Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[2jakes]

Vintage things that have disappeared


Radio news broadcast with the teletype in the background, minus the shots!

 

[MisterCairo]

Depending on what one means by "vintage" (it is at the end of the day all relative), I just found some telex messages between my aunt in England and my mother at her job in Canada (I was buying a house in England with my cousin). They were sent/received in 1988.

Seen one of those lately? Certainly not since the facsimile came into fashion! What ever did we do before those?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Vintage things that have disappeared


Radio news broadcast with the teletype in the background, minus the shots!

I worked at the station that had the last active Model 15 Teletype in Maine, and probably in all of New England. It was on the UPI wire, and was running up until 1984. I still have the last string of copy I cleared off it the day they took it out.

It was a beautiful machine, but it wasn't foolproof. The gear on the ribbon drive shaft had the habit of working loose and falling off. When this happened the ribbon would stop and would quickly be chewed up by the type bars, which would then foul and jam the machine. You didn't want to see this when you walked in the door first thing in the morning.

After that, all active teletypes were the buzz-buzz dot-matrix machines, which were harder to read and fussier to load. But hey baby, it's the future, man.

RIP

 

[Trenchfriend]

Aaaah, how I love this video!!

 

[Fading Fast]

I worked at the station that had the last active Model 15 Teletype in Maine, and probably in all of New England. It was on the UPI wire, and was running up until 1984. I still have the last string of copy I cleared off it the day they took it out.

It was a beautiful machine, but it wasn't foolproof. The gear on the ribbon drive shaft had the habit of working loose and falling off. When this happened the ribbon would stop and would quickly be chewed up by the type bars, which would then foul and jam the machine. You didn't want to see this when you walked in the door first thing in the morning.

After that, all active teletypes were the buzz-buzz dot-matrix machines, which were harder to read and fussier to load. But hey baby, it's the future, man.

RIP

My first summer working on Wall Street (we were summer "kids" back then, not "interns") included periodically tearing off the paper from a very similar looking machine and brining it to the head trader for him to review.

 

[GHT]

Seen one of those lately? Certainly not since the facsimile came into fashion! What ever did we do before those?

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

View attachment 45658

I'll bet Navy signals trainees are still taught those. The military is all too aware that an atomic war or EMP burst can fry all our electronics and put us back in WWI mode for communication. They still teach Morse code, too.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I also had a huge crush on a girl named Mildred, who we called "Misty", and there was a girl who we only knew as "Bubbles". I have no idea what her real name was, and that may have been it for all I know...

When I was in high school I had a class with a very lovely girl named Lysette Cross, but everyone called her "Chris" Get it? Chris Cross? Crisscross? Yeah, we weren't a particularly imaginative bunch. But for half of the school year I didn't know her name wasn't Chris. And it turned out that Lysette wasn't even her first name. Her first name was "Ortha", which explains why she went by Lysette.

 

[Fading Fast]

When I was in high school I had a class with a very lovely girl named Lysette Cross, but everyone called her "Chris" Get it? Chris Cross? Crisscross? Yeah, we weren't a particularly imaginative bunch.

Possibly the most interesting part of her name is "Lysette," far from common. What the heck, forget the Chris Cross nonsense, that's too obvious, how many "Lysettes" did you know? And, overall, just a freakin' awesome name. Went to school with a Laura Blake, or "LB" as we called her - also, just a fantastic name. Didn't hurt the she was blonde, tall, almost lanky, blue-eyed and nice.

And no idea how we got to this discussion.

 

[MisterCairo]

Possibly the most interesting part of her name is "Lysette," far from common. What the heck, forget the Chris Cross nonsense, that's too obvious, how many "Lysettes" did you know? And, overall, just a freakin' awesome name. Went to school with a Laura Blake, or "LB" as we called her - also, just fantastic name. Didn't hurt the she was blonde, tall, almost lanky, blue-eyed and nice.

And no idea how we got to this discussion.

I went to school with Lyzette Lamondin, French Canadian descent.

