Reminisce With Me
By Bill Shepard
Come, let’s go back a while; Ready? Can you remember when an RC Cola, five large sweet crackers and a nickel’s worth of cheese made a good lunch? And all for 15¢? I do!
Imagine walking into a store today and asking to buy a nickel’s worth of cheese! Where would you find a store that sells unpackaged cheese, the kind that comes in a large round wooden box? At the little store where I worked as a boy, you could have bought a pound of cheese for a quarter, sometimes less! I could not count the times that I watched someone enter the little store and call for a nickel’s worth of cheese, a 5¢ box of saltine crackers and an RC Cola, and then take a seat on an empty cola crate and have a feast. I did it myself more than once.
Bill Shepard
At the little store where I worked, as a boy, everything was delivered in bulk form. A round box of cheese would weigh 20 pounds. A large slab of fat-back meat might weigh 5 pounds and rice, grits, dried beans and peas were delivered in 100 pound bags. It would be sold to customers in nickel and dime packages. During the times of which I reminisce, working at the little store on Phillip Street in Darlington, I cut and weighed hundreds of pounds of meat and cheese and repackaged the same amounts of the other items. My experiences at the little store taught me many things about the way folk lived through the harsh times of that period in America.
I invited you to reminisce with me; are you still there? Let’s go on! Do you remember when Pet and Sealtest ice cream were sold in small cups for a nickel each, and larger cups for a dime? Printed in beautiful colors on the underside of the lid was a picture of a dog, bird or butterfly. If you saved the specified number of each picture you could exchange them for a large 8 x 10 picture of the one on the lid. I did that many times. Oh, how I wish I had kept my collection of the pictures. Remember when you bought a banana or orange flavored popsicle for a nickel, and after eating it, if you found written on the stick the word FREE you could get another one without paying for it? What a good feeling that would be. Are you still with me?
Do you remember when the Dr. Pepper drink slogan was 10, 2 and 4? If you saved the tops and underneath the cork lining you found the number 10, 2 or 4, you would get the large prize if you could get all three numbers. The trouble lay in getting them all. I must have saved hundreds but I never could find the #2, nor did I know anyone that did. Anyone remember?
I suppose the game of enticements to sell products has gone on for ages and more so today than before. I just like to recall those from way back when I was a boy. I recall saving the Blue Horse notebook paper covers in an effort to get a bicycle for free! Anyone remember that one? The picture of a horse head, in blue, appeared on each package of the paper or composition book. You were never told how many were needed to get a bicycle. A person sent the number they had and received a prize, accordingly. In order to hopefully receive a bicycle, I saved the covers for years. I had a shoe box full when I finally decided to mail them to the proper place. Was I surprised, WOW! I received not only a shiny new bicycle but several other gifts including a basketball and baskets, a baseball and a bat and a few other gifts. Did anyone reminiscing with me have an experience like that? Can you still purchase Blue Horse products? Do they still offer prizes?
We haven’t traveled as far on this journey, as I had planned but space is running out! Here is just one more of my favorite stops in time. Remember when a movie ticket to the Liberty Theater on the square in Darlington cost a dime? And you could get in free, if you were under the age of 12 years old. I spent many enjoyable Saturday afternoons in that old theater and it didn’t cost a cent! I recall that first Saturday when I was asked to start paying for my ticket! May Phillips, a beautiful young lady, sat in the ticket office. She said “it is time for you to start paying for your ticket!” That’s another memory from a time long ago. I will save it for another time. Until then….! Thanks for reminiscing with me, hope you enjoyed your trip!
Mr. Shepard is a native of Darlington, S.C., and a current resident of Piedmont, S.C. He is the author of “Mill Town Boy” and “Bruised”. He has been sharing his tales for decades and we are delighted to share them. His mailing address for cards and letters is: Bill Shepard 324 Sunny Lane, Piedmont, S.C., 29673.
