1950's Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Perry Mason’s theme reminds me of bedtime!

I’d hear that song from upstairs, and I’d sneak halfway down the stairs just to peek at Mom’s show. I remember asking why he was sitting there all alone in that big room, because I didn’t understand what a courtroom was or why everyone looked so serious. Mom still tried to explain it to me, even though I’m sure I was bugging her. All she wanted to do was relax and watch a little TV before her own bedtime.

As a kid, I could not understand why Mom watched such a boring show. There were no monsters, no cartoons, no spaceships, and nobody was falling down a well for Lassie to rescue. Just Raymond Burr sitting there as Perry Mason, calmly figuring out who really did it while everyone else in the courtroom waited for him to prove it.

The show originally ran on CBS from 1957 to 1966, with Raymond Burr as defense attorney Perry Mason, Barbara Hale as his secretary Della Street, William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake, and William Talman as district attorney Hamilton Burger. The famous theme was called “Park Avenue Beat” and was written by Fred Steiner. That opening music had a cool, jazzy, serious sound that basically told every kid in the house, “Fun time is over. The adults have taken over the TV.”

The funny part is, despite the show being around forever and becoming one of the most famous courtroom dramas in television history, I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and watched a single full episode. But I still remember that theme like it was yesterday. That was the sound of Mom’s TV time, the sound of being told to go back upstairs, and the sound of knowing bedtime was coming whether I liked it or not.

Lassie

Just hearing the opening whistle brings back a flood of childhood memories of Lassie.
As a kid, I vowed that one day I would get a collie and name her Lassie. Yeah, that never happened. I also didn’t get a dolphin and name it Flipper. But back then, Lassie made it seem like every problem could be solved with loyalty, courage, and a very smart dog who somehow always knew exactly where to go for help.
By 1959, Lassie was deep into the Timmy Martin years, with Jon Provost playing Timmy, June Lockhart as his mother, Ruth Martin, and Hugh Reilly as his father, Paul Martin. June Lockhart would later become another famous TV mom as Maureen Robinson on Lost in Space, but to me, she would always be Lassie and Timmy’s mom.
No matter how serious the problem was, everything seemed to get wrapped up neatly within the 22 minutes of the show. Someone could be lost, trapped, injured, or in danger, and somehow Lassie would bark, run, lead the adults to the right place, and make everything okay again.
And yes, Timmy actually did fall down a well, even though the old joke makes it sound like it happened every week. It happened in the 1960 episode “The Well,” where Timmy ends up trapped and, of course, Lassie has to get help. That one moment became the running gag everyone remembers: “What’s that, Lassie? Timmy fell down the well?”
Having a rough childhood, I always wished I had Timmy’s family. There was something comforting about that show, even if life was not really like anything we saw on TV. The Martins seemed steady, kind, and safe, and Lassie was always there watching over everyone. For a kid, that kind of world was easy to want.
Well, at least I have my cat Chassie, and yes, calling her reminds me of Lassie.

Did Miss Nancy Ever Call Your Name?

Did she ever call your name? Oh, the simple joys of Romper Room. That Magic Mirror had every kid sitting at home waiting, hoping Miss Nancy would say their name before the show ended. And if she did, you felt like you had just made national television from the living room floor.

I told you my father was a Marine, so we grew up in Virginia or North Carolina so we watched Miss Nancy on WBAL. But I never realized back then that there wasn’t just one “Miss Nancy.” Romper Room was franchised and syndicated, meaning different cities often had their own local hostesses using the same basic format.

The original Romper Room began in Baltimore in the early 1950s and was created by Bert and Nancy Claster, with Nancy Claster becoming the first well-known “Miss Nancy.” It was aimed at preschool children and felt like a TV nursery school, with songs, games, stories, manners, and those famous lessons about being a “Do Bee” instead of a “Don’t Bee.”

And then came the part we all remember: “Romper, bomper, stomper boo…” Miss Nancy would look through the Magic Mirror and start naming children she supposedly saw watching at home. We knew she probably couldn’t really see us, but at that age you weren’t taking chances. You sat there quietly, behaved like a Do Bee, and waited for your name.

That is what made the show work. She treated the camera like another child in the room, so the kids watching at home felt included too. It was simple television: a teacher, a few children, a Jack-in-the-box, a magic mirror, and lessons about being polite.

No explosions, no superheroes, no fast cuts (ok, maybe a clown in the Jack-in-the-box). Just Miss Nancy asking if we had fun at play.

