Fifties Nostalgia

Who Loves Lucy?

2011-08-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

Since today is Lucy's 100th birthday, I'm reposting a previous article. It just seemed appropriate. For those of you with XM radio, tune to channel 82 today for some fun old radio stuff featuring our girl.

Where do I begin to tell you about Lucy. Let's go back to October of 1951, when the whole love affair began and everyone started saying I Love Lucy!

The show starred Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivan Vance, and William Frawley. It ran as a black and white program (as most of them were in those days) on the CBS network. It began when the first show aired October 15, 1951 and ended on May 6, 1957. It was the most-watched show in the United States in four of its six seasons, and it was the first show to end its run at the top of the ratings. The show remains in syndication today.

I could go on and on and explain how Lucy is somewhat naïve and ambitious, with an overactive imagination and a knack for getting herself into trouble. But you already know that. I could tell you that she’s obsessed with joining her husband in show business. But you know that, too. So let me fill up the white space by telling you something you may not know.

Unlike television shows today, the scenes were often performed in sequence, as a play would be, which was unusual for comedies at that time. Retakes were rare and dialogue mistakes were often played off for the sake of continuity.

Desilu was the production company that was owned by Desi and Lucy. It rented space at General Service Studios on Hollywood from 1951 until 1954, when it bought the Motion Picture Center and renamed it Desilu Studios. The shot at the right is an aerial view of the complex. The one below is the Mansion on the same property. I'm not certain what this building was used for.

The opening familiar to most viewers features the credits superimposed over a "heart on satin" image, shown at the beginning of this post. However, that was not the original opening but was created specifically for syndication. As originally broadcast, the episodes opened with animated matchstick figures of Arnaz and Ball making reference to whomever the particular episode's sponsor was. These sequences were created by the animation team of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, under contract to MGM at the time.

The original sponsor was cigarette maker Philip Morris. At that time the program opened with a cartoon of Lucy and Ricky climbing down a pack of Philip Morris cigarettes. In the early episodes, Lucy and Ricky, as well as Ethel and Fred, were shown smoking Philip Morris cigarettes.

Since the original sponsor references were no longer appropriate when the shows went into syndication, a new opening was needed, which resulted in the classic heart on satin opening.

The original openings, with the sponsor names edited out, are now used on TV Land showings, with a TV Land logo superimposed to obscure the original sponsor's logo. Ironically, this has led some people to believe that the restored introduction was created specifically for TV Land.

One of the most memorable episode is entitled “Job Switching.” It’s a classic with the well-known scene of Lucy and Ethyl wrapping the candy as it comes down the conveyor belt. The video bar toward the bottom often has that scene on it if you want to look at it again. It’s just as funny today as it was the day they filmed it.

Other episodes that I would have to put in the top ten include: “Lucy Does a Commerical” (the Vitameatavegamin girl), “Lucy and Superman,” “L.A. at Last” (with William Holden getting a pie in the face and Lucy catching her putty nose on fire when she tries to light a cigarette), and “Lucy Does the Tango” (in which Lucy and Ethyl try to convince the boys the hens are laying eggs by smuggling them from the store into the henhouse, under their coats. Everything is fine until Ricky decides to have Lucy dance with him and the eggs begin breaking.)

I'm not certain which episode the photo at the right came from. I don't recall a fish episode. So, if anyone is familiar with it, please comment and let us all know.

The Vitameatavegamin video on the right sidebar is sure to bring a smile to your face. It's a classic, so enjoy.

Telephones - Then and Now

2011-07-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm amazed at technology. And how it changes over time. I was driving today in my new car and my phone rang. Since my cell phone is linked to my iDrive system in my car, the ringing came over the car speakers and my readout on the information center on the dash showed who the call was from. I pressed a button on my steering wheel and answered the call. I also have a blog about my experiences with the new car HERE in case you're interested in new car technology. But let's get back to the subject at hand.

Now, let's compare a talking car with a high tech phone system to what we used to have. We were actually pretty primitive in comparison. When I was a kid, we had a black phone with a wire that ran into the wall. Cell phones and wireless technology and bluetooth hadn't been thought of yet. In fact, our phones had mechanical, analog dials on them. Rotary dials, we called them. And we had phone numbers with names, like CLifton 7, or DRexel 4, BUtterfield 8, and others.

We also had something interesting called "party lines." It was kind of a Twitter of the fifties. The necessity of these party lines was probably due to the fact that the phone company didn't have enough lines installed to give everyone their own private line. And when the phone rang, you had to listen to the ring and see if it was yours before answering it. Ours was a long and a short ring. If you wanted to make an outgoing call, you picked up the receiver and checked to see if there was a party liner already using the phone. If so, good manners told you to hang up and check later. If not, you could go ahead and make your call.

In 1959 things started improving dramatically when ATT introduced the new Princess Phone. Contemporary advertising shows that this telephone was marketed to women, hence the feminine designation 'Princess'. A broad range of colors were offered, including pink, red, yellow, moss green, black, white, beige, ivory, light blue, turquoise, and gray. And four years later, in 1963, Western Electric introduced touchtone dialing which replaced the rotary dial with 10 lighted push buttons. We were in the modern age now. Everyone eventually got their own private line and the party line became a thing of the past.

In time the Princess was redesigned and became the Trimline phone. You may remember these as the slim units with the push button dial built into the handset.

Growing Crystals

2011-07-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

When I was a boy I discovered the magic of growing crystals from various ingredients. That was shortly after I was so disappointed when my Sea Monkeys didn't look at all like monkeys. They didn't even have crowns or scepters. And my X-Ray Specs didn't work like they were supposed to, either. So I started growing crystals in my little bedroom laboratory.

I used salt, sugar, and alum. Each of these composites produce crystals with different structures. The salt crystals were always cubic. The sugar (which you could eat after they formed) were hexagonal with pointed ends. My favorite was the crystals produced with alum. In case you have a youngster, or a grandchild, this might offer you an opportunity for some quality time and a learning experience that could spark an interest in chemistry or science.

Just so you know, alum crystalizes in a tetrahedral form. The crystals form like two pyramids joined at the base.The photo above is of a chrome alum crystal. I'm sure what chrome alum is, but the crystals you can grow from regular alum look just like this except they are clear instead of black.

Below is a step-by-step procedure for turning common, white alum into beautiful, clear crystals that look like sparkling diamonds. What you need to do is to create what is known as a super-saturated solution. More material (salt, sugar, alum) will dissolve in hot water than will dissolve in cold. The higher the temperature, the more will dissolve and the more saturated the solution becomes. So here we go . . .

Step 1: If you don't already have some, go to the grocery store and buy a box of alum. You'll find it in the baking section or with the spices.

Step 2: Place a sauce pan containing one quart of water on the stove and turn it on.

Step 3: As the water starts to heat, begin pouring the alum into it, stirring with a spoon as you add it. Not too much at a time. Make sure it's all dissolved before you add more. Continue adding more alum until no more will dissolve. Try to keep the water temperature just a little below a rolling boil.

Step 4: After the water has cooled a bit, pour it into a a quart jar and leave it alone for a few hours.

If you've created a super-saturated solution, the alum will begin to form crystal within 24 hours. You will see them forming on the bottom of the jar. There will probably be several of them, so we want to remove a lot of them to give the others more room to grow. Otherwise you will end up with a "matt" of crystals on the bottom of the jar. And that's not what you want. We're trying to create three or four really nice crystals.

Step 5: In a day or two your crystals will have grown to 1/8 inch or so across. Get a long pair of tweezers and remove all of the small crystals. If you don't have a long pair of tweezers you can pour the solution carefully from your incubator jar into another container and then remove the crystals with a spoon. Examine them and pick a half dozen or so of the biggest or best ones and set them aside. Then pour the solution back into the jar and add your selected crystals. Try to arrange them so they're not touching each other.

Step 6: You'll need to turn your crystals every day so that the alum is added to each side equally.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not place a lid on the jar. If you do, the water can't evaporate. Evaporation is important so that the solution remains at a constant state of saturation and your crystal continues to grow. If you notice your crystals look smaller than they did the previous day that means the saturation level has decreased and the water is dissolving the alum from your crystals. If this happens, remove your crystals and create a new solution as explained in Step 2. But don't place your crystal back into this new solution until it has cooled to room temperature. Otherwise it will dissolve. Keep making new solutions as your crystal continues to grow until you get it to the size you want. Then you can take it out of the jar and put it on display. The air won't hurt it. Just don't let it get wet because they do melt in water.

Having written this, it makes me want to do it again. I'm going to go buy some alum. Have fun! If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll try to answer it.

Donna Reed

2011-07-21T15:06:00.005-05:00

Here's the opening from Season 1. I used to watch this program all the time. Of course, it was long before Dan Akroyd became famous. In this opening video, Carl Betz reminds me of Dan. Does anyone else notice any resemblance?

Rather than rewrite the entire history and plot line, I thought the author who provided this info to Wikipedia did a great job. I couldn't do any better, so I've pasted it below. If you'd like more details, just Google the Donna Reed Show or click on the previous Wikipedia link to go to the reference page.

The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September 24, 1958 to March 19, 1966.

When Fabares left the show in 1964, Petersen's little sister Patty Petersen joined the cast as adopted daughter Trisha. Bob Crane and Ann McCrea appeared in the last seasons as the Kelseys, friends of the Stones, and Darryl Richard became a near regular as Smitty, Jeff's best buddy. The show featured a variety of celebrity guests including Esther Williams as a famous dress designer, baseball superstars Don Drysdale and Willie Mays as themselves, teen heartthrob James Darren as a pop singer with the measles, canine superstar Lassie as herself, and young Jay North as Dennis the Menace.

THE PLOT —

Donna is the wife of Dr. Alex Stone, a pediatrician practicing in fictional Hilldale, and the mother of teenagers Mary and Jeff. The plot revolves around the lightweight and humorous sorts of situations and problems a middle class family experienced in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Donna, for example, would sometimes find herself swamped with the demands of community theatricals and charity drives; Mary had problems juggling boyfriends and finding dresses to wear to one party or another; and Jeff was often caught in situations appropriate to his age and gender such as joining a secret boys' club, avoiding love-smitten classmates, or bidding at auction on an old football uniform. Alex was the family's Rock of Gibralter, but often found himself in situations that tested his patience: in one episode for example, Donna volunteered him as the judge of a baby contest, and, in another episode, Mary insisted her gawky, geeky boyfriend was the spitting image of her father. Very occasionally eccentric relatives would descend on the Stones to complicate the household situation. When Mary left for college in the middle seasons, a runaway orphan named Trisha was adopted by the family. In the last seasons, Jeff would spend much time with best buddy Smitty, and Donna and Alex would find best friends in Dave Kelsey, Alex's professional colleague, and his wife Midge. While mainly concerned with mundane household and family affairs, the show sometimes addressed edgier issues such as women's rights ("Just a Housewife") and freedom of the press ("The Editorial").

It was a great program that entertained America for seven and a half years. Sometimes we forget the really good programs from those early days. Thanks guys.

Another Side of Peter Lorre

2011-07-20T20:56:00.003-05:00

Okay, before anyone jumps on me and says, "Hey, this movie is not from the fifties or sixties. It was released in 1935." I know that. I actually discovered this video while looking at some scenes from Casablanca and Maltese Falcon. I wasn't actually looking for Peter Lorre, but when I stumbled upon this, I thought it would be something of interest to others. I went to IMDB and found the following plot summary. I've never seen this film, but it looks like one I would like to see.

From IMDB by Gary Jackson . . .

In Paris, Dr. Gogol is infatuated with theater actress Yvonne Orlac as he returns to his same box seat for her every performance. Yvonne is married, however, to concert pianist Stephen Orlac. They plan to move to England. When Stephen's talented hands are crushed in a train wreck, Yvonne asks for Dr. Gogol's help by operating to save them. Although the doctor can't save Stephen's hands, he will do anything to help Yvonne. His solution is to replace the hands with those of an executed knife-throwing murderer. Gogol's obsession with Yvonne grows while Stephen discovers that his proficiency at the piano has been replaced by an uncanny accuracy with throwing things. The doctor's next move is to play on Stephen's mental distress to convince him that he is crazy, and a murderer. It is the only way he can get Yvonne.

A 6th Grade Adventure...

2011-07-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

Did you know that the color Sea Green is only available in the 64 Crayola box? That's the one with the built-in sharpener on the back. How do I know this? Well, it's not a long story, and I feel like relating it today.

It was 1961. I was in Mr. Miller's 6th grade class at Randall Elementary School in Independence, Missouri. Our assignment was to create a world map. My partner in this project was my best friend, James Johnson.

Mr. Miller gave us a sheet of paper that was about three feet high and six feet wide. He instructed up to draw all of the continents, then all of the countries within those continents, and to color them in any manner we wished. We began drawing and in a short time had located all the continents. Then the work started involving drawing in all the countries. But by the end of the week, we had everything penciled in and had started coloring the countries in a variety of hues.

It took a little time the following week to get everything colored. Plus there was a bit of planning involved when you had several countries that were adjacent to each other so that you didn't have two bordering countries ending up in the same color. By the end of the week we were finished. And it looked great, too! Then James came up with the idea that has since become known as The Sea Green Fiasco. He suggested we color the ocean. I was against it since it would require additional time and effort. But James was persistent, and he painted a rosy picture of how great it would look. So I finally agreed. Obviously, if you're coloring the ocean, there is no other color choice that seems nearly as appropriate as Sea Green.

Since James and I both had 64 Crayola boxes, the only product containing Sea Green, we began filling the massive white area on our map that comprised the watery part of the world. Those two crayons had short lives. They didn't last long enough to complete the Atlantic. It was at about that time I began to realize that we had made a huge blunder and I should have stuck to my guns about leaving the ocean white. Based on the amount of square inches we had covered with the two crayons, a quick calculation in my head told me we were going to need more Sea Green crayons than were currently available in North America in order to finish this map.

But there was no choice but to continue. We were committed now, and we couldn't erase the Sea Green that we'd already scribbled on the paper. So the quest began for other students whose parents had purchased the 64 Crayola box for them. There weren't many in our class. There weren't many more in the entire school. But we finally managed to scrounge up four more of the precious wax sticks in the right color. We used them sparingly, and the intensity of the color lightened as we expanded beyond where our two personal crayons had taken us.

At last, the project was completed when we exhausted the last of the Sea Green crayons. Unfortunately, there was still a white, circular area the size of a grapefruit in the lower right corner. James told the teacher the white circular area represented the moon. This was news to me, so I just nodded when Mr. Miller gave me his questioning look. He bought it.

I often wonder whatever happened to that map. And to James.

Red and The Pledge

2011-07-19T19:35:00.002-05:00

The fourth of July is passed, but patriotism isn't something that's only acceptable on that date. I was searching for some information on Red Skelton, one of my favorites from my younger years, and I ran across this video on YouTube. I remember having seen it before, but it's been some time, and I had forgotten how powerful is is, especially the ending. And how appropriate it is today.

I hope you enjoy it and you get a new look at the heart of a comedian who knew how to be funny but also knew how to be very serious.

Ice Cream, Snakes and Fountains

2011-07-03T00:01:00.005-05:00

On this Independence Day weekend, I wanted to share with you some of the 4th of July holiday memories from my childhood. Yours may be similar, and there may be something in this narrative that causes you to recall a special moment from long ago. At my current age, those memories have become sweetened with time. Looking back on it all, the summer heat from those days doesn't seem quite so overwhelming, the worries of life aren't recalled as being so imposing, and the world seemed to be spinning at a slightly slower speed. It was a time I would go back to in a heartbeat if it were possible to do so. But alas, the only way to do that is to relate the story to you, my readers, and hope you will join me in remembering it.

I grew up in a blue-collar family. My father was a plumber, my mother a stay-at-home mom. Along with our parents, my two younger sisters and I lived in a modest, 3-bedroom home in a middle class neighborhood. Having grown up during The Great Depression, Mom and Dad were frugal, although my father would occasionally spend a little extra at the grocery store and purchase steaks or ribs or shrimp for a special occasion. And the Fourth of July was special enough.

As the warm afternoon continued toward evening, and the Black Cat firecrackers started popping on the neighborhood streets, my dad would start cooking. He didn't put much faith in an outdoor barbecue grille, and he did most of his cooking on our Roper gas range in the kitchen. He usually opted for barbecued ribs on July 4th, and he also made his own barbecue sauce. Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead and get the recipe before it was too late. Naturally, there would be some southern style (my parents were from Tennessee) fried potatoes and some refreshing sweet iced tea (with fresh lemon) to go along with that evening meal.

After supper we would go out in the back yard. Some years there would be a big, dark green, Black Diamond watermelon to enjoy. And sometimes, instead of the watermelon, my mother would bring out the big silver cylinder containing the ice cream mixture, and Dad would put it into the old-fashioned ice cream maker. You may remember: the bucket with the crank handle on it? The one you had to sit on while someone cranked it? A little ice and a little rock salt went in next, and the cranking began. It was a slow process, ice cream making, and a bit boring. If you could find a fairly clean and clear piece of rock salt, you snatched it from the ice and sucked on it while you cranked. Forever it seemed.

Within a while (which always seemed longer than it should be) Dad would say it was time for the cranking to stop. He would remove the cylinder from the ice and carefully pry the top off. A moment later, the deliciously cold cream was being scooped into special bowls for all to enjoy. An occasional brain freeze was an event that might occur if you ate too fast. But if you didn't eat it fast, you might end up drinking it because it didn't last long in its solid state when the temperature was hovering around the 100 degree mark. As a side note, I actually still have those bowls in my kitchen cabinets today, and they serve as a constant reminder of those days every time I look at them.

Lawn chairs were brought out next, and as the summer day faded and darkness settled in, the show began. We didn't spend a lot on fireworks, and it seems like we always bought the same things: a box of sparklers, a couple of boxes of those black pellets called snakes, a package of Black Cat firecrackers, a couple dozen bottle rockets, and a half dozen "fountains" that were actually nothing more than a paper cone with some stuff inside that just kind of fizzled for a few seconds. And we always got a bunch of those great punks, because they were free. Oh, it was nothing like the high-tech pyrotechnics of today, but for 1957 it was state-of-the-art, and we didn't realize how primitive it was at that time.

The whole neighborhood was lit up with the sparkling displays taking place on every front porch, driveway, and even in the street. Cheers and applause filled the night air when an especially impressive display exploded. It was exciting while it lasted. And when it was over, it was a little disappointing that there was nothing left to blow up. But still, way down deep in your soul there was a warm feeling bubbling up and settling in, and you were suddenly content with nothing more than to be at home with your family.

Do you have specific memories of your summer holidays? If so, leave a comment and tell us about it. It's good to share.

Still a Classic - And it's baseball season!

2011-07-01T18:02:00.001-05:00

Paul Anka - Lonely Boy - 1959

2011-06-30T13:39:00.003-05:00

Wow! Check out that studded vest! I love the audience panning.

Here are the words if you'd like to sing along.

I'm just a lonely boy, lonely and blue
I'm all alone with nothin' to do
I've got everything you could think of
But all I want is someone to love.

Someone, yes, someone to love, someone to kiss
Someone to hold at a moment like this
I'd like to hear somebody say
"I'll give you my love each night and day"

Somebody, somebody, somebody, please send her to me
I'll make her happy, just wait and see
I prayed so hard to the heavens above
That I might find someone to love.

Frankie Lymon and Lewis Lymon

2011-06-01T19:13:00.003-05:00

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were a force to be reckoned with during the fifties. They were professional and had a few Top 40 hits in the doo-wop style. I'm going to embed one of their videos in this post.

Of lesser fame was Frankie's little brother, Lewis. His group was called Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords. (Very similar names, and probably intentional.) The video above is Lewis and his group.

Now here's Frankie doing a real kicker. What a voice and what confidence he had! Enjoy!

Guess Who's Birthday I share!

2011-05-27T23:23:00.006-05:00

First of all, anyone who knows me, or anyone who's read this ongoing blog for a few years, either knows or perhaps has a hint that Humphrey Bogart has forever been my favorite actor. And that's the way it is.

I've watched Casablanca so many times I could almost recite the lines from the script. The same is true with The Maltese Falcon. Those are probably my two favorites. Of course, The African Queen (with Katherine Hepburn, a lifelong friend) and To Have and Have Not (with Lauren Bacall who became his fourth wife) are right up there, too. And there are many more movies that he made while at Warner Bros and afterwards, at his own movie company, Santana, that I would watch again any time the opportunity presented itself.

Bogart's career was a very bumpy ride to stardom. He hated pretense and false praise, and he didn't like phonies. He told people what he thought, and some believe that honesty was what doomed him to small roles for a large part of his career. In fact, most of his early films were "B" movies. Bogart was aware of this. He once said:

"I can't get in a mild discussion without turning it into an argument. There must be something in my tone of voice, or this arrogant face—something that antagonizes everybody. Nobody likes me on sight. I suppose that's why I'm cast as the heavy."

But after making Casablanca, he became the highest paid actor in Hollywood at a salary of $460,000 a year. And since I mentioned Lauren Bacall earlier, here's a bit of trivia that a lot of people aren't aware of. Her quotable line from To Have and Have Not, "You do know how to whistle, don't you?" was cause for Bogie to buy her a gold whistle during the making of that movie. When Bogie died, Lauren placed the gold whistle in his casket.

Now, here comes the whole point of this post. I watched a Bogart film last night that I had never seen. It was entitled The Black Legion. It was a 1937 film with Bogart playing a family man who gets mixed up with the wrong group and ends up in trouble. After the movie was over, I did a little research and learned, to my total surprise, that he and Lauren Bacall had a son named Stephen Humphrey Bogart.

