Last night on FB, a friend mentioned the old TV show That Girl. Anyone else remember it? Marlo Thomas starred in it. I was pretty young when it aired (it was on ABC from 1966-1971) but my sisters watched it occasionally and I loved the intro.
This reminded of of a couple of other old classics that I remember my family watching occasionally. Again, I was pretty young, so I mostly remember the intros!
This was Sally Field's second sitcom, after Gidget. Remember The Flying Nun?!
And Petticoat Junction! I love how they always announced when things were in color! (And sometimes they'd say "in living color!" Wonder what "dead color" would be!)
Speaking of color, I vividly remember my shock when we finally did get a color TV and I discovered that the intro to on of my favorites, Family Affair, which I'd always seen as this:
. . .was actually this:
(The intro wasn't the only thing I liked about Family Affair. I loved the entire show. And I thought their big front doors with the door knobs in the middle of the doors were so cool!)
I always thought the way they did the intro with the hands on My Three Sons was clever!
What about you? Do you remember these? Are there old classics that you remember, perhaps not so much because of the content but because of the theme or some other reason?
Sports fans are gearing up for this Sunday's Super Bowl, and even those folks who have no interest in the outcome of the game often like to keep an eye on the big event because of the commercials. In fact, CNN Money reports that half of the viewers turn on the television just to watch the commercials. Commercials have become big business on the Super Bowl, with a 30-second spot selling for $3 million this year. Big spenders such as Coca-Cola will have two 60-second commercials.
But as impressive as today's ads are with all of their computer-generated special effects, some can't hold a candle to the commercials of our childhood. Of course, there were some flubs back then as well!
What commercials and advertisements--either TV/radio, magazine/newspaper, or even billboards (Burma Shave, anyone?!)--do you associate with growing up? Did you watch TV for the ads or for the programs? Can you still remember any of the songs, words or slogans from those ads? What were your favorites and least favorites? Were your parents influenced by ads when they bought things? Did you try to convince your parents to buy something as the result of a commercial? What is something you bought or did as a result of an advertisement that you later regretted (either as a child or an adult)? Feel free to share words, videos, or pictures of any ads!
I don't recall my parents ever being influenced by particular commercials when I was growing up, but I certainly was. I don't think I'll ever forget this one when I had not been shaving my legs long and my mom bought me one of the new Flicker razors that came out that had five blades in it. I had seen one of these ads on TV and I was the typical "wise" (ahem!) thirteen-year-old, so I knew exactly how to use it.
I didn't realize that you only turned to the next blade when the old blade became dull. I thought the blades varied and you chose the one you liked. So when I nicked myself with the first one, I turned to the second blade. . . then the third, and the fourth, and the fifth. When none of them were better, I tried to go back to the first one, only to discover that once you turned it, there was no going back. My mom was not amused to discover I had wasted 80% of that razor the first time I used it!
The other horrifying yet funny "as seen on TV" memory was fortunately not my fault, although I witnessed it. Did any of your dads or husbands--or if you're a guy, did you--ever wear Vitalis? My dad did, and so did my maternal grandfather, who was a lawyer. One time when we went to the small town where they lived, he took us to see his office for some reason. He apparently kept some toiletries in his office bathroom to freshen up before court cases, and among them was Vitalis. At that time the Vitalis TV commercials were touting the "NEW! Unbreakable Plastic Bottle!" and the man in the commercial would drop the bottle on the bathroom floor to prove its sturdiness. We were in my granddad's office and my uncle came in with the Vitalis bottle and said "Look, it's the new unbreakable bottle!" and dropped it on the floor. . . .and it broke and Vitalis went everywhere! That was one time I was sooo glad a grown-up and not a kid had done it! And it was a big lesson in not believing everything that was claimed on TV!
Around 1969, I remember our family hurrying home from Sunday night church in time to watch Mission: Impossible! which came on at 9:00 pm. We weren't that interested in the show, but there was a particular Buick commercial that generally played during the program that we wanted to see. My brother was a freshman at UT and worked as a student assistant to the basketball coach. In the ad, the coach was driving a Buick around campus showing the university to a potential recruit, played by my brother. I know my brother didn't speak in the commercial, and I'm not sure the coach did; it just showed him driving and pointing out landmarks such as the UT Tower, stadium, etc. It was absolutely the coolest thing to see my brother in an ad on TV! The ad aired some other times as well - during a couple of the Texas basketball games and maybe some other occasions. But those were more random and we didn't generally know about them ahead of time. But the MI sponsorship was a regular thing and we watched for it faithfully!