And yes, I still remember waiting for my name. Did she ever call yours?

Breakfast With Clowns

Back in our day, we had breakfast with clowns, and somehow nobody thought that was strange.

Post Sugar Rice Krinkles was one of those cereals that could only come from that golden age of Saturday morning television, when cereal companies put sugar right in the name and then sent a clown on TV to tell us it was part of a good breakfast. The cereal itself was a sweetened crisp rice cereal from Post, but the real memory-jogger was Krinkles the Clown, who showed up in those early commercials with that classic 1950s “fun for kids, slightly terrifying for adults” energy.

Looking back now, it is funny how normal that all seemed. We had clowns selling cereal, puppets selling chocolate, cartoon animals selling everything else, and we just sat there in our pajamas eating it all up before the cartoons came on. Sugar Rice Krinkles may be long gone, but it sits right in that strange and wonderful cereal aisle of our memories, back when breakfast was sweet, the commercials were catchy, and apparently clowns were welcome at the table.

N-E-S-T-L-E-S… Nestlé’s makes the very best…

I have vague memories of Farfel the dog himself, but that Nestlé’s jingle? That’s burned in there for life.

You know exactly what I’m talking about.

🎵 “N-E-S-T-L-E-S… Nestlé’s makes the very best…” 🎵
…and then that voice comes in to finish it…
“…chaaawwwwclit.”

Come on… you just heard it in your head, didn’t you?

That’s the part that stuck. Not the puppet, not even the commercial itself half the time… just that drawn-out delivery that somehow made it impossible to forget.

Now Farfel, for those who might not remember him as clearly, was this floppy-eared puppet dog created and voiced by Jimmy Nelson. He wasn’t flashy, wasn’t over-the-top… just kind of laid back, almost like he couldn’t be bothered to finish the word properly. And funny enough, that “lazy” delivery wasn’t even planned—it came from a mistake where the puppet’s mouth snapped shut early, and instead of fixing it, they kept it. Best decision they ever made.

And here’s something I was thinking about… back then, puppets didn’t creep us out the way they seem to today. You look at some of the comments online now and kids are like, “That thing is nightmare fuel!” Meanwhile, we were sitting there in the living room, probably on the floor, completely fine with it. No second thought. It was just part of the show.

Different time. Different mindset.

The commercial itself was simple. No crazy effects, no fast cuts, no overproduction. Just a catchy jingle, a memorable voice, and a brand like Nestlé making sure you never forgot their name. And it worked—because here we are, decades later, still singing it like it aired yesterday.

And that’s really the magic of those old commercials. They didn’t need to hit you over the head… they just slipped in, nice and easy, and stayed there.

Now I’ve got to ask… do you remember Farfel more, or is it the jingle that stuck with you like it did with me?

Proof! Ward Hit The Beaver!

There’s a well-known scene from Leave It to Beaver where Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) is clearly frustrated with Beaver and starts to say something along the lines of disciplining him—what people later joke about as “hitting the Beaver.”

But what makes the moment memorable isn’t actual violence—it’s the awkward interruption and phrasing.

As Ward begins to sternly address Beaver, the situation shifts when others are present (or nearby), and the tone changes. Instead of following through with a harsh statement, Ward softens and redirects, choosing words more carefully. The writing leans into that classic 1950s TV dynamic: discipline is implied, but handled verbally and with restraint.

Over time, fans have latched onto these moments because of how they sound out of context. Lines like “Ward, don’t be too hard on the Beaver” became unintentionally funny decades later, especially when pulled away from the show’s wholesome tone.

The Reality

Ward never actually hits Beaver on the show
Discipline is almost always talk-based and lesson-driven
The humor comes from phrasing + timing, not action

Why it stuck in pop culture

The combination of innocent writing and changing language meanings turned these scenes into internet-era jokes. What was once a straightforward family moment now gets remembered for its accidental double meanings.

If you want, I can track down the exact episode that line gets closest to what you’re remembering—there are a couple of similar scenes fans mix together.

Safe in PF: The B.F. Goodrich Sneaker Campaign That Made History

In the late 1940s and into the 1950s, American playgrounds and ballfields were filled with kids sporting canvas sneakers that promised something more than style. Ads like the one proclaiming “Safe in PF Canvas Shoes by B.F. Goodrich” pushed a new kind of athletic footwear — PF Flyers — complete with a patented Posture Foundation insole and innovative suction-cup soles.