 

[Zombie_61]

Possibly the most interesting part of her name is "Lysette," far from common. What the heck, forget the Chris Cross nonsense, that's too obvious, how many "Lysettes" did you know? And, overall, just a freakin' awesome name...

I agree, and may have been the only person to call her Lysette after I found out it was her real name (even though she seemed to prefer Chris).

 

[HudsonHawk]

And no idea how we got to this discussion.

About old names or about our schoolgirl crushes? The latter is a whole bunch of story unto itself. My biggest though was on Allison from about the 5th grade all the way up through high school. I asked her to the 8th grade dance, and she said no, she was just going with friends. Then I found out she was going with someone else. I was devastated and swore off girls after that...wait a second...how *did* we get to this discussion?

 

[Stanley Doble]

My mother's a Patricia -- born on St. Patrick's day, no less. My grandmothers were Winona and Florence. My grandmother Winona also had a sister named Florence. And her kitchen stove was a Florence. She also had a brother named "Elmer," not to be confused with glue or Fudd.

My father's name was "Floyd." Now there's a name you don't hear little kids being called anymore. And his father's name was "Irving," which you rarely run into unless you're talking about a Canadian gas station.

One of the last projects W C Fields worked on was a radio situation comedy that featured two Jews from New York running a western dude ranch. He called them Moishe and Hymie. A Jewish executive objected that the names were 'too Jewish".

Right away Fields shot back "How about if I name them after two Gentile authors - Milton and Irving?"

 

[Stanley Doble]

@LizzieMaine

Oh, better not "Zipporah". Reminds of the german "Zippo"-lighter.

Zippo is a purely American product made in Bradford Pennsylvania since 1931.

http://www.zippo.com/about/article.aspx?id=1574

 

[tonyb]

I suppose it might be better if the Zippo riff git started in the "Things That Never Chsnge" thread, but here we are, so what the hell.

A Zippo was my constant companion for many years, back when I was still immune to the laws of nature and smoked a couple of packs (or more) per day.

The only complaint I had about the product was that the fluid could penetrate the fabric of some pants pockets and irritate my skin. I learned not to overfill it, and to leave it out after filling to allow fuel that found its way to the exterior to evaporate. But even with those precautions I still occasionally got a small rash.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I still have a few Zippos around here someplace including a brass 50th Anniversary job I bought for a souvenir and never used. I always had one in my pocket when I smoked cigarettes ( a long time ago).

They are still one of the most reliable, honest, well made inventions you can buy. Nobody has ever paid to repair a Zippo. You can return them to the factory and have them rebuilt, free of charge, no matter how old.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Yes, Zippo is from the USA. I mistook it.

 

[Zombie_61]

I suppose it might be better if the Zippo riff git started in the "Things That Never Chsnge" thread, but here we are, so what the hell.

A Zippo was my constant companion for many years, back when I was still immune to the laws of nature and smoked a couple of packs (or more) per day.

The only complaint I had about the product was that the fluid could penetrate the fabric of some pants pockets and irritate my skin. I learned not to overfill it, and to leave it out after filling to allow fuel that found its way to the exterior to evaporate. But even with those precautions I still occasionally got a small rash.

Those chemical burns can really hurt. I solved that problem by buying a Zippo "holster"--a lighter-sized leather pouch that you wear on your belt to carry your lighter in. No more chemical burns for me!

 

[TimeWarpWife]

I think it's going to be quite amusing when those of my generation - born in the late 50s and early 60s - get to the old folks' home. I can just hear the staff calling for Susie, Patty, Debbie, Cindy, and Linda or for Jimmy, Ricky, Billy, Bruce, and Greg. I really wish now that my parents had named me Caroline after my grandmother or Kate after my great-great grandmother.

 

[GHT]

I still have a few Zippos around here someplace including a brass 50th Anniversary job I bought for a souvenir and never used.

In the first year of our marriage my wife bought me a leather bound Ronson lighter, she also pleaded with me to quit smoking, not at the same time as the cigarette lighter gift, after many false starts, I finally quit, that was nearly 48 years ago. I still have that Ronson, it still has fuel in it and it still lights first time. Much as I appreciated her gift, I'm glad she persuaded me to quit smoking.