My family has always said that when I was really little, I always came running into the living room when commercials came on and then went back to play when the program resumed. I don't remember that, but I do remember enjoying lots of commercials and always being able to sing along with the jingles. Let's see if you can fill in the blanks or name of the products advertised here!
(song) You can trust your car to the man who wears the star, the big white ________ star!"
(song)__________ tastes good like a (bom bom) cigarette should. (Yes, they used to sell cigarettes on TV; they were banned beginning January 2, 1971.) (So why could I immediately remember a jingle I haven't heard in 40 years?!)
"Madge! You're soaking my hands in dishwashing detergent?!" "Relax, dear. It's _______."
(song) Girls are nice but oh, what icing goes on _________
(song) Oh I wish I were an _______ _______ _________, That is what I'd truly like to be, 'Cause if I were an ________ _______ _________, Everyone would be in love with me!
Put a tiger in your tank.
Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.
Does she, or doesn't she?
If you don't have an oil well, get one! You'll love doing business with _______. (That one may have mostly been in Texas.)
(song) My bologna has a first name, it's _______, my bologna has a second name, it's _______, Oh I'd love to eat it every day, and if you ask me why, I'll say, cause _______ _______ has a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a.
(sung by Connie Stevens) ________ is the place with the helpful hardware man.
(song) Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, extra orders don't upset us, all we ask is that you let us, serve it your way, Have it your way at ________ _________.
I never understood why Mrs. Olsen always had her grocery sack when she was at someone else's house, but she did, and she always pulled out the product and said, "Try _______. It's mountain-grown for richer flavor."
Fill it to the rim with ________
Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun
(song) We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and __________
(deep voice) Ho-Ho-Ho (sung in normal voice) _______ _________
(song) If it says ______ ________ _______ on the label label label, you will like it like it like it on your table table table.
(thunder boom and flash of lightning) Then a woman in a long billowy dress with her hands on her hips sternly said, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" followed by off-camera singing: If you think it's butter, but it's not, it's _________
But Charlie! ________ doesn't want tuna with good taste! ________ wants tuna that taste good! and Sorry, Charlie, only the best-tasting tuna gets to be _________
(song) I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, I'd like to buy the world a _______ and keep it company.
He likes it! Mikey likes it!
I'd rather fight than switch!
Man gets his face slapped on both sides, then says: "Thanks! I needed that!"
Where's the beef?! (One of my all-time favorites!)
Choosy mothers choose _______.
"I can't believe I ate the whole thing." "You ate it, Ralph." Also, the song, Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.
(song) There's a fragrance that's here today and they call it ________.
(song)____ _______ makes Chinese food--swing, American!
(song) Saute and simmer, the flavor can't be beat! ______-_-______, the San Francisco treat!
(song) Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't. ______ ____ has nuts. ________ don't.
Nervous is why you need _____ _ _____
_____ ______ - The Sex Appeal Toothpaste
Come to ___________ Country
Brush your breath, brush your breath, brush your breath with ________.
BONUS QUESTIONS:
What well-known football player wore a pair of pantyhose in a commercial to advertise how good anyone's legs look wearing them? Extra points if you can name the brand of pantyhose!
What two country stars advertised Breeze laundry detergents that came with a towel in every box?
What football player was in the famous Coke commercial where he tossed his sweaty football jersey to a little boy who insisted on giving the player his Coke after the game?
What iconic actress got her start making commercials in the early '70s for Breck Shampoos, UltraBrite Toothpaste, Noxzema Men's Shave, and Mercury Cougar?
Okay, here are the answers:
Texaco (Jack Benny then Bob Hope did these)
Winston
Palmolive
Oreos
Oscar Mayer
Esso/Humble/Exxon (I don't remember Esso, but I do remember when Exxon was Humble. I also remember when Diamond Shamrock was Sinclair, with the dinosaur logo.
