In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod and New England Podcast

Episode 84: Let's Go to the Drive-In, CDs for a Penny from Columbia House, Bristol RI, Brands More Famous Than Their Products(9-8-2022)

September 08, 2022 Christopher Setterlund Season 1 Episode 84
In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod and New England Podcast
Episode 84: Let's Go to the Drive-In, CDs for a Penny from Columbia House, Bristol RI, Brands More Famous Than Their Products(9-8-2022)
In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod & New England Podcast
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Show Notes Transcript

Episode 84 kicks off with a look at one of the most popular summer traditions of yesteryear, going to the drive-in. This episode looks at the history of the drive-in theater and more specifically the history of Cape Cod's drive-ins.
Waterfront views, rolling green farms, a charming downtown, and so much more.  This is just a little of what makes up a fun Road Trip to the town of Bristol, Rhode Island.  There will be ample temptations to pay this spot a visit.
We go way Back In the Day to reminisce about the 'too good to be true' offer of CDs, records, tapes, etc for only a penny.  Columbia House was everywhere for decades and was a sort of right of passage for teenagers looking to collect music and rack up debt.  What was the story behind this company and its offer?
The new Top 5 takes a look at some brand names that are more famous than the actual product they sell.  So ingrained in the world are these brands that people often use them interchangeably with the product.  Do you ever use these brand names in that way?
There is also a brand new This Week In History and birthday-themed Time Capsule that looks back at the assassination of President William McKinley.

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Intro

Hello World, and welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. Coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 84. Summer is winding to an end. This week's episode is going to kick off with a look back at one of the most popular summer activities of my childhood in a lot of people's childhoods. That is the drive-in specifically Cape Cod's drive-ins. We're going to take a road trip to the bayside town of Bristol in the smallest state of Rhode Island. We're gonna go way, way back in the day and look at what it was like to get all of those records or CDs for one cent from Columbia House. There's going to be a brand new top five that are the top five brand names that are synonymous with their product. And of course, there'll be a brand new this week and history and Time Capsule all coming up right now on episode 84 of the In My Footsteps podcast.

Welcome everybody. I know for a lot of people, summer is over. You've gone back to school back to work if you're a teacher. And even though Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, it's still not over yet. At the recording of this podcast when it goes live, there'll be about two weeks left of summer. I find it funny when I see people talking about the weather and weather reports in September with oh my god, the weather is hot. It's like it's still summer until the third week of September. What did you expect? It's like the people that are shocked that we get snow in March still winter until near the end of March. But for those of you whose summer is over, how was your summer? Did you get to do everything you wanted? Did you make lots of fun memories? I know there is kind of a pressure to get some kind of fun memory in during summer. That's why I think the last week of August, or the last week before Labor Day whenever that is, is that mad dash to get into vacation where people realize oh my god, we haven't gone on vacation yet. We have to do it now. That was when I ended up taking my vacation was the last week of August, mostly at my boss's request. If I had my way, I'd have taken my vacation sometime in November closer to my birthday. I know I'd said I was going on this big long road trip around Northern New England. It just ended up every place to rent there were either no rooms available, or it was severely overpriced. And I thought to myself, Why am I going to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars when I could just do a couple of day trips during the week vacation, and it would be the same fun? And it was I'm easy to please. But for those of you who didn't get to have your vacation or those of you whose summer is over, I'll try to give you some warm memories and flashbacks with this week's episode. I have to as always say thank you to everybody who's been tuning in. Like I said last week, August ended up being my third month in a row that was the highest for downloads for the podcast. And that's such a great feeling. It makes me excited to keep going with these. My goal when I first started was to get to 100 episodes. And here I am at 84. And I really think I'm gonna go further than that, but we'll see. But just you all sharing, leaving reviews, donating if you can, but sharing if you can't all gives me the feeling that I'm going to go further than 100 episodes. But let's dive into some warm summer memories. As we take a look back at the dawning of the driving and then more specifically Cape Cod's old drive-ins. Children of the 80s Get ready as we kick off episode 84 of the In My Footsteps podcast.

