Mendets – The 1930s-40s Way to Repair Pots and Pans

I recently posted something about a 1940s era junkman who visited my neighborhood and how my mother always looked for old pots and pans which she would repair with little pieces of metal.  My daughter found this card of Mendets on eBay and bought it for me.  This is exactly what my mother used, except sometimes she bought them in a small box.

Mendets were patented in the early 1900s and the dress/hairstyle of the lady on the card makes me think this might be from the 1930s.  The back of the card has instructions as well as suggesting some other uses such as repairing a hot water bottle, using on campfire utensils and even shows a lady perched precariously on a ladder repairing a gutter (“Saved the cost of a tinsmith”).

Until World War II was over, I believe every pot, pan and kettle in our kitchen had a Mendet or two helping to give a bit more life.

Click on photos to enlarge.

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An Old Time Picker – The Ragman

The popularity of American Pickers on TV reminded me of the “rag pickers” of the 1930-40s era in Cincinnati.  There was the occasional horse-drawn cart that rumbled through the streets of our small working-class East End neighborhood with a picker shouting in a sing-song style, “Any rags or old iron”.  They were the pickers looking to buy; in our neighborhood we also had a picker who wanted to sell.  On hot summer afternoons, a big grey 1930s Packard would turn from Eastern Avenue and make its way down the slope on Gotham Place toward the river bank.

My sister in front of our house with the beautiful pink tea roses. Gotham Place is shown in the background

A tall older man with a day’s growth of beard would maneuver the car to a clear spot in the large area outside our little red brick house and set up shop.  The car doors would be opened and from every house on the narrow street women and children would hurry out the door.  Mothers would call out, “The Ragman is here” and everybody would gather around the car to see what treasures might be available that day.

The Ragman drove a very raggedy version of this car

I never learned what the man’s real name was, but he made his rounds of the better homes in Hyde Park, Indian Hill, Mt. Lookout, Mt. Washington, etc., to pick up  castoffs which he sold at very low prices on his various stops throughout the East End.  Customers would pick up an item and ask, “How much?”  The Ragman would think a second or two and give a reasonable price which we could take or leave.  There was a constant stream of questions and answers going back and forth between customer and seller.

Daddy, Mother, Lillian and Shirley – pictured in the big area in front of our house where the Ragman used to park

There was something for everybody – pots and pans, dishes, glassware, clothes, toys, and my favorite – movie magazines.  For a nickel I could buy 3 or 4 slightly outdated publications and read all about Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Lon McAllister and all the other “stars of the silver screen”.  There might also be an occasional Seventeen magazine which was interesting for a pre-teenager to read to get news of the latest styles of clothes and tips on dating.

My mother tended to pick up old pots and pans which could be made new again with her addition of little round metal pieces that she always had on hand to patch worn-out utensils.  My little sister might buy a small doll or toy.  One year she bought a doll’s china tea set with a teapot and creamer that had pouring spouts shaped like elephants’ trunks.  I had been irritable with her when I came home from school that day and Mother said, “Oh, be patient with her.  She worked all afternoon cleaning up a special gift for your birthday.”  It truly was a special gift – I wish I still had it.

My sister and I in our Victory Garden. In the background is the Cincinnati Water Works

These were the early to mid-1940s World War II days before television and shopping malls.  It was a wonderful treat to be able to do some shopping almost in our front yard on the banks of the Ohio River on a clear blue summer day.

Is it any wonder that my favorite stores now are antique malls and thrift shops?

Click on photos to enlarge.

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Goodbye, Rusty

I’m very sad this morning.  Last night, my hound dog, Rusty, passed away.  He was 14 years old and my best pal.

I’m heartbroken.

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January 2, 1964 – A Journal Memory

Throughout the years while I was raising my four kids (beginning in 1954), I kept a journal where I periodically made notes about holidays, school, vacations, etc.  As an occasion arises where I think one of my journal entries would be pertinent, I’m going to post it just as I wrote or typed it back in the day (except for an explanatory note or correction of a typo).  

The children will be known here by the nicknames their grandfather used when they were toddlers:  The oldest daughter will be Newsie (because she was as good as a newspaper for finding out the latest happenings), the oldest son is Bar (because he called Grandpa’s truck Bar and Grandpa called him Bar), the youngest son is Jackson, and the youngest daughter is Shanty (as in Shanty-Boat).

In January, 1964, we were a family of five: mother, father, 9-year-old daughter Newsie, 7-year-old son Bar, and 3-year-old son Jackson.  We lived in a 1922 two-story home in the Oakley suburb of Cincinnati with a nice backyard for the kids to play in.  Jackson was prone to the croup and didn’t get to go out and play in the big snow that greeted us on the first day of January, 1964.

