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Did you follow the fads?

By Al Owens 4 min read
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I used to like fads.

Not anymore.

Fads can be fun for young folks.

But not necessarily for we septuagenarians.

For us, nothing really lasts that long ëƵ by comparison.

Allow me to take you to my youth.

Hula-Hoops

I had one. A nice big, red one.

I was one of the millions of kids, nationwide who Hula-Hooped ëƵback in the day.ëƵ

I wrote a ëƵ-Standard column in June 2009 that, in part, said, ëƵIn 1958, 100 million of them were sold. By the end of that year, the Hula-Hoop was, according to some reports, dead.ëƵ

Dead?

Even though weëƵd cajoled our parents into falling for the latest craze, that craze died within months.

I remember there were a number of crazes in the ëƵ50s and ëƵ60s.

First, letëƵs start with marbles.

They werenëƵt technically considered to be a fad.

TheyëƵd been around for a long time before I got mine.

We (my older brother, Marlin, and I) stored ours in a big jar.

My contribution was rather small compared to MarlinëƵs.

Marbles were round, hard, and smooth ëƵ made of glass or clay and were either clear or opaque.

I wonder how the game of marbles would fare in 2022.

First, youëƵd have to get down on a flat surface; draw a circle with a rock, or some other jagged utensil, and then use your thumb as the source of ëƵmarble propulsion.ëƵ

That probably wouldnëƵt be too far-fetched for todayëƵs potential marble enthusiasts.

But hold your horses!

The game of marbles didnëƵt have a screen or buttons, or email, Instagram, or TikTok.

A flat surface, some marbles, and a thumb. ThatëƵs all you needed.

And out of that game, came something thatëƵs still a bit mysterious to me.

Fried Marbles

YouëƵd take a hot pan; perhaps add a little oil; get a bowl with cold water (maybe even add some ice cubes); and, of course ëƵ a handful of prime, Grade A, my brother, MarlinëƵs, marbles.

I donëƵt know the origins of that particular activity.

But the goal was to make something that sort of resembled jewelry.

(To a 10-year-old, jewelry could probably be anything anybody tells them is jewelry, I suspect.)

So, here we go with my personal recipe for Fried Marbles.

Heat the pan; add a little oil; allow the pan to get nice and hot; add marbles; let them get really, really hot. (It doesnëƵt help if they only get one really hot. They must get really, REALLY hot); place the really, really hot marbles into the bowl of really, really, cold water; then step back and watch those little babies crack from the inside ëƵ without breaking apart.

Voila!

You have some Fried Marbles.

YouëƵd hope your mother and father werenëƵt aware of your Fried Marble adventure. Waiting until the Andy Griffith Show was on TV in the living room, may have provided the requisite cover.

There were also fads that you could wear back in those days.

I made sure my shoes had cleats on them. Not the kind of cleats that are attached to baseball or football shoes. But flat, metal cleats.

They were pretty big back in the 1950s and ëƵ60s.

IëƵd think many parents didnëƵt object to having them installed on kidsëƵ shoes because they helped alleviate heel and sole wear on them.

The bonus was being able to get those cleats to announce (click, clack) you before you came into the room. A plus for getting attention.

Madras plaid

I never had a madras plaid shirt. But I knew lots of kids who did have them.

IëƵm told that Brooks Brothers first brought them out.

And that there had been something wrong in the manufacture of them that caused them to ëƵbleedëƵ when they were washed.

So, a skillful Madison Avenue advertising executive named David Ogilvy made use of the design flaw.

He coined the phrase ëƵguaranteed to bleedëƵ as a marketing tool.

Bingo.

The famed (albeit short-lived) madras plaid shirt was born.

The rest is history.

Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.

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