Golden Age of Dating

I think it must be dating week here on Seraphic Singles, which strikes me as a bit of an anachronism, although who can say? What seems ludicrously out-of-date in New York City may be just ordinary life in Rolling Prairie, Indiana and Kielce, Małopolska Swietokrzyskie. And I never went on a date with B.A., not really. I just arrived in the Edinburgh bus station via Toronto and London, and when he asked if I wanted to eat in the city or back at the Historical House, I said "I want a meat pie and a pint of ale." Frankly, I don't remember who paid.

My mother's parents most definitely went on dates in the 1930s. I cannot remember where they went for these dates. I only remember that my grandmother's family home was a long walk from the bus stop, and it was a long (and in winter extremely cold) wait for the bus, and my grandfather's marriage proposal was, "Well, I'm tired of walking back to the bus stop. We should get married."

My guess is that the 1930s was the golden age of dating, and here is a lovely Polish song to celebrate it. I will provide a translation underneath. A cynical Polish man of my acquaintance commented on how much Eugeniusz (the singer's name is Eugeniusz) is shelling out for some girl who might break up with him. However, I  myself am not so cynical that I do not find the song very sweet.

(The singer is listening to the radio.)

Translation of first verse and refrain:

8:04, some record.
8:10, someone is reading something.
It's not important. Today she is most important.
First--seven o'clock, three o'clock, five o'clock...
Someone confused everything for me today,
but one thing, one thing I know.

I have arranged to meet her at nine.
I miss her so much already.
Soon I will ask for an advance from the boss.
I will buy her a [corsage] of roses.
Then the cinema, the patisserie and the walk
in the moonlit bright night
and we will be happy, cheerful
until midnight separates us
and I will make an appointment to see her at nine,
at nine just like today.

Why nine, I simply do not know. Frankly, I think it must be because "dziewiąta" (9:00) scans better than "siódma" (7:00) or "ósma" (8:00).

Ah, the 1930s. Comic books about Archie Andrews first came out in 1941, and the characters were based on people their creator met while travelling around the American Mid-West, presumably before that. Given the continued popularity of Archie comics among children, especially girl children, my guess is that our first impressions of teenage life and dating come from dear Archie, Betty and Veronica, who were teenagers before the Second World War. How sad to discover that life is not as it is in Archie Comics. Alas, alas.