Cape Cod's Drive-In Theaters
The drive-in movie theater was at one time a staple of American life. Being able to enjoy a film on a large outdoor screen from the luxury of inside your own car was a cherished memory for so many over several decades. Even though in 2022 There are only approximately 320 remaining drive-ins in the country. There are still some classic drive-ins left on Cape Cod for so long, the wealthy driving was the last remaining vestige of a bygone era. However, that changed briefly in the summer of 2020 when the former Yarmouth driving was brought back to life more than three decades after initially closing. The story of the drive-in theater is long and storied and intertwined with Cape Cod. Though there were drivings of a sort as far back as the 1910s. The first true patented drive-in theater, debuted on June 6 1933. The first proper drive-in theater was the brainchild of Richard Hollingshead. He took the existing idea of watching silent films outdoors on screens and added the ability for the wildly popular automobile to become a part of it. Hollingshead opened his creation in Camden, New Jersey, with a showing of the British comedy Wives Beware. Tickets cost 25 cents per person and also 25 cents per vehicle. The Camden drive-in had a capacity of 400 cars and 600 people attended that first night showing his investment of $30,000 or about $683,000, when adjusted for inflation, spawned a new industry that would sweep the nation. Though primitive in the beginning, including not having individual speakers for cars, the driving slowly began to catch on. In January 1938. Plans were discussed for a potential drive-in near the Barnstable airport in Hyannis on Cape Cod. These discussions were brief as the potential of such an attraction was not seen as being an asset to Cape Cod at the time. By the end of the 1930s, there were 18 drivings located in America. These included four in Massachusetts in the towns of Weymouth, Lynn, Shrewsbury, and Methuen. In 1948, that number had leaped up to 820 Total theaters, and it was around this time that the driving was finally seen as a worthwhile investment for Cape Cod. In May 1949, building contractor Luis Segrini of Mansfield, Massachusetts was granted a permit to build the first drive-in on Cape Cod. This driving would be far more than a place to watch movies in your car though. The 70-acre plot located on Hokum Rock Road in Dennis near Route 134 was at the time the largest drive-in in New England. It had a capacity of 1000 cars, and would also become the first fly-in theater. This distinction came from the fact that small airplanes and helicopters could land on a strip near the back end of the grounds taxi their way to spots to watch the movies from inside the plane. In addition to being the largest theater and a fly-in theater, the Dennis drive-in included a dance pavilion, bottle warming service for young mothers, refreshment stands, and even 20 cottages nearby to rent. Opening Night was Saturday, July 16 1949. The theater played the color film Barclays of Broadway featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It was a near sellout close to 1000 cars. Rather than rest on his laurels. Segrini parlayed the success of the Dennis Drive-In to a second theater planned for near the Mashpee rotary in 1950. These plans never materialized though, Cape Cod had to wait six years for a second drive-in theater to open. It was in the 1950s that the driving hit its apex as an entertainment attraction. This was the case on Cape Cod as well. Herman Rifkin opened the Cod drive-in in the Teaticket section of Falmouth in 1955. This was followed quickly by the Hyannis drive-in on Route 132. The Yarmouth driving on route 28, followed in 1956. And finally, the wealthy driving was built on Route 6 in 1957. This brought the total to five drive-ins on Cape Cod. In 1958. The total number of drive-in theaters in the United States hit its high of 4063. The driving had continued success throughout the 60s and into the 70s. However, the tide slowly began to turn, an increase in land values, the advent of VCRs, and the fact that driving shows had to begin late with summer sunset time started to eat into business. By 1980. There were just over 2000 Drive-ins left. The 1980s saw the virtual end of the industry on Cape Cod. It began in 1980 when the cod drive in Falmouth closed, the land just off Route 28 was owned for years by the Augusta family who owned the abutting Falmouth lumber. In the spring of 2003, a 23.7 acre parcel of the former drive and land was purchased by the town of Falmouth as of this recording, no nothing has been done with that property. Next to close with the Dennis drive-in in 1984. The property was to be turned into a housing subdivision however, again, as of this recording, much of the property remains overgrown. And if you go walking through those former grounds, you can find chunks of asphalt concrete. Former speaker stands and wire littered about. And yes, I know from proof I have gone on those grounds. The Yarmouth drive-in that I was most familiar with initially closed in 1985. Throughout the years, many ideas were bandied about as to what should become of the 22-acre site, a Riverwalk consisting of trails and boardwalks leading along neighboring Parker's river out to Seagull Beach had potential but yet has never materialized. The COVID pandemic kind of resurrected the Yarmouth Drive-In in July 2020, it was resurrected by Innovation, Arts and Entertainment. The new Yarmouth Drive-In was updated for the 21st century with bright LED screens, which made daytime movies possible. But as of this recording that appears to have been just a one-summer deal, because those grounds have been barren the two summers since, in 1987, the Hyannis drive and became the fourth to close on the cape and seven years. Though religious services took place on the grounds for a short time afterward, the property would eventually become home to Stop and Shop. It was also in 1987, when the total number of drive-ins dipped below 1000 nationwide. The wealthy driving for more than 30 years stood tall as the last beacon of a bygone era. It became a popular summer destination for those wishing for a slice of 1950s nostalgia in a 21st-century world. And as of this recording, it still remains a perfect family night out in the summer, it's still going strong. The driving theater for a time was the place to see new movies, it became as much a part of the pop culture of a bygone generation as the movies themselves did. Though their numbers massively dwindled. As the decades passed. The driving is not finished yet. In a time where social distancing is still kind of normal. There is a potential for a comeback of these beloved old-school icons. But to circle all the way back around what became of Richard Hollingshead's original Camden drive-in, partially due to the high movie rental costs and lower-than-expected crowds. Hollingshead sold his theater less than three years after opening it to a man who moved the business to Union New Jersey and they did not ever reopen. The final insult came when Hollings heads company was sued in 1950 and he lost his patent on some of the designs of the driving. And not surprisingly, the large rush of new theatres came shortly thereafter. But what about everybody out there? Did you have a favorite drive-in theater you used to go to as a kid? Are you too young to remember when they were a big deal? I never went to the car driving and Falmouth or the Dennis drive-in when they were open. I remember the Hyannis drive-in grounds right after they had closed down. And the Yarmuth drive and I went to so many times as a kid I remember seeing ET, Return of the Jedi, Flash Gordon. My mother said at the time it was cheaper to bring kids there to get them to go to sleep than it was to hire a babysitter and go out and have fun as an adult. But what are your memories of Cape Cod drive-ins or drive-ins in general? Let me know and we can compare notes on our stories of visiting these former old-school giants the drive-in.


