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
Do you remember when CBS Sports Spectacular could fill an afternoon with sports we rarely saw anywhere else? This short promo is a perfect example, jumping from championship boxing and roaring NHRA dragsters to the brand-new World’s Strongest Man competition
Carlos Palomino was defending his welterweight title, Shirley Muldowney had just become the first woman to win an NHRA Top Fuel championship, and future Incredible Hulk star Lou Ferrigno was testing his strength against athletes from several different sports
What made CBS Sports Spectacular so much fun was never knowing what might come next. It could feature a major championship one week and something completely unusual the next. Long before we had cable sports channels running around the clock, programs like this introduced us to athletes, competitions and entire sports we might never have discovered otherwise
Did you watch CBS Sports Spectacular regularly, or did you usually tune in only when a favorite sport was featured?
“Good evening.” With those two words, Alfred Hitchcock welcomed viewers into a weekly world of murder, mystery, suspense and wonderfully dark humor.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents premiered on CBS in 1955 and ran for seven seasons as a half-hour anthology. In 1962, it expanded into The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, continuing for three more seasons until 1965. Each episode told a separate story, usually ending with an unexpected twist or a criminal discovering that the perfect crime was not quite perfect.
The opening became almost as famous as the stories. Hitchcock stepped into a simple outline of his unmistakable profile while Charles Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette” played. Hitchcock had drawn the nine-stroke caricature himself.
Although he introduced every program, Hitchcock directed only 17 episodes of the original half-hour series. Producers Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd helped select stories, writers, directors and actors who could deliver a complete suspense film in less than 30 minutes.
The television series also influenced Hitchcock’s movies. He later used members of the show’s experienced television crew to make Psycho, helping him film quickly and economically while creating one of the most famous thrillers ever made.
Did the theme music make you uneasy before Hitchcock even said, “Good evening”?
As requested by a number of viewers, here is the Raggedy Ann Colorforms commercial I remember from childhood. I have since discovered just how many different Colorforms kits were made, and I will share more of them over time.
Colorforms used colorful pieces of reusable vinyl that clung to smooth surfaces without glue. Children could dress the characters, rearrange the scenes, peel everything off and begin again. The Raggedy Ann kit shown in this 1967 commercial allowed kids to change her dresses and accessories as often as their imaginations allowed.
Colorforms began in 1951 after Harry and Patricia Kislevitz experimented with colorful vinyl originally used to make handbags. They discovered that the pieces clung to the glossy walls of their bathroom and began cutting them into different shapes. What started as a creative experiment soon became a successful toy.
FAO Schwarz placed an early order for 1,000 sets, helping turn the small project into a real company. The first kits featured basic geometric shapes, but licensed characters soon followed. Popeye became the first in 1957, opening the door for hundreds of television, comic book and movie characters.
Even the familiar Colorforms logo has an interesting history. Legendary graphic designer Paul Rand, who also designed logos for IBM, ABC and UPS, created it in 1959.
I also remember watching the local weather forecast as a child. The station used happy, smiling suns, large red H’s for high pressure and other colorful symbols that looked like oversized Colorforms.
Before computer-generated weather graphics, forecasters physically moved reusable symbols around a large map. Depending on the station, those symbols could be made from magnetic rubber, felt or another cling-on material. Whatever they were made from, they looked remarkably similar to the Colorforms we played with at home.
Maybe that is why those old weather maps remain so memorable. The smiling suns, rain clouds and giant H’s and L’s made the forecast feel like a giant Colorforms set coming to life on television.
Do you remember your local weather forecaster moving those colorful symbols around the map?
“Cigars, cigarettes, Tiparillos?” You almost have to whisper the words when you say them. This stylish black-and-white commercial placed a glamorous cigarette girl inside a crowded nightclub, where she quietly offered Tiparillos from the tray hanging around her neck.
Tiparillo was a small, mild cigar with a white plastic mouthpiece. Even its name explained the product, combining “tip” and “cigarillo.” The name was trademarked in 1961, and General Cigar reportedly spent about $5.5 million promoting the new product during its 1962 national launch.
