Steve, Author at Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures - Do You Remember

Virginia Slims: “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby”

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The Virginia Slims commercials were some of the most memorable cigarette ads of the late 1960s and 1970s, built around the famous slogan “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

The campaign launched in 1968, aimed directly at women during the era of women’s liberation. The ads usually compared an old-fashioned scene of women being told what they couldn’t do with a modern, confident woman enjoying her independence. Then came the message: women had come a long way, and Virginia Slims was supposedly the cigarette made for them.

Looking back, it was clever marketing, but also pretty calculated. The ads borrowed the language of women’s progress to sell cigarettes. They made smoking look stylish, modern, and independent at a time when cigarette advertising was still everywhere.

For those of us who remember the commercials, the slogan is the thing that stuck. “You’ve come a long way, baby” became bigger than the product itself. It was catchy, bold, and very much of its time.

Today, the campaign feels like a time capsule: part advertising genius, part cultural manipulation, and a reminder of when cigarette commercials could still shape pop culture before they were banned from television in 1971.

Whenever I saw the Barbie Cut ’n Curl commercial as a kid, I always wondered if it really worked as smoothly as it looked on TV.

The idea was great: give Barbie a haircut, style her hair, curl it, and somehow keep the fun going without ruining the doll forever. Of course, commercials always made these toys look effortless. At home, I’m guessing it depended on patience, steady hands, and whether Barbie’s hair ended up looking salon-ready or like she had just lost a fight with a brush.

But here’s what I really want to know: Did you have Barbie Cut ’n Curl? Did it actually work the way the commercial showed?

And even better, did any of you start by cutting and styling Barbie’s hair and later end up becoming a hair stylist, barber, or working in cosmetology? Sometimes those childhood toys really did point us toward what we’d do later in life.

Wendy’s Soviet Fashion Show: “Daywear… Eveningwear… Swimwear”

The Wendy’s Soviet Fashion Show ad was a wonderfully odd 1985 commercial from the same general era as Wendy’s famous “Where’s the Beef?” campaign.

The setup was simple: a fake Soviet fashion show where every outfit looked almost exactly the same: gray, shapeless, dull, and joyless. The announcer presents each look as if it’s glamorous high fashion: daywear, eveningwear, and the best-remembered punchline, “Swimwear.”

The joke was Cold War-era contrast. Wendy’s was saying other fast-food burgers were all the same, boring and uniform, while Wendy’s offered something better and different. It was a very 1980s ad idea: take a shot at Soviet sameness, then turn it into a hamburger comparison.

The spot was directed by Joe Sedelmaier, who was known for offbeat, deadpan commercials, including Wendy’s Where’s the Beef? work. IMDb lists the writers as Cliff Freeman and Joe Sedelmaier, with Lily Monkus among the credited performers.

It also drew some complaints at the time, though not as many as you might think. A 1985 Washington Post article reported Wendy’s received about 120 letters criticizing the Soviet-themed commercial, while the company noted that was small compared with its daily customer count.

Looking back, it’s pure 1980s advertising: Cold War humor, deadpan delivery, one unforgettable visual gag, and a punchline people still remember decades later:

“Swimwear.”

The Swing Wing: The Toy That Looked Like a Neck Injury Waiting to Happen

The Swing Wing was a wonderfully weird 1960s toy introduced by Transogram Games in 1965. It was worn on your head like a little cap, with a long ribbon or tail attached. The idea was to whip your head and neck back and forth until the tail spun around like a helicopter. Think Hula Hoop, but for your head.

The commercials made it look like pure kid fun: boys and girls swinging, twisting, dancing, and making the Swing Wing fly around them. But watching it now, you can almost hear every chiropractor in America screaming.

It was supposed to be Transogram’s answer to the Hula Hoop craze, with company hopes that it might become the next big toy sensation. It didn’t.

That’s probably why people remember it now more as a “what were they thinking?” toy than a classic. It had the perfect 1960s formula: bright colors, a catchy commercial, kids moving around like crazy, and absolutely no adult in the room asking, “Should children be violently snapping their necks for fun?”

Looking back, the Swing Wing is peak retro toy madness. Simple idea, great commercial, questionable safety, and the kind of thing that makes you wonder how any of us made it out of childhood with our heads still attached

Pfft! You Were Gone Celebrity Edition!

“Pfft! You Were Gone” was originally written and recorded by Buck Owens in 1954, but it is most famously remembered as a recurring comedy sketch on Hee Haw, usually sung by Archie Campbell and Gordie Tapp, along with various celebrity guest stars.

The bit worked because it was simple, corny, and perfectly suited for Hee Haw’s country humor. One performer would sing a sad little setup, then the other would pop in with the famous “pfft!” punchline, turning heartbreak into a quick laugh.

Hee Haw first debuted on CBS on Sunday night, June 15, 1969, as a summer replacement series. Later, when it moved into syndication, many viewers came to remember it as a Saturday evening tradition, though the night depended on the local station.

For a lot of families, Hee Haw was easy comfort TV: country music, goofy sketches, familiar guests, and jokes that were silly enough for everyone in the room to understand. And “Pfft! You Were Gone” was one of the bits that stuck.

Ware oh ware are you tonight?

The New Casper Cartoon Show: The Ending We Remember

If you watched The New Casper Cartoon Show on Saturday mornings, the ending probably brings back just as many memories as the opening.

