Thursday, 12 April 2012

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: K

K Smell:
Knees – Don’t pretend that you don’t know what I mean! I’m talking about those days when we ran round with bare legs all day and then we’d sit down and hug our knees and smell grass, fresh air, earth and that faint aroma of sun-tanned skin.

K Memories:

Kodak Brownie Box Camera – I only have vague memories of Dad's box camera. It was square and you held it at waist height and looked into a lens on the top. I think it looked like the one bottom left in the picture. Dad let me take photos with it sometimes as a special treat. He also had a camera with an accordion-style front that pulled in and out. Of course, the film had to be taken in to a camera shop to be developed and it took several weeks before we saw the results.


Kennedy’s Assassination – This was the first piece of International news that had a profound effect on me... and yes, I do remember where I was when I heard about it. I was getting ready to go to my friend, Sylvia's house. I couldn't believe that something so awful could actually have happened.

Knees [again] – No, I don’t have a knee fetish but I suspect the 1950s and 60s did! In the 50s we were surrounded by boys’ grubby, scabby knees in school. This was because boys under the age of thirteen rarely wore long trousers. In the 60s it was us girls displaying our knees with our teeny, tiny mini-skirts that barely covered our essentials!



Rita Tushingham, Michael Crawford and Ray Brooks.
So young and so gorgeous (especially Ray Brooks!)
K Programmes:
I can't find a single TV or radio programme beginning with K so...
Films:
The King and I
The Knack which I saw at the pictures in 1965 and adored.




K Names:

Grace Kelly, film star, who married Prince Rainier
in a real-life fairy tale wedding.

John F. Kennedy, USA
Chiang Kai-Shek, China
Khrushchev, Russia
Grace Kelly
Danny Kaye
Gene Kelly
Gladys Knight
Carole King
Eden Kane
The Kinks who provides the...







K Music:
The Kinks singing Waterloo Sunset


I'm loving all your extra memories.

33 comments:

  1. Hi Ros, A smell and a taste: Kali - do you remember it - sweet gritty powder, stood in the sweet shop in giant glass jars and was weighed out with old fashioned scales into a pennyworth or tuppence (if you were luck) and then passed over the counter in greaseproof paper cones, just right for dipping one's finger in - yummy!!!
    and Kunzel Cakes - made with all pure ingredients - yummy again.

    Names: Kalin Twins, Kathy Kirby (one of our dad's favourites), King Brothers.

    TV Programme: "Keep it in the Family" 60's quiz game. I though I had another prog called Koala Bears but apparently it was called The Tinga and Tucker Club with Aunty Jean. My boys loved those bears to bits - I watched the programme too!!!!!

    Films: "King Creole" staring the one and only Elvis Presley. The "King Creole" LP came out in 1958 and me and my cousin played it over and over in her front room - ah "happy days".

    Oh and Ros thanks for the picture and reminder of Ray Brookes, saw him in his first film and have loved him ever since.

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  2. Ros, somewhere I've a photo I took with the old Kodak box camera - my sister standing on a dustbin holding a Christmas tree!!?? Oh, and I'm sure her knees were showing.

    Rifka, you beat me to it again! But I have got some you haven't mentioned: Knockout Comic, Knight's Castlie soap, Kolynos toothpaste, Oat Krunchies and Special K, Kia-ora orange.
    Radio: Beyond our Ken
    TV: Kitchen Magic (Fanny and hubby Craddock).

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  3. Oh I totally get that knee smell! The perfect summer smell for a good number of years!

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  4. I've finally caught up with myself and all that plumbing disaster/water damage (DIY husbands eh!) I've posted up some responses to those who commented on J if you'd like to pop back.

    Hi Rifka, you've certainly produced a massive list of Ks. So many things I've missed. I blame it on the water-through-the-ceiling incident!

    Hi Pat, you had a Kodak box camera too! Excellent. And yes, I remember Kia-ora. Bet it had lots of additives in it.

    Hi Annalisa, so relieved that someone understands my reference to smelling knees! (I still do it occasionally but that information is strictly between the two of us, right?)

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  5. Hehe, awesome. Speaking of knees. I once wrote a whole blog post about how women think with their knees :o) If you're interested I'll forward you the link! hehe

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  6. Lovely memories - including the camera. The Kinks song I remember best is Sunny Afternoon. ~Miriam

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  7. Hi Pat, Kia-ora - do you know I was sitting thinking last night........ "I'm sure there was a fizzy pop beginning with K" and there you go you beat me on that one. I've got workmen in today and while the sound of drilling was echoing through my home I thought of "Kay Kendall". A very talented actress who appeared in, amongst other great films "Genevieve." Ohhhhh that wonderful car. I seem to remember being taken to the Odeon to see this as a birthday present in 1953. The film and sound track music have always been very special to me and still send a tingle down my spine.

    Ros - yes that's exactly what Dad's camera looked like. I borrowed it once and dropped it in the sand at Great Yarmouth!!!!!!!!!

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  8. Great post. Funny how knees are all covered up now.

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  9. Rifka, not sure if Kia-ora was fizzy, I thought it was a cordial?

    Oh, yes, Kay Kendall and how about
    Eartha Kitt - "Just an old-fashioned Girl" and "The Day that the Circus left Town".

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  10. Hey, what about Korky the Cat and the Kits? They were in a comic - can't remember which one though.

    I should have mentioned Korky in my first K comment - one of the characters in my WIP has a cat called Korky.

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  11. Pat you are so right - just looked it up on Wikipedia - so there is still a fizzy drink out there somewhere beginning with K.
    Ahhh yes .... Eartha Kitt with her lovely purring, husky voice singing I'm Just and Old Fashioned Girl....................

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  12. But you haven't mentioned knickers. I'd better not say any more.

