The games we played

[william williams]

Hey Neville don't knock Sarsparilla you drank it in those days cause the coppers could not smell beer on your breath and as long as you could touch your nose with one go and walk a straight line and did not slur your words they would let you off.

Will post most of a yarn about Cigarettes

bill the old battler

[william williams]

DO YOU SMOKE
PETER STUYVESANT was there sitting on the CAPSTAN after being retired from the SENIOR SERVICE decided to take a look at the MARLBOROUGH country with a few PLAYERS from another group. There were BENSON AND HEDGES and ROTHMANS just to name THREE THREES.
But first to get there he had to climb up the ALPINE way.
Then descend to the arid country where he had a CAMEL ride. That was where he had a LUCKY STRIKE and met a maiden from KENT. And with much ARDATH he wooed her but alas they HAVELOCK on the LOG CABIN

Dam that memory of mine

[Jasper Brush]

Hey Vic,

We must be in the same age bracket.

How about council dug air raid shelters in the playground. My father and two uncles dug an air raid shelter in our block of land behind our house. When it rained it filled up with water. If the Japanese had let a few loose one go, we would have taken an early bath.
I remember those whizzing lollies on a string he string went through two eye holes in the lolly, you put one thumb in each loop and moved your thumbs in and out and the flat lolly disc spun like crazy.

What about Sargeant's pies. They were the best pies ever. the contents had a good shake of pepper on the meat and gravy. It was a dry shortcrust pastry, but the lid had a flakey crust. Yum Yum. The Railway pies were pretty good also. They always had chunks of meat and a gluey type of gravy. They were, short, round and deep.

When I was young and working, if we were going out to the pictures with our girlfriends, we used take them to dinner at Cahill's restaurant: mate, you had to make a good impression, real leather seats and when you sat down the seats would sigh. Cahill's were everywhere. 'Chicken Maryland' was all the go those days.


John

[Bob Pacey]

The movies we went to had those canvas seats you could slink down into. The show always included a serial usually a cowboy movie with the Lone Ranger or Audie Murphy.

We used to sneak in the side fence which was next to a variety store owned by a chinaman named Beauhow and manys the time we got sprung borrowing some of his fresh boiled peanuts.


Good Times Bob

[Vic Jefferies]

Ah John, what about buying the girl a corsage to wear, a box of Winning Post chocolates to impress, Chicken in the Basket or Steak Diane with Porphry Pearl, Cold Duck (the wine not the bird) Sparkling Rhinegold, Chablis, Hock or Sauterne to drink with Bombe Alaska for desert.
Remember Cahills very well. A different class I know but remember Coles' and Woolworths' cafeterias?
For those Sydney people how about a night at the pictures at The State, Lyric, Prince Edward, Lyceum, Regent, Capitol, Forum, Embassy or later, The Paris theatres? Remember when a film would be on at any one of these theatres for some times two years or more! Current films seem to have a life of six weeks if they are lucky.

[Bob Pacey]

Up here it used to be The Golden Gate cafe. About two blocks stroll from the theatre.

Lots of window shopping and groups just talking.

Bob

[Zondrae]

G'day Fellas,

Did any of you take a girl dancing at Sydney's Trocadero Ballroom? We went there once. A big bunch of us (including my parents) in two car loads from the gong to Sydney, how exciting, in our evening clobber. There was a big dance band playing and the whole place was lined with mirrors. I must have been about 16 because I was able to dance with all the fellas of the group. All nice young single Italian boys, and my sister and I the only two 'eligable' girls in sight. What a night.

I don't remember who owned the cars. My family didn't. I even remember dancing with my Dad, a rare event. Thanks for jogging my memory.

[Vic Jefferies]

Ran a pub in Brisbane for a while in the 60's and was amazed at the drinkers who would have a dash of sars (sarsparilla) lime cordial or ginger beer in the beer. Being a Sydney sider I had seen a dash of lemonade added but never the others.
Was also amazed at blokes drinking 5 oz beers and had to get used to nearly everyone drinking 7 ozs. Had to send home for a schooner glass.
In those days a "pot" (10 ozs) cost 16 cents and a packet of Rothmans 39 cents. A bloke could get drunk on ten pots, buy a packet of smokes and get 1c change from 2 bucks! We were the first pub in Brisbane to sell a dozen large bottles of beer for $4 and our nearest competitor sold it for $4.28. We used to sell four hundred dozen over Friday and Saturday with cars and trucks coming from all over Brisbane. The profit was in that nearly everyone also bought a glass or two while they were there.
Good old days. Ten O'çlock closing, no trading on Sunday and very, very seldom a problem of any sort.

[Jasper Brush]

G'day Zondrae,


The Trocadero was up market. I worked with a bloke that played trombone in the Troc's orchestra.

Vick's Cabaret, Strathfield on Friday nights.
Albert Palais, Leichhardt on Saturday nights.

There was also the Marrickville Town Hall, Old Time Dance, during the week. The dancing was broadcast on radio station 2KY.

John

[Frank Daniel]

We danced most of our younger lives away nearly every Friday and Saturday nights at towns like, Bungendore, Braidwood, Captains Flat, Tharwa, Michelago, Collector, Tarago, Sutton and sometimes Queanbeyan. Queanbeyan wasn't as popular as the smaller bush towns.
For many years we danced at the Canberra Police Boys Club in Turner on the Wednesday nights.
We rarely went to the pictures, dancing was more popular.

Joe