joan parlin

In the 20th and 21st centuries there have been so many life-changing inventions such as the computer, the cell phone, and rockets going into outer space.  However, in my little lifetime there have been smaller inventions which have directly affected me.

​

As in one of the opening lines from the movie The Graduate, “Plastics, plastics.”  Plastics literally changed our lives.  In the late 1940’s after World War II my mother started bringing home all sorts of plastic household gadgets, so different from anything we had seen before.  Dustpans, dishpans, dishracks, bowls…all of which had previously been made of rubber.  The new plastics were so much cheaper, easier to clean, were lighter and came in so many bright colors.  Now of course, in the 21st century everyone is trying to cut down on oil products and plastics are frowned upon, although no one has come up with a good substitute, as yet.

​

When I was in the 6th grade in 1949, my best friend Shirley Dean excitedly reported that her mother had bought the most amazing wrap which she was now using to cover her leftover foods…plastic wrap.  (Yes, another plastic item.)  It stuck to the bowl all by itself!  Soon, of course, my mother was buying it, too.  Gone were the little rubber, elasticized “hats” we all had been using before, or the wax paper held to the bowl with a rubber band.  This plastic wrap was followed shortly by aluminum foil.    Years later, plastic “Tupperware” was introduced, sold at “Tupperware parties” where a Tupperware hostess showed all the plastic food keeper containers, plastic bowls, plastic cannisters, etc. 

Amazingly, I was the first in my family to fly in an airplane.  My mother’s sister Gerda had invited me to fly to Chicago for the Christmas holidays.  She had two daughters roughly my age, so the trip would be fun.  Glens Falls actually had a small commercial airport at that time.  I flew Mohawk Airlines, no longer in existence.  Although commercial flights were not new, they were still uncommon enough as to create real excitement.  The plane I flew on was very small compared to today’s jumbos.  It had about twenty seats.  Of course, the flight was much longer than it would be today, since commercial jets were not in use yet.   My whole family came to see me off and couldn’t wait for my report.  I was 10 years old and felt SO important.

​

Television!!!  That really changed our daily lives.  Although my friends’ families had gotten their sets much earlier than mine, we finally got ours when I was about 12 years old.  At first there was only one channel, and it only started broadcasting in the early evening, about 8:00.  Until then there was a “test pattern” on the screen.  It consisted of a geometrical design in which none of the parts moved.  Unbelievably by today’s standards, we kids would sit and stare at the test pattern for as much as an hour in absolute amazement.  Then the channel would come on, often showing wrestling matches which we loved.  We would watch anything!

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

 

The popularization of TV led to the invention of TV dinners.  Although my family never ate them since my mother was an excellent cook, the proliferation of these frozen dinners led to even more frozen foods becoming available.  Refrigerators now had much larger freezer compartments.  Earlier, the freezer sections were only used to freeze ice cubes in their metal trays and for ice cream.  Soon stand-alone freezers showed up in stores. Frozen vegetables were the first foods that I remember coming out.  Nowadays you are all familiar with the vast array of foods...foreign foods, vegan foods, waffles, pizzas, etc.  (Speaking of pizza, that didn’t come to the U.S. until the late 1950’s.  I didn’t have my first one until my first date with Blackie in 1957, and I remember being very worried that it would be so spicy I wouldn’t really be able to eat it!  That seems so funny now.)

​

Many years later when I was a senior in high school.  I was giving a dinner party for my friends; it being early summer, the tables had been placed outside on our patio.  My mother had set them with beautiful tablecloths and napkins when suddenly it began to pour.  Luckily it was just a short shower, but the linens were all soaked, and I was terribly upset.  “Don’t worry,” said Mom.  “I’ll just throw them in my new dryer and they’ll soon be completely dry.”  I was astounded.  I knew my mom had bought a dryer, but being a rather disinterested kid, I hadn’t paid much attention.  Now, a miracle which affected me directly.  It did make me remember that when I was very little, my mother had exulted over her new electric washing machine which basically was just a tub with filled with water and then agitated for a while.  It was on wheels and my mother had to connect a hose to the kitchen sink.  It had no spin cycle.  It had a wringer on top, and my mother had to place each item between the two rubber rollers and turn a crank by hand in order to squeeze the water out.  No comparison to today’s washing machines.  The invention of the modern washing machines and the dryer has really taken the work out of washday.

​

As an adult, I remember several particularly amazing inventions.  When Ken was 4½  years old (his birthday is in December; he just made the age cut-off) and going off to kindergarten, my mother sent him a new long-sleeved shirt for the first “big day.”  It was a beautiful dark-toned plaid.  After its first washing, when I went to take it out of the dryer, I was absolutely stunned to see that it didn’t need any ironing.  I called my mom to ask about it.  She told me it was something new called “permanent press.”  I was thrilled.  Since then, of course, most of our cotton or cotton-like fabrics no longer need ironing.  When I was growing up, cotton fabrics were all we had for clothing and bed linens, any  kind of fabric really.  It was all cotton.  Then along came rayon, nylon, and best of all, polyester.  I needn’t explain all the uses we now have for polyester.  The sports clothing industry has literally been revolutionized.

When Jennifer was about 12, her friend Beth-Ellen came over to play one day and reported that her mother had just bought a “food processor.”  Beth-Ellen explained all its features in great detail.  Of course, I had to have it, and it was wonderful.  Now that I’m much older and living in a small apartment, I have dispensed with this gadget and use good old arm power.  That still works.

​

In the late 1970’s microwave ovens became affordable for the general public.  That really was a game-changer as one could now easily reheat leftovers leading to much less food waste.  At first people were very worried because the gadget emitted dangerous waves which could cause cancer, and even worse, sterilize you!  That was actually true.  One had to be sure to stand far away.  Nowadays microwaves are much better insulated, and no one need worry.

I am not going to write about computers and cell phones which have truly affected our lives, because most of you have lived through this development and witnessed the profound changes these inventions have wrought.

​

What will be next?