Road Trip: Bristol, RI

Over the years I've done so many different road trips when it comes to photography, that when I put together the segments for the podcast, I typically have a pretty good idea of what I want to talk about and the places that I want to share with you. But doing so many road trips, there are stories in places that I totally forget about until I start putting together my notes. And that's the deal with this week's road trip to Bristol Rhode Island, where it's going to dive into a funny story about a race that I ran in Bristol itself. It's a medium-sized town. As of 2020, the population was just over 22,000 And for those of you looking to go and visit it, it's pretty centrally located from anywhere in most of New England. It's about 65 miles south of Boston about 90 miles east of Hartford, Connecticut. And being that Rhode Island is the size of a postage stamp you can get there from anywhere it's a hop, skip, and a jump as they say, Bristol is bordered by both Narragansett Bay and Mount Hope Bay. And it is every bit a quintessential New England town. Now I suppose that all differs depending on where you live and what you like, but in quintessential New England, you think of beautiful waterfront views. Maybe if you live up in northern New England in New Hampshire and Vermont, you think of mountains and wide open green. But if you go drive through Bristol, I think you would agree it's quintessential New England. It does have its share of higher learning though as Bristol is home to Roger Williams University. It was founded in 1956, and it's named for the state of Rhode Island co-founder and theologian Roger Williams. They typically have about 5,000 students there per semester. What's interesting to me is that the first time I ever went to Bristol, I wanted to go to the Mount Hope Bridge, which connects Bristol to Portsmouth Rhode Island. It's a beautiful bridge, it reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The suspension bridge goes just over 1,200 feet across Narragansett Bay. The bridge was first opened in 1929. And it's a part of Route 114. So if you're driving that road through Rhode Island, you'll have to go over the bridge. But the funny thing is, when I first went there, I didn't know that there was an actual parking area under the bridge, kind of at the foot of the bridge. So I parked at Roger Williams University, probably taking a student spot, and walked all the way over there. It's only a couple of 100 yards. But still, I was glad I didn't get ticketed, since I was clearly not a student. But in addition to the beautiful pictures of the bridge from kind of underneath it spanning away from you, there's a hidden gem underneath the bridge. And that's Bristol Ferry lighthouse. That's right, there's a lighthouse underneath the bridge. The lighthouse was built in 1855. So long before the bridge was there. And I guess it made more sense to just leave that White House underneath there than to move it somewhere. So if you go to the park and look at the bridge and get photos of it, you'd be surprised to see this little lighthouse almost directly underneath it. If you drove over the bridge, you'd never see it. The lighthouse is on private property you can get close to it. It was also discontinued once the bridge was started. But still, it's a fascinating little hidden gem. A beautiful spot that is definitely not hidden is the 127-acre Mount Hope farm. It's at 250 Metacom Avenue. It's right near Roger Williams University and only a couple of minutes from downtown Bristol, which makes it even more of a unique attraction because there's a college there's a downtown and then there's this wide open farm that's also a bed and breakfast. Check out Mount Hope farm.org to get pictures and more information about what you can see and do there. You can always just go during daylight hours and walk the trails, check out the historic buildings, and just enjoy the scenery. But if you want to stay there, the Governor Bradford home which is the main home they have rooms, North pasture, and South Pasture are the other buildings where you can go and you can check on their website and see availability. They also hold events there. They're popular for weddings. They've got an arboretum they've got goats, sheep, and donkeys that you can check out but don't feed them. It's just as beautiful a throwback wide-open green. Even though Bristol is not a big city it still feels like a little bit of an escape. So sure you can go to Bristol for a day trip. But spending more time there a couple of days is even