These are the Casper episodes I’m most familiar with, so seeing the closing again feels like finding an old piece of childhood TV you forgot was still tucked away somewhere. Casper was never the scary kind of ghost. He was gentle, lonely, and always just trying to make a friend.

The show first aired on ABC Saturday mornings in 1963, with new cartoons made for TV along with older Casper shorts. It gave Casper a regular place in the Saturday morning lineup, alongside characters like Wendy the Good Little Witch, The Ghostly Trio, Spooky, and Nightmare the ghost horse.

The ending has that simple old-TV charm. No big production, no loud cliffhanger, just a friendly goodbye from a cartoon that was never trying to be too wild or too scary.

For many of us, this version of Casper is the one that stuck: cereal bowl nearby, TV glowing, and a friendly ghost reminding us that sometimes the nicest character on television was the one everyone else was supposed to be afraid of.

The New Casper Cartoon Show

These are the Casper episodes I’m most familiar with, and it’s good to see them all once again.

The New Casper Cartoon Show first aired on ABC Saturday mornings in 1963, with its original run continuing into early 1964. It included 26 new Casper cartoons made for TV, along with older theatrical cartoons that helped keep Casper on television for years afterward.

Casper had already been around before this show, appearing in theatrical cartoons and Harvey Comics, but this version gave him a regular Saturday morning home. Unlike most ghosts, Casper didn’t want to scare anyone. He just wanted friends, which made him one of the gentler cartoon characters of the era.

The show also featured familiar Harvey characters like Wendy the Good Little Witch, The Ghostly Trio, Spooky, and Nightmare the ghost horse.

Casper would return in later forms too, including Casper and the Angels in the late 1970s and other Harvey cartoon packages that kept him alive for new generations of kids. But for many of us, The New Casper Cartoon Show is the version that feels like Saturday morning: cereal, pajamas, and a friendly ghost who was never too scary.

The Jetsons: The Future We Were Promised

The Jetsons first aired on ABC on Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m., beginning September 23, 1962. The original run was only 24 episodes, but it left a much bigger footprint than its short first season would suggest.

For kids, The Jetsons made the future look amazing. Flying cars, moving sidewalks, video calls, robot maids, push-button meals, and a workday so short George still complained about it. It was basically The Flintstones flipped into outer space, with the Stone Age family replaced by a space-age family.

The show followed George Jetson, his wife Jane, daughter Judy, son Elroy, dog Astro, and of course Rosie the Robot, who somehow became one of the most memorable characters even though she was not in every episode.

What is funny now is how many “future” ideas from The Jetsons don’t seem so crazy anymore. Video calls, flat screens, smart watches, robotic helpers, and push-button convenience all feel a lot closer to real life than they did in 1962.

The original series also has a neat TV trivia note: it was ABC’s first regularly scheduled program broadcast in color, even though many viewers still watched it in black and white.

Looking back, The Jetsons was not just a cartoon. It was the future as the early 1960s imagined it: shiny, funny, automated, and full of gadgets that were supposed to make life easier.

And somehow, George still had a hard day at work.

CBS Cartoon Theatre

CBS Cartoon Theatre was a short-lived CBS cartoon showcase from 1956, best remembered today because it was hosted by a young Dick Van Dyke before The Dick Van Dyke Show made him a household name.

CBS had bought the Terrytoons library in the mid-1950s, which gave them characters like Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose, and other theatrical cartoons they could repackage for television. CBS Cartoon Theatre was basically a way to put those cartoons on TV with a friendly live-action host wrapping around them. IMDb describes it as a CBS summer replacement show built around the newly acquired Terrytoons cartoons.

What makes it interesting is that CBS tried it in prime time, not just Saturday morning. A TV-history write-up says the show debuted on June 13, 1956, airing in the early evening in some markets, with Dick Van Dyke hosting.

Looking back, it feels like a bridge between old theatrical cartoons and the Saturday morning cartoon era. These weren’t originally made as “TV cartoons.” They were movie-theater shorts being recycled for a new generation sitting in the living room.

The fun part is seeing Dick Van Dyke in that early host role. CBS apparently had him under contract and was still figuring out what to do with him. A few years later, of course, everyone knew exactly what to do with him.

Love, American Style: The Show Where Familiar Faces Got Another Shot

Love, American Style was one of those shows that could only have come from that late ’60s and early ’70s TV era. It aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974 and was built as a romantic-comedy anthology, with different short stories each week about dating, marriage, misunderstandings, and all the funny little disasters that came with love.

The format was the secret. Since every episode had new stories, the show could bring in all kinds of guest stars: older stars people already knew, TV regulars between shows, comedians, singers, and young actors just starting out. It was a perfect landing place for performers whose biggest days may have cooled off, because they didn’t have to carry a whole series. They could pop in for one funny segment, remind viewers they were still around, and get a little prime-time shine again.

It also helped launch or boost newer names. Future stars like Diane Keaton, Sally Struthers, Albert Brooks, and Harrison Ford appeared on the show, and one segment later became the starting point for Happy Days.

That was the charm of Love, American Style. You never knew who would show up. One week it might be a familiar face from older TV or movies, the next week someone who would become famous later. It was light, colorful, a little cheeky for its time, and full of that ABC Friday night energy.

For a lot of actors, it wasn’t just another guest spot. It was a way to stay visible, stay working, and remind America, “Hey, you remember me.”