What are you interested in that would be considered "before your time" ?

Most of history, including some of my own.

Funny that you should mention Jimmy Cagney (My mother at far left in black shorts and plump thighs in 1932–33.) And here

In addition to his gangster roles, Cagney played many song-and-dance men and was a formidable tap dancer (as was my mother). Cagney dancing

Wow, that’s very impressive @gailcalled, not just your mother’s thighs either ;¬}
I knew he was a dancer & fell into gangster roles almost by accident, but boy did he play them well, the greatest in my book.
I wonder how she’d have reacted had he thrust a grapefruit in her face?

@ucme: If she had been allowed to have had more than one speaking line, she would have been thrilled.

They all look suitably engrossed in the great man, that’s for sure.

I want to learn how to swing dance. Those people always looked so cool.

The Carol Burnett Show. It was either totally before my time, or on when I was an infant, but I’ve watched countless episodes because it’s so damn funny!

@Blackberry The monkey’s aren’t too bad either…Jive motherfucker!

The Manhattan Project. An awful chapter in American and Japanese history, yet endlessly fascinating to me.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room I thought that was a Woody Allen film, only kidding…it’s good for morale :¬)

Lots of stuff.

Music, architecture, clothing styles, art, vehicles, comic books, history, politics, religion… the question (for me) is why wouldn’t you care about things “before your time”?

Yeah, that was kind of the whole point.

Xena… <3
God, I’m young.

Most of the music I like is “before my time”, Dusty Springfield for example.

History fascinates me and most of that is before my time.

I like a lot of music from the 60s and 70s.
Some say that Looney Tunes is before my time, but those I specifically remember being aired on Saturday morning on Cartoon Network during my childhood (the ORIGINAL ones from the 40s-60s), so nobody can call me out on that. They were my favorite cartoon, especially Bugs Bunny.

History of the British Monarchy

Liberace and Ragtime Music

California Plein Air Paintings

Architecture, classic literature, classical and jazz music, Christmas traditions from way back when (especially German glass ornaments), the cooking traditions of my own family, mid-century design, art from before the early sixties, Laurel and Hardy, The Little Rascals, pre-1960’s musicals, Hitchcock movies, the history of cheesemaking, old kitchen tools, real log cabins, pre-1960’s camping equipment (especially thermoses and trailers) movies with Cary Grant, James Stewart, Rogers and Astaire, Gene Kelly, Shirley Temple etc., wedge salads, pot bellied stoves, the arts and crafts movement, European cathedrals, diners, barber poles, pre 1960’s bluegrass music, clamp on ice skates, sleigh rides, gaiters and spats, 1950’s era aprons, old British pubs, bottle glass windows, hand cranked ice crushers and Yosemite (some of dem rocks are older than most of us!)

@gailcalled I hope your mother didn’t hear that!

@flutherother:—Hear which particular “what”?

Things that happened prior to my birth.

@gailcalled The ‘plump thighs’ comment!

I have always told my wife that I should have been at the beginning of the 20th century. I would have loved to have been a young man in the ‘20s and a family man during the ‘30s and ‘40s.

Wait. It was before my time, but I’m interested in that photo. @gailcalled, that is your mother? Who, what, when and where?

Yes, as previously stated. On a Warner Brothers, MGM or Fox sound stage, in 1932–33.

Here’s another old photo of a Busby Berkely production number. Ma is the babe in the far right corner in the very back row.

She appeared as a dancer in 16 films that we know of over those two years, including “She Done Him Wrong,” with Cary Grant and Mae West.

Here’s a shot from FootLight Parade with Cagney. Ma is one of those bathing beauties.

She was proud of her thighs.

I love literature written before my time – Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, etc. and I am fascinated with English history during WW2. I also love going to the presidential libraries, most of which are “before my time.” I’m also getting into 60’s music, some of which was technically created while I was born, but was not part of my conciousness.

Really old sounding, flapper type music really calms me down. I love hearing about the history of the royals in other countries and other imperial history (only from my one friend though – he makes it so fascinating). I am old fashioned when it comes to love and I don’t believe in sleeping around, which seems to be today’s ever growing fad. I find the war in Vietnam extremely interesting. Hearing stories of or reading about the holocaust and I’m sure there’s more.

@fairhairedjonathon On a similar theme, i’d fucking love to have been around in proper cowboy times, i’d fancy myself as a Doc Holliday type “you’re no daisy, you’re no daisy at all!”

@gailcalled, how old was she? Was she a single woman? Was her family living in California or did she go to the west coast on her own? I think it is fascinating to be honest. What a great story.

She had just graduated from Hollywood High School, where she was discovered (in a drugstore, I think) and given a contract by one of the studios. She was 18. She was both beautiful and photogenic and had, luckily, had years of dancing lessons.

The contract, in the fine print, had her agreeing to TV rights. Someone was planning ahead.

I love old movies and old music. I love figuring out just how people ran their lives before electricity. I’m a student of history.

I’d say the biggest thing for me is music. While there is still some amazing music being made today, a lot of it is just utter shit.

I’m also a fan of Marx Brothers movies.