We never had those when I started. I carried around a huge Graflex "potatoe masher" unit that used a 5lb 480V dry cell battery. No tilting heads, no place for reflectors. Just straight-on pure power - and lots of it. Made lots of shadows, everywhere. Rather Weegee-esque but then it was fast snaps for publication - not art.
I really don't get the "no shadow" deal. I do architectural photography and go out of my way to do light setups with streaks across walls & strategically placed shadows so that the room looks like it is "naturally illuminated."
When I do my own environmental portrait work, I use a 750 Watt-second mono-light shooting through a white umbrella so that I get a north light window look to the work complete with soft wrap-around shadows. No shadows = unnatural in my book.