The campaign borrowed the familiar image of the nightclub cigarette girl, who once walked through restaurants, casinos and clubs selling tobacco products directly from a tray. The softly delivered “Cigars, cigarettes, Tiparillos?” became so memorable that people continued repeating it decades after the commercials disappeared.
Sales began slowly but took off by 1963, helping General Cigar become the dominant company in America’s small-cigar market. The following year, the Surgeon General’s report on smoking caused some cigarette smokers to briefly switch to cigars, giving Tiparillo another boost.
Tiparillo later introduced its equally famous “Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady?” campaign. The ads featured fashionable, successful women, although Stanford’s tobacco advertising archive notes that the women were generally presented as accepting the cigars rather than actually smoking them.
When cigarette commercials disappeared from American television in 1971, little cigars initially escaped the ban. Congress closed that loophole with the Little Cigar Act of 1973, bringing commercials like this one to an end.
Do you remember the commercial itself, or does simply hearing “Cigars, cigarettes, Tiparillos?” bring it all back?
This animated commercial proves you did not need actors, scenery or even much animation to create something memorable. Musical notes dance across the screen, letters form the Winston name, and the package appears while the singers deliver one of advertising’s most familiar jingles.
The clip matches a 1963 Winston television spot, although the campaign began with the brand’s introduction in 1954. R.J. Reynolds named Winston after Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and promoted it as a filtered cigarette that still delivered flavor. The brand became the country’s best-selling cigarette by 1966.
The William Esty advertising agency built the campaign around “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.” The use of “like” instead of “as” was intentional, creating a national grammar argument that helped make the slogan even more memorable. Walter Cronkite refused to say it incorrectly, Merriam-Webster cited it during a language debate, and Winston eventually answered its critics by asking whether they wanted good grammar or good taste.
Margaret Johnson ghostwrote the jingle and recorded it with her husband, Travis Johnson, and their group, the Song Spinners. The melody’s two quick handclaps became almost as recognizable as the words themselves. Winston later carried the campaign into popular television programs, including The Flintstones, where Fred, Barney and other Bedrock characters promoted the cigarettes.
Seen today, the commercial is also a reminder of how common cigarette advertising once was on television. Growing evidence about smoking’s health risks eventually led to the removal of cigarette commercials from American radio and television beginning in 1971.
Do you remember the words first, or those two perfectly timed handclaps?
I remember sitting in the living room with the family to watch The Jackie Gleason Show. The dramatic introduction always confused me because I expected some action, not the June Taylor Dancers!
When the “Glea Girls” were shown waiting for their cue to say their lines, we all yelled, “Go!” or “You’re on!” We did not realize the show was being broadcast live.
The Glea Girls introduced segments and helped give the program its glamorous Miami Beach look. They were different from the June Taylor Dancers, the professional dance troupe that performed the show’s large, carefully choreographed production numbers.
Jackie Gleason moved his show from New York to Miami Beach in 1964, turning Saturday nights into a weekly television trip to Florida. The program featured Gleason’s comedy characters, Sammy Spear and his orchestra, the June Taylor Dancers, celebrity guests and Johnny Olson’s enthusiastic introductions.
Beginning in 1966, The Honeymooners returned in color with Art Carney once again playing Ed Norton. Sheila MacRae played Alice Kramden, while Jane Kean played Trixie Norton. Many of their Miami adventures became full musical productions with elaborate sets and original songs.
Gleason regularly promoted Miami Beach as the “sun and fun capital of the world.” He ended each show by declaring, “The Miami Beach audience is the greatest audience in the world!”
The Miami version continued until February 28, 1970. But what I remember most is sitting in the living room with my family, waiting for the show to begin and yelling cues at the Glea Girls, even though we knew the program had already been recorded.
Did your family ever talk back to the television just for the fun of it?
This wonderfully simple 1956 commercial begins with Marky refusing to eat his breakfast while wearing his cowboy hat. Uncle Ralph tries the old airplane-and-hangar trick, accidentally puts the spoon into his own mouth and discovers that he likes Maypo. When Uncle Ralph begins eating the entire bowl, Marky finally delivers the line remembered by generations: “I want my Maypo!”