better. If you don't want to stay at the Mount Hope farm you can stay at Williams Grant Inn which is a highly decorated Bed and Breakfast. They're located at 154 High Street and also Williams Grant inn.com. The home itself is colonial federal style built in 1808. It's red, white and blue but the blue is kind of Periwinkle. It's a beautiful setup right near downtown. They've got all the typical amenities breakfast Wi-Fi, but they also have a beautiful garden and a barbecue area. There's a reason they're highly rated. And if you're staying in Bristol and you want to go get something to eat, you can definitely enjoy yourself at Pomodoro Pizzeria. They're at 271 Wood Street and also Pomodoro bristol.com. It's classic Italian food and pizza kind of rustic decor but also outdoor seating, they do catering as well. So if you're having an event at Mount Hope farm, maybe you get Pomodoro to cater it. Classics lasagna meatballs piccata crazy salads. If you're not in the mood for Italian though, you can check out the Lobster Pot at 119 Hope Street. They've got lunch, dinner, and cocktails right on the water. I checked. I don't believe there is any relation to the lobster pot in Provincetown. But they are just as famous. So it's interesting that two different places have that name. And they're both super beloved and well-regarded where they're at. Visit lobsterpotri.com. And you can get a better sense of them. See the menus pictures of the food pictures of outside. But there's one last place I wanted to share in Bristol. And that has to do with a funny race story. Colt State Park is on Route 114. In Bristol, it's over 460 acres of these beautiful sweeping views of the water and through the forest. I went there many years ago and I ran the Colt State Park 5k race. And if you're not familiar with running and races and times and such, for a 5k a big goal is to break 20 minutes to run the 5k 3.1 miles in less than 20 minutes. At the time I ran that race. I had not done it yet. So that was my big plan. Being that it was I believe the end of June. It was bug season the race was later in the day. Typically they have summertime races either first thing in the morning or late in the evening to kind of avoid the heat. They don't want you to drop dead running their race. Being that I also don't really have any hair. Because my hair I just don't enjoy. I had to be prepared for the race, which meant I had to have sunscreen. But then being that it was going to be bugs, I also had to have bugs spray. So I got to the race early like I always do. And I soaked myself in sunscreen and bug spray. And figured I had all of that covered because it was a pretty warm evening. The race was two laps. So a little over a mile and a half each time you went through the woods a lot, it was a lot of trail running, which I didn't know when you came around for the first lap, you could see your time and kind of figure out what you needed to do to meet your goal. Whether that was sub 20 minutes like mine. During that first lap, I started sweating in the heat. So I had bug spray and sunscreen running down into my eyes and my mouth. And you know how much that burns. It made my lips tingle from the bug spray. And I'm trying to run and wipe this out of my eyes and I'm just making like the raspberries noise trying to get the bug spray off my lips and tongue. My time was still good after that first lap, but I was blinded, and going around the second time the trail runs I landed on a couple of roots and ended up wrecking both of my ankles. I ended up with a good time I did not break 20 minutes, but by the end, I was just blind with sore ankles. And that was one of those stories that only when I started putting together the itinerary for this segment of the podcast and I remember that cold state park race and I wanted to share the embarrassment of the bug spray and sunscreen and busting up my ankles. But Colt State Park is beautiful to visit. You don't have to go run a race to be there. Visit East Bay chamber ri.org. That's the Chamber of Commerce for Bristol in the surrounding area. You can get a better idea of what to see what to do where to stay. But it's so close to a lot of places. Most of Massachusetts all of Rhode Island most of Connecticut, Southern Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, you can all go and visit Bristol, Rhode Island. And if you're coming from further just spend the night it'll be worth it. And I'll be back next week with a brand new road trip. Likely without the embarrassing race extracurriculars. But hey, you never know.

