I was born in 1936 to parents who lost everything they owned when their farm failed during the years of the Dust Bowl. Even after WWII started and Daddy went to work in the oil fields of W Texas, Mama got feed sacks and flour sacks and made my dresses and my brother's shirts from them. One of the prettiest outfits was a two piece suit. The top was gorgeous green and the skirt was gorgeous white.
Listening to Mama and Daddy tell stories about the Great Depression from 1929 until WWII began made me appreciate being a child of the 1940's and 1950's.
Seeing fabric reproductions from the '30's reminds me that Mama said she would go into a store and see fabric that she would have liked to buy, but at 10 cents a yard, it cost too much.
Daddy was blackballed because he took part in an attempt to unionize dairy workers, who made $30 a month and lived in a rent free house in return for 14 hour work days seven days a week. They milked cows by hand in those days and eventually his fingernails fell off as result of the work.
When WWII began, Mama went to work at an Army Air Force base where she painted the fabric on the wings of planes that were destined to be placed on air craft carriers.
The department she worked in was called the "paint and dope" department.
Then she still couldn't buy fabric at any price because of its scarcity and rationing.
All y'all can have all you want of those "good ole days." I'll take the luxuries and abundance along with the problems of the present. froggyintexas