Secret Deodorant
Clairol
Western
Oscar Mayer
Ace
Burger King
Folgers
Brim< (decaffeinated coffee)/li>
McDonald's Big Mac
Chevrolet
Green Giant
Libby's
Chiffon (margarine)
Starkist
Coke
Life Cereal
Tareyton Cigarettes
Skin Bracer (men's aftershave
Wendy's
Jif
Alka-Seltzer
Charlie (by Revlon)
La Choy
Rice-a-Roni
Almond Joy, Mounds
Soft 'n Dri (Deodorant)
Ultra Brite (toothpaste)
Marlboro (cigarettes)
Dentyne (chewing gum)
BONUS ANSWERS:
Joe Namath for Beautymist Pantyhose
Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
Mean Joe Green
Farrah Fawcett
Okay, that is way more than enough. Once I got going, I couldn't stop. It is ridiculous how many of those I could remember without even cheating and looking on YouTube! It just shows how easily things get imprinted in our brains! Here's a darling new ad; if you've ever had a little boy in your life, this will make you smile!
Share your memories of fun commercials and link up here! View blog reactions
Did you and your family watch the Olympics when you were growing up? Which was your overall favorite - summer or winter? Which individual events were your favorites? Since blogging is international, which country did you cheer for? Have you ever been to an Olympics or known anyone who competed? What are some of the hallmark memories of the Olympics that you remember? Did the Olympics ever inspire you to take a certain sport (or practice more!)? Do you prefer watching them the old way when everything was delayed in the days before 24-hour cable and internet? Do you watch them more or less today than you did when you were growing up? What about the Special Olympics? Have you ever had any involvement with them?
I've always loved the Olympics. We watched them when I was growing up, but it wasn't anything like the media overload it is today! With no cable, only B&W TV, and just the three network stations, the availability was pretty limited. But we always watched the figure skating in the winter and the gymnastics in the summer, and certain memories stand out:
1972 Summer Olympics - I vaguely remember Olga Korbut and her pigtails and her amazing feats in gymnastics. I also remember watching cheering for Cathy Rigby and then being embarrassed as a teen that she was the person who advertised Stay-free pads! I remember absolutely nothing about the Munich Massacre that occurred during the second week of the Olympics, mostly because if it had to do with news, I tuned it out when I was eleven years old!
Dorothy Hamill
(Google Images)
1976 Winter Olympics - Dorothy Hamill was the figure skating darling, and after she won the Gold Medal, every little girl (and some big ones!) wanted a wedge haircut just like hers! 1976 Summer Olympics - Nadia Comaneci scoring the first perfect 10 ever in gymnastics. She was such a little pixie! 1980 - I don't think I watched any of the Winter Games; I was a college freshman and lived in the dorm and I didn't have a TV in my room. And of course the 1980 Summer Olympics were boycotted. 1984 Winter Olympics - So many great skaters! The men had the fierce competition between Scott Hamilton and "the Brians" (Brian Boitano and Brian Orser). Katarina Witt from E. Germany won the Women's Gold. Kitty & Peter Carruthers from the US won silver in pairs, and then there were Torvill & Dean. 1984 Summer Olympics - OH.MY. I LOVED these! These were the ones in Los Angeles, so the time zone made them so much easier to watch. I had been out of college just over a year and was working as an RN on the night (11 PM - 7 AM) shift at the hospital. As soon as I got up in the afternoons, generally around 3:00-3:30, I would turn the TV on and watch until I had to go to work. Jim McKay and Al Michaels became the voices of the Olympics to me that year! So many moments to remember. Carl Lewis in track. Greg Louganis diving. The debut of Synchronized Swimming, which gets lots of snickers but still fascinates me: how do they smile like that under water?! And then Gymnastics was an Olympics all its own! The men, led by Bart Connor, winning the team Gold. And of course, Mary Lou Retton, the first gymnast outside Eastern Europe to win the gymnastics all-around competition. Even without YouTube, her concentration as she ran approaching the vault and then her sunny smile as she stuck her landing, as well as Bela Karolyi's jubilation, are etched in my memories. But let's watch it again anyway!
Since I've been an adult there have been plenty more exciting and also heart-wrenching occurrences. Kristi Yamaguchi. The whole Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding debacle. Kerri Strug nad her fierce determination as she performed the vault in spite of excruciating pain. Shannon Miller, Shawn Johnson, and more. And it's been fun to watch it with my kids and see their interest in the various events.
What are your Olympic memories? Share them on your blog and link up here! And be sure to come back next week; I've already got a really fun Flashback Friday planned!
Tell about TV when you were growing up. Did your family have a TV? Was it color or b&w? How many TVs did your family have? Did you have one in your room? Did your family leave the TV on most of the day or turn it on for specific programs? Was the TV on or off when you ate meals as a family? Were there rules about watching TV? What were your favorite shows? Are there any particular memories you have of TV in your younger years?