This Week In History 

This week in history, we're going back 121 years ago, September 6 1901, and the shooting of President William McKinley McKinley was a speaker and honored guest at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. This was a World's Fair. It lasted from May to the first week of In November, it was 350 acres of buildings and attractions. A lot of that was centered around electricity and electric power. But President McKinley was there. And he made a couple of speeches, including the day before September 5, when he had 116,000 people there to hear him speak. And then later in the evening, there were patriotic fireworks. But it was the next day when he was shaking hands with wellwishers. A man named Leon Czolgosz, who was a 28-year-old anarchist was near the front of the line with a 32-caliber revolver wrapped in a white handkerchief around his hands, so it looked like he had a broken hand or some kind of injury. Interestingly, there had been added police and security because of fears of an assassin, and some of McKinley's staff had even wanted him to cancel this event, which was it began at four in the evening, and when McKinley went to shake Czolgosz hand, he raised the gun and fired two shots right in his abdomen at point blank range. The crowd was able to subdue him before he could get a third shot off and they beat the living hell out of them. It actually was McKinley, who told them to stop. At first, it appeared that McKinley might have gotten lucky one of the bullets hit a button on his coat, so it caused minor damage. The second one went right through his stomach though, and at the World's Fair, the only doctor qualified they could find was a gynecologist who couldn't do much for surgery. days after the shooting updates came out, it appeared that everything was going to be okay and that he was going to recover. His Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was so confident he took off on a hunting trip. Sadly, though, by September 13, McKinley had gangrene from blood poisoning in his stomach. McKinley ultimately passed away 2:15am On September 14 1901, becoming the third president in 36 years to be assassinated in America after Abraham Lincoln and James Garfield. There was a tremendous outpouring of grief for McKinley. But over time, he ended up getting overshadowed by Theodore Roosevelt who ended up becoming one of the most beloved and well-known presidents in history. But that fateful day, when President William McKinley was mortally wounded at the Buffalo pan-am Exposition occurred 121 years ago, this week in history. 
And now it's time for a brand new time capsule. We're going to go back 70 years ago this week to September 8 1952. Let's see what was going on in the world of pop culture back then. The number one song was Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart by Vera Lynn. The song was originally written in 1950 by German composer Eberhard Storch for his wife Maria, who had been ill in the hospital. Vera Lynn recorded it in English in 1952. It spent nine weeks at number one in America. And interestingly, Vera Lynn became the first foreign act to have a song go number one in America because she was English from England. That record of nine weeks at number one for a British song would stand until the Beatles Hey Jude tied it in 1968. The number one movie was Monkey Business. This was a comedy starring Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and Marilyn Monroe about a chemist whose life is turned upside down when one of his chimpanzees finds the fountain of youth. It's 85% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. And if you wanted to get in to see the movie Back then a ticket would cost you 53 cents. I couldn't find any box office numbers for this movie, but I did find that it made $2 million in video rentals. I have no idea what that means as of what time what year this money was made. But I feel pretty confident saying that any movie with Cary Grant Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe was probably a pretty big hit, thus why it was number one. And finally, the number one TV show was Dragnet. The Original Series, which was based on the radio show of the same name, was a police show with the dragnet name being a police term for a series of coordinated moves to help you catch criminals. It starred Jack Webb and Ben Alexander and the original series lasted eight years from 1951 to 1959 and a total of 276 episodes. There was also a revival in the late 1960s and three movies based on the shows including a 1987, one that starred Dan Ackroyd and Tom Hanks as Friday and streamed back. If you were around back then 70 years ago, this week in history, celebrating those last moments of summer, you want to go hang out at the beach. While you're in luck, you can bring your own portable radio with you. But you also don't want to spend a lot of money on a portable radio that's going to get full of sand. So the lowest priced portable radio from Sears plastic with a built-in B battery, and flashlight would only cost you $15.95, or about $178 when adjusted for inflation. And it's battery-powered and plastic. And it only got local standard AM radio. I don't know how far the antenna went. But this was the best deal I could find on a portable radio back then you could of course spend a lot more money, but I'm trying to save your money from 70 years ago. That's going to wrap up another this week in history, another time capsule. Now it's time for a brand new top five, this is going to be a fun one to go over. It's the top five brand names that are more synonymous with their product than the product themselves. What does that mean? Well, let me explain it as we dive into it right now.