Maple Drive greeted 1964 wearing a thick blanket of white as seven inches of snow covered Cincinnati early on New Year’s Day.  The street is rutted deeply with tread marks and the cars are all wearing top-pieces of snow which occasionally tilt rakishly on the side as the sun grows warmer.  Most of the walks are neatly shoveled and salted so the kids troop gleefully across lawns and up the middle of the roads.  Our kids got an extra two days of vacation due to the snow and showed their appreciation by wallowing in it all day.  As a surprise for Jackson and me, Newsie and Bar fashioned a plump snowman with all the trimmings—limb arms, rock eyes and buttons, plaid scarf and Bar’s green leather cap.  Jackson can look through the dining room window and see friend snowman staring back at him from the yard, which is pocked with footmarks of various sizes.”

L – January 2, 1964

Jackson had six more years to be the baby before another daughter came along and I love to read in my notes where the two older children went out of their way to surprise and please their little brother.  Happy memories of almost 50 years ago.

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Christmas Shopping at the Five and Ten

At Christmas time, my little sister and I loved to go to Neisner’s 5 and 10 (“the dime store”, we called it), a treasure trove of gifts for children, or adults for that matter, with small coins in their pockets.  We circled around and around the counters, picking up cards with beautiful jeweled earrings or flowered boxes of dusting powder or the ever popular Midnight in Paris perfume in small cobalt blue bottles.  These would be wonderful surprises for Mother, the Grandmas, the aunts – if we pooled our money.  There were small bottles of shaving lotion, glistening emerald green on the counters, which were standard fare for the men in the family.  For small cousins there were jack sets, paddle balls, tiny dolls – such an array!

Now, that 5 and 10 stores are a thing of the past, I remember all those dear people opening our dime store gifts, clumsily wrapped and labeled, and exclaiming with wonder – the same as my sister and I did as we entered the marvelous world of Neisner’s.

HAPPY MEMORIES OF THE WONDERS OF CHRISTMAS

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A Cincinnati Christmas in the 1960s

In 1989 my oldest daughter made up a little booklet for family members with her memories of Christmas in the 1960s.  Since then, I get it out every year and read it – and cry.  It’s a very accurate depiction of our family’s Christmas and this year she put it on her blog in PDF form.  For those who grew up in the 1960s or who raised children in that era, it might be a fun read.

http://www.nudged2write.com/archives/3219

Happy Christmas Eve.

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Remembering Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is so much about family traditions – like baking pies – two of the pie tins go back to the mid-1950s…

….getting out the 1952 wedding china….

…my oldest daughter embroidered the tablecloth in the 1960s…

….having the youngest kids check out the turkey.

This tradition began in the mid-1950s with my two pre-school children posing for the movie camera, gently poking the turkey with large forks to see if it was done.  It continued with another son and daughter in the 1960s and 1970s and now the youngest grandchildren are somewhat bewildered looking at the turkey.  Grandson is happily contemplating turkey breast, cranberry sauce and apple pie.  Granddaughter doesn’t eat anything.

We had a good Thanksgiving.

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The Significance of September 8

After 61 years, I still think twice when I see the date September 8.  My father hadn’t allowed me to date in high school, but in 1951, I had graduated from school and was a secretary at Procter & Gamble.  I had been dating a little bit – never more than one date with the same person and never feeling it was a successful outing.  On September 8, 1951,  my sister suggested I come along with her to the neighborhood St. Rose Bingo.

We didn’t go to St. Rose Church, but my sister was the best friend of a girl named Cecelia who was a member.  I didn’t really want to go but it was Saturday night with no plans and I gave in.  Besides, there was a possibility that a boy who was being suggested as a potential date might be there.  Cecelia’s boyfriend Peanut had a pal who had moved away while in the 6th grade at St. Rose – Buddy – and everyone thought we would make a great couple.  So, I went to the bingo and sat at a long table with the rest of the group and sure enough, in came Buddy, dressed in nice slacks and a maroon corduroy jacket.  He sat across the table and was very sober and serious but he had pretty green eyes and seemed pleasant enough.  There wasn’t a word of conversation between us that night but it was an introduction and later in the week we did meet again, made a date and on my birthday on September 30, we agreed to go steady.

