Going, Going, Gone
Reviewed by Jim Sweeney
A look at everyday objects that are disappearing is the idea behind Going Gone, Gone: Vanishing Americana by Susan Jonas and Marilyn Nissenson (Chronicle Books, $19.95 paperback). You could call this book an analysis of nostalgia.
The authors' explanation of their selection process is worth reading. They didn't include fads that were created to disappear quickly (i.e., Hula-Hoops), very old objects that most people alive now can't remember (running boards or razor strops), or objects replaced with similar objects made of different materials (wooden skis).
The authors also note that some things that many folks think are gone aren't really gone. Bobby pins are still made and used. Ocean liners still exist. They just don't cross the Atlantic Ocean, they work the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
Sometimes, Jonas and Nissenson argue, it's impossible to tell whether some objects or institutions will vanish, such as urban zoos or department stores. Some things have been revived, such as convertibles. Others have been replaced by better technology, such as the carburetor, which is being supplanted by fuel injectors. In other instances, there have been drastic changes that reflect larger changes in technology, such as the replacement of slide rules by calculators.
Some things in the book you're probably better off without. While DDT was a great pesticide, its inventors were a little too close to the truth when they marketed it as the "atomic bomb of insecticides."
The effects of some changes are hard to notice, but they're there. Older photos of American streets show more shade, the result of the massive, leafy American elm. Its arched crown provided a dramatic profile in many photographs. One hundred million American elms have died in the last 50 years, due to disease.
The book often discusses not just how one object disappeared but also how an entire business rose and fell. The first drive-in theater was built in Camden, N.J., in 1933. In 1946, the book says, there were 743 American drive-ins. By 1956, there were 5,000. At the peak, in 1961, there were 6,000. In 1991, there were 900 left, mostly in the Sun Belt.
Jonas and Nissenson note that several factors helped grease the skids for the drive-in. Suburban land became too valuable for this use. The sound systems were tinny (although a drive-in I visited this past summer in Bath, N.Y., had a system that broadcast to your car radio). VCRs and cable TV put more movies in people's homes. They also contend that daylight saving time, which only became nationwide in the late 1960s, helped kill drive-ins. The first show couldn't start until the sky was nearly dark; in the summer, that could be 9 p.m.
Reading the book makes you realize how quickly things can change. Even in the 1960s, it was common to see dairy trucks making home deliveries in the Washington area. But the rise of the supermarket, and the increasing cost of home delivery, have nearly killed off this business. By 1990, only one percent of milk sold in America was delivered by milkmen. Consumers no longer bought milk by brand name. It was just a generic commodity. Also among the 70 items the authors discuss are the Automat, bank checks, black-and-white films, enclosed phone booths, rotary phones, gas station attendants, telegrams, TV antennas, vinyl records and typewriters.
This article originally appeared in Trans-Lux volume 13, number 1, April 1996.
Where to Find the Book
You can find Going, Going, Gone in local bookstores or purchase it on-line at a discount from Amazon.com Books.
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Comments
Created Tuesday, August 11, 1998; Modified Saturday, September 20, 2003.