Now that in itself isn't anything astonishing. However, the amazing part is that Stephen just happened to be born on January 6, 1949. I couldn't believe it! My favorite actor's son and I were not only born in the same year, we were born in the same month on exactly the same day—maybe even at the same time! Wow. How cool is that?

So now you know that Bogart's son and I are the same age, exactly, to the day. If you know Stephen Humphrey Bogart, or have his email address, send him a link to this blog and tell him I'd love it if he would take the time to leave a comment.

As Bogie said in the last line of The Maltese Falcon, "It's the stuff that dreams are made of."

1957 times 20.

2011-05-01T21:48:00.010-05:00

Yesterday, I concluded a deal on a new BMW. It was a long time coming, since I always feel it's necessary to do extensive research on any major purchase, specifically cars. So this wasn't an easy decision. But once I had the research finished and weighed all the options, the BMW won handily over the noble competitors. That activity reminded me of a a previous purchase.

It was 1958 when my family went to the Ford dealership to buy a new car. At that time, our family car was an old blue Nash. Everything was going out of it, including the brakes. So it was time. But it wasn't a quick decision.

My father was a subscriber to Mechanix Illustrated and he was a faithful reader of Tom McCahill, MI's auto guru and reviewer. There were a lot of cars my father could pick from, but his research had led him to the 1958 Ford Fairlane. I remember quite well that the radio (AM only in those days) was an option, and the my dad paid an additional $90 for the heater. At least that's the figure that's stuck in my head. If I remember correctly, the whole transaction amounted to less than $2,500.

Now, let's put that into perspective with what's happened since then. The '58 Fairlane had a new technology at that time—windshield washers. I thought that was the niftiest thing ever invented. You just turned them on and they squirted water on your windshield. Fifty-three years later, the 2011 BMW has rain-sensing wipers. You don't even have to turn them on! They know what to do without your help. But it all comes with a price which is about 20 times what the Ford sold for. Of course, there are those who would argue that we're comparing a car that is inherently higher priced than the Ford. Quite true, but in 1958, the Ford was equally higher priced than the VW, so we may be comparing apples to apples after all.

That multiplicity in the price of cars seems significant, but it is not really so much out of line if we compare it to other items. For example, my parents purchased our family home, brand new, for $11,000 in 1957. My wife and I downsized eight years ago and moved into a smaller home. The cost was $220,000, which is 20 times the price my father paid. So we've got the same multiplier in real estate. Candy bars are the same. Hershey bars were a nickel in 1958, and they're about a buck today. Twenty times the price.

On a closely-related subject, i.e, the price of gasoline, we have a similar situation. In 1957 gasoline was around 20 cents per gallon. Twenty times that amount would put us at $4.00. Not far off from where we are today.

So there you have it. As Bob Dylan said, the times are a-changing. But they're actually remaining the same comparatively. Perhaps Einstein was right with that relativity idea. I'd love to read your comments.

Iris and Herringbone and Natalie Wood

2011-04-20T22:30:00.011-05:00

In 1961, Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty came to the silver screen as Deanie Loomis and Bud Stamper in a great Hollywood movie known as Splendor in the Grass.

Anyone who's seen the film is familiar with the story, so we're not going to go into that here except to say that it takes place in 1928, just prior to the Great Depression. The setting will be an important and critical fact later in this post.

As the movie unfolds, there is a scene in Deanie's dining room that we need to examine in detail. The scene opens and the camera reveals a beautifully set dining room table in the Loomis home. Each place setting on this table has a beautiful tumbler placed in the correct position. These tumblers are our area of interest.

These glasses were manufactured by the Jeanette Glass Company of Jeanette, Pennsylvania. The pattern on them is well known to Depression Glass collectors. It's called Iris and Herringbone. They are a popular collector's item today and are still available at antique shops and ebay. And, I must admit, if my wife and I didn't collect Depression Glass, I never would have noticed this faux pas in the film.

Jeanette manufactured the Iris and Herrington pattern from 1928 through 1932. So glasses, in this pattern, would have been available at the time our movie takes place. However, there's one glitch. The Iris and Herringbone pattern items created in 1928 were only available in the "crystal" version. They were clear.

When we view the film, we notice that the tumblers on the Loomis table have an iridescent finish on them, just like the photo at the beginning of this post. Jeanette did manufacture Iris and Herringbone items in the iridescent finish. But it was not available in 1928. In fact, the Iris and Herringbone pattern in the iridescent finish was not available until the 1950s. Oops!

Since this movie was made in 1961, the iridescent Iris and Herringbone pattern from the fifties would have been available and probably would have been very easy to find. Unfortunately, the art director didn't do his/her homework on that item because the glasses shown in the film were not available in 1928.

But they were available in 1959. I know for a fact that the iridescent Iris and Herringbone tumblers were available then because that was the year I bought my mother a set of four tumblers at TG&Y for Christmas in 1959. They were packaged in a cardboard container and cost a little less than $5 for the set. A few years before my mother passed away, she and my father spent Christmas with us.

When I opened my gift from her on Christmas morning, it was like stepping back in time. I was totally surprised to see those tumblers, still in the cardboard packaging. She told me that she never used them because they were so beautiful and she was so afraid she would break one of them. They've been sitting in my china cabinet since that day. They are 50 years old, and still brand new.

Easters from childhood

2011-04-16T14:50:00.004-05:00

Perhaps a little premature, but I wanted to post this so I didn't miss the holiday altogether this year. I'm speaking of Easter, which will be upon us in another week or so.

Easter was a little different when I was a child. Naturally, we had colored egg like the kids have today. Ours were a little different. My mother would boil them, as your mother probably did, and my sisters and I would get to color them. We didn't buy the Paas coloring packages that they have now. Our mother used food coloring and mixed us up some little cups of color that we could roll the eggs around in. It was fun, and they always came out so beautifully colored.

I remember one year we bought a couple of colored chicks. I can't remember what happened to them, but they disappeared at some point, never to be seen again.

Chocolate was a big deal in the Easter Sunday's of the 1950s. Sometimes you scored one of those hollow chocolate bunnies. And every once in a while, if you were truly lucky, you'd get one that was solid chocolate. That was the best. And jelly beans were a big deal back then, too. I especially enjoyed the Cadbury creme-filled eggs, which they still have today.

If I remember correctly, Silly Putty was an Easter item, since it was packaged in an egg-shaped plastic container. And a New Testament of the King James Bible was also something we would get occasionally. Naturally, we would get all gussied up in our best outfits and head off to the church for Sunday School services.

My mother would usually prepare fried chicken for lunch afterwards. No KFC back then. It was home made and started out as a whole chicken, which she chopped up into the right parts and fried in a big cast iron skillet. Of course there was mashed potatoes and gravy. And cold milk. And real butter.

I'm getting hungry now, so I'm going to stop right there and see what's in the fridge.

National Velvet

2011-03-23T21:00:00.002-05:00

If you've never had the pleasure of seeing this movie, you really should. It's not only a starring role for the very young Elizabeth Taylor, it's also a great story. Mickey Rooney plays an excellent supporting role as well.

I'm betting Blockbuster has it.

Time

2011-03-13T00:01:00.003-06:00

Time. It's something that is always with us. It's a part of our lives. In fact, it's what our lives are made of. Every day we have to ask and answer questions about it: What time is it? What time do you have to leave? How much time will it take to get there? What time can you start on this project? How long will it take?

Like our thoughts, time is our constant companion. But it doesn't go away when we sleep. It keeps ticking, passing by. Rolex, Timex, Seiko, Waltham, and many other companies have made their fortunes creating devices that allow us to keep track of it. Our days are measured in increments of hours, minutes, seconds. And our lives are made up of years, months and days. And there never seems to be enough of it to do everything we need, or want, to do.

And since we actually LOST an hour of time today with the advent of Daylight Saving Time (again) it seems that time is an appropriate subject to talk about today. I'll try to make it worthwhile so we don't WASTE any of it.

I watched an interesting and entertaining movie recently—one which I had never seen. It's called Peggy Sue Got Married. I'm sure most of you have seen it. I know my wife has watched it numerous times. She just keeps sitting through it, kind of like I do when Jaws comes on. But I was fascinated by the concept and the nostalgic era that it centered on.

I guess we've always been fascinated by time travel. Hollywood has made several movies involving the idea. One of the earliest entries into this subject was a film based on the novel by H.G. Wells entitled The Time Machine. I don't recall the main character traveling back to the fifties, but Hollywood must have sensed an audience for that time period a little later.

If you've seen the movie Back to the Future, you may remember that November 12th, is the date the DeLorean (equipped with the flux capacitor that would deliver 1.4 jigawatts at 80 mph) was set for when Marty McFly took it for a ride. They used the same date in the second installment, Back to the Future II. I'm not sure what significance that date holds, but I'm guessing there may have been a reason for choosing it other than an arbitrary date. If anyone has an idea, leave a comment.

Now, here comes the philosophical part of this post. The whole concept of time travel makes one wonder. Doesn't it? Have we been here before? Are we actually here from a future time? Or have we come forward from an earlier time? It also makes one wonder if we're ever going to come back here again, years from now.

In closing, let me leave you with this question to ponder. Did Bill Gates figure out how to bend the time/space continuum and come back to our era with his ideas on computers and how to build them? Or is he really from another planet? Maybe he's originally from the same race of entities that helped the Egyptians build the pyramids. You never know.

A Great Decade for New Things!

2011-03-11T21:31:00.007-06:00

Let’s hop into the Wayback Machine again and head back to the 1950s to see what was new. We're going to look at inventions and new ideas that were created or came about during the fifties. Fasten your seat belt before we take off (because they didn’t have them in 1950) and hang on.

1950 – The first credit card (Diners Club) invented by Ralph Schneider.

1951 – Super glue was invented. Power steering invented by Francis W. Davis. And Charles Ginsburg invented the first video tape recorder (VTR).

1952 – Mr. Potato Head was patented. The first patent for barcode was issued to Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver. The first diet soft drink was sold. And Edward Teller and team built the hydrogen bomb.

1953 – Radial tires were invented. The first musical synthesizer invented by RCA. David Warren invented the black box - flight recorder. And the transistor radio was invented by Texas Instruments.

1954 - Oral contraceptives (the pill) were invented. The first nonstick Teflon pan was produced. Chaplin, Fuller and Pearson invented the solar cell. Ray Kroc started McDonalds.

1955 Tetracycline was invented. Optic fiber was invented.

1956 - The first computer hard disk was used. Christopher Cockerell invented the hovercraft. Bette Nesmith Graham invented "Mistake Out," later renamed Liquid Paper, to paint over mistakes made with a typewriter. (They don’t sell much of that any longer.)

1957 - Fortran (computer language) was invented.

1958 - The computer modem was invented. Gordon Gould invents the laser. The Hula Hoop was invented by Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin. The integrated circuit was invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.

1959 The internal pacemaker was invented by Wilson Greatbatch. The Barbie Doll was invented. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce both invent the microchip.

And that’s just part of it. There’s lots more that came out of that decade. Check back here to read about a lot of other things that were going on during those great years.

Happy Birthday Barbie!

2011-03-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

Let’s take a ride. Hop in the Wayback Machine, buckle up and hang on. We’re heading back to the fifties again. (How surprising is that?) Our first stop is going to be in Europe, so now we can all say we’ve been there.

It’s 1956 and a young woman named Ruth Handler is visiting Germany with her children Barbara and Kenneth. (Are you guessing where this is headed?)
But let’s back up a bit. Before this trip, Ruth had often watched her daughter, Barbara, as she played with her paper dolls, often giving them adult rolls.

It's important to note that at the time, most children's toy dolls were representations of infants. Realizing that there could be a gap in the market, Handler suggested the idea of an adult-bodied doll to her husband Elliot, a co-founder of the Mattel toy company. He was unenthusiastic about the idea, as were Mattel's directors.

But during that trip to Europe in 1956, Ruth Handler came across a German toy doll called Bild Lilli. The Lilli doll was first sold in Germany in 1955, and although it was initially sold to adults, it became popular with children who enjoyed dressing her up in outfits that were available separately.

The adult-figured Lilli doll was exactly what Handler had in mind, so she purchased three of them. She gave one to her daughter and took the others back to Mattel. Upon her return to the United States, Handler reworked the design of the doll (with help from engineer Jack Ryan) and the doll was given a new name, Barbie, after Handler's daughter Barbara.

The doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959. This date is also used as Barbie's official birthday. Mattel acquired the rights to the Bild Lilli doll in 1964 and production of Lilli was stopped. The first Barbie doll wore a black and white zebra striped swimsuit and signature topknot ponytail, and was available as either a blonde or brunette.

The doll was marketed as a "Teen-age Fashion Model," with her clothes created by Mattel fashion designer Charlotte Johnson. The first Barbie dolls were manufactured in Japan, with their clothes hand-stitched by Japanese homeworkers. Around 350,000 Barbie dolls were sold during the first year of production.

Ruth Handler believed that it was important for Barbie to have an adult appearance, and early market research showed that some parents were unhappy about the doll's chest, which had distinct breasts. Barbie's appearance has been changed many times, most notably in 1971 when the doll's eyes were adjusted to look forward rather than having the demure sideways glance of the original model.

Since it’s introduction, it is estimated that over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries, with Mattel claiming that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.

After 52 years, Barbie has become a cultural icon and has been given honors that are rare in the toy world. In 1974 a section of Times Square in New York City was renamed Barbie Boulevard for a week, while in 1985 the artist Andy Warhol created a painting of Barbie.

In case you missed the 50 Year Anniversary Barbie two years ago, she was obviously dealing with midlife and any crises that might have fostered. The manufacturer decided at that time to include a set of mini-tattoos for her. (Does that help a midlife crisis?) In addition, there was a faux tattoo gun for the children to use on themselves. How darling is that? I'm not sure what kind of message that sends, but I don't want to sound judgmental.

Elizabeth Taylor, Max Factor, Hollywood Movies, and Maidenform Bras!

2011-03-06T00:14:00.003-06:00

Prior to the 1950s, with a few exceptions, most Hollywood pictures were filmed in black and white. And being a film lover, I have no desire to see Bogart in anything but the original black and white version of Casablanca.

But when Technicolor began replacing black and white film, a huge impact was made on cosmetics. Even on the giant silver screens, the actors were illuminated with unblemished perfection in perfect color.

Because every average American woman had a desire to mirror that quality in their own appearance, makeup artist Max Factor developed an everyday version of the foundation makeup he used on the stars.

This new product, called “pancake,” was used to cover skin imperfections. At the same time he brought out a line of lipsticks and eye shadows.

Titanium was added to the recipe later in the 50s to tone down the brightness, resulting in lips with a pale, shimmering gleam. This concept was later extended to create frosted nail polishes in pink, silver, and a variety of other colors.

The 50s marked the introduction of “spectacles.” These were the name given to women’s eyeglasses that were frequently inlaid with diamante or covered with glitter. They had exaggerated wings on the outer corners that flared into the style of butterfly wings, or cat's eyes. The ones at the right look like Silly Putty.

The ponytail was a popular hairstyle in the 50s for younger girls. This eventually matured into the French Pleat. Among the older and more sophisticated crowd, the permanent wave was a popular style, made famous by Elizabeth Taylor.

The pointed pre-formed conically stitched bra was a popular fashion accessory of the 50s. Kind of like the bullet bumper of a '57 Buick.

But without one, the sweater girl just didn’t look right. And if you watch some of the videos from the 50s, you'll notice the dancing girls appear to be wearing similar accouterments. Yeah, it was all great fun, until someone lost an eye.

By the mid 1950s pointed toe shoes with heels up to 5 inches were a common sight. There is no doubt that the trademark of the fifties was the stiletto heeled shoe, first seen in 1952 at a Dior fashion show.

Roswell Revisited

2011-01-18T22:00:00.001-06:00

Let’s jump off the deep end here and talk about something different today. That’s the whole idea, isn’t it? Keeping it fresh? Well, see if you like this subject.

The 1950s were a special time. The war was over. Everything was modern and new. It was the beginning of the Space Age. We had created and exploded the atomic bomb. And a group of aliens had crashed their small craft near a farm in Roswell, New Mexico just three years earlier. Just your typical decade, right? The event in Roswell may have been the catalyst, because from that day on, America’s attention was drawn to the skies and to outer space and whatever might live there.

Although Roswell is perhaps the most publicized and best-known of the alien encounters, there were others during the fifties that may be of some interest to some of you. I’ve listed four of them below for your enjoyment.

1951 - THE LUBBOCK LIGHTS

While sitting outside one evening, a group of Texas Tech professors saw several groups of racing. When the sighting was reported, the Air Force denied that any planes were flying that night. Cart Hart, Jr. (18 years old at the time) took five photographs of the objects, which have become known as the Lubbock Lights.

1952 - UFOs BUZZ WASHINGTON, D.C.

In 1952, the White House, the Capitol Building, and the Pentagon were buzzed by UFOs. On July 19 of that year, a number of UFO blips were picked up on the radar screens at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base. This was the beginning of a wave of sightings that still remain unexplained. Numerous photographs were taken of the unknown objects.

1955 - THE KELLY, KENTUCKY ALIEN INVASION

One of the most bizarre accounts of alien contact on record occurred at the Sutton family farmhouse. It was under siege from small alien beings for several hours one night. Family members shot at the beings, but without effect. Family members later drew pictures of the strange beings, showing claw-like hands and large ears. Their account of the incident has never been debunked.

1957 - LEVELLAND, TEXAS UFO LANDING

It was a night of terror in a small Texas town. There were no less than 8 official sightings, including policemen. Reports included sightings of UFOs flying, hovering, and even landing on the roads around Levelland. Police officers gave testimony to the US Air Force. This remains one of the best documented cases in the history of UFO encounters.

That's it for today. My wife has been telling me that my posts are too long and boring. She's a UFO officianado, so maybe she'll like this one and not complain about it. If you know anyone who likes to read about UFOs, feel free to pass this along to them. Or send them the web address. The more, the merrier.

Finally, if you've had a UFO encounter, hit that pesky COMMENT link below and tell us about it. I'm sure there are a lot of readers out there that would eat it up. And if the whole subject of UFOs interests you, here's a great site with tons of interesting stuff. Right HERE.

Until next time, have a great day! And keep looking up. They may be looking back.

Duck and Cover

2011-01-17T21:39:00.003-06:00

On this day in 1955, the United States nuclear-powered submarine began it’s first test voyage. It was seen as a positive use of nuclear energy and much different from the bombs and missiles that had become such a threat during the Cold War.

It all began in 1949. The United States’ monopoly on nuclear weapons ended when the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear device. With nuclear weapons in the hands of our enemy, the US became much more vulnerable to attack than it had ever been previously. And America needed answers on how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear bomb.

From Wikipedia: Duck-and-cover exercises quickly became a part of Civil Defense drills. Every American citizen, from children to the elderly, practiced these in order to be ready in the event of nuclear war. In 1950, the movie Duck and Cover was produced.

However, duck and cover was not a one-size-fits-all solution to prevent injury in the event of a nuclear explosion. In fact—depending on the explosion's height and yield—ducking and covering would offer negligible protection against the intense heat, shock waves, and radiation that would accompany and follow such a nuclear detonation.

According to Wikipedia: The advice to "duck and cover" holds well in many situations where structural destabilization or debris may be expected, such as during an earthquake or tornado. At a sufficient distance from a nuclear explosion, the shock wave would produce similar results and ducking and covering would perhaps prove adequate. It would also offer some protection from flying glass and other small, but dangerous, debris.

Ducking and covering would also reduce exposure to the gamma rays. Since they are mostly emitted in a straight line, people on the ground will have more chance to have obstacles such as building foundations, cars, etc. between them and the source of radiation. The technique offers a small protection against fallout - people standing up could receive a large, possibly lethal, dose of radiation, while people protected will receive less of it. The technique assumes that after the initial blast, a person who ducks and covers will move to a more sheltered area. It is a first response only.

Duck and Cover was a suggested method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear weapon, which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the early 1950s into the 1980s. This was supposed to protect them in the event of an unexpected nuclear attack that, they were told, could come at any time without warning. Immediately after they saw a flash they had to stop what they were doing and get on the ground under some cover—such as a table, or at least next to a wall—and assume the fetal position, lying face-down and covering their heads with their hands.

Proponents argued that thousands could be saved through this precaution, without which people would instead run to windows to find the source of the big flash. During this time a shock wave would cause a glass implosion, shredding onlookers.

So, there’s some concern that the duck and cover procedure would be effective in reducing physical damage. Fortunately, we haven’t needed to test it so far. Let’s hope it stays that way. Meanwhile, if you want to practice the procedure again, just to see if your old bones can still bend like they did in 1955, check out that video again.

Technology - Past and Present

2011-01-09T23:05:00.008-06:00

This evening we decided to go to Chili's for dinner. I had won a major award (the hell you say!) at work consisting of a $25 gift card to any Chili's in the country. My wife selected one in the nearby village of Lee's Summit. I would have preferred the one on Rosecranz in San Diego, but, as she pointed out, that one is about 1,500 miles from here and I have to go to work in the morning.

My wife looked up the address on her laptop, wrote it down, and handed me the paper as we got in the car. I typed the location into my new GPS system. My GPS girl (I call her Gypsy) started telling me which way to go. Good grief! I think I know how to get out of my own neighborhood for Heaven's sake. Anyway, Gypsy gave us flawless directions, and we arrived at precisely the ETA the GPS showed when we left the house.

As we drove to the restaurant, and I listened to the directions, I realized that it's absolutely amazing how far we've come. I remembered the day my parents traded in our old beat up Nash for a brand new car—the first one we'd ever purchased.

