A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: X

[Please excuse any cheating on today's A to Z post. It's been a long month!]

X Smell:

eXtremely smelly bath salts [I know! I know! but...*shrugs*] - I loved tipping loads of bath salt crystals into my bath or dropping a bath salt square into the water and watching it dissolve. I wasn't too discerning about the perfume that came with them!

X Memories:

X-rays - A machine called a Shoe Fitting Fluoroscope was installed in most shoe shops in the 1950s. This was an x-ray machine that checked our precious baby toes to make sure they weren’t squashed inside our new shoes. The machines started to be withdrawn in the 1960s when dangers were highlighted but some were still in use as late as 1970... scary isn't it! I mentioned these machines in a previous post. I've copied out the relevant verse from a poem that I posted up called A Tiny History of Shoes. [If you fancy reading the whole poem just click on the post title.]

My first shoes were Clarks, always measured to fit
Then checked with an X-ray machine.
In those days we none of us knew of the risks
And we all loved to look at the screen...

Christopher Lee as Dracula

X Certificate films - The method of giving films an x certificate for age 16-and-over viewing was introduced in 1951. I've never been keen on horror films and so I never tried to 'sneak into an X' but my sister... [look away now Rifka if you don't want to be reminded] ...used to go and see Dracula films and then we had to sleep with the landing light on all night!


X Programmes:

On TV:
Os and Xs Test Card


Film:
The Man with the X-ray eyes



X Names:

DiXie Cups

Tom PaXton
Xavier Cugat who provides the...

X Music:
Xavier Cugat plays She's a Bombshell from Brooklyn

With only a few cheats ;-)

If you're enjoying these memories then you'll also enjoy 

Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? 

Her A to Z Challenge is about memories of the 1960s and 70s.