In other words, when the past is over.

When does the present begin? For me, it was the B-29, which was larger, carried more payload, and had that distinctive bubble nose at its prow and was replacing the not quite antiquated bombers, the B-17 and the B-24. The present began with women in bunned and highly arranged hairdos and art moderne dress, with bold decorations adorning bold colors, rather than the drab colors and shapeless dresses of the Thirties. The present was Fred Allen and Jack Benny engaging in a mock feud across their radio programs. It was the movie poster saying “Clark is back and Greer has got him” which meant Gable was back from the War and how he would match up with Greer Garson, another superstar, was of interest to moviegoers. The present was moving into Queens and summering in the Catskills. It meant knowing that FDR was dead and the United Nations was the future along with atomic energy and space travel. The past, what was antiquated, were cars with running boards  and a squared black sedan, and people who had not yet seen the War, as well as silent films, which I never saw before I was in college, which I discovered as hidden treasures though preferring the talky and well constructed dramatic arcs of the movies of the Forties. The latest news thing that marked the present, the new, when I was young, a pre-tyeener, was the advent of television, first through the windows in bars, then in the living rooms of families with early television arrivals, who after dinner lined up chairs in theatrical style so that the neighbors could come visit and see the new marvel, and then my family getting its own tv set,, an RCA, that enriched my life by providing, among other things, travelogs of G.I.’s returning to Japan to see the sights of the recently ended war.