He spotted three other telephones, one of them in use by a horse-faced female in a splashy flowered print that reminded him of that long-ago era when chintz furniture covers were well in style.

In Season Five, Illyria remembers "the Wolf, Ram, and Hart" of her long-ago era, indicating this was the organization's original name.

All of this summons memories of a long-ago era, particularly in the 1930's, when a sizable number of champions in boxing were immigrant or first-generation Jews.

"Lamb Chop's Play-Along," which began on public television early this year, is classic kiddie television from the long-ago era before MTV and, yes, even before Sesame Street.

James was generally not interested in long-ago eras.

A prologue that explains the Swan Queen's enchantment in a long-ago and faraway era before the familiar story unfolds is another of the innovations Mr. McKenzie has brought to this "Swan Lake."

In his view, studying the literature of long-ago eras requires not only thorough training in philology but awareness of shifting cultural patterns.

But with a fan (the museum will lend one) you can comfortably cross its threshold into long-ago eras.

Whenever Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit late-inning home runs to win a Yankee game in that long-ago era of day baseball, it was known as Five O'Clock Lightning.

In this long-ago era, the 1970's, the Benihana founder, Rocky Aoki, was riding high.