My father was a plumber and a dyed-in-the-wool Ford man, so our new ride was, naturally, a Ford. It was a Fairlane 500. 1958 version. Blue. To a nine-year-old boy, that old Nash was a pretty cool car. But the Ford! Ah. Now that was something special. And, being brand, spanking new, it did have a few innovations that were state-of-the-art in the space age of automobile design and technology of the 50s.

One was the dual headlights. 1958 was the first year that the American automakers went from single to double headlights on each side of the grill. It was the new look. And pretty classy, too. The rear sported dual tail lights, which was a major change from the big, round, single version of the '57 Ford. The video on the right sidebar goes into more detail if you'd like to learn more.

The car had something else, too. It was an innovation that was one of the most amazing things that had ever been invented up to that time: windshield washers. I thought those were really swell, and a lot more impressive than the Sea Monkeys I had recently purchased. My dad also decided to opt for the AM radio and the heater, which were both optional features in 1958. Yes, indeed, life was good in 1950s suburbia.

But a week or so later, something strange happened. From out of nowhere and quite unexpectedly, our next door drove something new into his driveway. Something that looked similar to our car. Similar in that it was a Ford and it was a 1958 model. Unfortunately for our self esteem, that's where the similarity ended.

Compared to the Nash, our new Ford was a big step up. But compared to our new car, our neighbor's vehicle was absolutely spectacular.

First off, it was a coupe instead of a sedan. For those of you who are not car guys or gals, a coupe has two doors and a much sleeker look. And it's just cooler in every way. A sedan is the more sedate, stodgy, four door version.

In addition, the neighbor's car also had a two-tone paint job. While our car sported a paint job in the medium blue selection, the car next door was a red-over-white version—with the sweeping, gold metallic body moulding separating the two colors. Plus, theirs had this really cool continental kit on the back. And to top it all off, so to speak, it was a convertible! In the world of 1958 Fords, it doesn't get much cooler than that combination.

Bottom line: Their car pretty much kicked ours to the curb.

But sometimes victory is only a temporary thing. It can be fleeting and no more than a brief shining moment of glory. One moment you're in the catbird seat and the next you're just an average Joe. You can win a battle from time to time, but you can always lose the war in the end. Especially where cars are involved.

I think my dad realized he had been trumped. That may have been the reason he decided to trade our ugly duckling in the following year for a brand new, sleek and sexy, black 1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxy!

I guess that showed 'em!

Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men?

2010-12-26T15:04:00.004-06:00

It was on this day in 1954 that faithful listeners were asked that question for the very last time. It was the final broadcast of a radio program that started on a Thursday evening in July of 1930. That’s when they were introduced to “The Shadow.” The now-famous character’s voice was supplied by James La Curto in a program called The Detective Story Hour. Street and Smith publishers sponsored the program (which lasted about a year), along with their magazine series The Shadow, A Detective Monthly.

In September 1931, the show was aired on The Blue Coal Radio Revue. This version starred Frank Readick, Jr. The show kept its original running time of one hour, and for a month or so, CBS listeners could hear it at the original 9:30 p.m. time slot on Thursdays as well as an additional broadcast on Sundays at 5:30 PM. But in October 1931, the 9:30 time slot was taken over by Love Story Drama, again sponsored by Street and Smith.

After a year on CBS, the series moved to NBC in October 1932. Blue Coal remained the sponsor and Frank Readick, Jr. stayed on as the star but the time slot was changed to Wednesdays. In October 1934, the program was aired at 6:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. Readick starred in most of the episodes, but La Curto appeared in a few episodes.

The program changed back to Sundays at 5:30 p.m. in September 1937, and Blue Coal remained the sponsor. But the program had a new voice for Lamont Cranston: the new radio and theatre personality Orson Welles. The 1937 programs also began to feature "The Shadow" as a character in the stories, rather than merely as a narrator. Orson Welles was "The Shadow" through 1938.

Bill Johnstone became the new voice in 1939, and the role switched to Bret Morrison in 1943. Near the end of 1944, John Archer took over and stayed in the role until September, 1945, when Brett Morrison returned and remained the voice of “The Shadow” from that point until the final broadcast on December 26,1954.

Christmas Memories

2010-12-25T14:24:00.002-06:00

As a boy, I had such a hard time going to sleep on Christmas eve. It was the anticipation, the mystery, the not-knowing-and-still-hoping that the gifts I had asked for would be delivered.

One year it was a record player. And then the English Racer bicycle. My favorite year was the one that I got my electric guitar and amplifier from Montgomery Wards. It was a deep red solid body guitar, and the amp had a "tremelo" feature on it that you could activate with a push-button pedal. So cool.

No, it wasn't easy falling asleep with so many important uncertainties floating through your mind. But somehow, after tossing and turning and knowing I would never go to sleep again, I drifted off. Things happened shortly after that, and I was oblivious to the events until the next morning.

When I woke up, in the wee hours of a winter morning, when it was still gray outside, I would creep into the living room to see the splendid display that Santa had left for us. An electric excitement equivalent to power the lights on our tree coursed through my veins on those Christmas mornings which now seem so long ago, but yet still so near.

Time passed. I watched our son go through the same wonder and surprise on his childhood Christmas mornings. And I shared them with him, along with my wife. I couldn't help remembering my own childhood Christmases as I watched him enjoying his.

And today, I'm certain he shared the same memories as he watched his two children, their eyes growing wide when they saw the new gifts under the tree—the gifts that weren't there when they went to bed the previous evening.

I'm guessing the same memories are being shared all over the world on this day. I hope yours are as wonderful as they were when you were a child.

Christmas Memories...

2010-12-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

Christmas is in the air. The lights are lit on the houses and the trees, and the little ones can hardly wait for Santa's visit and the new discoveries they'll find when they open their presents.

I love this time of year. It takes me back to my childhood in the fifties and those wonderful Christmas mornings with my parents and my two little sisters. It didn't all begin on Christmas day, however. There were preparations that had to be taken care of before that.

At some point in December, my family usually hopped in the car and took a drive to pick out the most special Christmas tree we could find. This adventure usually occurred at night (I'm not sure why). After we got home my father would go out into the garage and get the tree stand. My mother would retrieve the lights and the ornaments. I remember one year we bought a strand of those really neat "bubble lights." I think it was the same year we got the Lava Lamp.

The aroma of pine began filling the house as we decorated the tree. After the lights and the ornaments were arranged, the final exercise was stringing the "icicles" on the tree. If you're not familiar with those, they were thin strips that resembled very thin, and shiny, aluminum foil. There were millions of them hanging on the tree when we finished.

Then the waiting began. But the winter days passed, and Christmas morning finally arrived. And what a wonderland of beautifully wrapped gifts we discovered during those wee hours of the morning as we crept down the hall and into the living room in our pajamas to see if Santa had come yet. And he had!

I'm embarrassed to say that the tears are welling up as I write this. I'm kind of a sentimental old guy. It's just such a beautiful memory of when we were all together and shared a very special time in our lives. My mother loved Christmas so much. I remember her face as we opened our presents on Christmas morning. I can still see her sweet smile as she watched her children's joy. And shared it.

When I began writing this, my intention was to include all the great Christmas presents I received over the years. But I've changed my mind. They weren't that expensive anyway, since we didn't' have a lot of extra money to spend. But they were enough to make us happy. In fact, I wouldn't trade my memories of one Christmas at 111 Peck Drive for all the money in the world. After all, Christmas isn't about the amount of money in your pocket. It's about the love in your heart.

I'm going to stop now and let you share your own Christmas memories. Just leave a comment by clicking that COMMENT link below this post and tell us about it. I'm a bit greedy, and I'd like to get as many comments as possible. Please share.

Tangerines

2010-12-14T22:53:00.004-06:00

There's something about tangerines. It's a combination of attributes—from the feel of their pebbly, bright orange skin to the smell and taste of their juicy interior. Even today, these sensual inputs trigger memories that take me back to my childhood and to this special time of year,.

When I was a boy, my mother always had tangerines in the fridge when the Christmas season drew near. It was a tradition. I don't recall ever having them in the house at any other time of year. But at Christmas, there they were. Always.

And there were other things, too. Special things that only came out during the holiday season. Maybe the fact that they only came out at that time was the reason they hold such special memories. One of those things was a big wooden bowl that my dad filled with nuts in the shell.

There was a wide variety including the light tan English walnuts, the orange-colored Filberts, the dark brown Brazil nuts, and the easy-to-crack almonds. And of course, my favorite, the pecans. Somewhere in that wooden bowl, mixed in with the nuts, you would find a silver nutcracker and a few picks that looked like dental instruments. These were quite necessary in order to get every last goodie out of the shell. We didn't waste things back then.

Now that I think about it, I'm kind of looking forward to making a trip to the grocery store tomorrow and picking up a few of those tangerines. I may get a selection of various nuts in the shell, too. I might have to buy a nutcracker if I can't find ours. Where do those things disappear to when you're not looking?

Aren't Christmas memories the best?

Christmas is coming...

2010-12-14T00:01:00.002-06:00

Max charged up the Wayback Machine overnight, so we’re ready to go. The holiday season is approaching. Let’s take a trip back in time and find out what was selling during the Christmas season. What were the popular items that all the good little girls and boys wanted?

Max is going to set the dial for the year 1959 and the location for downtown Kansas City. We’ll arrive shortly in front of Macy’s and take a gander into the decorated front window.

Here we are, and the window looks gorgeous, as usual. There are green trees with white lights. A train is chugging past the animated elves and reindeer. And just look at the toys!

I see a Milton Bradley Candyland game and Chutes and Ladders. There’s a big, shiny red Schwinn bicycle leaning majestically against the back wall right next to a Radio Flyer wagon.

On the other side is Robbie the Robot waving his arms at Betsy Wetsy. And right next to her is Barbie in her zebra striped bathing suit. Next to the Litte Chef Stove there's a can of Lincoln Logs, some Tinker Toys, and an Erector Set. Matchbox cars are driving through the snow, and there’s Davy Crockett wearing his coonskin cap.

Back in the corner is a View-Master, Silly Putty, a Slinky and Mr. Potato Head. Wow! But I don’t see the official Red Ryder 200-shot carbine-action range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.

It's amazing how times change. When we were kids we were perfectly pleased with a coiled up piece of wire that would slink down the stairs. And we knew we had to be good or we wouldn't get anything but a bag of coal.

Today it's cell phones, X-Boxes, and the Wii. But even during the fifties things may have been changing. The boy on the left seems to be wondering, "What the heck was I thinking when I asked for this?"

So, Christmas is on the way. And if you've got 99 cents to spare, you could make my granddaughter very happy. See the book cover on the right sidebar? The one that says "Scary Night Music"? That's the link to an ebook. She's the cover model and the star of the mystery. I told her I would split any income it generated. She has a lot of faith in my marketing abilities, so she's hoping for lots of money.

If you have an e-reader you might want to order a copy. If you've got a reluctant reader in your family, it might be the trick to get them interested. It's a wee bit scary, but not too bad. Even if you don't have an e-reader, you can a Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac free at Amazon.com so you can read ebooks on your laptop. How cool is that? How did we get by without all this high tech stuff in the fifties?

Truman Library

2010-12-01T17:57:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in Independence, Missouri. Most of you will remember that as the home of President Harry S Truman as well as the location of William Chrisman High School and Truman High School. Not to mention HiBoy's, but that's a subject for another post.

As a child, I was quite familiar with the Truman home on the Independence square where the President and his family lived after he returned to civilian life. I remember driving past the construction site on 24 highway many times as they were building the Truman Library. (And, just to you know, that location is just a little bit east of River, where one of the oldest HiBoy's is located.) And, even though I grew up within a few miles of the library site, I never took the time to visit it. Until a few weeks ago.

My wife's cousin and her husband visited us, and we were looking for something interesting to do. Someone suggested the Truman Library, and we decided to visit. It was well worth the trip and the time. In fact, I wished we would have had a few more hours to stay because there is plenty of history to see and learn about. I was particularly fond of the 1950s room.

So, if you're ever near Independence, Missouri, be sure to stop by and see where Harry worked.

A Fifties Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T10:00:00.001-06:00

In keeping with the Thanksgiving spirit, I am going to repost a true story of a Thanksgiving-past, and I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy remembering it. It all happened back in the fifites on this very day...

At that time, my family was living in Independence, Missouri. My dad was a plumber and my mother was a stay-at-home-mom because families could afford that luxury in those days. My uncle (my dad's brother) was an accountant at General Motors. This was a more executive level position than my father had, and we all knew how "rich" our uncle was. They lived in a much larger house in Johnson County, Kansas, which is still one of the most affluent counties in the country. They drove a brand new Cadillac, and he got a new one every year.

On this particular Thanksgiving, they invited us over for dinner. I think it was on a Thursday that year if I remember correctly. We all get dressed in our very best outfits and hop into our 1957 Ford Fairlane. A few minutes later we're crossing the state line and heading into Johnson County. The pickup trucks and older vehicles that had been driving alongside us on the Missouri side were slowly being replaced by Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Porsche, Cadillac, and all manner of high dollar vehicles.

A few miles later, we arrived at the house. It was the first time we had visited, and I was very impressed. It was two-story brick house that would easily fit at least four ranch style houses like ours inside. A long, wide driveway led to a two-car garage. Inside the tiled foyer, everything was beautiful and glistening. It appeared to be decor that was never to be touched except for dusting. I believe they had a maid that did that, but they had given her the day off apparently.

My aunt had worked hard preparing the Thanksgiving dinner. The table was set to perfection with everything in its proper location. And there was a variety of foods, including mashed potatoes (in a rather small bowl), green beans (in an equally small bowl), and another small bowl containing corn. I quickly took a head count. Including my parents, my two sisters, me, my aunt and uncle, and their son, I couldn't see how this herbivore ration was going to suffice. We usually had more than that our house for just the five of us. And with eight, I knew someone was going to leave the table hungry.

Then my aunt brought out a platter that looked huge in comparison to the meager size of the item centered on it. She set the platter next to me. I glanced at it with a question in my head, which spilled out, to my mother's dismay. "What's that?"

"Why, that's the roast," my aunt replied.

When I saw that minature piece of meat lying on the platter I knew something was going on. These people were rich. You could smell the money when you walked in the door, along with the tantalizing aroma of something that turned out to be a little disappointing because of its size. I was pretty sure they could afford eight roasts like that one without making a noticeable dent in the finances. So, I thought, it's possible this roast is just for me and everyone is going to get a similar portion. My other thought, horrid as it seemed, was that this was, indeed, the entire supply of meat for the meal.

At nine years old, boys will sometimes embarrass their mothers unintentionally by opening their mouths and letting their thoughts spill out into an unsuspecting world. It seemed a simple question at the time, but the look in my mother's eyes after I asked it told me it was obviously something I shouldn't have asked. "Where's the rest of it?"

Of course my comment was graciously laughed off in a professional holiday fashion, but the steam coming out of my mother's ears told me I hadn't heard the last of this.

Although my carnivorous craving wasn't totally satisfied, I didn't leave the table hungry. While my aunt had underestimated the protein requirement of eight people, she had erred in the opposite direction regarding the dinner rolls. Soft, warm rolls with an ample slathering of butter were one of my favorites. There was an abundance of them, and I got more than my fill. So I was quite thankful for that.

On the drive home, my mother surprised me by telling my father that was the smallest roast she had ever seen. He replied by telling her that his brother was very tight-fisted and only allowed his wife a certain amount of money for household expenses, including food.

Suddenly, the big fancy house lost a little of its glow. I settled back into the seat of our Ford, comfortable and secure, with an increased thankfulness for my situation. We were heading back to our own home — a place where there was always plenty of food on the table. And plenty of leftover fried chicken in the fridge if you needed a snack late at night.

Scary Old Stuff for Halloween

2010-10-31T00:01:00.005-05:00

It’s Halloween, and time for something scary. The nostalgic video above features one of Disney's holiday classics. If your children haven't seen this one, it might give them a bit of a fright, but it's all in good fun.

The other three parts are available on YouTube if you'd like to watch the rest of the story. So enjoy! And don't forget to get some of those traditional Valomilk's to treat the little goblins when they come visiting your doorstep this evening.

The Fluoride Cover Up.

2010-07-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

Yes, folks, they used to tell us that lard was good for us. And we believed it.

And they also told us a lot of other things were good for us, too. This post is going to be somewhat different from the fun topics I usually cover. I'm going to jump up on my soapbox, just for today, and lecture a wee bit about something that really irritates me.

It's not so much the fact of what has been done that's irritating because the damage has been done. It's more the method in which it was skewed and delivered to the American public. It was deceitful in that they didn't really truthfully reveal the facts related to the decision and why they felt it preferable to subject American children to a dangerous situation rather than subjecting major industries and companies to massive litigation.

The subject I want to cover here involves the fluoridation of the nation's water supply, which began back in the early 1950s. We were told how good fluoride was for us and that it should be added to our water supply. Because of that decision, we had no choice. We've been drinking fluoridated water all our lives. It's possible that adding fluoride to our diet may help prevent tooth decay. But it's also possible that it was nothing more than a cleverly conceived solution to a large industry's problem and to prevent massive litigation against the Atomic Energy Commission and others.

Now, even though dental practitioners recommend and perform fluoride treatments, very few dentists are aware that the fluoride in public water supplies is not a pharmaceutical grade product. It is in fact industrial waste. It’s primarily the waste from the Florida phosphate industry. So why was our government allowing industries to dump their waste products into the nation's water supply?

In order to answer that question, we need to examine what was going on at the time. The American public of the 1950s was a gullible entity. We believed everything our government told us. And, because of that, it wasn't difficult to sell the benefits of fluoride (and bury the dangers and the potential litigation) if you enlist the services of respected authorities such as the Mellon Institute and Kettering Laboratory. And if you needed one of the most respected scientists of the day as a spokesman, there was none better than Dr. Harold Hodge of the University of Rochester. After all, Hodge had worked with the Atomic Energy Commission and was responsible for the Human Radiation Injection Project in which patients were injected with plutonium .

Dr. Donald Kehoe was also enlisted to help sell the advantages of fluoride to the American public. Kehoe was previously responsible for having lead added to our gasoline. This has been proven to be responsible for brain damage in children of that era. And, of course, they needed Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, to put a spin on the concept and sell the idea to the American public.

Naturally, getting this idea out to the American people required advertising, and advertising required funding. This was an easy sell to the companies who were potential defendants in the possible litigation that could have followed, and included such giants as Alcoa Aluminum, US Steel, DuPont, Monsanto, and others. Also, the Department of Public Health was involved for added credibility, as well as the American Dental Association. All bases were covered, and it was a complete and successful snow job.

Keep in mind that in the 1950s the Florida phosphate industry was being sued by farmers and citizens living near those plants because the fluoride was killing their cattle and destroying their crops. Unless something was done (cover up) other industries were going to be found responsible for similar dangerous activities and the resulting connections and damage awards could have been monumental. Because of the potential danger to cattle and crops, the Florida phosphate industry is today prevented from having to dispose of its industrial affluent in a toxic waste dump. Instead, they ship it in tanker trucks around the country and dump it in our water supply for our children to consume. Now, that's certainly logical.

Anyway, the issue and the opportunity for litigation was headed off at the pass by providing America with disinformation while adding an unnecessary environmental risk. But the monetary problem for industrial America and their executive bonuses was averted.

It's interesting that 98% of western European countries have rejected water fluoridation, and the childrens' teeth are as healthy as those of our children. And I'm stepping down from my soapbox now. If you want more information on this subject, view the video on the sidebar. It is packed with data and evidence on how we were duped and why it continues to remain a dangerous environmental hazard.

Tom McCahill - Voice of M.I.

2010-06-20T22:00:00.000-05:00

When I was a boy, my father looked forward every month to receiving his new copy of Mechanix Illustrated (MI). One of his favorite parts of the magazines were the articles written by Tom McCahill, aka “Uncle Tom.” When my father died, I inherited all of his old issues, dating back to the 1940s. And, I decided to do a little checking on Uncle Tom and see what he was all about. Here’s what I found. The following is primarily edited copy from Wikipedia.

Thomas Jay McCahill III (1907-1975) was an automotive journalist, born the grandson of a wealthy attorney in Larchmont, New York. McCahill graduated from Yale University with a degree in fine arts. He is credited with, amongst other things, the creation of the "0 to 60" acceleration measurement now universally accepted in automotive testing.

He became a salesman for Marmon and in the mid-1930s operated dealerships in Manhattan and Palm Springs, featuring Rolls Royce, Jaguar and other high-line luxury cars. The depression and his father's alcoholism wiped out his family's fortune.

Journalist and Automobile Critic

After graduating from Yale, McCahill managed and later owned Murray's Garage in New York City. During the war he wrote articles on a variety of subjects for magazines such as Popular Science, Reader's Digest and Mechanix Illustrated Magazine ("M.I."). Hitting on the idea that an auto-starved post-wartime public might be interested in articles on new cars, he sold the concept to M.I. in February 1946, first reporting on his own 1946 Ford. His opinions were fearless and this endeared him to some in the automotive world but created enemies too. Ever the sportsman- at six foot two and 250 pounds- he once fought off goons hired by (as is was believed at the time) General Motors. It is alleged that he sent two to hospital and the third running.

McCahill was a personal friend of Walter P. Chrysler and appreciated the handling and performance characteristics of Chrysler Corporation cars in the late 1950s and 1960s, which included many advanced engineering features such as front torsion-bar suspensions (combined with rear multi-leaf springs) for flatter cornering, powerful V8 engine options across the board and positive-shifting three-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmissions. In a 1959 road test of the Plymouth Sport Fury (which he referred to as the "Sports Fury"), he claimed that the torsion bar suspensions were the finest in America. Few European sedans, said McCahill, could match the handling performance of the Plymouth.

On many of his earlier road tests, his wife Cynthia would accompany him as his photographer and almost always his black Labrador Retriever, "Boji." His later assistant was a professional driver and photographer Jim McMicheal, who was photographed sitting - or lying - in the trunk of every make tested and was known as "the trunk tester."