Animation pioneer John Hubley created the commercial around recordings of his four-year-old son, Mark. Rather than giving the boy a polished script, Hubley followed him with a microphone and built the cartoon around his natural words, reactions and mispronunciations. The result felt more like a funny family moment than a commercial.
The campaign transformed a poorly selling maple-flavored oatmeal into a national favorite. Sales rose an average of 78 percent and climbed as high as 186 percent in some markets. Marky became so popular that he appeared on packaging and inspired a vinyl bank, although Hubley initially fought attempts to merchandise a character based upon his own child.
Later commercials featured major athletes including Mickey Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain, Johnny Unitas, Don Meredith and Oscar Robertson declaring that they wanted their Maypo. Marky received a modern makeover in 2001, but kept his familiar cowboy hat and kerchief.
Maypo remains available today, proving that Marky’s demand lasted much longer than anyone probably expected.
Did you eat Maypo, or did you simply run around the house shouting, “I want my Maypo!”
Saturday mornings became much more dangerous when Wacky Races premiered on CBS on September 14, 1968. Eleven bizarre vehicles raced across the country while Dick Dastardly and his snickering dog, Muttley, stopped every few miles to set another trap.
Every car matched the personality of its driver. Penelope Pitstop had the beauty-salon-equipped Compact Pussycat, Professor Pat Pending drove the transforming Convert-a-Car, and the Gruesome Twosome traveled inside the monster-filled Creepy Coupe. The Ant Hill Mob raced in the Bulletproof Bomb, while lumberjack Rufus Ruffcut drove a wooden vehicle with circular saw blades for wheels.
The funniest part was that Dick Dastardly probably could have won by simply continuing to drive. Instead, he repeatedly stopped his speedy Mean Machine to build complicated traps that usually backfired, leaving him and Muttley behind everyone else. Across all 34 races, they never recorded a first, second or third-place finish.
The cartoon produced only 17 episodes, each containing two separate races, but its characters proved too entertaining to disappear. Penelope and the Ant Hill Mob returned in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, while Dick Dastardly and Muttley moved into airplanes for Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.
Which racer did you root for, and did anyone actually want Dick Dastardly to win?
Sea Hunt was another show I watched with my dad. Combat!, The Rat Patrol and, heck, even Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. were shows many of us watched beside our fathers. We were entertained, but we also learned from them about courage, responsibility, loyalty and doing the right thing.
Lloyd Bridges starred as professional diver Mike Nelson, a former Navy frogman who took on dangerous underwater rescues, criminals, sabotage and sunken mysteries. Sea Hunt ran from January 4, 1958, through September 23, 1961, producing 155 episodes over four seasons.
The show never belonged to one major television network. It was sold directly to local stations through syndication, so families watched it on different nights and at different times depending on where they lived.
Bridges learned to scuba dive for the role and eventually performed many of his own underwater stunts. Since actors could not easily speak underwater, much of the action was explained through Mike Nelson’s narration. Many scenes were filmed in the clear waters of Silver Springs, Florida.
I do not want to sound old, even though I am, but there do not seem to be as many father-and-son bonding shows anymore. Maybe it was not only the programs that made those nights special. Maybe it was simply sitting beside Dad and sharing something together.
Did you watch Sea Hunt with your father, and what other shows brought the two of you together?
Before Super Friends and decades before the live-action television series, Filmation brought the Flash racing onto Saturday-morning television. Beginning in 1967, Flash and Kid Flash appeared in short adventures during The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, battling giant creatures, robots and even another super-speedster. Only three solo cartoons were produced, but the Flash also appeared alongside the Justice League.
The animation was simple, with repeated running scenes, bright streaks and dramatic narration, but somehow that made the Flash seem even faster. Years later, Sheldon Cooper regularly wore Flash shirts and dressed as the character on The Big Bang Theory, helping make that familiar lightning-bolt symbol cool again. Sheldon probably would have watched these cartoons frame by frame, then complained that Barry Allen’s speed was scientifically inconsistent.
