How about also calling on the expertise of those of us (the old geezer
and geezeress crowd) who had first hand experience, having actually
(hard though it is to believe) been kids in 1945!!?
I've been trying to think --what the heck did we do for fun before
television????
Setting aside the many wonderful radio series (Cisco Kid, The Lone
Ranger, One Man's Family, The Shadow, etc.) because you want games, the
first thing that comes to mind is marbles. When indoors, we'd use the
circular and medallion patterns on the Persian rug to delineate the
marble circle (which was drawn with a stick in the dirt when playing
outdoors). Jacks also was popular, especially with girls, and could be
played either indoor or out.
Hide-and-seek was a favorite. Best played outdoors in those huge
backyards with lots of trees and shrubs to hide in, but also good in
large houses that had basements with lots of hiding spots.
As for table games, we played cards constantly --Rummy, Old Maid,
Go-Fish, Concentration and Solitaire. Canasta became extremely popular
also, beginning about that time, though I remember it more from about
1948 or so. I think is was mostly an adult game in its first years, then
kids above age 10 or so learned and loved it (it is more complicated
and more sophisticated than Rummy). There were also a lot of card
games that were not with regular playing cards but with special decks
such as Authors, Pit, etc.
There were a number of board games (though not so many as now)
--Checkers, and Chinese Checkers were basic, plus Parcheesi, and, or
course, endless games of Monopoly. I still have a trading game called
Finance (c.1936) though I think it was more an adult board game. Call
on a games collector to get more ideas.
By the way, does anyone know where Erica Wilson is now?? She is a games
collector who curated a fabulous exhibit for me some years
ago......she'd be able to name instantly every board game available at
that time. Her husband, Craig, is a University Librarian. I'd love to
make contact with her again, if any of you out there have run into them.
Come on, the rest of you, don't be shy about admitting you were a kid
in 1945......
Lucy Skjelstad
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