McCahill frequently used extreme metaphors and similes in his prose. For example, in M.I. he described the AC Cobra as "hairier than a Borneo gorilla in a raccoon suit". (McCahill was apparently unconcerned about the fact that there aren't any gorillas in Borneo). He proclaimed the ride of a 1957 Pontiac to be as "smooth as a prom queen's thighs".

Impact

McCahill reported in detail on every car imported to the U.S. during the early 1950s, all the while ridiculing the U.S. automakers for their excesses, including soft suspensions ("Jello suspensions" as he referred to them) and poor handling qualities. An example is provided by one of the first road tests of the 1958 Edsel in the September 1957 issue of M.I.: McCahill criticized the standard suspension as being too "horsey-back" and strongly recommended that Edsel buyers "pony up" a few extra bucks for the optional, heavy-duty (i.e. export) suspension package, which included heavier springs and shocks. He went so far as to tell his readers that "I wouldn't own one except with the export kit; without stiffer suspension, a car with so much performance (his test car had the 345-horsepower, 410 cubic-inch V8) could prove similar to opening a Christmas basket full of King Cobras in a small room with the lights out".

McCahill was in favour of lifting the Automobile Manufacturer's Association ban on factory backed stock car racing that was agreed upon by GM, Ford and Chrysler in June 1957 - however manufacturers continued under-the-table efforts to provide performance parts and engines to racing teams or performance-car enthusiasts. McCahill chose to live in Florida as its climate permitted owning such cars as his Jaguar sedan, as corrosion problems inherent with this type of car would have been compounded by the Eastern climate.

On The Chevrolet Corvair

McCahill conducted and reported on the first road test of the Corvair in 1959. In the presence of Zora Arkus-Duntov, chief Engineer of the Corvair project, McCahill ran the car at speed on the G.M. testing grounds. McCahill reported that he was pleased with the handling characteristics and that the Corvair handled better than the 1959 Porsche. This flies in the face of later findings by Ralph Nader.

Favorite vehicles

In the 600 road tests he performed and reported on, his favorite cars were the 1953 Bentley Continental and the 1957-62 Chrysler Imperial, each model year of which he owned as his personal vehicles.

In 1950 he purchased a new Ford and proceeded to acquire the assistance of Andy Granatelli in "hopping it up" by switching to high-performance heads and manifolding. He then tested the car extensively and noticed a 90 mile an hour cruising speed. The car became known as the "M.I. Ford" as it was frequently featured in the Magazine.

The wise and considerate McCahill de-tuned the car before selling it with 32.000 miles. The fear of mechanical failure at speed concerned McCahill with the safety of any future owner. He purchased a new 1952 Cadillac Series 62 sedan which he eventually raced in NASCAR speed week events. He also purchased new and reported on the '54 Jeep CJ3A, stating that while his Lincoln was the finest road car available at the time, in the end, the Jeep was the best idea that mankind had ever made. He claimed it would outrun a contemporary M.G.

Sounding Off

In a 1958 M.I. article McCahill accused the U.S. Auto Industry of causing the recession and poor auto sales of 1958 by standardizing styling and eliminating factory- or factory-sanctioned racing. He focused on AMC's George Romney, who claimed that the Rambler handled better than U.S. full-size makes. McCahill performed tests to prove him wrong.

He was at odds with Walter Reuther of the U.A.W. over the issue of poor quality in U.S. cars and the fact that European imports - at the time SAAB and Volvo in particular - were of high quality, outstanding performers and no more costly than a good used car for those who could not afford a new domestic car. McCahill railed against unfair trade with Canada and Europe. He demanded that the U.S. stop accepting imports and, in lieu of war reparations, force England, Canada and France (where one could purchase an English or German car, but no U.S. makes) to accept the forced sale of hundreds of thousands of used U.S. cars, a plan which he claimed would increase the sale of new vehicles by more than six million annually over the following five years, thus significantly accelerating the U.S. economy.

McCahill had become Mechanics Illustrated public face, and the industry quickly realized that his review could make or break a product instantly. When he tested the 1948 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 powered by a flat-head eight-cylinder engine of prewar design, he claimed that depressing the accelerator was like "Stepping on a wet sponge". General Motors was incensed over his review of the '48 Olds and scores of angry letters from the corporation, as well as from Olds dealers and owners, came into to MI's 'office demanding his firing.

However, it was widely known that McCahill's report motivated GM into development of Oldsmobile's new overhead-valve, high-compression "Rocket V8" engine, which made its début the following year in the 1949 "98." The format of the engine was filtered down to the smaller and lighter body/chassis used for Oldsmobile's lowest-price "76" series (powered by six-cylinder engines) and to create the Olds "Rocket 88." The Rocket V8 performed even better than in the bigger and heavier 98, thereby creating a whole new image for Olds and set the stage for similar designed V8 engines throughout Detroit over the next few years.

The Hula Hoop Craze

2010-06-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

It was a fad of the 50s. And most Baby Boomers remember them well. In fact, most of us had one, or more. I remember well the evening my family went out to buy three of them. One each for my two sisters. And one for me.

Being younger than I was, neither of my sisters was very in tune with what was cool. And they were perfectly happy to settle for a big, fat, hot pink, or electric blue plastic version. Since I was so much cooler than they were, I wasn’t going to settle for a run-of-the-mill pastic one. I had my sights set higher — stainless steel, and only about a half inch in diameter. Thin and sleek.

Of course, I didn’t take into account how un-cool I was going to look swinging my bony hips around to try to keep the thing going. But my mind was made up. And my parents must have driven to at least a dozen stores before we found one. And I was happy at last. Spoiled, but happy.

We didn't think to ask, and we weren't really concerned with where the things came from. But now that we're older, we want to know. The whole hula hoop craze actually began way back in 1957. And it didn’t actually start in this country.

It started in Australia, where Coles department store sold hoops made of bamboo. Unfortunately, the demand outpaced their supplier’s ability to keep up with the orders.

Enter Alex Tolmer, the founder of Toltoys. His company began manufacturing them from plastic, and sold 400,000 of them in 1957. They were marketed in the U.S. in 1958 by Melin and Knerr of Wham-O. They sold 100 million of them that summer. But by October of that year, the craze suddenly died. (I wonder who made the stainless steel beauty I owned.)

After the fad ran its course, another one began. Wham-O hit the jackpot again when they introduced America to the Frisbee. But that’s another story for another time.

Tom and Jerry

2010-06-11T11:54:00.005-05:00

Nope. We're not talking about the stars of Hanna Barbera from the 60s. Although that's going on my list as the topic for a future post.

This is a different pair. They are an American singer-songwriter duo consisting of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957, and had their first taste of success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, backed by the hit single "The Sounds of Silence". Their music was featured in the landmark film The Graduate, propelling them further into the public consciousness.

They are well known for their close vocal harmonies and sometimes unstable relationship. Their last album, Bridge over Troubled Water, was delayed several times due to artistic disagreements. They were among the most popular recording artists of the 1960s; among their biggest hits, in addition to "The Sounds of Silence", were "I Am a Rock", "Homeward Bound", "A Hazy Shade of Winter", "Mrs. Robinson", "Bridge over Troubled Water", "The Boxer", "Cecilia", and "Scarborough Fair/Canticle". They have received several Grammys and are inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2007). They have reunited on several occasions since their 1970 breakup, most famously for 1981's The Concert in Central Park, which attracted about 500,000 people.

Take a moment and listen to their first hit. It's on the right sidebar. Just click on it and step back in time a few years. It sounds nothing like their final signature sound.

Thanks to Wikipedia for providing the bulk of the information above. And a big thank you to my sister in Peabody, Kansas, for the phone call that started the whole thing. If you'd like to read more CLICK HERE.

Why did they call it PEZ?

2010-06-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's nowhere near Christmas, but I just remembered something. Every year at Christmas, my sisters and I usually received a PEZ dispenser with several of those cute little rectangular packages containing the PEZ pellets.

Maybe you received them, too. Or maybe you're planning on getting one for your children or grandchildren this year for Christmas. They make a pretty cool stocking stuffer. But have you ever wondered how they came up with that name?

As a kid you probably thought it was just called PEZ because that’s what it looked like and that's what it was. That’s what I thought, too. But now that we’ve gotten older we're beginning to wonder about things like that. At least I am.

So here’s everything I know about PEZ, so far.

The word "PEZ" is derived from the German word for peppermint — phefferminz. If you take the first, middle, and last letters of PheffErminZ, you get PEZ. And that’s where it came from, thanks to an Austrian candy maker named Edward Haas III. Originally the new peppermint candy was supposed to be an adult breath mint to be sold as an alternative for smoking. In 1947, Haas Food Manufacturing Corporation of Vienna began selling the brick-shaped candies in pocket tins. And in 1948, they came out with the dispenser that we all recognize now to be a regular PEZ dispenser.

In 1952, Ed brought his business to America. After some extensive research he decided to place heads on the dispensers and market them to children. That same year the first fruit flavored Pez was introduced along with the first Pez dispensers with character heads on them. The first flavors of Pez included cherry, lemon, orange and strawberry, and it’s believed that our friend Popeye was the first character to find his head on the top of a PEZ dispenser.

Several Disney characters were also among the first to appear. The top selling dispensers of all time are Mickey Mouse, Santa, and Dino the Dinosaur, from the Flintstones.

Many people collect the dispensers today because of the variety and rarity. But some of them are much more expensive than they were new. For example, a Locking Cap, Box Trademark Regular sold on eBay in March 2002 for $6,575. (What?)

I have had experience with PEZ, as I’m sure most of you have. Okay, not recently, although writing this is making me want to rush over to WalMart and buy me one of those dispensers. But was it just me, or did anyone else have difficulty getting that little stack of bricks into the dispenser without spilling them? It just reminds me of Ralphie Parker trying to pour those BBs into his Official Red Ryder 200-shot carbine action range model air rifle (With a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.) (They go everywhere, his dad told him.)

So, if you’re looking for something to collect, this might be your thing.

The Sea Monkey Craze

2010-06-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Does this ad look familiar? Many ads similar to this one appeared in the comic books back in the fifites? Well, I certainly remember it. In fact, I actually ordered a package of them. And, like many other American kids of that era, I was sorely disappointed when I discovered that they didn't look anything like monkeys.

Sea Monkeys were first marketed in 1957 by Harold von Braunhut as Instant Life, though Braunhut changed the name to "Sea-Monkeys" on May 10, 1962. The name "Sea-Monkeys" was chosen because of their playful behaviour. Braunhut is also the inventor of X-Ray glasses.

For many years, they were known for their exaggerated advertisements and packaging, which featured smiling anthropomorphic creatures who bore little resemblance to their true appearance. Underneath these pictures, which appeared on large numbers in comic books during the 1970s, was a disclaimer that stated, "Caricatures shown not intended to depict Artemia." The present disclaimer on the package states, "Illustration is fanciful, does not depict Artemia nyos."

Sea Monkeys were bred for their larger size and longer lifespan, making them more suitable as pets than the original breed of brine shrimp. The U.S. Patent 3,673,986 granted in 1972 describes this as "hatching brine shrimp or similar crustaceans in tap water to give the appearance of instantaneous hatching."

Other companies have distributed pets/toys along the Sea-Monkey model, including one by Wham-O, and "The Swarm", a product from Dr. Jordan's Formulae. In the late 1970s to early 1980s, sachets of "Sea Monsters" were sold in 25-cent gumball machines at A&P supermarkets. When added to water, the packet's contents provided the eggs, salt and nutrients to hatch the brine shrimp.

More recently, an Australian company, Little Aussie Products, has marketed "Itsy Bitsy Sea Dragons", with a different brine shrimp species.

Before American Idol

2010-06-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

The television program that would eventually become The Original Amateur Hour, and would spawn such modern programs as Star Search and American Idol, actually began in 1934 as a radio show called Major Bowes' Amateur Hour.

Bowes's field assistant was Ted Mack, who scouted and auditioned talent for the program. After Bowes left the show in 1945 (and died the following year) Mack brought the show back in 1948 on ABC radio, where it ran until 1952.

The television debut came on January 18, 1948 on the DuMont Television Network with Mack as the host.

The format was almost always the same. At the beginning of the show, the talent's order of appearance was determined by spinning a wheel. As the wheel spun, the words "Round and round she goes, and where she stops nobody knows" were always intoned.

Various acts, sometimes singers or other musicians, quite often vaudeville fare such as jugglers, tap dancers, baton twirlers, and the like, would perform, with the audience being asked to vote for their favorites by postcard or telephone. The winners were invited to appear on the next week's show. Three-time winners were eligible for the annual championship, with the grand-prize winner receiving a $2000 scholarship.

Some contestants became minor celebrities at the time, but few ever became really big show-business stars. The two greatest successes of the show's television era were Gladys Knight, then only a child, and Pat Boone, singing sweet ballads or occasional "covers" of songs which had been written and recorded by black artists which were then largely unknown to the show's predominantly white audience.

In fact, Boone's appearances on the show probably caused the closest thing that it ever had to a scandal. After he had appeared, and won, for several weeks, it was revealed that he had appeared on the popular CBS Television show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, meaning that he was technically not an "amateur" singer. He was removed from the program, but by then his fame was assured. Other future celebrities discovered on the show include Ann-Margret (in 1958) and Irene Cara (in 1967).

The greatest fame attained by anyone appearing on the show was that achieved by Frank Sinatra, who appeared on the show during its radio days with "The Hoboken Four". As the years went by, the audience for this program aged as well; the best proof of this was that the CBS Sunday -afternoon version of the 1960s was invariably sponsored by Geritol and other patent medicines.

Here's some more info about Geritol you might find interesting.

Quiz Show Scandal...

2010-06-03T13:00:00.001-05:00

Perhaps no other figure involved in the TV quiz shows of the 50s had a more meteoric rise and fall than Charles Van Doren, a Columbia English professor who became a celebrated winner on "Twenty-One."

Only 30 years old when he first appeared on the program, Van Doren came from a family of intellectual achievers. Charles’ father was the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mark Van Doren. His mother, Dorothy Van Doren, was a novelist and writer.

As a professor of English at Columbia University, Van Doren earned an annual salary of $4,400. A friend, who had appeared on "Tic Tac Dough," told him of the money to be made from quiz shows. Van Doren applied. At that time, producers for the quiz show "Twenty-One" were looking for ways to bolster faltering ratings. In Van Doren, a charming and very presentable academic with name recognition, producers saw the kind of attractive winner who could popularize the show.

Producers scripted the program so that Van Doren and Stempel would have a string of ties to build the drama for Van Doren’s eventual victory. The clean-cut Van Doren, playing his part to perfection, became the new champion of "Twenty-One."

Ratings for the show began to rise. In mid-January of 1957, Van Doren went on a streak that earned him $90,000. He crossed the $100,000 mark by outscoring a former college president, Edgar Cummings. Van Doren, fed with answers and coached on how to act during the show, appeared to television audiences to know about topics as diverse as George Washington and Broadway musicals.

By the evening of February 11, Van Doren had amassed a staggering $138,000. The second challenger that evening was Vivienne Nearing, a lawyer, whose husband Victor had lost to Van Doren in January. Nearing and Van Doren tied that evening and two more times, but in their fourth contest, Nearing beat Van Doren.

Although his reign on national television had ended, Van Doren was still a sought-after television commodity. In April of 1957, the quiz show celebrity signed a $150,000 three-year contract with NBC, which committed him to appearances as a guest on Steve Allen’s show, a guest host on the "Today Show," and a panelist on NBC radio’s "Conversations."

When the quiz show scandals broke, Van Doren repeatedly asserted his innocence, repeating the lie to his lawyer, the district attorney, and even to the grand jury. Van Doren told the press: "It’s silly and distressing to think that people don’t have more faith in quiz shows."

Van Doren went so far as to offer to appear in front of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, which was investigating the quiz-show scandal, to assert his innocence. Calling his bluff, the committee subpoenaed him.

Van Doren finally confessed. "I was involved, deeply involved, in a deception," Van Doren told the committee on November 2, 1959. "I have deceived my friends, and I had millions of them." Van Doren asserted that producer Albert Freedman had persuaded him to participate in the deception by saying that quiz shows were entertainment and that fixing was a common practice. However, the argument that apparently convinced a reluctant Van Doren to play along was that his success would bring prestige to the pursuit of knowledge. Van Doren said he told himself he had been promoting "the intellectual life" to young watchers everywhere. In the press conference that followed his testimony, Van Doren reported that he had been "living in dread for almost three years."

I Scream! You Scream!

2010-06-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

On those warm summer nights, the sound of that clanging bell told every member of Kiddom that the ice cream man was in the neighborhood. And how lucky we were if our parents gave us a bit of change so we could get ourselves a treat from the Good Humor Man.

Although the Good Humor Man was a fixture in America for many decades, it all started long before most of us were around. Harry Burt, a Youngstown, Ohio candy maker, invented Good Humor ice cream in 1920 and was granted a patent in 1923. By then, he had outfitted twelve street vending trucks in Youngstown with rudimentary freezers and bells. By 1925, his son, Harry Burt Jr. (1900 – 1972) opened a franchise in Miami, Florida.

The company was tremendously successful because it provided customers with an inexpensive diversion during the Depression. Jobs were scarce and Good Humor found all the employees it could use, despite an 80-hour work week and paramilitary discipline. While drivers were only paid commissions, it was not unusual for driver to clear the then princely sum of over $100 per week.

The company was also successful in attracting favorable publicity by parking trucks outside of motion picture studios. Over the years, Good Humor appeared in over 200 movies. In 1950, Jack Carson starred in the feature motion picture, “The Good Humor Man.”

The company's history includes many stories such a Good Humor man rushing a baby to a hospital for treatment or breaking up a counterfeit money operation in Long Island, New York. In 1929, the Chicago mob demanded protection money and destroyed part of the company's fleet. The resulting publicity helped put Good Humor on the map in the Windy City.

A “Good Humor” is a chocolate coated vanilla ice cream bar on a stick. Other “Good Humors” include chocolate coated chocolate (a.k.a. chocolate malt) and strawberry, plus bars coated in toasted almond, coconut, chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake and chocolate éclair. Weekly specials came in a wide assortment of flavors including a red, white and blue Good Humor for the 4th of July.

In 1965, the company introduced “Super Humors”, initially Chocolate Chip Candy and Chocolate Fudge Cake with a candy center. The next year, all Good Humors became larger “Super Humors” to justify a price increase.

I'm Lovin' It!

2010-06-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

You can do one of two things right now. Either hop in your car and drive to McDonald’s, or hop in the Wayback Machine with me and Max and head back to 1954. How often do you get an offer like that? I’m guessing you’re choosing the latter. So hang on. Here we go.

We’ve arrived in southern California to find a salesman named Ray Kroc selling a machine called the Multimixer. Its primary benefit is that it’s capable of creating five milkshakes at the same time. At the same time Ray is selling these machines, brothers Dick and Maurice McDonald have successfully franchised eight McDonald restaurant locations in the southern California area. Their primary benefit is their Speedee method of providing mass produced hamburgers for 15 cents a pop. And that’s half the price customers are paying at the diners in these days. In addition, they offer French fries, Coca-Cola, coffee and milkshakes.

So we find the brothers working away at one of their eight franchise locations, and in walks Ray Kroc. Ray is immediately intrigued with this fast food process and asks the brothers if he can franchise the operation outside southern California. Ray is a good salesman and the brothers agree to his proposition. Before long Ray is opening his first restaurant in a Chicago suburb of Des Plaines. If we fast-forward a bit to 1958, the company is selling its 100 millionth burger.

Although the Automat in New York and White Castle preceded them, it was the streamlined production method developed by the McDonald brothers that set them on a course for greatness. Their Speedee Service System was influenced by the production line innovations of Henry Ford.

Since the menu items were limited, it allowed for pre-production of the products and offered almost immediate service to the customer. Since there were no traditional seating arrangements, consumers could walk right up to the service window, place their order, and enjoy a hamburger, fries and a Coke in a short time.

Ray didn’t purchase the entire McDonald’s operation outright in 1961. He was the architect behind making it a nationwide, and currently global, chain. And Ray wasn’t beneath the menial work required to ensure cleanliness in the restaurants. He frequently sprayed out the garbage cans with a hose and scraped gum up off the parking lot area at his own Des Plaines location.

In addition, Kroc also made it very easy for customers to view the food preparation by removing any walls between the cooks and the counter where patrons placed their orders.

Sweetness!

2010-06-02T16:00:00.003-05:00

I must be having a sugar craving. My mind is suddenly back in the fifties again with the thought of Nik-L-Nips. Remember those?

I didn't remember that was the name of them until I did a little research. I just called them "those wax coke bottles with the juice inside." I know you remember them.

I loved them, but I always thought there was way too much wax and not nearly enough juice. Even so, you could still gnaw on the wax for a little while and get a tad more of that sweet nectar. At least for a few minutes. Then you would get a sore jaw and a headache.

Another item we all recall, despite our failing memories, is the Popcicle. How could you ever forget those? It was the main name brand, but there were lots of imitators. And similar products still exist today. You can get them (along with everything else you need) at Walmart. I used to love to suck the juice out of those things until there was only a faint tint of color left behind. Why? I don't know. Because I could, I guess.

But my favorite in this arena had to be the Dreamcicle. It was orange on the outside with a velvet-smooth vanilla ice cream center. Yum! I wonder if those are still around.

And I've already mentioned the Valomilk in a previous post. If you want to read it, just click the Valomilk Link. There was nothing quite like them. If you click on that Valomilk link, and read the comments, you'll notice that Russ Sifers himself (the fourth-generation owner of the company) actually left one. How cool is that?

