I'm guessing that when Tango and FTraveler talk about FC being better now than it was in the old days, they are referring only to international travel. In the sixties and seventies, FC passengers on domestic flights were treated as special customers, and the seating was much better (more seat pitch).
In those days, I only flew FC domestically, and my experience with international FC was restricted to PanAm #1, which had the last leg of its RTW flight leave IAH at about 145PM enroute to JFK. On that flight, the food and drink (Champagne and caviar for sure) flowed freely and the seating was very much the equivalent of today's CO Business First or NW WBC (albeit with manual seat controls).
You can imagine the schedule juggling that was needed in order to get an early meeting on the last day in Houston to get everything done by noon so that I could get out to the airport in time for that PanAm beauty.