Kind of a weird question....

[Midnight Palace]

Obviously we all feel some sort of connection to the past. I'm just wondering if I'm alone in how deep mine goes. Does anyone ever feel actual "melancholy" over not being around then? I have to admit, sometimes when I watch the movies of the 30s or 40s, or see photographs, hear the music, etc... I have this heaviness that comes over me, almost like a "homesickness" if that makes any sense. I'm wondering if anyone else experiences this?

 

[fourstarbanner]

I've totally been there. Sometimes I look around at the way things are today and cringe. There's no sense of manners or respect for where people come from.

 

[Midnight Palace]

You're absolutely right. Sometimes I'm ashamed to even be part of today's world, hardly any class whatsoever.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

So maybe we are reincarnated?

 

[Midnight Palace]

I'm not even sure what to call it Nick, but it feels like much more than an "interest". It's like a gravitation....as if something inside reaches back. I know it sounds a little odd.

 

[goldwyn girl]

I always feel I've missed out on better times and that makes me sad. I was talking to someone who grew up in Vegas, born in the 40's, and she was telling me how much fun it was. I go through my old catalogs and wish real hard that I could order something and when I find something I have I'm very excited. Yes, I miss the past and I've never been there.............

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Times were a bit simpler and less hectic, and most people were more polite I think than they are now. Maybe it's the fact that there are more people now? [huh]
I would miss my digital gizmos though, if I were to wake up tomorrow and it was 1935.

 

[Midnight Palace]

Well I had a discussion with someone about that. Would you rather live then or now? Remember, if you lived then, you wouldn't know what you'd be missing because it wouldn't have been invented yet. It's like someone in 2070 saying they could never live in 2007 because cars didn't fly. Yet, we don't even know flying cars as a reality. BUT, then again, do you think we'd appreciate the 30's/40's as much if it was everyday life to us?

 

[Samsa]

Well I had a discussion with someone about that. Would you rather live then or now? Remember, if you lived then, you wouldn't know what you'd be missing because it wouldn't have been invented yet. It's like someone in 2070 saying they could never live in 2007 because cars didn't fly. Yet, we don't even know flying cars as a reality. BUT, then again, do you think we'd appreciate the 30's/40's as much if it was everyday life to us?

I, for one, would most certainly not want to be alive during the great depression and the Second World War. I'll stick for combing through eBay listings looking for that perfect hat.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Well I had a discussion with someone about that. Would you rather live then or now? Remember, if you lived then, you wouldn't know what you'd be missing because it wouldn't have been invented yet. It's like someone in 2070 saying they could never live in 2007 because cars didn't fly. Yet, we don't even know flying cars as a reality. BUT, then again, do you think we'd appreciate the 30's/40's as much if it was everyday life to us?

Yeah, I wouldn't know the difference maybe. But if I did, I could just invent all that stuff myself.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Yes, when watching a movie or looking at a glamourous 1930s magazine I get a yearning to go back in time.

BUT, I realise that I wouldn't want to have lived through the Depression.

BUT THEN AGAIN, when I see a gorgeous art deco building that has been bastardised I get that gut-wrenching feeling and imagine myself enjoying it how it originally was.

I flip-flop all the time, but I am glad to live in the here and now. I can choose what I want to do and how I want to be. Not only are the modern conveniences wonderful, but I also like that rebellious streak that I carry so proudly. That would've been looked down on in "The Golden Era." Now "The Golden Era" *is* rebellion! (if I make sense -- I'm soooo tired!)

If I had lived then, though, I'm sure I would have gotten along just fine.

 

[Story]

I, for one, would most certainly not want to be alive during the great depression and the Second World War. I'll stick for combing through eBay listings looking for that perfect hat.

You mean Polio, Whooping Cough, Lynchings, smoke clouds over Nanking, screaming Stukas over roads choked with refugees and U-Boats off Atlantic City aren't your cup of tea?


Lemme know if you see any 7 1/2's, k?

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Not really. I have a longing for community and peace. Maybe that's why I come here. It seems as though most of the time everyone really respects each other. It's an escape (not from the computer, though). I feel that people themselves haven't changed. They may have had nice materials (cars, clothes, buildings), but people have always been friendly or unfriendly. Class starts with manners, not materials. If I walked into a building in the 40s and the employees were rude to me, sure they are nicely dressed, sure the building is nice, but they themselves are not nice people. I believe we tend to overlook the past as it is shown in the movies, photos or magazines.

You really need to broaden your vision of what it was like by talking to a vast majority of different people, of race, religion, ethnicity, etc that lived it. You may have spoken to someone who did live in that time who said it was wonderful, but could have spoken to someone else, and they said it was horrible. It is all a matter of where you were in society. It would be nice to visit for a while, but I don't think I'd stay.

 

[Lonn]

I do, but then I,,,

Just thought I'd mention, Midnight, you're in Philly, 4star, South Dakota and I'm in Seattle.
Even this forum was a completely different place just 4 short years ago.
I love V8's and I prefer them fuel injected. I learned a lot from my grandfather but what I am teaching kids today, no comparison. Except where there is.
I wish we had better records of then. But I am glad I am where I am now. I stroll, I tip my hat, I say please and I iron my shirts. If we all keep doing the stuff that matters, well, maybe there is a reason this forum exceeded 5000 members recently.
To answer your question, truthfully, yes, I feel it too. Then I make a phone call. Read a little here. Surf ebay for something old and cool. Look for something I can do today that echo's what I long for from then.
Believe I'll put on my suit coat and hat and go for a stroll right now.
Great question!

 

[Samsa]

Lemme know if you see any 7 1/2's, k?

Not a chance. That's my size, too.

 

[Midnight Palace]

I suppose there is a little bit of comfort in being able to pick and choose what parts of the past to enjoy. I was recently asked by someone if I was excited over the emerging trend in present-day Hollywood of stars dressing like it's the 30's and 40's. I can honestly say I'm not excited about it, and it actually annoys me! LOL! I think it's because - to me - it cheapens the era. It seems like they use it more as a gimmick or an image to market. It just doesn't seem like they have a genuine love for the time. That's just me though

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Next time you're in Hollywood, buy a star's homes map and ask them yourself!

 

[Hondo]

Yes, as a kid, B17's were a small childhood interest, mild. If you watch the Gregory Peck WWII film, “12 O’clock High” the opening scene with Dean Jagger as he walks by old air field and the song plays, Don’t Sit Under the Apply Tree” I feel like I’ve been there, every time I see that scene, I can not pin point any thing else, a person or a name. The scene does haunt me a little bit, a while back I went to see a B17 for a ride, photo op, on a cold cloudy morning, got goose bums, again felt I’ve been to a place much like this, cold cloudy morning, not here but somewhere. I always have that song in the back of my mind playing over and over.

 

[Brooksie]

I totally know how you feel Midnight and everybody else that has so far commented. I also feel a very deep connection to the past. For me it is when I hear Glenn Miller, I feel I should be wearing my saddle shoes and swing dancing and I do not even know how to swing dance. Or when I see pictures of Louise Brooks and art deco buildings I feel a longing for days, days that I have never even lived except throught the eyes, stories or pictures of others. When I buy vintage clothes I have almost an obsessive need to know what era the things I bought were from - it is a total fasination with it all. Is anyone else out there totally obsessed what era the things you have bought are from or is it just me? (oh please let there be somebody else, I can't be a freak!)

Brooksie

 

[CharlieH.]

Everytime I see films or pictres from the era I invariably ask myself - "Why was I cursed with living on this day and age?". I always like to think I would have been happier in the 30's, despite some unnerving truths.