Remember the Slo-Poke? That was a favorite at the Saturday Matinee when we were watching War of the Worlds or The Day the Earth Stood Still. They seemed to last a long time. Fortunately most kids in the fifties didn't have crowns on their teeth. A Slo-Poke is a quick crown-remover.

There were many other sugar delights during those years. And we loved them any time we could get lucky enough to get one. If you remember some of the other favorites, add a comment and remind me.

It's a Corvette!

2010-05-27T13:08:00.002-05:00

Here's something for the guys out there.

Just as they are today, sports cars were popular during the 50s, if you could afford them. And when you're talking about sports cars, few compare to the Corvette. Many Corvette enthusiasts consider the 1957 Corvette the most aesthetically pleasing body style of the pre-1963 Corvettes, while others believe it was the best styling of all time. And this writer agrees.

But this Vette had a lot more to offer than style and beauty. In May 1957, the true performance version of the 283 made its debut. Sporting an advanced fuel injection system, the new "fuelie" 283 produced 283 bhp. Its 1 horsepower per cubic inch output was a record in 1957, and it was played up by the advertising and media.

At the same time, Chevrolet introduced its new four speed manual transmission, and the Corvette was on its way to stardom. When equipped with the 283 fuel injected engine, 4.11:1 rear axle, and the new four-speed Borg-Warner T-10 transmission, the Corvette could accelerate from 0-60 in less than six seconds, and do the quarter mile in the low 14 second range at over 100 mph.

After winning a few major races in 1957, sales for the year jumped to a total of 6,339 units, up from 3,467 for 1956. (But there were only 487 painted Arctic Blue like the one above.) It was an amazing automobile in its day, and it continues to be one of the most sought after classics.

The photos used in the article are an example of that beautiful vintage Corvette. It’s owned by my friends Bob and Kathy Willis, of Picton, Ontario, Canada. If you have an interest in all things Corvette, check out my other blog at Corvette - An American Dream Car. And if any of the ladies are still reading at this point, I wanted to let them know that I'm not starting a Betsy Wetsy blog. Ever.

Wolfman Jack - Howlin' atcha!

2010-05-25T17:51:00.003-05:00

It's the summer of 1968. I'm driving my beautifully gorgeous midnight blue 1964 Chevy Impala SS (convertible) across the Arizona desert. (Remember my Route 66 post?) The stars are shining down from a velvet sky, and Wolfman Jack is accompanying me every mile of the way. His gravelly voice comes out of my radio speakers strong and clear from XERB — the Mighty 1090 in Hollywood, California. The Mamas and the Papas are filling the night air with Dedicated to the One I Love. Does it get any better than that? I think not.

But the radio icon forever known as Wolfman Jack started his career long before that summer night. Born Robert Weston Smith on January 21, 1938, in Brooklyn, he was the younger of two children. In order to keep him out of trouble (why does this not surprise me?) his father bought him a transoceanic radio, and Robert became an avid fan of R&B music. After graduating from the National Academy of Broadcasting in 1960, he donned the DJ moniker of “Daddy Jules” at WYOU-AM in Newport News, Virginia. A change in the station's format dictated a change in name, and when the station switched to “beautiful music,” Robert became known as “Roger Gordon and Music in Good Taste.”

In 1961, he married Lucy “Lou” Lamb. (How appropriate is that?). Then in 1962 he moved to KCIJ-AM, a country music station, as the station manager and morning DJ, “Big Smith with the Records.” He first began to develop his alter ego while at KCIJ.

After that, he moved south of the border to XERF-AM with a 250,000 watt signal (five times the limit imposed on U.S. stations) coming out of Mexico that was capable of being picked up across the United States. This boosted (border blaster) signal reached a much larger listening audience and blanketed North America and even Europe and the Soviet Union. The power of the station’s reach, along with his unique delivery, helped Wolfman Jack achieve recognition worldwide in a short time.

According to Wikipedia:

That station continues to broadcast today with the call sign XERB. XERB also had an office in the rear of a small strip mall on Third Avenue in Chula Vista, California. It was not unlike the small broadcast studio depicted in the film, American Graffiti. It was located only 10 minutes from the Tijuana-San Diego border crossing. It was rumored that The Wolfman actually broadcast from this location during the early to mid-sixties. Smith left Mexico after eight months and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to run station KUXL. Missing the excitement, however, he returned to border radio to run XERB, and opened an office on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles n January 1966.

On July 1, 1995, Wolfman Jack died of a heart attack in Belvidere, North Carolina, the day after broadcasting his last live radio program syndicated from Planet Hollywood in Washington, D.C. That night, he said, "I can't wait to get home and give Lou a hug, I haven't missed her this much in years." Wolfman had been on the road, promoting his new autobiography Have Mercy, The Confession of the Original Party Animal, about his early career and parties with celebrities. "He walked up the driveway, went in to hug his wife and then just fell over," said Lonnie Napier, vice president of Wolfman Jack Entertainment.

There’s a great deal more info at Wikipedia, if you’d like to know more. Also, his old radio shows are still being broadcast online. Here’s a link to a great site that will give you a schedule of the stations that are airing his shows if you’d like to take a trip down memory lane and remember when. WOLFMAN RADIO.

2010-04-06T15:37:00.000-05:00

This is the day!

On this day, way back in 1930, James A. Dewar, invented what came to be known as the Twinkie. Why? It was somewhat serendipitous, actually. Several of the machines that were normally used to make cream-filled strawberry shortcake were sitting idle because strawberries were out of season.

Not to be stopped by a simple lack of strawberries, Dewar came up with something even better - banana cream – and called it the Twinkie. That filling didn’t survive in the Twinkie after World War II began, because bananas were rationed, and Hostess decided to switch to vanilla cream. The vanilla cream filling became so popular that Hostess nixed the banana cream idea and continues to use vanilla cream in Twinkies today.

According to Wikipedia, common urban legend claims that Twinkies have a shelf life of forever, or can last for a relatively long time of ten, fifty, or one hundred years due to chemicals used in production. While this urban legend is false, they can last a relatively long time (25 days or so), due to the fact that Twinkies are made without dairy products and thus spoil more slowly than most bakery items.

Ever deep fry your Twinkie?

A deep-fried Twinkie involves freezing the cake, dipping it into batter, and deep frying it. It was described by a The New York Times story in this way: "Something magical occurs when the pastry hits the hot oil. The creamy white vegetable shortening filling liquefies, impregnating the sponge cake with its luscious vanilla flavor. The cake itself softens and warms, nearly melting, contrasting with the crisp, deep-fried crust in a buttery and suave way. The piece de resistance, however, is a ruby-hued berry sauce, adding a tart sophistication to all that airy sugary goodness."

The Texas State Fair had introduced the fried Twinkie to great popular acclaim, and the notion spread to other state fairs across the U.S., as well as some establishments that specialize in fried foods. Fried Twinkies are sold throughout the U.S. in state fairs, as well as ball park games.

Although variations exist, the deep-fried Twinkie is usually prepared with a batter intended for fish, typically consisting of flour, egg, and vinegar. Prior to dipping, a wooden or plastic stick is often inserted through one end (to allow the consumer to hold it), and the Twinkie is then frozen overnight to prevent melting while being deep fried. After coating, conventional cooking oil is typically used.

The deep-fried Twinkie is usually topped with powdered sugar. It is sometimes accompanied by a fruit dipping sauce, frequently raspberry, although some restaurants may use chocolate or caramel sauce. A scoop of vanilla ice cream is sometimes added.

My hat is off to James A. Dewar for inventing one of my favorite snacks. Long live the Twinkie! I think I'll run out and buy a box as soon as I post this.

Let's Bake a Cake!

2010-02-01T20:00:00.000-06:00

Since General Mills introduced America to Betty Crocker in 1921, every photograph of her has looked younger and more modern than the previous one. Is she real? Well, of course she is. If she wasn’t real, how could she have come up with all those delicious cake mixes and cookbooks?

Sitting on my desk right now is a beautiful, old Betty Crocker cookbook that my wife has had since her mother gave it to her as a birthday present on her 17th birthday. The copyright on the inside says 1956. This is a marvelous book with almost 500 pages and tons of 50s-style illustrations and photographs. And more recipes than you can shake a wooden spoon at.

I have had a request recently to include a recipe from the fifties, so I’m going to pick one at random, and tell you exactly how Betty does it. I’m going to give you her recipe for a Pumpkin Cake. Yummy! Here’s what Betty says:

Bake large Orange Chiffon Cake (see page 162)
(Rats. Now I have to go to page 162. Hold on.)

Okay, I’m on page 162 now. It says:

Follow key recipe for Large Cake (above) except omit vanilla and lemon rind. Add 3 tbsp. grated orange rind. Finish with Orange Butter Icing. (see page 177).

Oh, crap. We haven’t even gotten started yet and we’ve been re-directed three times. I shouldn’t have started this. I think she was just trying to make it difficult so we would go out and buy her cake mixes. Here’s what I would suggest. Go to Walmart and get yourself a Betty Crocker cake mix in a box. Take it home and bake it. But don’t add any vanilla or lemon rind. Throw in a little grated orange rind.

I’ll pick up Betty's instructions where we left off…

Place cake top-side-up on serving plate. With spatula cover sides, top, and inside center hole (center hole? When did we punch a hole in it?) with a fluffy white frosting (see page 180) tinted orange (pumpkin color) with yellow and red food coloring. (I guess you put this over the orange butter icing from page 177 that you’ve already slathered over it.) Color about ¼ cup with green for the stem. Smooth frosting in deep curves from top to bottom to resemble pumpkin. Make grooves in pumpkin by using tip of spatula, starting at bottom and going up to center. For the pumpkin stem, insert peeled banana in hole in center of cake. (There’s that hole again.) Use pieces of another banana as wedge to hold it firmly in place. Spread stem with the green tinted frosting. Serve the same day, removing the stem for cutting.

Personally, it seems like way too much trouble. Too many opportunities for error with all that page changing. I think you could get the whole thing at Walmart ready to eat and save yourself a ton of trouble. See the children in the picture above? See how happy they look? See the look on her husband's face? You can fool the kids, but hubby knows she didn't bake that cake. You can't fool a man who wears a bowtie. The little girl in the purple dress seems to be giving thanks that it's not another Halloween Pumpkin cake.

I'll find a simpler recipe with no references to other pages next time.

Subliminal Advertising - Fact or Fiction?

2010-01-24T16:48:00.000-06:00

Most Baby Boomers are quite familiar with the term. And until today, while doing some research, I believe it all. But now, with the new input, I'm not so certain. Here's what I discovered.

In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term subliminal advertising and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie Picnic he used a tachistoscope to project the words "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat popcorn" for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8 percent and 18.1 percent respectively.

It was later revealed, however, that Vicary lied about the experiment. He admitted to falsifying the results, and an identical experiment conducted by Dr. Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. This has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all.

Vicary's claims were promoted in Vance Packard's book The Hidden Persuaders, and led to a public outcry, and to many conspiracy theories of governments and cults using the technique to their advantage. The practice of subliminal advertising was subsequently banned in the United Kingdom and Australia, and by American networks and the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958.

But in 1958, Vicary conducted a television test in which he flashed the message "telephone now" hundreds of times during a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, and found no increase in telephone calls. In 1962, Vicary admitted that he fabricated his claim, the story itself being a marketing ploy. Efforts to replicate the results of Vicary's reports have never resulted in success.

Apparently, advertisers continue to use this type of persuasion in their print ads. Or, is it possible that we are just finding things there that weren't actually intended? I'm not sure. But here's a site with a lot of images you might find interesting. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artistmike.com/Temp/GlassUp.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artistmike.com/Temp/SubliminalAd.html&usg=__AaHFEWRscZBNKrm4bUCTOM_LXoo=&h=512&w=274&sz=43&hl=en&start=25&um=1&tbnid=1Yb9CpsdZGnW-M:&tbnh=131&tbnw=70&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsubliminal%2Badvertising%2Bpictures%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1W1GGIH_en%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1

Lazy Sunday

2010-01-23T10:00:00.001-06:00

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm totally lazy today. And I'm just now getting to my writing assignment. But it's Sunday. So, I've just been remembering.

When I was a kid, my dad always took a nap on Sunday afternoons. It was a quiet time. My mother told my two younger sisters and I that our father worked very hard and he needed his rest. So we were very quiet while he napped. Being unemployed myself at this point, I don't take a nap, but I could if I wanted. It would probably do me just about as much good as my job search has so far. But who's complaining? Back to the story.

Later that evening my father would fix supper and give my mother a rest. It was usually something really yummy like barbecued ribs, salmon croquettes or boiled shrimp. It was Sunday, after all. I remember on those Sunday evenings I would stand in the kitchen and watch my dad prepare everything. Sometimes he would even let me help with minor tasks.

We lived in a small, three-bedroom ranch in Independence, Missouri, that had a proportinally small galley kitchen. But, being small myself at the time, I was able to squeeze my bony little body between the end of the countertop and the refrigerator.

If you've forgotten how those countertops were made back in the early fifties, maybe this will spark your memory. (You'll understand that pun a bit later.) They were typically made with a plywood base with linoleum (ours was dark green) glued to the top surface. As a finishing touch, there was a chrome, L-shaped, ribbed band screwed along the edge. That served two purposes: it covered the vertical edge of the plywood, and it kept the linoleum from peeling up. This was long before Formica.

Anyway, when I stood there with my back against the fridge and my arms resting on the countertop, I always got a mild shock (there's that "spark" pun mentioned earlier) when I touched the metal edging. It wasn't bad, but it was enough to wake you up.

After supper we would settle back in the living room and turn on the old black-and-white Zenith console television and watch Disneyland on ABC. My favorites were those Walt would pick that featured a Donald Duck or Goofy or Mickey Mouse animated featurette. When that happened, life just didn't get any better. Those were the days.

And if you'd like to see something interesting, check out the video clip HERE! It's archival footage of construction at Disneyland back in the fifties. You're going to love it! Also, if you scroll down far enough on this site, you'll find another video on the right sidebar. It's a 9 minute clip from the very first Disneyland Television Broadcast. It was first aired in 1954.

Enjoy!

The Lone Ranger Rides Again!

2010-01-17T00:01:00.000-06:00

A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi Yo Silver!" The Lone Ranger. "Hi Yo Silver, away!" With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains, led the fight for law and order in the early west. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The Lone Ranger rides again!

Most of us Baby Boomers are quite familiar with that previous paragraph. We listened to it every day on our black and white television sets (usually with "rabbit ears") between 1949 and 1957. But a lot of you may not be aware that The Lone Ranger existed long before those years of our enjoyment. Let's hop into the Wayback machine and take a little journey through time.

The media legend began on January 30, 1933, when the first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger premiered on WXYZ radio in Detroit, Michigan. Later it was picked up by NBC’s Blue Network (which became ABC), which broadcast the last episode on September 3, 1954.

On the December 7, 1938, radio broadcast we learn how a Texas Ranger named Reid first met his future sidekick, Tonto. In that episode, "Cactus Pete," a friend of Reid’s, tells the story. According to that tale, Tonto had been caught in an explosion when two men dynamited a gold mine they were working. One of the men wanted to kill the wounded Tonto, but Reid arrives on the scene and makes them administer first aid. The man subsequently decides to keep Tonto around, intending to make him the fall guy when he would later murder his partner. Reid foiled both the attempted murder and the attempted framing of Tonto. No reason was given in the episode as to why Tonto chose to travel with the Lone Ranger rather than continue about his business. A reasonable assumption would be that he felt a sense of gratitude to the man.

By happenstance, the pair discover a magnificent white stallion, wounded by a buffalo. They nurse the stallion back to health, which is then adopted by Reid as his mount, Silver. Whenever the Ranger mounts Silver he shouts, "Hi-yo Silver, away!" which besides sounding dramatic, originally served to tell the radio audience that a riding sequence was about to start.

They also find an old mentor of Reid's, who has discovered a lost silver mine some time back. Reid's mentor is the only one other than Tonto who knows the identity of the Lone Ranger, and he is willing to work the mine and supply Reid and Tonto with as much silver as they want. Using material from his brother's Texas Ranger vest, Reid fashions the mask that will mark him as the Lone Ranger.

In addition, the Lone Ranger decides to use only silver bullets. The precious metal serves to remind the masked man that life, too, is extremely precious, and, like his silver bullets, not to be wasted or thrown away. Vowing to fight for justice and never to shoot to kill, together, the Lone Ranger and Tonto wander the Old American West helping people and fighting injustice where they find it. During these adventures, Tonto often referred to the Ranger as "ke-mo sah-bee", a word he said meant "faithful friend" or "trusty scout" in his tribe's language.

The Lone Ranger displayed in the adventures that he was also a master of disguise. At times, he would infiltrate an area using the identity of "Old Prospector", an old-time miner with a full beard, so that he can go places where a young masked man would never fit in, usually to gather intelligence about criminal activities.

According to "The Legend of Silver", a radio episode broadcast September 30, 1938, before acquiring Silver the Lone Ranger rode a chestnut mare called Dusty. After Dusty was killed by a criminal that Reid and Tonto were tracking, Reid saved Silver's life from an enraged buffalo, and in gratitude Silver chose to give up his wild life to carry him. Silver's sire was called Sylvan, and his dam was Musa.

The origin of Tonto's horse, Scout, is less clear. For a long time, Tonto rode a white horse called White Feller. In the episode titled "Four Day Ride," which aired August 5, 1938, Tonto is given a paint horse by his friend, Chief Thundercloud, who then takes and cares for White Feller. Tonto rides this horse, and simply refers to him as "Paint Horse," for several episodes. The horse is finally named Scout in the episode "Border Dope Smuggling," which was broadcast on September 2, 1938. In another episode, the lingering question of Tonto's mode of transport was resolved when the pair found a secluded valley and the Lone Ranger, in an urge of conscience, released Silver back to the wild. The episode ends with Silver returning to the Ranger bringing along a companion who becomes Tonto's horse, Scout.

The Lone Ranger program offered many radio premiums, including the Lone Ranger Six-Shooter Ring and the Lone Ranger Deputy Badge. Some of the premiums used a silver bullet motif. One ring had a miniature of one of his six-guns atop it, with a flint and striking wheel, as used in cigarette lighters, so that "fanning" the miniature pistol would produce a shower of sparks.
During World War II the premiums adapted to the times. For example, in 1942 the program offered the Kix Blackout Kit.

Some premiums were rather anachronistic for a 19th-century hero. In 1947 the program offered the Kix Atomic Bomb Ring, also known to collectors as the Lone Ranger Atom Bomb Ring. This ring was a miniature spinthariscope that actually had a small amount of radioisotope in it to produce the scintillations caused by nuclear reactions. With its tailfin piece removed, the "bomb" body looked like a silver bullet.

Betsy Wetsy. This is scary.

2010-01-16T00:29:00.000-06:00

First of all, I’m only introducing this post for all the ladies out there, since I’ve been instructed to include more gurly-girl stuff.

As you faithful readers know, I don't generally include my personal opinions on this site. But if I were looking for a doll for my granddaughter, it certainly would NOT be this one. This has to be the scariest looking thing I’ve ever seen. But, don’t let me taint your memories, in case you had one. You probably loved it, if you did. But you probably didn’t realize how scary it really was. You were a lot younger then.

If we hop in the Wayback Machine and set the dial for the 1950s (not sure what year this thing was introduced) we will eventually meet up with the frightening creature known as the BETSY WETSY doll. Yikes! Let's hope it's still daylight.

She was the star attraction of the Ideal Toy Corporation in New York for many years. (Yeah. And JoJo the Dog-Faced Boy was the star of P.T. Barnum's freak show for many years, too.) Ideal carved their name into the back of her head (ouch!) along with a manufacturing lot number. How attractive is that? No wonder she has that expression.

But, Betsy was made in the USA, and that’s the only good thing I can say about her. She had an open mouth (like many of today’s children) into which “mom” could insert the bottle containing the fluid that would eventually come out her other end. Now, how attractive is that? And what a pleasing thing she must have been. Originally her head was hard plastic and her body a blend of soft plastic and latex with jointed shoulders and hips.

In the 1950s, the box containing this demon doll said, “Little Miss Betsy Wetsy.” She was available in various sizes: 8 inch, 13 inch, and 22 inch. And, from the number that were sold, she was apparently what every little girl needed — a 22 inch tall piece of plastic with a hard head and a scary face that didn’t do anything except pee everywhere. But she was something new, and Americans love new things.

Today’s prices on the vintage dolls varies and depends on their condition. I would think they would be incontinent by now, but enough of my opinions here. MIB (mint in box) versions are commonly in the $50 range. Remember, there were many thousands of these made, and while some owners may ask $300, there are others out there at a more realistic price. If I had one you could have it for free, just to get it out of my sight.

And I'm not alone in that opinion. I showed the photo to my friend Max the Monkey just to see his reaction. The picture tells you what he thought. And monkeys don't lie.

In the late 1980's, a failing IDEAL company reissued the Betsy Wetsy with a made-in-China version, but it didn't catch on. Thank goodness! You can stick around here if you wish, but Max and I are heading back to the Wayback Machine.

Get Your Kicks

2010-01-15T10:00:00.000-06:00

The subject of today’s post could easily span many decades. But since it was quite popular during the fifties, it seems appropriate to talk a little about the Mother Road. I’m referring to Route 66. It’s been around for many years, although a lot of the original alignment has been replaced by newer Interstate highways.

From its starting point near the shore of Lake Michigan, Route 66 weaves its way through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and ends in Santa Monica, California. There’s a monument near Santa Monica Pier indicating it’s ending (or beginning) point.