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  13. Loved your post and will go back and read the others -- soon :-)

    http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/z-challenge-day-11-k.html

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  14. Love the Kinks!

    And knees? Mine stayed skinned most of my childhood. (Tomboy.)

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  15. I'll never look at knees the same again.
    That is the same Gladys Knight who is now on "Dancing With the Stars".... isn't it" You may not watch it and I don't have TV when I'm at the ranch and I'll be here most of the summer.
    I usually never watch much TV but it makes me feel a little "out of it" for certain things. Ha

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  16. I liked The Kinks, Lola was a bit hit with us. I always had scabby knees.

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  17. I named my daughter Lola, not because of the Kinks, but I do like that song:)

    How about The King, as in Elvis? I wasn't alive when Kennedy was assassinated, but I do remember where I was when Elvis died. It was the day before my birthday. I'm loving all these nostalgia posts on the A to Z Challenge!

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  18. I was born in the 70s, so I missed all this!

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  19. I can only think of Kellogs Cornflakes! God knows why. Loved the Kinks, Lola and Waterloo Sunset. I had, and still have somewhere, a Kodak Brownie - it's sad, isn't it that Kodak's not even around any more! I don't know if you're going to be able to fit it in, but talking of Kia-Ora reminds me of the lorry that came round with Corona soft drinks - Cream Soda!

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  20. This time I remember most of the things you mention. I was at the library on the Princeton, NJ, campus when I heard of the Kennedy assassination. I think that was an innocence lost moment for me and many others.

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  21. Why won't Blogger let you add to Blogs you follow list? I was planning to redo mine after the challenge is over.

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  22. Thanks for visiting my K-post. This was fun! Is your whole alphabet Nostalgia? What fun!
    Grace Kelly was sure pretty.
    Great idea for a theme!
    Best wishes,
    Anna
    For the benefit of other readers:
    Anna's A-Z, the letter K

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  23. I'm almost sure there were some King Kong films in the 60s!

    Looking forward to 'L' - but I bet Rifka is thinking of the same Ls as I am.

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  24. Sorry I didn't make it by your blog earlier, but I enjoyed this post so much, I had to go back and play "catch up." LOVE all the music you've chosen so far, and while I'll not take the time to comment on each post, let me just say ... would you believe my husband just threw away a half-used tube of Brylcream LAST WEEK? (Bless his heart, he hasn't had enough hair to NEED that stuff for at least twenty years!) And Evening in Paris used to be one of my favorite scents. I could say a lot more, but I won't. GREAT posts! I'll try to make it back more often, so I don't have to read ten or eleven posts all at once next time. I really, really enjoyed your posts. Great theme.

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  25. I'm a little too young to remember the Kennedy assassination - but it was certainly a profound event for the world.

    Great K music!

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  26. I still show my knees and hug my knees and sit in the grass in the sunshine ... in summer. Trying to pretend I'm still young, I guess, though I have lots of gray hairs to prove I'm not! :)

    The King and I was one of my favorite movies as a kid. I loved her giant skirt!

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  27. I loved the King and I.
    And my goodness that IS a young Michael Crawford!

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  28. Hi Jessica, I must pop along and investigate. A whole blog post about knees! Intriguing.

    Hi Miriam, Sunny Afternoon was a good song too.

    Hi Rifka, I remember going to see Genevieve. It was the first time I’d ever been to the pictures. Dropped the camera in the sand! Typical!

    Hi Francene, I’m not sure that all knees are covered up. I think that hot pants are back in again. I may be wrong.

    Hi Pat, no Kia-ora was definitely not fizzy.

    Hi Bob, if you can wait then pop back for U. It stand for *whispers the word* underwear.

    Hi Sherry, Glad you enjoyed my post.

    Hi Sara and Anne, my knees always had scabs on them too. (Clumsy)

    Hi Manzanita, it no doubt is the same Gladys Knight. I’ve seen her on the TV recently but her voice hasn’t worn too well. (sorry, that was a bit bitchy)

    Hi Deathwriter, Elvis will appear in P. Glad you’re enjoying my posts.

    Hi Matthew, bet you’re really sorry you’re not older, right?!

    Hi Susan, we had bottles of pop delivered by the Corona man. Do you remember those bottle tops? They had a pull-over gadget.

    Hi Inger and Jemi, it certainly was a shocking event.

    Hi Anna, yes my whole challenge is identical to this one and it’s a real good wallowing in nostalgia time for me.

    Hi Susan, well I’m glad you’ve made it now. Love the anecdote about the Brylcream. Men are indeed from another planet.

    Hi Amy, I loved the little children in the March of the Siamese twins bit the best. (I think that’s the right film!)

    Hi Linda, I took a shine to Michael Crawford when I saw him in the Knack even though Ray Brookes was so handsome. I’ve always liked Michael Crawford.

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  29. Hi Ros .. Kennedy - yes I remember where I was and when .. knees - mine were always scabbed! Grace Kelly - the princess .. Waterloo Sunset was brilliant .. Eden Kane was gorgeous .. perhaps?!

    Cheers - more great nostalgia .. Hilary

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  30. Hi - stopping by for the A to Z challenge. I'm writing a book that takes place in 1963 and it's been fascinating to read up on the history - it's my parent's generation. I found an excellent article online from TV Guide 1964 that spelled out step by step how the media covered the Kennedy assassination. It was the first time something of that magnitude was covered by television.

    Enjoying reading through your posts!

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  31. Just catching up on a week's worth of your posts now - I never realised Ray Brooks went that far back!

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  32. My mom remembers being excited the day of the Kennedy assassination because school was cancelled. She was only 6, and didn't learn until later what had happened.

    Thanks for sharing all this great information!

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  33. Catching up too on your alphabet though not necessarily commenting. Seem to have got the lot covered by now!! Great idea...

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