldn’t forget that. We have it so much better today in many ways, but I really wish the best of the 30’s and 40’s could be mixed with the best of today. Well, I don’t want to sound like I’m anti Ford but those cars were real junk when new like you said. They worked, but they really didn’t hold up to the other cars of the era. It wasn’t till the 30’s that Ford really started to make a better car. Even then most other car companies had hydraulic brakes when ford waited for ever to go to hydraulic brakes.

I have seen some cheap stuff here and there that was made back then. But, when I look at most cheap stuff around it is still constructed better then most modern junk. Most things that are made of plastic today. When I see something made of metal or wood it’s more money! I collect radios and all the radios I have are made better then any repro radio today! Check this out, I have a 1938 Sears Silvertone. Sears was a cheap place to shop for the most part. This radio has a lot of good features and the cabinet you could tell is solid and built well. The design is far better then what could be made today! Have you seen some of the repro radios out there? They don’t really use much veneer and they look cheap. Lets face it, there was cheap stuff back then, but even some of the cheap stuff was built better then what one finds at Wall Mart or 99c Stores today.

Back to the car thing. Plymouth was known as the ford of the Chrysler Corp. It was the lowest priced car of the Chrysler family. You had Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth. I drive a 46 Plymouth every day as most of you know and I wouldn’t trade that car in for any modern car! It drives great and is reliable! Most low priced cars were made well, they just didn’t have as much options as the higher priced models. Funny, A friend of mine has a 38 Cadillac and he has had problems with it many times. So, even the high priced stuff had problems.

You’re right about the golden era not being a utopia like we like to fool our selves into thinking but, I’d take yesterdays cheap over today’s cheap!

Root.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I definately agree that the design/appearance of most things was superior. And the lack of cheap plastics meant that many things had to be made from better materials from simple necessity.

I think the essential thing about the 20's-40's was not that everything was better than it is now, but there was a greater range of quality. There was cheap junk, but there were also things of far better quality and style than are available today. Buildings for instance, even relatively cheap buildings, were built better than they are today. The same goes for lots of clothing items. Pretty much anything which depended on a large degree of skilled manual labor was better back then than it is now, due to the huge increase in the cost of said labor. Most men today will never afford a true bespoke suit. In the 1920's, having one was very common.

Our society has lost a lot of the elegance and style that items of true quality can bring.

 

[Mycroft]

I beleve Howard Huges had one of the first televisions in country.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Matt empty your pm box please

 

[jamespowers]

Farding JP? Whats farding... Did you mean farting?

I'm sure there was plenty of that going on even in the golden era

I didn't make a mistake. I meant Farding. Farding is the application of makeup or to paint one's face. Perhaps I should have been more to the point.
Speaking of the other word, I probably shouldn't have ate so much chili tonight.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Wild Root]

Well, I learn something new every day.

Oh I'm glad I live far enough away right now JP!


Root.

 

[jamespowers]

Hmmm....Plenty of junk in the old days. I suppose being able to afford hand made clothing, furniture, textiles, shoes with real leather soles, paper, gas, lumber, housing, land and taxes was not so much a good thing.
Gee, the most any middle class family paid in taxes, state, federal and local taxes were 25%. Start adding it up today and think about it.
All the other things cost more money because of nutty leftists who screwed up a good thing. Housing where I am costs $450,000 for a shack because the local state and federal government won't let you build on empty farmland to accommodate the growth in population. People commute 100m miles a day to get to their job---that didn't happen in the golden era. They had more time to spend with their families rather than in traffic---another thing that was scarce here before WWII and was exacerbated by morons who do not want to build more roads to accommodate the traffic and population growth.
Let's really think about this. We are now killing ourselves with both parents in a family working for what one parent working could obtain fifty years ago. The children come home to empty houses and we wonder why society decays.
The crime rate in the Depression was nowhere near where it is today and people were starving! Yes there was crime due to an idiocy called Prohibition but that was not at all like the drug trade is today. There was still a certain honor among even thieves. There is no such thing today as morons will kill children for their shoes and idiot kids want to attend school with red mohawks and black lipstick and red eyeliner. Even worse is that idiot parents such as this kid's will stick up for their kids and get the ACLU to sue for discrimination! We have lost all boundaries and sensibilities today. Things happen now that would have never been allowed fifty years ago. It is disgusting. When one contemplates raising a child in today's climate it can instantly turn one's hair gray. Again it is certain that you cannot send your child to a public school because they are just worthless social engineering experiments. The quality of our public education system has fallen like an atomic bomb. There is another product that is nowhere near as good as it used to be. Now we have to pay twice to get our children educated and not indoctrinated. Once for the government school my children will never see the inside of and once for the parochial school that will actually teach them something.
I could go on and on but Most will get the gist of where I am coming from. It is just not as safe, reasonable and cordial as it once was.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Yes, but wealthy Americans were paying insane taxes rates for much of the period. Thanks to good old FDR, the top tax rates started climbing beginning in the early 1930's. By 1945 the top rate was over 90%. That is income tax alone...90 percent! It stayed that high until the 1960's.

Only relatively recently have income tax and capital gains rates started to come down, I believe now they are somewhere around 35-38 percent or so, I can't quite remember.

Overall, I would much rather have been rich either pre-war (pre WWI) or during the 1920's, or today. I am very glad I don't live in the 1930's and 1940's tax environment, as I plan to be in the highest tax bracket as soon as possible.

 

[Wild Root]

I'd rather pay the taxes and have a nice home in the 30's and 40's. I think I'd get tired of movies I have to read what they're saying and the cars were way better in the 30's and 40's.

I'm a pre WWII man!

Root.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Lol, too true. I am not sure if I could live on silent movies alone either.

 

[jamespowers]

They might have been but there were loopholes big enough to drive a tank through. TEFRA and other resulting "tax reforms" have put limits on deductions that were once common place. A millionaire who paid 90% was likely an idiot or someone who didn't have a decent accountant.
You may pay 35-38% now but you cannot deduct as many business expenses and certain types of interest that you could fifty years ago. Even paying 35-38% now is ridiculous considering that is only federal tax. Factor in the local, state and sometimes even city tax and it becomes more like 55% for a middle class family.
Even if it was 90% net in those days, it would be worth it not to have to deal with the many factors I mentioned above. It would be what I call a values and morals tax.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Matt Deckard]

Saw this at a local Macy's and was almost sent to the hospital when I keeled over from the sight.


Anyone wear Madras?

RL Polo Madras Jacket in their classic Congressman cut.