My friend, Wes Holden, and I drove from Independence, Missouri, to San Diego, California, way back in 1968. We were only 18 years old, fresh out of high school, and it was an adventure neither of us are likely to forget. Imagine, if you will, two city boys with very limited knowledge of the big world outside their hometown. We were young and green, and the open road was beckoning us like the Sirens of Lesbos called to Jason.

In those days, Route 66 was a bit different than highways are today. You had to pay attention because, when you arrived in one of the many towns along the way — and there were many in that 1,500 mile journey — the highway went right through it. It usually made several turns so you could get a tour of the downtown area before reaching the city limits and returning to a straighter alignment as it continued across the countryside and headed toward the next town.

And there was a reason for that meandering pattern. The Mother Road was an artery of commerce for countless small businesses in those days. Tourist shops, restaurants, motels, and Trading Posts dotted the roadside like sprinkles on a cupcake. An unending flow of traffic provided a steady supply of income to those businesses, and it continued to do so until the Interstate Highway System realigned a large portion of Route 66, thereby putting the majority of those businesses off the beaten path and, in most cases, out of business.

But the summer Wes and I traveled the Mother Road those businesses were still thriving. It was summer, and it was hot in the states of the Great Southwest. From Independence, we drove straight through for 19 hours until we arrived at Flagstaff, Arizona. This is an oasis in the desert with cool breezes flowing through the tall pine trees. After a few hours sleep we were back on the road again.

Eventually, the tan, desert cactus was replaced by the tall, green Royal Palms of southern California, and we saw the beautiful blue of the Pacific stretching ahead of us to the horizon. We had made it. At 18 years old, it felt like an accomplishment of monumental proportion.

If you’ve ever wanted to take a trip down Route 66, there are many parts of the original alignment still being used. But if you do make the trip, there are two items you simply must have. In fact, I purchased both of them from Amazon earlier this summer, thinking we would make the trip this year. That didn’t work out, but I still have them, and I’m ready to go next summer.

One is a book is called The Route 66 Adventure Guide by Drew Knowles. The other is a set of 8 state maps called Here It Is that show the actual alignment of the old highway and what areas are still in use. It has great instructions on weaving through all those little towns and staying on the Mother Road. Both are great products for someone planning on taking a trip down Route 66.

There's so much more to tell, but you need to see it for yourself. So, get your kicks on Route 66.

It's a trip in your own Wayback Machine.

Mr. Wizard

2010-01-03T07:41:00.000-06:00

Come on kids. Let’s all hop into the Wayback Machine once again and return to March 3, 1951. That was the date Watch Mr. Wizard first aired on NBC. But who was Mr. Wizard and what was it all about?

Mr. Wizard was actually Don Herbert. He was a general science and English major at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse who was interested in drama. His career as an actor was interrupted by World War II when he enlisted in the United States Army as a private.

Herbert later joined the United States Army Air Forces, took pilot training, and became a B-24 bomber pilot who flew combat missions with the Fifteenth Air Force. When Herbert was discharged in 1945, he was a captain and had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

After the war, Herbert worked at a radio station in Chicago where he acted in children's programs such as the documentary health series It's Your Life (1949). It was during this time that Herbert formulated the idea of Mr. Wizard and a general science experiments show that utilized the new medium of television.

Watch Mr. Wizard was a television program for children in the 1950s that was basically a general science experiment program that explained the science behind ordinary things. It was aired weekly as a 30 minute program. Every Saturday a neighbor boy (Jimmy) or girl would come to visit Mr. Wizard. He always had some type of laboratory experiment going that taught something about science. The experiments, many of which seemed impossible at first glance, were usually simple enough to be re-created by viewers.

One of my favorite episodes was the day he floated a huge bolt and nut in a bowl of mercury. I was fascinated. My father took me downstairs and gave me a small, dark amber glass bottle filled with the liquid metal. At that time, we had no idea of the danger of handling mercury, and my father unscrewed the lid of the bottle and poured the mercury into his hand. It was quite impressive to a nine year old.

The show was very successful, and by 1954 it was being broadcast by 91 stations. Mr. Wizard Science Clubs were started throughout North America, numbering 50,000 by 1965. The show moved from Chicago to New York on September 5, 1955, and had produced 547 live broadcasts by the time the show was canceled in 1965.

The show was cited by the National Science Foundation and American Chemical Society for increasing interest in science, and Herbert won a Peabody Award.

Girl Stuff

2009-12-15T00:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I received a comment about this old post from back in October. So since my data indicates that most of my loyal readers are of the female persuasion, I thought it might be of interest to bring it out again for the new visitors.

I have had several requests to include more gurly-girl stuff. So here goes. I hope this is gurly-girl enough for you. We’re going to look at women’s hosiery.

Prior to 1937, 88% of women’s stocking were made of pure silk. The silkworms were racing each other to see who could produce the most silk, but they always ended up in a tie. (hahaha)

Then along came Dr. Wallace Carothers of Du Pont. He is credited as the inventor of nylon. "Nylons," as they were soon called, eventually replaced silk stockings. Keep in mind that these nylons did not resemble the “pantyhose” women wear today. They differed in several ways.

First of all, they covered only about two-thirds of a woman’s leg, from the feet to mid-thigh, and they were held up by garters and a belt. Women could buy them in either "full-fashioned" form with seams at the back or "seamless." Also, because nylon didn’t stretch, it was necessary to manufacture them in different sizes.

When America entered World War II, both silk and nylon were commandeered by the federal government (specifically the War Production Board) to supply defense needs. Overnight, stockings made of any materials became hard to find. Nylon became important to the war effort because it was used in parachutes and tires. On the home front, the popular press presented nylon as a miracle of technology that Americans could again enjoy when the war ended.

Since stockings were hard to get, there was a thriving Black Market. Stocking were a popular gift from US soldiers for the ladies back home. It was during this time that women began painting seams on the back of their legs so it appeared as if they were wearing stockings.

When the war ended in 1945, nylon was again available to Americans. When the announcement was made, Macy’s sold out their entire stock of 50,000 pairs of nylon stockings in six hours. At the same time, 40,000 women stood in line in a torrential downpour in Pittsburgh to buy theirs.

It's almost Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T00:01:00.000-06:00

Since Thanksgiving is drawing near, let’s take a look at one of the traditions we’ve been enjoying since the 1950s. I’m referring to the Peanuts characaters created by Charles Schulz. We’re going to go back in time again and see how it all began.

Charles Monroe Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Saint Paul. Schulz loved drawing and sometimes drew his family dog, Spike. He attended St. Paul's Richard Gordon Elementary School, where he skipped two half-grades. When he was in first grade, his mother helped him get valentines for everybody in his class, so that nobody would be offended by not getting one; but he felt too shy to put them in the box at the front of the classroom, so he took them all home again to his mother.

He became a shy timid teenager, perhaps as a result of being the youngest in his class at Central High School. One episode in his high school life was the rejection of his drawings by his high-school year book.

After his mother died in February 1943, he was drafted into the United States Army. Two years later shipped to Europe arrving in France on February 18, 1945 to fight in World War II. After leaving the army in 1945, he returned to Minneapolis where he took a job as an art teacher at Art Instruction, Inc. — he had taken correspondence courses before he was drafted. Before having his comics published, he began doing lettering work for a Catholic comic magazine titled Timeless Topix, where he would rush back and forth from dropping off his lettering work and teaching at Art Instruction Schools, Inc.

Schulz first made money for his comics when he sent in a drawing to The Saturday Evening Post. Schulz received $40 for the first drawing, and was asked to send more. Schulz sent in more comics similar to the first one. He received $40 for each of those. After sending a total of 13 cartoons in, Schulz ended his partnership with SEP.

Schulz's first regular cartoons, Li'l Folks, were published from 1947 to 1950 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press; he first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there. The series also had a dog that looked much like Snoopy. In 1950, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li'l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. The strip became one of the most popular comic strips of all time.

Schulz drew much of his inspiration from his own life:

• Charlie Brown, the principal character for Peanuts, was named after a co-worker at the Art Instruction Schools

• Like Charlie Brown's parents, Schulz's father was a barber and his mother a housewife.

• Schulz and Charlie Brown were shy and withdrawn.

• Schulz had a dog when he was a boy, although unlike Snoopy the beagle, it was a pointer.

• Schulz's "Little Red-Haired Girl" was Donna Johnson, an Art Instruction Schools accountant with whom he fell in love. Schulz was planning to propose to her, but before he got an opportunity to do so, she agreed to marry another man.

• Linus and Shermy were both named for good friends of his (Linus Maurer and Sherman Plepler, respectively).

• Peppermint Patty was inspired by Patricia Swanson, one of his cousins on his mother's side.

Schulz's family returned to Minneapolis and stayed until 1958. They then moved to Sebastopol, California, where Schulz built his first studio. It was here that Schulz was interviewed for the unaired television documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Some of the footage was eventually used in a later documentary titled Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz. The original documentary is available on DVD from the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

Remember MIMI?

2009-11-19T00:01:00.005-06:00

If you’re a baby boomer (and a guy) you probably remember one of our all time favorite magazines – Mechanix Illustrated. (Provided your memory hasn't failed you yet.)

If you're interested in MI in general, there’s another post in this blog from a while back that featured an article about our favorite auto guru, Tom McCahill. You can find it HERE if you’re interested in reading about Uncle Tom.

But today, we’re going to talk about the more photogenic stars that graced those pages. Yep, you guessed it, I’m talking about our favorite gal — MIMI! (And you'll understand why "stars" is plural in that sentence if you keep reading. Wait for it.)

Each month we looked forward to seeing that shapely young woman dressed in her skimpy overalls with the vertical stripes and high heels. And in the early sixties, she sported another wardrobe accoutrement: a matching railroad engineer's cap. But that was later discontinued.

She was usually pictured either holding, standing beside, sitting on, laying on, or just in the photo with a new product each month. But who was she? Who was this gorgeous girl-of-our-teenage-dreams model?

Actually, "Mimi" was not one person, but many. Each "Mimi" held the job for a year. Their names were never revealed except for the announcement of a new "Mimi" in each January issue. One Mimi did, however, hold the job for a few years in the sixties. An actress from Southern California, she left to live in Hawaii, and a readers' poll was conducted to choose a replacement from a short list. The readers' choice only lasted a short while, and was replaced by one of the runners-up.

So that brings us to the end with a haunting question. Who were these beautiful women? What happened to them? How many are still with us? If you were a MIMI, let us know. We'd love to do another post on here with a MIMI FOUND title. Maybe it was your mother, or your grandmother. If you fall into that category, or can provide any updated info, please leave a comment and we'll put a revised post together.

Suburbia is born

2009-11-18T20:00:00.001-06:00

I decided to repost this.

Why? Because it brings back memories. And that's what this blog is all about. Plus, the economy is currently sucking and this was such a better time with less stress and more money.

Well, maybe not, but in any case, it was a different time than we are experiencing now. World War II had ended, and the servicemen had come home from Europe, Asia, the Pacific, and the African desert. Shortly after that event, a mass exodus began.

The economy was about to explode with success, and families were moving from the city to a new area known as Suburbia. There were two primary reasons for this. First, the GI Bill of rights offered servicemen low interest rates and a low down payment on a new home. Another major catalyst for this move was the insight of a building firm in New York known as Levitt & Sons. Between 1947 and 1951, this company built one of the first planned communities outside of the city. It was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. Unlike today, the housing market was about to explode.

All the homes were rented almost immediately, and hundreds of veterans were still applying. Although originally planned as a 2,000-home development, because of the demand the Levitts decided to build an additional 4,000 houses. The new community soon had its own schools, postal delivery, phone service and streetlights.

Levitt and Sons discontinued building rental houses in 1949 and concentrated on building a larger and more modern house. They dubbed it a “Ranch”. It would sell for $7,990. All a prospective buyer needed was a $90 deposit and the ability to make payments of $58 per month. The new Levitt ranch measured 32 feet by 25 feet. It was available in five different models, differing only by exterior color, roof line, and the placement of windows.

The kitchen was outfitted with a General Electric stove and refrigerator, stainless steel sink and cabinets, and the latest Bendix washer. The kitchen was located at the rear of the home so Mother could look out the window (typically above the sink) and keep a watchful eye on the children playing in the back yard. Immediately, the demand for the new Levitt ranches was overwhelming. So much so that even the procedure for purchasing them was modified to incorporate an assembly line method. A buyer could choose a house and sign a contract for it within three minutes.

By 1951, the Levitts had constructed 17,447 homes in Levittown and the immediate surrounding areas. As the GI homeowners settled into well-paying jobs and began their families, the Levitt models and the surrounding community were modified to suit the needs of growing families. 1950 ranches came with a carport and a 12-1/2 inch Admiral TV set built into the living room staircase. The 1951 model included a partially finished attic. Shopping centers, playgrounds, and a $250,000 (in 1951 dollars) community center sprang up to accommodate Levittown's active residents.

How about a TV Dinner?

2009-10-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Why do they call them TV Dinners?

Because they taste like eating a television?

Isn’t it amazing what one invention can do? I’m speaking today of the television. Not only was its creation responsible for all of the television shows we watched — and all the commercials — without the television there would be several things we just wouldn’t have today.

We wouldn’t have a TV Guide. We wouldn’t need a TV tray. And we might never have had the experience of enjoying a TV Dinner. Oh, boy. And that’s what we’re going to talk about here today.

As anyone who grew up in the fifties knows, a TV Dinner is a prepackaged, frozen or chilled meal which usually comes in an individual package. It requires very little preparation and contains all the elements for a single-serving meal. And they certainly made Mom’s life a lot easier back in the fifties. But where did it come from (of course it came from the grocery store, but I mean how did it get there?)

We’re going to have to hop in the Wayback Machine again and let Max set the dial for 1953. That’s the year C.A. Swanson and son’t originally developed the product we all came to love (sort of).

They were first called TV Brand Frozen Dinner. The original TV Dinner came in an aluminium tray and was heated in an oven. The first Swanson-brand TV Dinner was produced in the United States and consisted of a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray like those used at the time for airline food service.

Each item was placed in its own compartment. The trays proved to be useful: the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit; the aluminum tray could be heated directly in the oven without any extra dishes; and one could eat the meal directly out of the same tray.

The product was cooked for 25 minutes at 425°F and fit nicely on a TV tray. The original TV Dinner sold for 98 cents, and had a production estimate of 5,000 dinners for the first year. Swanson far exceeded its expectations, and ended up selling more than 10 million of these dinners in the first year of production. Their early packaging featured the image of a TV set.

The identity of the TV Dinner's inventor has been disputed. In one account, first publicized in 1996, retired Swanson executive Gerry Thomas said he conceived the idea after the company found itself with a huge surplus of frozen turkeys because of poor Thanksgiving sales. Thomas' version of events has been challenged by the Los Angeles Times, members of the Swanson family and former Swanson employees. They credit the Swanson brothers with the invention.

Either way, Swanson's concept was not original. In 1944, William L. Maxson's frozen dinners were being served on airplanes. Other prepackaged meals were also marketed before Swanson's TV Dinner. In 1948, plain frozen fruits and vegetables were joined by what were then called 'dinner plates' with an entrée, potato, and vegetable.

Later, in 1952, the first frozen dinners on oven-ready aluminum trays were introduced by Quaker States Foods under the One-Eye Eskimo label. (How politically correct is that image today?) Quaker States Foods was joined by other companies including Frigi-Dinner, which offered such fare as beef stew with corn and peas, veal goulash with peas and potatoes, and chicken chow mein with egg rolls and fried rice. (Oh, yummy.)

However Swanson, a large producer of canned and frozen poultry in Omaha, Nebraska, was able to promote the widespread sales and adaption of frozen dinner by using its nationally-recognized brand name with an extensive national marketing campaign nicknamed "Operation Smash" and the clever advertising name of "TV Dinner," which tapped into the public's excitement around the new device.

Fish Fry

2009-10-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday evening and I'm remembering once again those Sunday evenings of long ago. I want to take you back to the summer of 1957. I was nine years old at the time. I can remember going to bed on Saturday night, right after my dad told me we were going fishing in the morning. The events that follow could have been from any one of many occasions, because my dad and I fished a great deal when I was a boy.

I sometimes wished he hadn't told me what was in store because after hearing the news, I had a terrible time getting to sleep. The excitement was rushing through my body like electricity. But I finally drifted off.

What seemed like only a moment later I awoke to the unmistakable smell of hickory smoked bacon. If you're not aware of this, let me explain it. The smell of bacon can find its way from the kitchen, all the way down the hall, and into the nose of a nine-year old. Unlike light rays, the aroma of bacon can turn corners.

It was still dark outside as I got dressed and scurried down the hall toward the kitchen. I can still see the vision of my dad as I rounded the corner. He was standing there with his coffee cup in one hand, and wearing khaki pants and a white t-shirt. There was a Camel cigarette sitting in the ashtray next to the stove, and he was tending the bacon in the skillet as it sizzled.

On a "fishing morning" he would let me have a little coffee with sugar and milk in it, and I thought that was great. Just us two men of the house drinking our coffee (from a real percolator!) and talking about how many fish we hunter-gatherers were going to bring home that day. He would always ask me to look outside and see which way the wind was blowing.

My dad was meteorologist during World War II with the Flying Tigers. Being a meteorologist, he had a thing about weather, obviously. And he told me that fishing success was directly related to weather. He said, "If the wind's in the east, the fish bite the least. If the wind's in the west, the fish bite the best. But if the wind's in the north, don't venture forth. And when the wind's in the south, why, it blows your bait right in the fish's mouth." Over the years that we fished together, that theory proved true on more than one occasion.

After we ate breakfast he made us a couple of sandwiches, wrapped them with waxed paper (we didn't have sandwich bags back then. I missed an opportunity to invent those.) We started loading our gear into the tan Ford pickup. My dad carried the heavy stuff from the garage, and I carried a few rods. (I was only nine, okay?) In a few moments we were off and heading to Allin's Bait Shop in downtown Independence.

The visit to Allin's never varied. There was a bell beside the front door. My dad punched it a couple times to wake Jerry Allin up. A few moments later a sleepy-eyed proprietor opened the door to let us in. Remember, it's still dark outside.

Now, if you've never been inside a live bait and tackle store, there's something I should explain. There are smells in there, and they hit you as soon as you enter. The large tanks holding the minnows act like humidifiers and fill the air with a heaviness that smells a bit like fish. Since Jerry's son was a taxidermist, there were always some dead creatures in the other room that were exuding their own aroma. It all got mixed together and produced an ambiance that only guys would enjoy. And that's probably more than you wanted to know about that.

Aside from from tackle box re-stocking items like split-shot, hooks, and bobbers, my dad usually got two dozen minnows and a can of red wigglers (worms). He was a live-bait fisherman. I preferred the plastic worms so I could catch bass.

I could drag this story out a lot longer, and there were many occasions that would provide a story in themselves, but I'll condense it and say that we always came home with fish. My dad was a great fisherman, and I learned a lot from him.

So, on Sunday evening, the Broadway family gathered around the table to eat the catch of the day. There were always bluegill (big ones, which my dad caught) a few crappie (usually an accident), and maybe a small bass or two (which I generally caught).

Next to the fish platter you could find another big platter of fried potatoes. There was a big bowl filled with salad and a bottle of Good Season's (make it yourself in the jar) salad dressing. I wonder if that brand is still around. And sweet iced tea. My parents were from Tennessee, and I don't think you can get unsweetened tea down there unless you special order it.

I didn't have any trouble at all going to sleep Sunday night.

Meet the Nelsons

2009-10-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

Click on the Fifties Video at the right because you’re going to want to listen as you read. We’re taking a trip in the Wayback Machine and heading for October 10, 1952.

(Hey! That’s next week — 57 years later.)

That was the very day we first met the Nelson family in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The series starred Ozzie and his wife Harriet. It also included their two young sons, David and Eric, better known as Ricky. The audience for this program was a large one because the Nelson quickly became synonymous with the ideal American family of the 1950s. In fact, it is the longest-running non-animated sitcom in US television history.

What few people realize is, although Ozzie was portrayed as a bit of dim bulb (did he even have a job?) he was no slouch when it came to business. Before the show aired, he persuaded ABC to agree to a 10-year contract that paid whether the series was canceled or not. This was unprecedented in television history, but Ozzie prevailed and got what he asked for, including his insistence for perfection in the show’s production.

The show was extremely popular and remained on the air continually until September 3, 1966. It strove for realism and featured exterior shots of the Nelsons' actual southern California home as the fictional Nelsons' home. Interior shots were filmed on a sound stage which had been created to look like the real interior of the Nelsons' home.

Like its radio predecessor, the series focused mainly on the Nelson family at home, dealing with run-of-the-mill problems. As the series progressed and the boys grew up, storylines involving various characters were introduced. Many of the series storylines were taken from the Nelsons' real life. When the real David and Rick got married, to June Blair and Kristin Harmon respectively, their wives joined the cast of Ozzie and Harriet, and the marriages were written into the series.

By the mid 1960s, America's social climate was changing, and the Nelsons' all American nuclear family epitomized the 1950s values and ideals that were quickly becoming a thing of the past. Ozzie, who wrote and directed all of the series' episodes, attempted to change with the times, but most viewers related the show to a long gone era.

Psycho - with Alfred Hitchcock

2009-10-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

TCM is featuring scary movies this month. Psycho is one of them. This is a great video with Alfred Hitchcock giving us a tour of the Psycho set, including the motel and the house. It's very Hitchcock-ish. I think you'll enjoy it.

Another William Castle Film - 1959

2009-07-27T10:57:00.003-05:00

This is an introduction to the film, The Tingler, with Vincent Price, released in 1959. It was the heydey of films of this type, and this clip shows Mr. William Castle himself with his typical hype for his now classic productions.

Let's Kill Uncle - William Castle

2009-07-26T10:55:00.002-05:00

I saw this 1966 William Castle film years ago, but I can't find it at the video rental stores. It's another great addition to a long history of William Castle productions. If you ever get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.

