Monday, April 12, 2010

Jingles and Joining

Hey, Y'all,
Well the first subject beginning with a "J" is Jingles. A strange one, you say. Yeah, I guess you could say that. It is just an anecdote from the 1930's. That was when there were a lot of contests for writing jingles to be used in radio advertising. Ladies (and gents, too, I guess) all over America put on their thinking caps and came up with little short poems that were put to music and inspired people to buy the product. I remember several of them, but I won't recite them for you right now, maybe another time.

Anyway, getting back to the family anecdote...my mom was one of those women who entered the jingle contests. Back then the postage stamps were about 3 cents each, but that was a lot of money when you were poor like we were. The prizes were anything from a year's supply of the product to some amount of money - a cheap way for the company to get ads for the commercials. My mom had written a jingle that she just knew was going to win, and my brother, Hugh, who was 4 and 1/2 years older than I and was probably about 7 at the time, wanted to lick the postage stamp. My mom, being the sweet woman that she was, let him lick the stamp (pre-self sticking stamps) and then she put it on the letter. Well, you know that little kids always have a lot of saliva, and he really licked it good. It was the last stamp we had, and she feared that he may have licked it too well. However it was still sticking to the envelope when she mailed it. Of course, she didn't win, but always claimed that she thought he had put too much spit on the stamp being the reason she didn't win. My family members may or may not have heard this story before, but it is true.

Joining:
We are, by nature, mostly social beings. Very early on, we join into groups that have like interests. Just think about it. When we are yet babes, we see another baby and recognize it as being "one of us". If you don't believe this, just observe two babies that first see each other, and what do they do? They begin smiling at one another, and communicating by whatever means they have.

These days, mothers have these little groups where they meet and arrange "play dates" for their children to have someone to play with. When we are taken to church, as children, if we are Baptist, there are groups of children in different organizations, like Awana, or GA's, or RA's, and the children join in the group. At school, there are also organizations like 4-H, that children are encouraged to join. We all have choices that we make, either to join, or not to join. Usually the choices are based on if we have similar interests or not.

There are also gangs that children often join. Sometimes they join because they don't fit in to other groups, or they join for protection, or they join because they want to be looked up to or feared. We as adults join a political party or choose to be considered an independent thinker. Face it folks, unless we choose to swim against the stream, we join with others so that we will be in a group and protected.

When a person works at a job, there are choices one must make about working where there is a union or no union. Unions protect jobs and workers, but are not necessarily always a good thing. I am speaking neither pro nor con, just stating the facts, ma'am.

I doubt there is anyone out there who can say that he has never joined with another group of some kind that has a common interest of his. We are joiners.

Well, that is it for right now. I look forward to reading the other blogs. I am preparing supper for us and our next door neighbors today, so it will probably be late tonight before I get to read and catch up on the other entries. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. Much love to each of you, and thanks to all those who comment on my postings. Bye for now.

14 comments:

Lisa said...

Very funny how your mom blamed spit for her not winning the Jingle contest. :)

Great post Ms. Ruby! I hope you have a nice dinner with your neighbors and a wonderful week!

Survivormama said...

Such a great post, but I always love to hear your stories...loved jingles...have a great day sweetie :)

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I loved this Ruby, I suppose we can all recall memories of our mothers saying this and that which has remained in our minds all our lives.
Excellent blog,
Take care.
Yvonne.

Unknown said...

Cute story about the jingles. lol. Your observations about joining is spot on.

Raquel Byrnes said...

I'm sure the stamp fell off, her jingle was lost, and thats why she didn't win. Sweet story. I still remember jingles from my own childhood...well, commercial jingles.

Beth Zimmerman said...

Very cute Jingle story! LOVED it!

Emily Thompson said...

Hi Grandma! Just wanted to say hi =) I'm looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks for the wedding! Love & miss you
-emily

Anonymous said...

Fun post! Nice to meet you!

Unknown said...

A very interesting 'j' post Ruby! I enjoyed it very much. I always thought it would be fun to write a jingle or two...some of them are so catchy!

I am definitely a joiner, I have joined many different things that catch my interest.

Hope you all had a wonderful dinner!

God's blessings to you!

Tori Cooper said...

Hello Grammy, this is the first time I have visited your site and I love it! First of all I love hearing stories about people's lives and experience... and second of all I love that you are taking the time to join us on the blogging challenge! I hope to read more in the future!
Have a good night! Tori

ModernDayDrifter said...

This is a great story. I love posts like this about past things that have happened. I look forward to reading more of your stuff. Very interesting.

Also, thanks for your warm post on my blog about my grandparents. I appreciate your kind words! :)

Arlee Bird said...

I was thinking just the other day how they used to have jingle and essay contests-- something for writers-- and I don't seem to see as many these days. I guess because computers pick all the winners now and they don't do the writing judging yet.
I going to give you a mention in my post tomorrow (Tuesday 4/13)
Lee
Blogging From A to Z April Challenge

Unknown said...

i loved the comments your wrote on my blog about kindergarten, I loved your post you are a great story teller. I am writing about mothers today actual- Hope dinner was good.

Natasha said...

What a lovely anecdote. We still lick stamps in India, but who uses stamps for anything anymore?