Top 5: Brands More Famous Than Their Products

Okay, so what exactly am I talking about when I mean brand names that are more famous than the product themselves? It's basically any brand that has become so well established and synonymous with whatever it is they sell, that people almost use that interchangeable with the product. And it's fun to go over these because then you'll see where you probably with at least one of these use the name of the brand to describe the product. Let me dive into some honorable mentions that will kind of give a better idea of what I'm talking about. Some of these brands are more well-known than the products themselves. Honorable Mentions include Tupperware, ziplock, Xerox, saran wrap, and popsicle. You all know what all of those are. But those are the brand names, they don't describe what exactly the product is, but I bet you have used at least one of those names to describe the product even though it might not be that hell I bet everyone calls any frozen treat on a stick a popsicle even though popsicle is an actual brand name. I mean, my Nana used to call any video game system Nintendo because it was more well-known to her than the concept of video games and video game systems. That's just an example from my life. But let's jump into the actual top five. These are in no particular order. So let's start off with number one Kleenex. Kleenex is a brand of facial tissue. But I'm sure a lot of people just say Kleenex and tissue do the same thing. The Kleenex brand has been around for 98 years since 1924. So it's easy to see where it can become a part of the English language. But nope, Kleenex is a brand registered with the Kimberly Clark company. They make facial tissues toilet paper diapers, paper towels, and more. Interestingly, Kleenex's first product was crepe paper for gas masks in World War One. This product was adapted a little bit after the war and became known as Kotex, which is a product women know all too well when dealing with their periods. That's a little fun fact. Number two is Frisbee. Also known as a flying disc. The idea of the flying disc or gliding disc started in 1937 when Walter Frederick Morrison and his future wife had fun throwing a popcorn Lid back and forth. It was originally named the flying saucer to capitalize on the UFO craze of the late 1940s and early 50s. Morrison eventually sold the rights to his flying disc to the Whammo company in 1957. They renamed the disc frisbee and the rest is history. I am sure some of you out there, any flying discs you see you call a Frisbee I know I do. And why not? There's been well over 300 million frisbees sold since they became frisbees in 1957. Number three is Band-Aid. These are adhesive bandages, and they were invented in 1920 by a Johnson and Johnson employee named early Dick Ansan for his wife, Josephine, who frequently burned or cut herself cooking, band aid was my exhibit when I was thinking of these brand names synonymous with the product. It's more commonly known as a generic trademark or a genericized Trademark, where because of the popularity of a product becomes more synonymous with the product itself. Number four is the q-tip. These are cotton swabs, typically used for getting wax out of your ears. The first mass-produced cotton swab was by Leo Gerstenzang, who watched his wife put cotton balls on toothpicks to clean their baby's ears, which sounds dangerous. These were first developed in 1923. And eventually, when they got the name cue tip, the cue stood for quality. So there's another little-known fact. The Q-tip brand is currently owned by a company named Unilever. And I've saved the best for last, number five. This just made me laugh because I couldn't believe it was real. Number five on the countdown of brand names synonymous with their product is the dumpster. Yes, the dumpster is an actual brand name. It is a mobile garbage bin is what a dumpster is known as the word dumpster was patented in 1935 by the Dempster brothers, George Thomas and John, who were based out of Knoxville, Tennessee. It combined the brothers' Dempster name with the word dump where they would take the trash. That word dumpster had three different trademarks with it, including the dumpster dump master, which was the first real popular front-loading garbage truck. But if you're in America, and you see one of these trash bins, what do you call them, a dumpster typically? So I was shocked to find out that the word dumpster was actually a registered trademark. That was kind of the genesis of this whole segment was that fact I wanted to get to and save it till the end. But which of these do you use interchangeably with the product themselves? Kleenex frisbee, bandaid, q tip, or dumpster? Did any of these surprise you? The only other one besides the dumpster that surprised me was popsicle. But that'll wrap up the top five. I'll be back next week with another top five that will be just as random and hopefully just as fun and educational as this one.