The TV in the above picture is fairly similar to the one we had when I was little, right down to the blonde finish that was popular in the 1950's. It was a black & white TV, of course, and there certainly wasn't a remote control! In those days, you had to turn on the TV a minimum of five minutes before your program started so the TV could warm up and the picture be clear. And when you turned it off, the screen went dark except for the little white dot in the middle that stayed for a minute or two! I was probably in junior high when my grandparents replaced their TV and gave us their old RCA. It was a monstrosity, but it was a color TV so we were pretty happy!
Memories flood my mind as I think back to TV shows I enjoyed as a child. My folks were never one to keep the TV on all day; it was turned on for specific shows and then turned back off. We also weren't allowed to watch cartoons after school or on Saturday mornings; my mom thought they were just "silliness."
Some of my very earliest TV memories contain just brief snatches of shows; I was so young that, on some of them, I only remember the theme (I always connect with the songs!) as I rarely watched the entire show. These shows include The Dick Van Dyke Show(I loved when he tripped over the ottoman in the opening!), Petticoat Junction, The Flying Nun, That Girl, My Three Sons (loved the opening with the hands and the feet!), I Dream of Jeannie, and a western called The Guns of Will Sonnett. As far as shows I enjoyed, one of the earliest is Captain Kangaroo, but that one's a faint memory. There was also a local Houston show called Miss Kitterick, that had a variety of area kids on it who performed some talent, and the host was a woman who had her face painted like a cat and wore kitten ears. Again, there's just sort of a vague "snapshot" memory; I do remember that one of the kids who lived next door was on it once, and he sang "Hey There, Georgy Girl." (I forgot about that song when we did the music flashback!)
Then as I reached elementary school days, there were several shows that were my favorites that I got to watch. One of these was Family Affair. I thought that was the coolest show. I loved Sebastian Cabot's voice, and always associate it with this show and with the TV specials of Winnie the Pooh. And the other thing I remember thinking was so cool was the front door of their apartment, with the doorknob in the middle. I just loved Buffy who usually carried her doll Mrs. Beasley. When Anissa Jones died of a drug overdose in 1976, it made me so sad, and it was the first time that a celebrity that I had enjoyed watching died. Here's a really brief clip of Buffy & Jody's first day of school that's really cute:
Friday nights at 7:00 always found me plopped on the floor in front of our TV ("not too close or it will hurt your eyes!") to watch The Brady Bunch. I loved that show! Alice was a hoot In the opening shown below, which ran for several seasons, I always got tickled at the look Jan gives Alice right at the end. It's like she is saying, "What will you come up with now!" I also remember that show being one of the first to show a married couple sharing the same bed. Of course, Mike and Carol Brady were very circumspect - usually they were sitting in bed reading, and then they would give each other a perfunctory good-night kiss!
We occasionally got to watch Leave it to Beaver, and I always laughed at Mrs. Cleaver's pearls and high heels and the fact that Mr. Cleaver kept his suit on in the evenings while he read the paper. A fun show that my mom didn't really like but which she occasionally let us watch was The Addams Family. I loved the opening song, loved when Gomez would kiss Morticia all the way up her arm, and loved Thing! In fact, my granddad had a Thing bank - you put a coin in the slot and the top opened and a hand reached out and took the coin! I thought that was incredibly cool.
When I was about ten, I remember one Thursday night that my dad turned on a show that was new that season. I watched The Waltons that night and every week after that for years. My mom just loved John-Boy, but I thought he was too sweet. I liked some of the other characters better; I can even remember all their names: Jason, Mary Ellen, Ben, Erin, Jim-Bob, and Elizabeth! But I think my favorites were the grandparents. They were a great portrayal of a couple who had been married forever and could drive the other one nuts but also loved each other deeply. (And I loved Ike Godsey down at the General Store, but his wife Corabeth drove me nuts!) And who could forget the Baldwin Sisters, with their clandestine drink, The Recipe! One of my favorite episodes was when Ellen Corby, who played Grandma, came back after her stroke. Here's the sweet end of that episode.
But probably my all-time favorite TV series was Little House on the Prairie. I faithfully watched that every Monday night for years. I loved most of the characters - with the exception of nasty Nellie Olson and her snooty mom! I had read the books over and over, and even though the series wasn't much like the books, I still enjoyed it.
