The original 747-100 /was/ spacious on international flights, the upper deck had a lounge and a piano. This wasn't due to some bygone era where passengers weren't treated like cattle, it was due to the underpowered JT9D-3A engines.
Without sufficient power, the airlines lowered the amount of allowed weight on allowed on international flights and thus the seats had better spacing. Later models starting form the -200 model had more powerful engines so they crammed in more passengers - both in coach and in first class.