The Bad Seed

2009-07-25T14:20:00.002-05:00

If you've never before seen this 1956 film, it's a must see. Patty McCormick is excellent as Rhoda, the title character. Wonderful acting, great script, and perfect ending. This is the original trailer. Enjoy.

ALL ABOUT SPAM!

2009-07-23T20:30:00.003-05:00

I know each and every one of you is just dying to know about this wonderful product. But we're going to have to hop into the Wayback Machine and take a little trip. So fasten your seatbelts and hang on because we're going a long way.

It all began back in 1937 when Hormel developed the first canned meat product that didn’t require refrigeration. Made from chopped pork shoulder meat and ham, it was developed by Jay C. Hormel. Originally it was marketed as “Hormel Spiced Ham.” That wasn’t a very inspiring name for a product destined to save lives, win wars, and provide balanced diets for people all over the world.

After other meatpackers noticed how popular the new product was, they began marketing their own canned luncheon meats, and Hormel began losing some of its share of the market. In an effort to increase their declining market share, Hormel came up with an ingenious plan. They needed to give their product a distinctive name. So they held a contest and offered a $100 prize to the person who provided the winning name. The winner’s name was Ken. (Sorry, that’s all they told me.) And, naturally, the winning product name was SPAM! And a legend was born. (SPAM, not Ken. He was never heard from again as far as we know.)

SPAM was referred to as the “Miracle Meat” when Hormel launched their massive ad campaign in 1937. And in 1940 SPAM was featured in what may have been the very first singing commercial. Sales boomed. And, since SPAM required no refrigeration, it was the perfect product to send to our boys in uniform who were fighting the war overseas. Hormel began sending SPAM to the soldiers in 1941.

And, at the same time, back in the states, sales continued to go through the roof. Since SPAM wasn’t rationed, as beef was, it quickly became a staple in American meals. And it wasn't only in America that SPAM was gaining popularity and providing nutrition. Nikita Kruschev credits SPAM with the survival of the Russian Army during WWII.

In the early 1950s, the Hormel Girls advertised SPAM as they performed throughout the country. They distributed SPAM door-to-door, and even had a national weekly radio show. Ads proclaimed, ''Cold or hot, SPAM hits the spot!'' And, although not as popular as it once was, you can still find that familiar metal can on the grocery shelves today.

If you want to see a fabulous website, visit http://www.spam.com/. It’s one of my favorites.

Great scenes from the Long Long Trailer

2009-07-22T11:04:00.002-05:00

Here's another great video clip from The Long Long Trailer with Lucy and Ricky.
Classic comedy at its best.

Deleted Scene - South Pacific

2009-07-21T10:59:00.002-05:00

This is a scene from the 1958 release of South Pacific. It features Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, singing the song in her own voice. Although she sang the song in the Broadway production, her voice was later dubbed over by Muriel Smith.

Notice also the use of filters or effects that changed the color during the scene.

Home Ownership... on wheels...

2009-07-13T09:06:00.001-05:00

The video below is the opening of the great Lucy and Desi movie, The Long Long Trailer. If you've never seen it, it's a must if you love great old films.

Enjoy.

Summer Delight...

2009-07-09T16:58:00.004-05:00

I'm disgusted! Totally. First it was the fact that I can't find peaches with any juice in them any more, and now it's the watermelons.

I bought a watermelon at Price Chopper last weekend. It looked good. It had that hollow sound when I thumped it. But when I cut it open, it was not the deep red it should have been, and it didn't have a sweet flavor like it should have. I stuffed it back into the plastic bag and returned to the store to exchange it for another one.

When I returned home with that one, with high hopes and anticipation of savoring that sweet summer flavor, I was again disappointed. This one must have been the other's sibling because they looked the same and tasted identical.

So I gave up on Price Chopper and, instead, the following day, decided to give HyVee an opportunity. Fortunately, they were the same price. Unfortunately, they were the same product. The final victim was even lighter pink inside than its two predecessors. I returned that one as well and decided to hold off for a few day and give them some additional ripening time at the store.

When I was a kid, I remember the watermelons we used to get were not long and striped. They were round and a solid, deep, dark green on the outside. I think my dad called them Black Diamonds. I don't see that variety very often these days. There was nothing better than a warm summer evening when my dad took that melon out of the fridge and sliced it open to reveal that dark red center. Of course it had seeds, all melons did in those day. But it was ripe and it was sweet and juicy.

I'm going to have to try to find me one of those very soon.

Wanna Dance?

2009-07-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Here’s a subject we haven’t really concentrated on so far. Dancing. Now, don’t even try to tell me that you didn’t dance. Everyone did. Some of us guys only liked to slow dance because, well, we didn’t want to look foolish, and we wanted to get a little closer to all you cute girls. And slow dancing allowed that a lot easier than that crazy fast dancing that was so popular. So, let’s take a look at what we had to pick from.

During the 50s, there were several dances that were popular at the prom, the high school homecoming dance, or the many sock hops the schools had in those days. Maybe they still do, but I’m way out of the loop at this point. Here’s a list. See how many you remember. And if the mood strikes you, crank up that phonograph and find those old 45s and dance the night away the way we used to. But make certain you've waited at least an hour after you've eaten your SPAM.

The Bop. Not a slow dance. You usually dance separately from your partner. It's a little like jive or swing with a lot of toe tapping involved. And you don't hold hands. You just tap the heel and toe of either foot alternately as you dance. The Bop is still popular in many dance clubs and events. It’s still very popular in many areas of England.

The Stroll. Again, this is not a slow dance. This dance was often done only by the girls, but that isn't a necessarily a hard and fast rule. Just ask John Travolta. This dance involves two lines of dancers with a large space between the lines. Lead dancers are on one side, and their partners are on the other. Dancers do a step pattern to advance the line, and leaders do a solo routine though the line, joining it at the end. The Stroll was one of the most popular dances of the 50s, and many nostalgic 50s movies feature a scene featuring the Stroll.

Swing. This is not a slow dance either. But you did get a little closer to your partner and you were allowed to hold hands. Swing was a holdover from the 40s jitterbug and swing, though still popular during the 50s. It’s one of the few dances of the fifties that is still practiced today, especially among the younger crowds who like the older dances.

The Hand Jive. If you danced during the 50s, chances are you still remember the Hand Jive. This is one dance you can even do sitting down. Just ask John Travolta again. It’s basically nothing more than a series of hand and arm movements done in a pattern. The song "Willy and the Hand Jive" came out in 1958 and stayed at the top of the charts for 16 weeks, so if you were anybody in 1958, then baby, you can hand jive.

The Madison. The Madison first started in the late 1950s and gained popularity in the 1960s. This dance was a little more complicated, and it was done in a group, rather than by a couple. There were several dance sequences with specific steps, and some of the sequences referred to some very popular television shows of the time, like Jackie Gleason. I have no memory of this dance whatsoever, although I do remember Jackie Gleason.

The Make It Up as You Go. (I’m talking to the guys now, if any of you are still reading.) This was what a lot of us did, if we ever got up the nerve to ask that adorable little gal on the other side of the gymnasium to dance. We always had that fear that we would walk all the way over there and ask her, only to be greeted with a smile, a shake of the head, and a no thank you. Rats! But if ever were lucky enough to get a yes, we really had no idea what we were doing when we got out on the floor. So we just looked around and watched everyone else and tried to mimic their moves. Eventually we developed our own style that we felt comfortable with. Even if it looked stupid, we didn't realize it at the time.

By the way, I've picked a great Jackie Wilson video for you today. Lonely Teardrops. A big hit in the fifties and one that I'm sure will bring back some memories of those dancing days. Enjoy.

I Have a Rocket

2009-07-04T14:39:00.005-05:00

Being Independence Day, it reminded me of a little poem that my childhood friend, Tommy Rader, used to recite every fourth of July. It went like this...

I have a rocket
In my pocket.
I cannot stop to play
Away she goes.
It burns my toes.
It's Indepedence Day!

My father was a plumber, working for Local 8 in Kansas City, Missouri. We didn't have a lot of money, so we didn't' spend much on the fourth of July holiday. We usually had hamburgers that my dad cooked on the grill, and hot dogs. And there was either an ice cold watermelon, or he got out the hand-crank ice cream freezer and we made homemade ice cream. What a summer delight that was, and is.

We didn't usually (actually we never did) spend a lot of money on fireworks. But we did make our annual trip to one of the local stands and purchase a few favorite items. These included a package of 100 Black Cat firecrackers, a box of sparklers, a dozen bottle rockets, five or six of the little cone-shaped fountains that kind of spewed sparks out in a somewhat wimpy manner, and, my favorite, the Snakes.

If you've never seen Snakes, they're an amazing little piece of work. They're a cylindrical, black shape, about a half inch in diameter and a half inch tall. You sit them on the concrete and hold your punk to them until they light. When they do, the snake starts crawling out of the concrete, or so it appears. I could get mesmerized just watching them as that long, gray ash climbed up from the cylinder.

I should go buy some of those, just for old time's sake.

Have a safe holiday.

Superman

2009-07-03T00:01:00.001-05:00

Okay. Back to the fun stuff.

Faster than a speeding bullet. (Close up of revolver and the sound of firing) More powerful than a locomotive. (Medium range shot of a steam locomotive with accompanying sound) Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. (Long shot of skyscrapers fades to crowd looking up) “Look, up in the sky.” (Woman in crowd) “It’s a bird.” (Man in crowd) “It’s a plane.” (Man in crowd) It’s Superman. (Shot of Superman flying) Yes, Superman. Strange visitor who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman . . . who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way. (Intro closes with Superman in his traditional, hands-on-hips stance with his cape and an American flag waving in the breeze)

I hope I got the narrative correct up there. If I didn’t, someone click on the COMMENT button and straighten me out. But I watched that program and listened to Bill Kennedy’s narrative was burned so many times that it's burned into my brain.

The series ran from 1952 until 1958. There were a lot of great episodes, but I want to tell you today about one of my all-time favorites. It was episode #40 entitled “Jungle Devil,” which aired December 19, 1953. During this episode Jimmy, Lois, and Clark travel to a jungle in search of a lost scientist, and encounter a dangerous jungle creature. I don’t remember much about the jungle creature except I think he was the guy who stole the diamond eye out of the idol the natives worshipped.

The climax of the show was when Clark pointed out that the diamond may have fallen into the conveniently placed quicksand pool. Cleverly, he concealed a chunk of coal in his hand before punching his fist into the quicksand. With his hand concealed, we watched him squeeze the coal as the narrator explains how diamonds are formed from carbon that’s been subjected to a gazillion tons of pressure for a bazillion years.

When Clark removes his hand from the quicksand, he opens it to reveal a 5,000 karat diamond that’s perfectly with with the typical 58 facets and gleaming like a jewel. This episode guest starred James Seay as Bill Hurd, Al Kikume as the Native Chief, Henry Escalante as a Native Man, Leon Lontoc as the Witch Doctor, Doris Singleton as Gloria Harper, Damian O'Flynn as Dr. Ralph Harper, Nacho Galindo as Alberto, Bernie Gozier as another Native Man. The director was Thomas Carr. Screenplay by Peter Dixon.

This episode was filmed when they were still using black and white film. It wasn’t until the following year (1954) that the color episodes began. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a color television so it didn’t really make much difference. I still prefer to watch them in black and white today.

Now, the final part of this post will give you an idea of how brilliant I am. Shortly after watching that episode (which I think I must have watched as a re-run because I would only have been about 4 years old when it originally aired) anyway, shortly after watching it I decided to try it myself and create my own huge diamond. I went downstairs to my dad’s workshop and found a bag of Kingsford charcoal briquettes. I took one of them and placed it on the workbench and balanced a couple of bricks on top of it. I knew it probably wasn’t enough weight, but I could be patient. I checked my charcoal briquette every day for a week, but I couldn’t see much change taking place.

My diamond manufacturing plant was dismantled when my dad asked me what the bricks were doing there. I told him I was making a diamond. He gave me a rather strange look before replying, “Well, let me know when it’s done because I need to use the workbench.”

If you were a fan of Superman, let us know. Click the COMMENT button at the bottom and tell us your favorite episode. Here’s a couple of good websites with a lot of great info about Superman.

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/

That's My Little Margie

2009-06-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

We all knew her as Margie on the popular television show of the fifties. But there was a lot more to Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 - June 27, 2009), better known as Gale Storm, than that role portrayed.

Born in Bloomington in Victoria County in southeastern Texas, Josephine was the youngest of five children. Even as child, her talent was evident. She learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace. At Albert Sydney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School, she performed in the drama club. When she was a 17-year-old senior, two of her teachers urged her to enter the contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. The first prize was a one-year contract with a movie studio.

She won, and she was immediately given the stage name Gale Storm, while her performing partner (and future husband), Lee Bonnell from South Bend, Indiana, became Terry Belmont. After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for RKO Radio Pictures, the first of which was Tom Brown's School Days. She worked steadily in a number of low-budget films released during this period. In 1941 she sang in several Soundies, three-minute musicals produced for "movie jukeboxes." She acted and sang in Monogram Pictures' popular Frankie Darro series, and played ingénue roles in other Monogram features with the East Side Kids, Edgar Kennedy, and The Three Stooges.

American audiences warmed to Storm and her fan mail increased. Altogether, she performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram. The early exposure from these film appearances paved the way for her success in other media. Storm became an American icon of the 1950s, starring in two highly successful television series, and it was in this decade that her singing career took off.

Her television career skyrocketed from 1952 to 1955, with her starring role in My Little Margie. The show, which co-starred former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father, was originally a summer replacement for I Love Lucy on CBS. After becoming a hit, the show ran for 126 episodes on NBC and CBS. In an unusual move, the series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same lead actors. Only 23 episodes of the radio show are known to survive. If you look at the right sidebar you'll see a video of a 1952 episode of My Little Margie.

Storm's popularity was capitalized upon in The Gale Storm Show (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. This show ran for 143 episodes between 1956 and 1960. Storm appeared regularly on other television programs in the 1950s and 1960s as well. She was a panelist and as a "mystery guest" on What's My Line?

In Gallatin, Tennessee in 1954, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Wood, was watching Storm on a Sunday night television comedy show hosted by Gordon MacRae, singing one of the popular songs of the day. Linda's father asked her who was singing and was told it was Gale Storm from My Little Margie. Linda's father, Randy Wood, was president of Dot Records, and he liked Storm so much that he called to sign her before the end of the television show. Her first record, "I Hear You Knockin'", a cover version of a rhythm and blues hit by Smiley Lewis, in turn based on the old Buddy Bolden standard "The Bucket's Got a Hole In It", sold over a million copies. It was followed in 1957 by the haunting ballad, "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Storm had several top ten songs and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays.

In 1981, Storm published her autobiography, I Ain't Down Yet, which described her battle with alcoholism. She was also interviewed by author David C. Tucker for The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms, published in 2007 by McFarland and Company.
Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home in Danville where she died June 27, 2009 at the age of 87.

Gale Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.

Crazy Max

2009-06-29T00:01:00.001-05:00

Max partied too much last night. I heard him clattering around in the kitchen when he got home trying to find some fruit. He doesn't do it very often, but when he does he gets forgetful.

He remembered where his bedroom was, but he forgot to put the charger on the Wayback Machine. So we're not going to go anywhere today. We could. But we could only get back to someplace in the sixties. We could see Beatlemania take over the world, and everything else that was related to it including the hairstyles and the clothing fashions. And the shoes.

We could see Neal Armstrong walk on the moon toward the very end of that decade. Unless we were at Woodstock, in which case, we probably would be more interested in listening to a very young Bob Dylan sing in that crazy voice he has. And watch hundreds of young people sliding naked in the mud. I'm kind of glad I didn't go. But if we went any of those places, we wouldn't be able to get home because the Wayback Machine wouldn't have enough power to bring us back. It's king of like the DeLorean. If you don't have 1.4 jigawatts, you're not going anywhere. And I really don't want to get stuck in the sixties. Do you?

So, we're going to stay home tonight. And, yes, Max has plugged the Wayback Machine into the charger so we'll be ready to go tomorrow. Dumb monkey.

But Max has a solution to occupy your time. Some of his cousins have been doing videos and I'm going to provide links below. I know you'll love everyone of them, and so does Max. So click away and be whisked to the new location where you can see several member of Max's family performing. Here you go...

This is Max's famous cousin. he's a private detective. http://snupes.blogspot.com/2009/06/lancelot-link-and-reluctant-robot.html.

Here's another distant relative that's currently trying to make his way in Hollywood. He's very good but can't seem to find the right part. http://marshmallowpeeps.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-jungle-out-there-jobs-are-hard-to.html.

And here are a couple more cousins who have actually found gainful employment in another country. http://marshmallowpeeps.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post.html.

Enjoy.

JFK assasination - new info

2009-06-27T10:25:00.002-05:00

There has long been theories of conspiracy regarding the assasination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas back in November of 1963. This scientist has worked out a new theory that may have some validity. You decide.

Please feel free to leave your comments and opinions on this, or other theories.

To the Moon, Alice!

2009-06-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

During the fifties, America was introduced to The Honeymooners when it made its television debut. The first episode of the new half-hour series aired Saturday, October 1, 1955, at 8:30 pm, opposite Ozark Jubilee on ABC and The Perry Como Show on NBC.

The show was sponsored by Buick, and the opening credits ended with an advertisement ("Brought to you by your Buick dealer. And away we go!"). The show concluded with a brief Gleason sales pitch for the company. All references to the car maker were removed when the show entered syndication.

It was immediately popular and quickly garnered the #2 position in the ratings. However, competition was stiff, and production ended after only 39 episodes The final episode aired on September 22, 1956. Despite its relatively brief run, The Honeymooners is considered a premier example of American television comedy, and it has inspired successful television comedies such as The Flintstones and The King of Queens.

The episodes focused on its four principal characters. Let’s meet them.

First we have Ralph Kramden, played by Jackie Gleason. Ralph is a bus driver for the Gotham Bus Company, although we never actually see him driving a bus. He’s frustrated because success continues to elude him, and he continually thinks up get-rich-quick schemes, which is a continuing theme. He has a quick temper and is prone to tossing insults and threats. His anger usually results in a hollow threat of “You wanna go to the moon? Bang! Zoom!”

However, beneath that rough exterior is a man with a golden heart who loves his wife and is devoted to his best pal. After an angry encounter with Alice, he typically hugs her and says, “Baby, you’re the greatest,” as the closing music comes up on the audio track.

And speaking of his wife, here’s Alice Kramden, played by Audrey Meadows. She’s a patient woman. But after putting up with Ralph for 15 years, she has developed a bit of a sharp tongue. She’s easily capable of returning Ralph’s insults. Although sometimes sarcastic in her delivery, her level-headed nature comes through when she tries to convince Ralph of the stupidity of his various schemes.

Ralph’s best friend, who lives upstairs, is Edward “Ed” Norton, played by Art Carney. Ed is a New York City sewer worker. He’s a bit more good-natured than Ralph. However, he does trade insults with him on occasion. Ralph typically refers to him as Norton, and he usually gets mixed up in Ralph’s schemes. His dimwitted nature results in Ralph showering him with insults and throwing him out of the apartment. Ed and Ralph are both members of the Raccoon Lodge.

Thelma “Trixie” Norton is Ed’s wife and is played by Joyce Randolph. Although she doesn’t appear in every episode, she’s usually depicted as being a bit bossy to Ed. In one episode she is depicted as a pool hustler.

The Kramdens' financial struggles mirrored those of Gleason's early life in Brooklyn, and he took great pains to duplicate on set the interior of the apartment where he grew up (right down to his boyhood address of 328 Chauncey Street). The Kramdens and the Nortons are childless, an issue never explored, but a condition on which Gleason insisted.

Cheesecake Dance from the Fifties...

2009-06-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

This video is from She Demons released in 1958. It's rather interesting if you watch it all the way through. I'm seeing some reminders of the scene from Pulp Fiction in which John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance the twist to the song C'est La Vie. Also, there's something in the soundtrack of this video that is strangely reminiscent of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Enjoy.

Sweet Memories

2009-06-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

Let’s talk about candy. Didn’t we love it back in the fifties? Don’t we still love it? Of course we do. One of my favorites from my childhood was the Valomilk Cups.

If you’ve never eaten one, you need to, because there are nothing like them. If you bite into one and the liquid marshmallo filling drips off your chin, you know you've got the real thing.

Here’s a little history on this legendary candy. Originating in 1931, a Valomilk is a liquid marshmallow filled milk chocolate cup manufactured by the Russell Sifers Candy Company in Merriam, Kansas. The fifth generation of the Sifers family still uses the original family recipe along with much of the original equipment.

In the late 1950's, Valomilk launched a promotion to celebrate the inclusion of Alaska and Hawaii into the union. Cardboard disks with the names of the capitals of all 50 states of America were placed on top of the candy cups and shipped to stores. Anyone who collected 30 of the disks could send them to the Valomilk company and receive a tube of 10 free Valomilks. Today, collections of all 50 state capitol disks are a rare find on eBay. Valomilks are currently the only candy still made by the Sifers company.

Since it’s getting close to Halloween, I’m going to add this additional information. I no longer dress up in a costume and go door to door to collect candy from the neighbors. But up until six years ago we lived in Kansas. Every Halloween I would walk around the corner and knock on the door of my neighbor, Russell Sifers. He was then, and remains, the owner of the Sifers Candy Company. He always handed me a couple of Valomilks. I had to fight my wife for them when I got home. Then we moved to our present location, and I don’t get my Halloween Valomilks any more. (Sigh)

You can still buy the original Valomilk Cups today. And they taste exactly like they used to. Google it, and you’ll find their website with all the information you need. If you want to order some on the internet, here's a great site. They have everything you remember from the fifties, including the Skybar, Candy Lipstick, Saf-T-Pops and Fizzies. It's called Oldtime Candy.