“Buddy” told me immediately that he hated the nickname and wanted to be called Frank and his pal “Peanut” also insisted on being called Rich.  We double-dated with Rich and Cecelia all the time – mainly because Rich had a car and Frank didn’t have a license (or a car) yet.  We had some really nice times – Rich and Cecelia were both outgoing and funny and they usually made the plans on where we would go.  We went to football games, drive-in movies, Frisch’s for Big Boys (which were really huge then and I had never tasted one, plus they were served by car-hops on trays that hooked to the car door), a hayride in the back of an old farm truck, lots of house parties, and many, many evenings playing Poker with Frank’s family where the only outlay of cash was for a jug of beer and whatever money we might lose playing cards (Cecelia and I nursed a soft drink for the evening).

We even went to one of Cecelia’s high school proms which was good for me since I hadn’t gone to my own.  I picked out heavy gold satin fabric and Mother made the dress for me.  Frank wore his standard blue pinstripe suit.  The prom was predictably boring but at least I could say I had been to one.

Dating came to an end pretty quickly when Frank left for the Navy in February.  By the time he came home on leave in May we were getting married and dating was over, but for a short time I experienced what the kids talked about all through high school – going to movies, eating hamburgers in the car, watching football games, going to parties and proms – some of it was nice, some was boring,  but at least I got to try it.  And it all started on SEPTEMBER 8.

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Remembering Andy Griffith and a Mayberry Birthday Party

I’ve always been a big Andy Griffith fan and in thinking about his passing, I remembered a 61st birthday party that my daughters gave for me in 1993.  The theme was Andy Griffith and Mayberry.  Mayberry fans will recognize these characters and references to incidents from various shows.  This was the invitation (remember Ernest T. Bass meeting his “Romena” at Mrs. Wylie’s house?):

Quoting from my notes in my photo album, “The room was decorated with large, round, colorful decorations such as Mrs. Wylie might have put up for a party for her social group.  There were big platters of dill Havarti cheese, strawberry dip, vegetable dip, potato salad, bagel chips, croissants and baguettes.  There was a huge punch bowl of lemon/grape juice punch and we got to drink out of Shannon’s antique cranberry/chrome cocktail glasses.”

“All the gifts were wrapped in pretty paper with notes attached telling me which Mayberry character had sent something for the celebration.”  What an array of gifts there was and the notes were priceless:

Andy wrote on official Mayberry Sheriff’s Office stationery that he was sending me one of Aunt Bee’s favorite birthday presents, a whole carton of preserving jars.

Opie sent a set of Mayberry trading cards with a note, “Paw says this is a good present for a nice lady like you.  Aunt Bee helped me pick it out.”

Aunt Bee wrote about the time she left Andy alone while she visited Cousin Edgar and Andy had wound up with blisters from the hot pans, so she sent me a sturdy oven mitt.

Barney writes that Eleanora Poultice recommended two classical music tapes – A Carnegie Hall Christmas tape and another by Kathleen Battle.  Barney writes that he “was going to crochet you an afghan in the North Carolina State colors, but we had that gun seminar in Raleigh and I never got around to it.  Well, see you in the funny papers.  Ha ha.”

This note accompanied an “I’d Rather Be Watching the Andy Griffith Show” license plate.  Note the oil smudges on the paper.

Thelma Lou sent a note along with a tin of cashew fudge, “Barney and I really enjoy this when we’re watching TV.”

Floyd, the barber, sent a note that when Ellen Brown was working at his shop as a manicurist, she had left a bunch of bottles of nail polish and he sent one to me.

Ernest T. Bass had his girlfriend, Rowena, write a note explaining he was sending something he has always treasured – a rock and his gold tooth.  “You are my favorite mother figure.  I hope your birthday is more fun than a moonlight possum hunt.”

Daphne and Skippy, the “Fun Girls”, sent a video of a George Raft movie with a note that said, “Last time we were in town, Andy and Bernie told us about this great George Raft movie over at The Grand and you just have to make sure you see it for your birthday.”

Otis Campbell wrote that he thought it was undignified to drink out of a brown paper bag and picked up a special “Dipsy-Doodle” cup in Mt. Pilot for me to drink from.

Bobby Fleet and his Band with a Beat sent a tape of Andy doing his comedy routine from his early years.

The Darlings sent over a tape of the Dillards’ latest hits.

Clara Johnson sent a can of allspice to improve my pickles.

Malcolm Merriweather sent a beautiful English tea set of cup, saucer and “crumpet” plate.

Jennifer and Clarabelle Morrison sent a little Mason jar of their beverage “just for this special holiday (and for medicinal purposes later!)”.

Helen Crump sent a Mayberry Union High sweatshirt which the alumni was selling to raise money for the reunion ball.

The hostesses of the fun Mayberry party:

The happy 61st birthday girl!

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Pause and Remember – 6/29/2012

On Friday, I pause and remember a single moment from the past week – inspired by The Warden’s Log.

Ready for the 4th of July!

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