Print Over Time

In today’s world, with younger generations getting most of their news online or reading from ebooks, some might argue that the newsprint industry is a dying one. While sales and subscriptions may be declining, it is inarguable that newspapers, books and magazines had a lively past, and are not dying—just transitioning.

Regina says newsprint was important to her family. “My father was an editor for a small newspaper in Greenridge, Missouri called the Green Ridge Herald,” she says, a town that today has a population of 476. When she was about 4, the press was later bought out and absorbed by a surrounding city and changed its name. 

Location of Green Ridge, MO

“Small town newspapers were how news got out in those days. A lot of towns had two, even three publications that competed [with each other], and the best one stuck around.” Newspapers were delivered in the mornings by—you guessed it, paper boys—and daily publications were not printed in color until the 1970s. “The [black and white] made the images very dull,” she remembers, but those were still her favorite part. Along with photographs, comics drew attention from the younger crowd. Popular comic strips she remembers are Popeye, Peanuts, Archie and Superman.

Like newspapers, magazines featured large print and photographs—except they were in color long before newsprint. Glossy covers drew shoppers at newsstands and grocery stores, geared to an audience that didn’t have as much time to sit down and read a newspaper. “Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, the Reader’s Digest, Life” are some of the few she recalls her mother—and later herself—reading. “They told you how to dress, cook, and behave around men,” she says. “They were much more glamourous, and had less words on the front.”

 

Around Christmas, she remembers looking at the toy section the Sears Roebuck catalogue. In her youth, she remembers, she wasn’t as drawn to magazines, but rather comic books. “Girls read comic books too,” she says.  

As for books, she says they were her most favorite thing to read, spending hours with a book at a time. In her youth, her favorite series was Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie novels and other mystery novels. She remembers that the “fifties and sixties were a controversial time for books”—The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, On the Road, To Kill a Mockingbird were just a few titles released in that time she remembers “caused a stir.” Today, these books have been removed and placed on banned books lists and remain classics for their touchy themes. While he was not mentioned, Vonnegut especially played with themes deemed violent so his work was looked down upon. She got her books by saving her money, from the library, or borrowed from friends.

Today, Regina still likes to read books, magazines and newspapers in her free time, and mentions that she is excited to see how print has transformed over time.

Like television, motion pictures had the ability to transport viewers into another world. Like today, going to the movies was an exciting event shared among friends and lovers alike.

When the “magic of the movies” was still a relatively new pastime, it caught on quickly as more and more cinemas popped up around the country. And surprisingly, not much has changed in her eyes. “The movies were a special thing,” Regina says. “We would spend hours and hours [at the cinema].” She remembers the theater in her town as “big” and located in the downtown square. “People came from all around to see a picture on the weekends. I went on Friday and Saturday nights, and sometimes after church with the whole family.” She says it had a big ticket booth outside in the front instead of inside the theatre itself, like the newer theatres today. But another element that made the movies magic was the concession stand. “Everything was so cheap! It wasn’t even a dollar for a bag of popcorn. Now it’s how much?” (I told her about $8). She recalls that the theater was the only place you could get popcorn because it wasn’t sold in microwavable bags yet.

She remembers the explosion of drive in movies too. “That’s where you went if you really didn’t care what you saw,” she says. She adds that drive in movies played mostly B-movies that you would laugh at with a date in their car, or with a big group of people. Today, like we briefly discussed in class, drive in sales plummeted in the later 20^th century, so a lot of drive-ins have become vacant lots. 

Among the differences in movies today, she mentions that westerns and musicals were more common than action and comedies, which are the two most popular genres today. “The Searchers (from 1956), Ben Hur (1959), and Singing in the Rain (1952)” are some of her favorite classics she remembers seeing on opening night at the cinema. She references movies stars like John Wayne, James Dean, Clark Gable and Tony Curtis as some of the actors she had a crush on back in the day. “They all looked so handsome!” To their counterpart, some leading ladies of the forties and fifties were Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Jean Harlow and Elizabeth Taylor, and Judy Garland and Debbie Reynolds playing musical roles.

Not only did you go see a movie at the cinema, you also saw cartoons and newsreels before and after the show. “We would spend whole afternoons there,” she says. While she can’t remember any exact ones, some of these cartoons were probably Felix the Cat, Superman, and Betty Boop. Newsreels (a famous one was Movietone) played news from around the world. “This is how you got to see what was going on in the world,” she says. Movietone and other reels played footage of “famous people”, new technology, and importantly, what was happening overseas during the war era. 

Over time, the magic of the movies hasn't been lost. Today, Regina rewatches these classics and more on AMC and TCM, two cable channels dedicated to preserving the life of almost forgotten classics that meant so much to Regina and her generation. "Watching old movies brings so many memories back to life, it's wonderful," she says. 

Memories with Television

   

After World War II, an explosion of new technology entered American homes. Among the most revolutionary was the television, which still has influence today. 

Regina remembers her first time experiencing the television in person was as a young teenager, when a delivery truck from a department store pulled into her driveway one morning. "We had no clue what it could have been," she says. To the surprise of her and her family, it was a brand new television set, a gift from her father. As they went to set it up, “we spent the whole afternoon gathered in the living room, just sitting there excited,” she says. “Getting a TV was really a big event.”

Among the differences between TV now and then, she remembers for a time only receiving one channel, CBS. She also mentions that “there was no remote control” and “the dials were under the screen.” As for the effect of the new TV set on her family, it was engaging like the radio; however TV was different: “the pictures were right there in front of you,” she says. “When our shows were on, everyone in our house was watching.” Some shows she watched regularly were I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, and Leave it to Beaver. She preferred shows that were funny, or had romantic elements. “TVs are so big nowadays!” she adds. Color TV and the invention of cable are two milestones that enhanced the TV experience by offering a variety of entertainment to more audiences in visually appealing color.  She remembers cable bringing about some of her favorite channels like TV Land and Lifetime, marketing to specific viewers and playing reruns. She says that today, there are more channels that air programming all the time meaning you don’t have to wait for something to come on.

Another difference in television then were the commercials. “The advertisements had more jingles that you could remember,” she says. “You don’t hear much anymore.” Advertisements also featured television stars that endorsed products—Andy Griffith for Corn Flakes and mascots like the Alka-Seltzer man were big sellers for audiences.