Columbia House Records

What? CDs for a penny? cassette tapes for a penny? records for a penny? If you were a kid growing up in the 70s 80s 90s, you saw the ads for Columbia House Records. They were in so many magazines geared toward younger adults. Today with the advent of streaming with digital media, Spotify, Pandora, mp3s, the need for physical copies of compact discs, vinyl albums, and cassette tapes, it's not really necessary. It's more of a niche thing. Now. Some people that are my age and older are starting to collect vinyl as a hobby. But there was a time going back 20 years or more ago when Columbia House was a big deal. You'd see their advertisement in whatever magazine it was. There would be at least several dozen, probably closer to between 100-200 titles that you could choose from. For me when it was CDs, it was eight for a penny sometimes it was 10 or 12 for a penny. And oh yeah, I did Columbia House. I think I did it once. I think that was it. Because you couldn't beat that deal. Especially if you're a kid in high school or college and you don't have tons of money. I don't remember the number that I got. Let's just say it was 10 CDs for a penny. I think you paid for the shipping. You got to pick out the numbers. You write it. There's a little box in the corner of the advertisement. So you put your address down there. Pick out your 10 Free titles and send them off. Within a few weeks. You got a box with the CDs in it. And everything was great or so you thought because getting those CDs for free, there was a catch. They weren't just that kind and generous. The thing was you had a membership that came with it. And here was the trick with this membership was that you got your 10 CDs or whatever for a penny. And then every so often, I don't remember if it was monthly, you would get sent another CD. I don't think it was random. I think it was kind of based on what you got musical taste-wise. But the main thing was, as long as you did not tell them to not send it, they would send it. So it all hinged on you remembering to cancel. And if you got the CD in the mail, then suddenly the price was more akin to what you would pay in a record store $17-18 for a CD plus shipping. I'm sure there were loads of parents who had to get in touch with Columbia House to get their kids out of these memberships that they signed up for. But let's take a look at Columbia House as a company overall. By the time I got my foray into 10 CDs for a penny, Columbia House was owned by Sony. And I think the other company was B M G. But Columbia House has roots that go back to 1955. And it was vinyl records via mail order. That's their whole business model mail-order music. And like I said at the top of this as the times went along, vinyl was replaced by eight tracks replaced by cassette tapes replaced by compact discs. They just adapted their model. And this model worked for decades, where you get your certain amount of music for a penny and then you're obligated to get the music going forward at a marked-up price. As I said the CDs were $17-18 I could have gone locally to Newbury Comics or Spinnakers in Hyannis and gotten the same CD for $11-12. So how could Columbia House sell all the CDs for a penny to rope you in? Well, it turns out they had these multimillion-dollar contracts with the big music recording companies. So what would end up happening was, they would get the cover art and the actual music, master tape the raw music and they'd make their own CDs, cassettes, whatever, and save themselves money there. But then when it came time for the membership for you, they would supremely overcharge you. The peak for Columbia House was ironically when I had my foray into dealing with them, 1996 was their top year. And their revenue that year was $1.4 billion. So that's way more than CDs for a penny. That's a lot of people who got hooked into the overpriced CDs. In doing some research for this segment, I learned a lot of interesting stuff about Columbia House and how they were able to survive for decades with kind of a shoddy business model. One was the fact that they made their own CDs and cassettes meant that the audio quality was not as good as what you would get through the actual music company that put out the music. I laughed I thought of it as rather than buying cassette singles The singles back in the early 90s. It would be like if I took my little radio and recorded a song off of the radio station, where it's slightly degraded audio. That's kind of what Columbia House was. For example, the CDs would roughly cost Columbia House $1.50 to make with the materials, but then there were no royalty payments paid to the musical artists. So you were paying them for the CDs. But then the artists weren't getting any money. It was almost like Napster. And of course, as I've said the business model of the subscription and you're getting a CD or a cassette, at a designated period, supremely marked up, sometimes not music that you're even interested in. That I'm sure netted them a lot of money, but it also netted them a lot of negative reviews and people that didn't want to deal with that even for 10 Free CDs or whatever the number was. I know that I was able to get out of this contract. I think I got one or two CDs from them at the regular price. And then it was over. But I've heard of really aggressive collection agencies coming after people for their unpaid bills to Columbia House. What Columbia House banked on was something called a negative option, which is the idea of hooking people in with a great introductory deal. Once that part of the deal is up then you get stuck with a contract that is really more favorable. towards the company. I read this npr.com article about the history of Columbia House. And they interviewed a guy who worked for them in the late 1990s. And he's the one that talked about the negative option. So that's coming straight from people that work there. So it's not that they were totally dishonest, but it's just the truth of their statement was really small fine print, and your eyes, especially if you're a kid, high school, college, and you see all these CDs that you get to choose from, like being a kid in a candy store. That's what you're distracted by, oh, I can get 10 of these for a penny. And you don't see the fine print, which is we own your soul for the next three years buying super expensive CDs. By the mid to late 90s. That was when AOL took over as the biggest mail order marketing company sending you all the CDs for free hours of internet. And then digital music came along, which really killed Columbia House. Their revenue went from 1.4 billion in 1996, like I said, down to just 17 million in 2014. And that's when they were starting to do DVDs by mail. But the Columbia House model, it's still around, where you get even Spotify Pandora who will give you a free month, and then after that, it's only $5 A month or 9.99 a month. And the thing is you have to remember to cancel or else it just rolls over. And that's sort of the Columbia House model seen in the 2020s. But despite its somewhat negative reputation for how it suckered young people into these subscription contracts, and then their aggressive Bill collecting Columbia House was definitely a rite of passage for kids 70s 80s 90s to be able to pick out the music they wanted and get it shipped to you for a reasonable price to start. Did you ever get cassettes, eight tracks records CDs through Columbia House? Did you have any bad experiences with bill collectors from them? It feels like it wasn't long ago, but it definitely was long ago. When you would open a magazine and write in your 8,10,12 CD titles you want it send it off with your address and get a box in the mail in a few weeks. And then a box full of headaches for the next few weeks, months years after that. Good Old Columbia House.

