Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures – Do You Remember
online community focused on sharing and reminiscing about video, audio, and images that stir our memories of the past – old television, theme songs, commercials, print advertisements, the sights and sounds you remember
Not all memories are happy ones. I remember as a kid thinking to myself that if McDonald’s was mostly for kids, why did they have smoking in the restaurants? I hated when they were at a table we were at or near! The glass ones were really old school with the tin ones taking over in the 80’s. Smoking was banned in 1994.
According to TMZ, the Grammy Award-winning lead singer of The Delfonics Will Heart passed away on Thursday, July 15, 2002 after complications of surgery. He was 77. The former barber from Philadelphia formed the Delfonics with his brother Wilbert. In 1975 after a number of hits the brothers split into two Delfonics groups. A judge ruled both brothers could use the name Delfonics if they properly informed the audience of the distinction between the two groups, so Will became Will Heart and the Delfonics.
Hart’s lead vocal led to hits like “La – La – Means I Love You,” “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” and “Ready or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love).”
![The Delfonics - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) [Restored]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qYNjpZ3NAGE/hqdefault.jpg)
I remember when the song came out in 1973, the lyrics were quite controversial. I was fifteen at the time and the soft porn lyrics coming from the radio was of course enjoyed by any teenage boy. It raised an eyebrow in my home, but it was quickly shrugged off. But the song just had a nice flow to it and brings me back to those times.
At age 30, Maria’s marriage to her musician partner and husband Geoff Muldar was coming to an end. She played with a couple of bands in the 1960’s. Now, she was expecting to be waitressing to support her and her seven year old daughter their hometown of Woodstock, New York.
In 1973 Maria Muldar was looking for one more song to complete her newest album. In a Something Else interview Maria was quoted as saying “While recording the album, Muldaur had no desire for pop stardom or a Rolling Stone cover “but it just happened to me,” she tells us. “I just collected a bunch of songs that I knew and liked. I was just following my bliss. Pop stardom and fame never really interested me, but this success was a blessing. It has allowed me to support myself and continue my 50-year-plus odyssey through various parts of American roots music.”
Asked if she still enjoys playing the same song for almost fifty years she said she does. She really enjoys seeing the audience faces light up as the song begins. In an article on Songfacts she said “Reason number two is I love the look of the faces of the audience when the band strikes that number up, when the band goes into the intro of that number. Because apparently, from all the stories that have been told to me when I meet my fans after the show to sign my CD, that song was the soundtrack to many a love-and-lust affair, and if I had been writing down all the stories of what people tell me they were doing or were inspired to do because of that song, or as that song was playing, I could have written quite the little x-rated book. So when I start that song, people’s faces light up and I see very happy, maybe slightly x-rated memories flitting across their faces.”
Although it was a one hit song for her, the song tends to evoke some strong memories. I told you my memories from the song. What are your yours?
Here is an early live performance. I like how she improvises from the studio release:
Here is a later version uploaded to Youtube in 2011. A little more jazzy!
Most of the things you use today Nick Holonyak Jr. had a hand in it. We all know Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but who invented the LED light bulb? Nick Holonyak Jr. is receiving the credit for that energy saving device. Your TV, computer and phone screen are more than likely LED. Although the LED was around for a while, Holonyak made the first visible light from and LED and credited as the father of the LED light.
Holonyak won two Nobel Prizes. The first for co-inventing the transistor and the second one for explaining superconductivity (Google that one). He holds 30 patents. “His work is responsible for the technology used to develop red lasers in CD and DVD players, the ability to transmit information over the Internet, and applications in replacing conventional lighting with LEDs. Holonyak also created the basic electronic element of household light dimmer switches” (see https://www.invent.org/inductees/nick-holonyak-jr).
At the time of this writing (May 2022) he is still with us and enjoying retirement at the age of 93.
To learn more about his of course Google him or see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Holonyak
https://mntl.illinois.edu/ssdl
https://mntl.illinois.edu/ssdl
Kodak, the memory keeper. Birthdays, weddings, Easter, you name it Kodak preserved our memories. I don’t miss waiting a week to see if I correctly captured the image! This ad was from 1950. Those images taken from the Brownie Camera was due to the large film format. It was the same film size most professional photographers used until digital photography took over.
The Boy With The Green Hair was a fantasy-drama film release in 1948. Today it might be considered a reality film.
Ain’t that the truth!! Who thought robots would be calling you about your car’s extended warrantee or better credit card rates? How many calls a day do you get?
In 1976 Kodak introduced their instant camera that turned out to violate a number of Polaroid patents. A lawsuit was filed in 1981 and settled in 1986, the same year Kodak invented the megapixel sensor which helped make digital photography and their demise possible.
I’m sure people today would freak out with the “clown” style make up in this commercial.
Carl Dean Switzer also know as Alfalfa in the series Our Gang was one of the earlier actors who were type casted and unable to find work after being a child star when his run with Our Gang ended in 1940 at the ripe old age of twelve. He did turn to television and had some luck with the Roy Rogers and a few other television shows. Switzer also trained hunting dogs and guided hunting expeditions. It was over $50 for the reward for the return of one of his dogs that caused an argument that lead to his death. The shooting was judged to be self defense as Switzer pounded on the shooters door demanding to be let in. 42 years later n 2001 a witness came forward saying it was more like a murder (see Wikipedia for the full story).
If you grew up in the 70’s and 80’s you probably have all these songs committed to memory. The 120 Music Masterpiece collection was first offered by Time/Life and then to Vista Marketing which you can heard dubbed in in this commercial. It is said that this is longest running commercial in TV history which ran from 1971 to 1984, mostly during daytime TV on local stations. John Williams was the actor in this commercial which ran longer than he did, he passed in 1983. You might remember Williams in Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder. He was also the original Mr. French in Family Affair in the opening season of 1967.
For many of us, this was our education in classical music. I can remember each song in memory and what song was next.