First introduced in 1937, PF Flyers were designed to give wearers “more speed, greater endurance, and better athletic performance.” By the postwar era, B.F. Goodrich had perfected its marketing, targeting children, teens, and parents with bold claims that sneakers could improve safety and sports performance. The campaign worked. PF Flyers quickly became one of America’s top-selling athletic shoes, rivaling Converse Chuck Taylors and cementing themselves as a cultural icon of mid-century sportswear.

The display pictured here, highlighting “The Tip-Off” sole with its suction-cup grip, is a classic example of B.F. Goodrich’s efforts to link science with play. It dates to around 1948–1955, a period when PF Flyers dominated basketball courts, baseball diamonds, and school gymnasiums across the country.

B.F. Goodrich, of course, no longer makes sneakers. In 1972, the company exited the footwear business to focus solely on tires, selling off the PF Flyers brand. Over the years, PF Flyers changed hands several times, even landing under New Balance in 2001. In 2021, entrepreneur Kassia Davis — founder of KADA — acquired the label, giving the heritage sneaker line new life.

Today, PF Flyers remain available as a standalone brand, with modern reissues of their vintage classics keeping the spirit of those mid-century ads alive. While the exact suction-cup sole model may not always be in production, the legend of “Safe in PF” continues to resonate with sneaker enthusiasts and nostalgia lovers alike.

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Yahooo! Mountain Dew

When PepsiCo acquired Mountain Dew in 1964, they pushed the brand nationally and leaned hard into its folksy, hillbilly image to appeal to rural and Southern audiences, which made for some pretty wild early TV spots. Hillbilly mascot: “Willy the Hillbilly” was the cartoon character used in the TV spots and on packaging. He wore a floppy hat, overalls, and had a shotgun. The early ads were animated and featured slapstick humor, lots of moonshine-like bottles popping open, and backwoods antics. They emphasized lines like “Ya-hoo! Mountain Dew!” and “It’ll tickle yore innards!” The ads had banjos, jugs with XXX labels (a moonshine reference), outhouses, and old-timey mountain settings. While the hillbilly theme was eventually phased out in the 1970s in favor of a more youth-oriented, high-energy image, those early ads helped Mountain Dew gain a loyal base. Today, the contrast between the hillbilly roots and the current “Do the Dew” extreme sports vibe is part of what makes Mountain Dew’s branding history so unique.

Keep porch pirates at bay!

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Takes A Licking, But….

🕰️ Timex: A Watch That Made History
Founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Connecticut, Timex began by making affordable timepieces for everyday Americans. The brand reinvented itself in the 1940s with a sleek new name—Timex, a blend of “Time” and “Kleenex”—to match its modern, mass-produced watches known for durability and reliability.

But it wasn’t just engineering that made Timex a household name—it was television, and one unforgettable man.

🎙️ John Cameron Swayze, a former NBC news anchor turned enthusiastic pitchman, became the trusted face of Timex in the 1950s. He hosted live commercials that put the watches through outlandish “torture tests”: strapped to outboard motors, frozen in ice, dropped off buildings, even attached to a jackhammer. Time and time again, the watch survived, and Swayze would deliver the now-legendary line:

“It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”

📺 That catchy slogan, born in a golden era of live TV and hard-sell advertising, helped Timex become one of the best-known and best-selling watch brands in the world. Even today, the phrase still echoes as a symbol of toughness and timeless style.

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Johnny Mathis Announces Retirement: A Legendary Career Comes to a Close

Johnny Mathis performing in October 2024 at Flagstaff, Arizona.

After more than seven decades of serenading audiences with his velvety voice, Johnny Mathis, the iconic crooner, has announced his retirement. Known for timeless classics like Chances Are, Misty, and Wonderful! Wonderful!, Mathis has been a defining voice in American music since the 1950s.

At 88 years old, Mathis has continued to perform tirelessly, delighting fans with his signature blend of jazz, pop, and romantic ballads. His influence spans generations, with a career that includes over 360 million records sold worldwide, making him one of the best-selling recording artists of all time.

Mathis’ decision to step away from the stage marks the end of an era for fans who have cherished his smooth vocals and heartfelt performances. Though he will no longer tour, his vast catalog of music ensures that his legacy will live on. From his Christmas albums that have become holiday staples to his enduring love songs, Johnny Mathis’ contributions to music are immeasurable.

As he bids farewell to the spotlight, Mathis leaves behind a remarkable legacy—one that will continue to enchant listeners for generations to come.

Thanks for the many years of magic!

You need add this to your collection if you are a Johnny Mathis fan!