Old newspapers

Digging around in my brother Bill Deaver’s cupboards in his garage, I found some more of my mother Marion Deaver’s “stuff”. In one box was a 1960 copy of the Mojave Desert News, then owned by Bill and Milt Smith.

I always enjoy looking through these old publications, because they were so “folksy.” Today’s news on the Internet has hard news, usually bad, gossip of famous people, or trash. Often print media includes local sports, weddings, and hard news about the local area – and sometimes attempts to “stir the pot” about local government.

The 1960 publication includes headlines such as “Elementary PTA Meeting News” on the front page, above the fold! Us old journalists – after 1960 – know “folksy” news, if any, goes on the inside, not the front page! I feel like I should say, “LOL,” right now.

I am not criticizing the old newspaper, because that was how old newspapers did it. They liked “good news” and usually hired women in the community to write columns about things happening in clubs, such as the gardening club.

“Whispers from West Mojave,” written by Margaret Vincent, began her column with a Scripture, which was 1 John 3:1 and 2.

She gently complained, “Well here’s one week when Monday didn’t turn out to be washing day.” The reason the rain, which was an unusual occurrence, and meant the ladies of the house could not hang out their clothes on the line in the wet weather.

She said, it does not stop the housewife, it means a revision of the week’s routine.

She then wrote about the lives of local residents, noting who was in town to visit or see sick relatives, family birthdays, Cub Scout meetings, and the fact that the Bosh family were busy painting the outside of their house pink and grey.

Another article on the front page had photos of the honorary mayor candidates with their photos. A story honoring Rawley Duntley for his barbecue ability, which was famous, was mentioned so that locals could read about him in Desert Magazine. When I was little, believe it or not, I loved to read that magazine. I was fascinated by all the articles of the desert flora and fauna, and sometimes about a desert character.

The Standard Mine Company was robbed of a mile of copper wire cut right off the poles. Some things never change.

How about those grocery prices around town? Safeway was having a “whale of a sale.” That ad included Farmer John hams for 37 cents per pound. I used to wonder why my mom always said ham was a good bargain – now I know.

Large eggs were 39 cents a dozen – and I can guarantee they were really large!

Champ’s Market sold many of their veggies for a dime a pound and Maxwell House Coffee for 59 cents per pound. (Can you say, “Keurig”?)

Of course, Carol’s Department Store sold, “Pants that were never made for panty-waists.” Desert Distributing said, “Take home six Burgies, the easy way to keep Burgies on hand.” Burgies were, of course, Burgermeister Beer.

I joked about the “quaint” articles in this old paper, but I have to tell you almost everyone got the paper in the mailbox every Thursday morning, or in the newsstands. They probably read the inside first to find out about their neighbors and local gossip, and then turned to find out about local the news.

There was a column about California City news, and a column from Cameron Canyon, by Jean Lantz. This was because the locals also knew the gossip in nearby areas.

The paper was printed in eight column format, something you won’t see around here anymore.

Now we have Facebook and other social media outlets. Our youth get their gossip on these social media sites, maybe read some news on the Internet with their iPhones, and take selfies all day to send to their friends.

I am probably being stereotypical, but you get the point, and I know not all of our young people do this.

I do miss the old newspapers and I still like the new ones, for the most part, and I always enjoy The Loop because it has new articles with an old fashioned flare.

I think I will keep enjoying the smell of newsprint – new or old.