Closing

That'll wrap up episode 84 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Thank you so much to everyone who's been tuning in. I always say it, I can't do this without people listening and supporting the podcast sharing it leaving reviews. Donating if you want to buy me a coffee you don't have to but if you want to go to buy me a coffee.com Find the In My Footsteps podcast. Anything I get through there. I used to advertise the podcast so it's just reinvesting in this. Find me all over social media, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, the In My Footsteps podcast blog, which is chock full of Cape Cod history, travel lifestyle stuff. It's the only place where I have new Cape Cod history articles. If you see anything of mine out there on another website, they're just recycling my stuff after not writing for them for three years. I won't even name names because they're kind of lame how they recycle an article repeatedly and I only got paid for it once but I digress. If you ever have any questions, or comments, shoot me an email Christopher setterlund@gmail.com. If you ever have any ideas of things you may want to hear about on the podcast, you can always shoot me an email. As you've heard, I've had a few that have been requested that have been good. I've had fun researching them. But if you just want to go with the flow, I've got so many topics coming up. So these podcasts will be loaded going forward. Fall is just around the corner. If you're looking for homemade handmade, beautifully crafted gifts for holidays, and birthdays, checkout Kiwis Kustoms on etsy.com It's all the brainchild of Kaleigh Marks, who is supremely talented and honing her craft and developing her skills. Go to the site it costs nothing to look and see what she is capable of. Dog and Cat sweaters, fairy hats, balaclavas there's jewelry and she takes requests if it's something that's in her wheelhouse that she's capable of. She's always listening and she's always willing to do things like that for people who patronize her business. So visit Kiwis Kustoms both spelled with Ks at etsy.com. You'll be amazed at the beautiful work she puts in. I'm amazed but not surprised at the talent that she has. So check out Kiwis Kustoms. As for my bread and butter, the podcast next week is episode 85. We're going to look back at one of my favorite places one of my favorite pieces of Cape Cod history. And that's the Marconi site in Wellfleet. We're going to take a road trip up north, for me, at least to the town of Rutland, Vermont, we're gonna go way, way back in the day and look at what it was like during the heyday of video arcades, there'll be a brand new top five, and these are going to be the top five worst As Seen on TV products. I did the funniest before, this is the worst. And I looked at ratings, so you're gonna get the worst of the worst. And of course, there'll be a brand new this week in history and Time Capsule all coming up next week on episode 85 of the In My Footsteps podcast. But like I said, fall is on its way, my favorite time of year has begun. So my mental health I feel is going to take a huge leap forward. But if you're struggling out there with your own mental health, if you've hit a roadblock a speed bump, remember to lean into the things that make you happy. Whether it's a specific YouTube channel, a specific food a place you like to go and make time for the people who care for you get that good feeling going back through your body because life is a long and winding road with a lot of ups and downs. And a lot of it is navigating the lows while enjoying the highs as much as you can. Sometimes I say these things and think to myself, yeah, you better follow your own advice too. But hey, we're all doing the best we can. And remember in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey. Leave the biggest footprint in this world that you can. Thank you all again for tuning in. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I have been Christopher Setterlund and I will talk to you all again soon.