Duck and Cover

2009-06-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

If you’re a Baby Boomer, you’re probably familiar with the term “Duck and Cover.” You may have seen the video (actually it was probably a 16mm film back in those days) when you were grade school. The video above is from the original 1950 airing.

We have a lot of unexplained mysteries today. The Mayan calendar predicts the world to end in 2012. Apparently, the government is building facilities to house and protect the "chosen ones" should this occur. The rest of will have to fend for ourselves.

And if you've never visited the Denver Airport, that's a whole different mystery in itself. Jesse Venture has investigated it and he seems to think there's something strange afoot.

So, with the threat of nuclear war still at our threshold, just as it was then, I thought it might be a good time to revisit those instructions, just so everyone knows what to do.

It's a Major Award - But where did it come from?

2009-06-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ralphie Parker's dad won this "Major Award" in the movie "A Christmas Story." I know it's June, and Christmas is a long way off, but it will be here before long. And the next time time you watch the movie, you'll kow a little more about the situation. So, read on.

I've watched that film over 50 times, and I thought I knew it well. But in doing some research, I ran across something related to that story that I was totally unaware of. I’d like to share it with you loyal readers so we’ll all know it and be wiser because of it. It involves the “Major Award” won by the Old Man. By the way, you can get your own Major Award if you'd like. They are available on the Internet. Just Google "leg lamp."

It all started when the Chero-Cola company added Nehi Cola to its line of sodas in 1924 in order to offer more variety of soda flavors.

An instant success, Nehi quickly began outselling Chero-Cola entirely. Because of that popularity, the company changed its name to Nehi Corporation in 1928.

In the early 20th century, the advertising logo of Nehi was a picture of a seated woman's legs, in which the skirt was high enough to show the stockings up to the knee, suggesting the phrase "knee-high." I'm not sure where the chick on the right driving the boat came from but I bet she isn't wearing stockings. (Click that link for a history of womens hosiery.)

Now, here comes the connection. Most people don't realize it, but Nehi was the sponsor of the contest that the Old Man (Ralphie Parker’s father) wins, by knowing the name of The Lone Ranger’s nephew’s horse.

The answer, Victor, is actually supplied by the wife. While this is not made clear in the film, it is explained in Jean Shepherd’s book, “In God We Trust — All Others Pay Cash,” on which the film is based. And there you have it. And I dare you to keep it a secret. I triple dog dare ya!

I also was not aware that Nehi was available in 16 flavors (plus something called Dr. Nehi). Does anyone know what Radar O’Reilly’s favorite flavor was? Leave a comment if you know.

Remember Geritol?

2009-06-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

One of our loyal readers sent me a question regarding a post about the game show scandal involving Charles Van Doren. He mentioned the Geritol logo that was prominently displayed on the set in the video. I told him I would look into it and see if it was still around. Turns out that it is, although I haven’t seen a bottle of it in years. I’ll have to check my Walmart pharmacy.

For any of you dear readers too young to remember Geritol, it was a US trademarked name for various supplements, past and present. Geritol was introduced as an alcohol-based, iron and B vitamin tonic by Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in August, 1950 and primarily marketed as such into the 1970s. Geritol was folded into Pharmaceutical's 1957 acquisition of J. B. Williams Co., founded in 1885. J. B. Williams Co. was later bought out by Nabisco in 1971. Since 1982, the Geritol product name has been owned by the multinational pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline.

Geritol is currently a brand name for several vitamin complex plus iron or multimineral products in both liquid form and tablets, containing from 9.5 to 18 mg of iron per daily dose. The name is derived from the root "geri-", meaning old (as in "geriatrics") with the "i" for iron. The product has been promoted from almost the beginning of the mass media era as a cure for "iron-poor tired blood". In the early 20th century, many medical doctors and other health professionals felt that much of the tiredness often associated with old age was due to iron deficiency anemia.

The earlier Geritol liquid formulation was advertised as "twice the iron in a pound of calf's liver," and daily doses contained 50-100 mg of iron as ferric ammonium citrate. The Geritol tonic also contained ca 12% alcohol and some B vitamins. The subject of years of investigation starting in 1959 by the Federal trade Commission, the FTC in 1965 ordered the makers of Geritol to disclose that Geritol would relieve symptoms of tiredness only in persons who suffer from iron deficiency anemia, and that the vast majority of people who experience such symptoms do not have such a deficiency.

Subsequent trials and appeals from 1965 to 1973 concluded some of the FTC demands exceeded its authority. Even so, Geritol's claims were discredited in court findings as "conduct amounted to gross negligence and bordered on recklessness.” The manufacturer was penalized with fines totaling, $812,000, the largest FTC fine up to that date (1973). However, Geritol was already well known and continued to be the largest American selling iron and B vitamin supplement through 1979.

In the early days of television the marketing of Geritol was involved in the quiz show scandal, as the sponsor of Twenty-One. After that, for many years Geritol was largely marketed on television programs that appealed primarily to older viewers, such as The Lawrence Welk Show, Hee Haw, and Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.

I'm thinking maybe the alcohol was the key ingredient. Even if you didn't need the iron input, that amount of alcohol might give you an excuse to feel tired. It's kind of like the old Vitameatavegamin product. And if you haven't seen that video, you really should take a look at it while you're here. I've added it to the sidebar for your enjoyment. It's as funny today as it was back in the fifties.

Buddy Holly

2009-06-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Although his music career was short-lived, Buddy Holly remains an icon of the fifties. Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas to Lawrence Odell Holley and Ella Pauline Drake on Labor Day, in 1936. He was always known as Buddy to his family.

His first known recording was created in 1949 when Buddy made a recording of Hank Snow's 'My Two-Timin' Woman' on a wire recorder "borrowed" by a friend who worked in a music shop (not, as is often reported, a home tape recorder). During the fall of that year he met Bob Montgomery in Hutchinson Junior High School. They shared a common interest in music and soon teamed up as the duo "Buddy and Bob." Initially influenced by bluegrass music, they sang harmony duets at local clubs and high school talent shows. His musical interests grew throughout high school while singing in the Lubbock High School Choir.

Holly turned to rock music after seeing Elvis Presley sing live in Lubbock in early 1955. A few months later, he appeared on the same bill with Presley, also in Lubbock. Holly's transition to rock continued when he opened for Bill Haley & His Comets at a local rock show organized by Eddie Crandall, who was also the manager for Marty Robbins. As a result of this performance, Holly was offered a contract with Decca Records to work alone, which he accepted. It’s reported that his public name changed from "Holley" to "Holly" on 8 February 1956, when he signed the Decca contract. Among the tracks recorded for Decca was an early version of "That'll Be The Day", which took its title from a phrase that John Wayne's character said repeatedly in the 1956 film, The Searcher.

Back in Lubbock, Holly formed his own band, although at that time it had no name and would only later be called The Crickets. The band began recording at Norman Petty's studios in Clovis, New Mexico. Norman had music industry contacts and believing that "That'll Be the Day" would be a hit single, he contacted publishers and labels. Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca, signed The Crickets. Soon after, they signed Holly as a solo artist. This put Holly in the unusual position of having two record contracts at the same time.

The ambitious Holly became increasingly interested in the New York music/recording/publishing scene, while his younger and more easygoing bandmates wanted to go back home to Lubbock. As a result, in 1959 the group split.

Holly began a solo tour with other notable performers, including Dion and the Belmonts, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. After a performance in Green Bay, Wisconsin at the Riverside Ballroom, on 1 February the tour moved on to the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa on 2 February 1959. Afterwards, Buddy Holly chartered a Beechcraft Bonanza to take him and his new back-up band (Tommy Allsup and Waylon Jennings) to Fargo, North Dakota, enroute to play the next leg of the Winter Dance Party tour at the Armory in Moorhead, Minnesota. Carl Bunch missed the flight as he had been hospitalized with frostbite three days earlier. The Big Bopper asked Jennings for his spot on the four-seat plane, as he was recovering from the flu. Ritchie Valens was still signing autographs at the concert site when Allsup walked in and told him it was time to go. Valens begged for a seat on the plane. Allsup pulled a 50 cent coin out of his pocket and the two men flipped for the seat. Allsup lost.

The plane took off in light snow and gusty winds at around 12:05 A.M., but crashed a few minutes later. The wreckage was discovered several hours later by the plane's owner, Jerry Dwyer, some 8 miles from the airport on the property of Albert Juhl. Although the crash received a good deal of local coverage, it was displaced in the national news by an accident that occurred the same day in New York City, when American Airlines Flight 320 crashed during an instrument landing approach at LaGuardia Airport, killing 65. Don McLean referred to it as "The Day the Music Died".

We've got a couple of his hits in the Jukebox. Feel free to punch them up and listen.

Spanning Generations

2009-06-12T14:00:00.002-05:00

Lollipop!

That’s the selection I've picked for you today. It just might spark a memory for a few of you dear readers. Perhaps some of you younger readers may find it familiar also. This recording was played in the 1986 film, Stand By Me, as our four adventurers walked along the railroad track. So click number two on the Jukebox (on the right sidebar) and take a trip down memory lane, all the way back to 1958 (or 1986) depending on your generation.

While you're listening to this classic, here’s a little inside info about the group. The original members included Janet Ertal, Carol Buschmann (Janet’s sister-in-law), Dorothy Schwartz, and Jinny Osborn. But those aren’t the girls you hear singing the song in today’s video. Dorothy Schwartz was replaced by Lynn Evans in 1952. And in 1953, Margie Needham replaced Jinny Osborn, who was having a baby, although Jinny later returned to the group.

Starting out performing locally in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, they appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s radio program, Talent Scouts, and won. That was in 1949. They became the featured act on his daily program and later signed a recording contract with Columbia Records.

Their contract with Columbia was purchased in 1953 by Archie Bleyer, founder of Cadence Records. They had several hits with Cadence, their biggest coming in 1954 with Mr. Sandman. Janet Ertel married Archie Bleyer in 1954, and her daughter, Jackie, married Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers. (I need to get those boys on here sometime soon, too.)

On August, 1957, the Chordettes appeared on American Bandstand. It was the first episode aired on the ABC Network. The group broke up in 1961 when Jinny Osborn left and they were unable to find a suitable replacement.

In 2001, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

2009-06-09T16:00:00.002-05:00

Klatu. Baratta. Nikto.
And Nikto on the new version.

I went to Red Box and rented the new version of this classic film last night. It was, to say the least, quite disappointing. Since the original version was so good, I felt the new film would be even better. Brother, was I wrong. Sometimes "New and Improved" simply means new.

It's the original version that I love, the one produced in 1951. Being only two years old at the time, I did not see it in the theatre when it was released, but I've enjoyed watching it several times in the past few years.

I'm a bit confused by the movie poster however. I don't remember Patricia Neal having long auburn hair in the movie. Also, if you get a chance to watch it (the original version, not the remake with Keanu Reeves) be sure to notice Bobby Benson. He's played by Billy Gray, aka Bud on Father Knows Best. I need to put a post on here about that program, too.

Check the right sidebar for the video trailer of the original version.

Ever Have a Woodie?

2009-05-20T22:00:00.000-05:00

We've probably all admired them from time to time over the years. I'm referring to woodies. The main thing about woodies is, they're big. And some are bigger than others. But some say size doesn't matter. A woodie is a woodie.

If you've ever seen one, you would remember it. They were very popular during the fifties, and they remain so today. A lot of men wanted one, and a lot of them had one. You can still see them today, but not as often as you used to.

For those of you too young to remember the woodie, it is a type of car. More specifically, it is a station wagon. And I’ll explain where that name came from momentarily.

Woodies were manufactured in the United States as far back as 1910. During the 30s, 40s, and 50s, American car manufacturers continued to build them. The main characteristic of the woodie that distinguishes it from other types of cars is the rear portion of the body. It was made of wood.

Frequently this wood is visible, since it is covered in a clear finish, either over the entire wooden area or sometimes just on the framework with the interior panels painted.

Earlier cars generally had aluminium or steel panels bolted on top of the wood framing. Woodies were originally cheaper because they didn't need these panels. Since they were less expensive, railway stations used them for moving luggage and small shipments. Hence the name, station wagon. Notice the illustration at the very top which shows a woodie at a train station. The tradition of the woodie remains in the woodgrain decals and plastic beams attached to a structural steel body of many station wagons.

This car body style was popular both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Woodies were produced from all kinds of cars, from basic to luxury, but the most popular conversions in the US were large, powerful but not highly luxurious models. By contrast, in Europe early woodies were usually built on luxury car platforms such as Rolls-Royce.

The vast majority of woodies were produced before the end of the 1950s at which time safety regulations and changing automotive fashions meant the effective end of the style.

In the 1960s and to some degree the 1970s woodies were considered undesirable and old fashioned. California surfers, among others, saw the potential of these cars because they were cheap, large enough to carry a good number of people, surfboards and equipment. And when you're at the beach and you happen upon a bunch of young girls in bathing suits needing a ride, a woodie could be very popular.

Thus, the woodie became the vehicle of the surfer. The Beach Boys directly referred to them in several of their songs. There is probably a higher population of surviving woodies in California than anywhere else.

These days, woodies are highly desirable because they're not as common as they used to be. A good one can fetch a large amount of money. The photo at the right shows Clark Gable and his woodie.

If you've ever wanted a woodie, or if you used to have one, you can tell us about it by clicking that pesky COMMENT link at the bottom.

Today's video is actually from the early sixties, but I wanted to include it because Brian mentions his woodie. And the girls in the audience scream when he does. Apparently the girls liked woodies back then, too. The video quality isn't that great, and the audio is much less professional than their later recordings.

The value of saving...

2009-04-21T21:00:00.000-05:00

When I was in the second grade, which would have been about 1957, I attended to a small, four-room school in Independence, Missouri. There was no cafeteria, so our mothers had to pack our little lunchboxes every morning.

However, the highlight of the week was Wednesday. On that day, two things happened. First of all, the school board sent a hot lunch crew to our school. And they almost always served the same thing — Made-right Hamburgers. Yum! I loved those. They were a loose-meat hamburger on a bun. And there were a few condiments you could add.

The second thing that happened was a visit from the Government. Now, that's typically not a good thing, especially if it's the IRS, but these ladies came into our school room and sold us Savings Stamps. They were twenty-five cents each. And we all wanted to buy them, because Superman said it was a good thing to save and to help the country at the same time.

They also gave us a book, kind of reminiscent of the S&H Green Stamps, or Gold Bond Stamps of that era. We licked the stamps and stuck them in our little books. When you had 50 of them, you could trade the book in for a $25 United States Savings Bond. Then the waiting began as the bonds matured over the next 11 years or so. During that school year and the one that followed, I manged to fill two books with stamps, which I traded in for two new $25 United States Savings Bonds. But I never cashed them in.
Years later, in the 90s, my father gave me my Savings Bonds. They had been stored safely away in his filing cabinet for forty years. I figured it was time to cash them in and get my $25 for each of them.

When I went to the bank I was surprised to learn that, although the bonds had stopped maturing at the regular rate after the 11 year period, they had continued to earn interest at a lower rate for the following 30 years. At the time I redeemed them, they were worth a little over $250 each.

Wow! What an unexpected bonus. Superman was right. As usual.

GOTTA SEE THIS!!!

2009-04-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

Click on Tink and you'll be taken to something you never expected from this writer !

If you've clicked this before, it's changed. This is the second video.

Think Happy Thoughts

2009-01-15T18:15:00.003-06:00

Do you remember? Were you there when it happened?

On a very special evening in 1955, you and your family may have been seated around your new black and white television for something very special. Maybe your mom made some snacks for the event, since you’ve recently bought TV trays. And maybe, just maybe, she let you and your siblings enjoy a glass of Kool-Aid.

The event was the 1955 television broadcast of Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin in the title role. She had filled the same role in the Broadway production the previous year, and in 1955, this production performed on NBC television in RCA's compatible color. It was again broadcast in 1956 and in 1960.

At six years of age at the time, I was riveted to the screen and thrilled when Peter took Wendy, Michael and John on a miraculous flight to Never-Never Land. I remember the excitement of meeting the Lost Boys and the mischievous fairy Tinkerbell. And I fell in love with Tiger Lily who, with her Indian Braves, was always on the alert for that troublesome Captain Hook and his band of Buccaneers.

It was quite an adventure and a memory that will live in my mind forever. I hope you’ll take a moment to watch the video in the sidebar and remember it as if it were yesterday.

Would You Like to be Queen for a Day?

2009-01-12T22:38:00.006-06:00

During the fifties I remember watching Queen for a Day on our black and white Zenith television. My mother always enjoyed that show and I had visions of her being on it someday, but it never happened.

This program became popular, in part, due to the viewers fascination with big prize giveaway shows when it was born on radio in 1945 and continued as a radio program until 1957. In 1947 it was also broadcast on television and continued running until 1964. Even in those days, the prizes were pretty fabulous. Check out the 8 minute video on the sidebar to see the extent of the winnings.

With the show’s popularity with the viewers, NBC increased its running time from 30 to 45 minutes. Both the original radio show and the television version were hosted by Jack Bailey. It was broadcast first by Mutual, then NBC, and finally ABC.

The appeal of Queen for a Day was related to a woman hitting rock bottom, or close to it, and the tearjerking factor was always a critical part of the show. The program gave the contestant a one-in-four chance of making good, at least for one day in her life.

Using the classic "applause meter" as did many game or hit-parade style shows of the time, Queen for a Day contestants told why they would like the honour—and the twist of it was that the contestant had to talk publicly about the recent hard times she had been through. The more harsh the circumstances that led a contestant to want to appear, the likelier the studio audience was to ring the applause meter's highest level.

And, to the full accompaniment of "Pomp and Circumstance", the winner would be draped in a red velvet robe and a shimmering crown, and she would be festooned with a dozen long-stemmed roses, trips, a fully-paid night on the town with her husband or her escort, and other prizes. "Make every woman a queen, for every single day!" would be Bailey's trademark signoff.

That's Really Silly

2009-01-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

Putty, that is.

Since 1950, more than 300 million eggs of Silly Putty have been sold. And they didn't come from a Silly Putty chicken. If we have to credit someone for the existence of Silly Putty, it would have to be the Japanese. If Japan hadn’t invaded rubber producing countries during World War II in an effort to cut off rubber supplies to the United States, we might never have experienced the joys associated with Silly Putty. So, let’s take a trip in the Wayback Machine and find out why, and how, this whole thing started.

Rubber was necessary for producing the rafts, tires, vehicle and aircraft parts, gas masks and boots needed by the American soldiers during the World War II. Because of the need, many products were ratined, including rubber and nylon. American citizens were encouraged to make rubber products last until the end of the war and, to help the war effort, to donate any spare tires, boots and coats that they might own. At the same time, in an attempt to rectify this shortage, the government funded research into synthetic rubber compounds.

There remains some discrepancy over who invented Silly Putty. But the invention credit has been attributed to Earl Warrick of Dow Corning, and James Wright of General Electric. Regardless of who it was, both researchers discovered that mixing boric acid with silicone oil produced a gooey, bouncy material that would bounce, stretch, wouldn’t collect mold and had a very high melting temperature. (Plus you could copy the Sunday comics by pressing it onto the paper! That was my favorite part, except the words were all backwards.)

Great! New invention created to replace rubber. Except the tire test didn't turn out too well. Neither did the one for rafts or gas masks. So, it didn’t solve the problem they had set out to solve, and the new product languished in a laboratory for several years as nothing more than a curiosity. Wright sent samples to scientists all over the world, but no practical use was ever found for the product.

But in 1949, a sample reached Ruth Fallgatter. Ruth owned a toy store and immediately saw the marketing potential. She contacted Peter Hodgson, a marketing consultant, to discuss it. The two decided to market the product by selling it in a clear case for $2. The putty quickly outsold every item in Ruth’s catalogue (except for 50 cent Crayola crayons). Despite the fortune it made, Fallgatter lost interest in the product. But Hodgson saw its potential.

Although he was already $12,000 in debt, Hodgson borrowed $147 to buy a batch of the putty to pack one ounce portions into plastic eggs for $1. He gave it the name: Silly Putty. Hodgson sold over 250,000 eggs of silly putty in three days. Hodgson was almost forced out of business in 1951 by the Korean War due to the ration on silicone, the primary ingredient. The restriction on silicone was lifted the following year, and the production of Silly Putty was resumed. Initially, it was primarily targeted towards adults. However, by 1955 the majority of its consumers were aged 6 through 12. In 1957 Hodgson produced the first televised commercial for Slly Putty, which aired during the Howdy Doody Show. (September 28th post)

In remembering my adventures with Silly Putty, I tried to recall which came first — Silly Putty or the Hula Hoop. I'm not going to tell you. If your memory is better than mine, you'll know. If not, click the link at the end of this sentence and go to the Hula Hoop article. If you want to make your very own Silly Putty at home, it's easy. Just combine the following ingredients:

65% dimethyl siloxane (hydroxy-terminated polymers with boric acid)

17% silica (crystalline quartz)

9% Thixatrol ST (castor oil derivative)

4% polydimethylsiloxane

1% decamethyl cyclopentasiloxane

1% glycerine, and 1% titanium dioxide.

I know, it only adds up to 98%. There must be 2% of some secret ingredient that we don’t have in our cabinets, like all that other stuff. Keep in mind, don't mix driving or Silly Putty with alcohol. Like the driver of the car, alcohol causes Silly Putty to lose all of it's best attributes.

If you don't want to take the time or effort to make your own, you can go out and buy some. Crayola now owns the product, and it's still around. Just like we are. And that's a good thing.