Imagine being able to go back into time. A time where there weren’t cell phones or social media. Where TVs were 5 inches and going to the movies was a “luxury”. Where parents thought musicians like Elvis Presley were giving America a bad name, and watching the Pats game on a Sunday wasn’t an option because the only way to listen to the football game was on the radio. This is how a 68 year old man named Bob Dumais grew up.
In 1954 when Bob was only six years old, his parents decided to buy a brand new black and white 5 inch TV. His face lit up when discussing TV because it was always his favorite thing to do with his family after dinner. Bob, his two brothers, and his parents would gather around the little black and white screen, filling the room with laughter while eating popcorn and watching the hit show “I Love Lucy”. Back in the 50’s, televisions cost around three hundred dollars which is almost three hundred dollars now. Not everyone had a TV back then because they couldn’t afford it. Sometimes the TV would have reception problems and a test screen would come up with a drawing of a circle and a square. Sometimes if Bob was lucky, his parents would have enough money to bring him and his brothers to the movies on Saturdays.
Going to the movies is one Bob’s favorite memories. Bob described going to the movies as a luxury. On Saturdays, Bob and his family would go to The Rialto in Marlboro. They would all go to what was called a matinee, which was when families would go see movies during the daytime. The movies would be similar to a TV series today. The Rialto would only show one part of the movie, ending with a cliff hanger. They made it so whoever saw the first part would have to come back the next weekend if they wanted to see more. Bob described the movies as “cheesy” graphics compared to today because of the technology. Most of the movies that were shown were family friendly, specifically, they did not show any promiscuous behavior and the parents always slept in two separate beds. Bob really enjoys history movies where they talk about war in the United States, and about the Roman Empire like the movie Ben-Hur. These kind of movies inspired Bob to go on to college to study history at Northeastern University. Later on in life he served in the army for the United States during Vietnam. When Bob wasn’t watching TV or at the movies, he was listening to music records or the radio.
In the 60’s, in order to figure out what kind of music he liked and what artist to listen to, Bob would listen to the radio first and then head on over to the local record shop in Marlboro called Downtown Records. .Bob compared waiting in line for a record to waiting in line for the newest iPhone. Vinyl records either came as 45’s which was when there was one song on each side of the record, or he would get LP’s which could have up to ten songs on each side. Two of Bob’s favorite artists were The Beatles, and Elvis Presley. Bob’s parents hated Elvis Presley’s music as much as Bob hates Kanye West’s music now. His parents thought Elvis was bringing sex into music and did not like the way Elvis would do his iconic hip thrusts.
Even though the media that Bob grew up with seems like a lifetime ago to some people, Bob still manages to keep to date on current media. He might have been a little late to the game, but now he likes to enjoy watching the Patriots game on his 20 inch colored TV while checking his Facebook on his smart phone and occasionally Facetiming his granddaughter while she’s away at college. Bob wouldn’t change a thing about the way he grew up because he would not be the man he is today if he did.
“Growing up media helped me brainstorm ideas and really made me think about what I wanted to do when I grew up or where I wanted to go to school… It gave me heroes to look up to over the years whether they were baseball players, actors, musicians, or politicians.”
