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
Richard F. Outcault create the Buster Brown comic strip in 1902 which first appeared in the New York Herald. Buster was named after Buster Keaton who was at the time a child vaudeville actor. In 1904 Outcault went to the St. Louis World Fair, selling licenses for the character and the Brown Shoe Company purchased the and introduced to the Buster Brown Shoe Company to the world at the fair. In the 40’s and 50’s Buster Brown Shoes introduced a comic book as a give-a-way, prompting the stores to rubber stamp their business name and address on the comic book.
Many of you may remember the jingle
“I’m Buster Brown, and I live in a shoe. That’s my dog, Tige, and he lives there, too,” Tige was a pit-bull terrier and his sister’s name was Mary Jane.
In 2015, the company rebranded as Calares which in Latin means passion. You may know them today as Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl’s Shoes, LifeStride, Bzees, and Rykä.
In a new feature on the Retro Site we will explore the lives of the comedians of our most popular video Send in the Clowns, today we will explore the life of Jimmy Durante.
Most people today probably know Jimmy Durante as the narrator on the animated special Frosty The Snowman we see each December.
Jimmy Francis was born in 1893 in Manhattan, New York. He quit school in the seventh grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He teamed up with his cousin, also named Jimmy Durante but quickly out grew his cousin’s skill set and joined one of New York’s most recognizable bands the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member from New York. Jimmy was then known as “Ragtime Jimmy”.
In the mid-20’s Durante became a vaudeville star and radio personality. In the 30’s Durante was bouncing back and forth between Hollywood and Broadway. It was the Broadway musical Jumbo when Durante where the expression “Elephant in the Room” came about!
His comedic style first started by interrupting a song for a joke. In 1934 he had a hit song “Inka Dinka Doo” which became his theme song for the rest of his life. In the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle which he sang Make Someone Happy in the opening and closing credits. His version of As Time Goes By was also featured in the soundtrack.
Jimmy hated his nose in his younger days but found it to be his biggest asset in movies and television. He made fun of it more than any critic could have.
Jimmy Durante was first married to Jeanne Olson on June 19, 1921 but she expectantly died on Valentine’s Day, 1943 of a heart ailment. Jimmy would sign off all of his shows with “Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are”. Many thought he was referring to a waitress in Calabash, North Carolina. In a 1966 at a National Press Club Meeting Durante said he and his wife stopped at the diner and his wife liked the name Calabash which became her pet name and it was a tribute to his wife.
It wasn’t until 1960 until he met his second wife, Margie Little. He would kid around with the audience on his TV show and Margie was often the target of his clowning around with the audience. Margie was 41 and Jimmy was 67 when the married. They adopted a baby, Cecilia Alicia on Christmas Day 1961.
By now Durante was a beloved actor on TV. His gravelly lower east side New York accent made him one of the most familiar and beloved personalities. His gravely voice and butchering of the English language inspired the cartoon Augie Doggie/ Durante was Doggie Daddy in which he’d famously quipped “Dat’s my boy”! Jimmy also did a number of commercials for Kellog’s during the 1960’s. He also pitched for the 1973 Volkswagen about it being a big car enough for his schnozzola and his “companions”.
He often hosted ABC’s Hollywood Palace during the 1960. His last appearance was on the Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour which ran for just one year.
Durante retired from performing in 1972 after he became wheelchair bound. He died of pneumonia on January 29, 1980 just shy of his 87th birthday.
Jerry Lee Lewis was one of early rock-and-roll’s pioneers and leading performers. In December 1957, when he was 22 years old, Lewis secretly married for the third time. The bride was Myra Gale Brown–who happened to be just 13 years and five months old. Myra’s father was Lewis’ cousin, J.W. Brown, a member of Lewis’ band. News of the strange marriage did not surface until May 1958 when a British journalist uncovered the story as Lewis was beginning a tour of England. The adverse publicity caused the tour to be cancelled after just three concerts. The backlash followed Lewis to the United States. Many radio stations refused to play Lewis’ songs. Lewis went from $10,000-per-night engagements to small-time bookings where he was lucky to pick up $250. Moralists declared the scandal was proof of rock-and-roll’s inherent evil. The couple stayed married until 1970. Today Brown is a real estate agent.
Gunsmoke, the TV show was based on a Radio show by the same name. Gunsmoke ran from 1955 to 1975, with 635 episodes in total. In this scene, Festus explains the story of Moses, and how he parted the waters.
This holiday-themed tag appeared at the end of the I Love Lucy episode that aired on December 24, 1951. It became something of a tradition as it was aired in both 1952 and 1953 at the end of the episode that fell closest to Christmas day.
This is sort of a history of cereals we enjoyed as kids. Cereal actually started as a granola style concoction in the 1800’s that needed to be soaked in liquid to soften it up. Water made it soggy but the milk did the trick!
So which was your favorite as a kid? How about now as an adult? My all-time favorite is probably Lucky Charms. I also like Count Chocula from time to time. Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Wheaties have stood the test of time unlike fad cereals like Mr. T and CP3Os . But what about Crispy Critters? Wow, think about that!
Aladdin Industries was founded in 1908 as a kerosene lamp and stove company as Mantle Lamp Company (now you know why it’s called Aladdin as in Aladdin’s Lamp). In 1914 it diverse to manufacture vacuum bottles and thermal jars. In the 1950’s the company began producing lunch boxes. Their first licensed character was Hopalong Cassidy. Sales went from 50,000 units to 600,000. As a result TV branding was their focus and they dominated the lunchbox market. By 1965 the Aladdin acquired Stanley Bottle which helped them dominate the market.
I always envied the kids at school who had the school bus lunch box. Having four other brothers brown paper bagged lunches would have to do. Which one was your favorite?
Today, metal lunch boxes are not permitted in many schools in fear that they could be used as a weapon. How times have changed.
The Nash Rambler was produced by the Nash Motors, a division of
Nash-Kelvinator who then merged with the Hudson Car Company in 1954. The
Nash Ramber was then produced by American Motors Company in 1955. The
Rambler was America’s first modern compact car.
Play set carry all’s were very popular toys produced by Marx during
the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. They were sold as sets without “accessories
sold separately”. The play sets provided hours of fun through a child’s
imagination.
