perhaps more ‘mar-ble-ous’ days, as kids, before all those screens arrived. The first was the television screen. Back in the early nineteen fifties, when the first Philcos, Westinghouses, Zeniths and RCAs arrived, we stopped playing marbles. Thus, this bit of rhyme to ponder.
CRYSTALS, CAT’S EYES AND COBS
Juicy fruit, double bubble gum. Popsicles, ice cream flavours. Root beer floats, chocolate sundaes, banana splits, so much fun. Seniors, do you still remember the names of your neighbours? When, as a kid, you walked home from school, with your buddies, unwinding from another day of ink wells, blotter rolls, straight-nibbed pens and chalk dust. On the way, you would of course first drop in at the local Ma and Pa grocery store, so cool! Wow, all those goodies to score, for just a few pennies, it was a must!
Then at home, get together and spend hours with your friends having a great time playing marbles. All that excitement, going wild! The experience was simply "marble-ous" to see how many cobs, cat’s eyes and crystals you could win. Marvelous!
Then all of a sudden, through the air, television started booming in. The Lone Ranger, Superman, Howdy Doody and all those great shows. After that, we became increasingly glued to that 17- or 21-inch black and white screen. Perhaps in some respect, technologically we lost our marbles. Do you remember one famous actor who said on a famous commercial ”Progress is our number one product”? Now look at all the different kinds of screens we
depend on today. Well, I guess that’s just way it goes!