I don't remember watching too many programs in high school; I never cared much for Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley; I did like Mork and Mindy ("nanu, nanu!") I do remember watching Love Boat and Fantasy Island ("de plane! de plane!") on Saturday nights. There was also a mini-series one year that I absolutely loved, Backstairs at the White House. I always wished they would repeat it.
My TV memories are defined as much by what we didn't watch as what we did! We only rarely got to watch Gilligan's Island. When we were sick and missed school, we could watch TV, and I remember watching Bewitched. My folks didn't care for Johnny Carson and always went to bed as soon as the 10:00 pm news was over. They thought All in the Family was atrocious. And I never saw a M*A*S*H* episode until my junior year in college. (I loved it!) My mom never watched soap operas, but my grandmother faithfully watched General Hospital. When I was a freshman in college, General Hospital was hugely popular. Those were the days of the Luke & Laura drama, but although I watched a few episodes, I just didn't care for it. My senior year in college, the big draw was All My Children. Again, I watched it a few times, but soaps have never been my cup of mocha! (My college years were also when Dallas was big, with the whole "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger, but I didn't watch it much.
It's been fun looking through all these on YouTube. I know there are a million repeats of many of these on cable, but we don't have cable so I haven't seen most of them since they were originally shown other than here and there in a hotel or hospital.
What about you? Post your memories and link up here!
I bet you guessed what this week's prompt was going to be!
Tell about TV when you were growing up. Did your family have a TV? Was it color or b&w? How many TVs did your family have? Did you have one in your room? Did your family leave the TV on most of the day or turn it on for specific programs? Was the TV on or off when you ate meals as a family? Were there rules about watching TV? What were your favorite shows? Are there any particular memories you have of TV in your younger years?
The Georgia Republic team with their black armbands at the Opening Ceremonies.
Candad's Bilodeau winning the Men's Moguls on Sunday, and seeing him hug his older brother who inspires him. (His brother has cerebral palsy.)
USA's Hannah Kearney winning the Women's Moguls on Saturday, and the emotion she and the bronze medalist, USA's Shannon Bahrke, displayed as the results were announced, and then at the Medal Ceremony
INTERSPERSED WITH CRINGING MOMENTS. . .
The Men's Short-Track Race when the Koreans were about to win a 1-2-3 sweep, and on the last turn, the 2nd & 3rd place skaters crashed. (Although it was also funny in a twisted way. . .and it allowed Apollo Ohno to medal!)
The Pairs Figure Skaters when they miss their landings. . . and the incredulity when the ones who fall are placed higher than ones who skate a clean program. (Even Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic were perplexed!)
AND THEN THERE ARE THE ADS. . .
The Nationwide Insurance commercial with "The World's Best Spokesperson in the World"
The P&G salute to moms: "To their moms, they'll always be kids."
The McDonald's commercial where the parents keep snatching the Happy Meal from each other as they race home. Dad wins and hands the little boy the Happy Meal, and the boy says "Thanks, Mom!" (It's cuter to watch than it sounds here! But I couldn't find it on You Tube.)
I have a kabillion books to read and review, but I don't know how I'm supposed to manage that during these next two weeks!
Everyone's getting ready to hunker down in front of the TV, as we say here in Texas, and watch the shootout final competition between Kris Allen & Adam Lambert on American Idol tonight. I don't remember ever seeing such coverage about a finale - they even talked about it on Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor while I was waiting at piano lessons last night, discussing if Christianity is playing a factor in the voting. I was actually going to watch AI, but my girl has her school orchestra concert at the exact same time tonight, so I'll have to depend on my obsessed blogging friends for the scoop.
But to get you in the mood, my author friend Suzanne Woods Fisher had this on her blog today. Susan Boyle isn't the only surprise over in Britain this year. Watch this Adam Lambert look-alike, and I dare you to keep your mouth closed while you do. And the judges' expressions, particularly Simon's, are priceless. Be sure to watch it all the way to the end. (The embedding has been disabled so you'll have to click on the link below.)
I'm in my "fabulous fifties" and my husband and I have been married 25 years. We have a son and a daughter who are both in college. so we are reluctantly entering the empty-nest years. I was an RN in my former (pre-kids) life which comes in handy as I serve in our church's care ministry.
Chatting over a cup of coffee with a friend to encourage and support one another (and share a laugh or even a tear) is one of my favorite things to do.
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