I always remember Johnny Carson as one of the best-dressed men on television. His suits, ties, and easy confidence were as much a part of The Tonight Show as the monologue. But this ad reminds me that Johnny’s fashion image went well beyond what he wore behind the desk.
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The Johnny Carson Wardrobe offered some unmistakably ’70s looks: a belted jumpsuit, a safari-style sport jacket, bold patterned shirts, and a neck scarf to pull it all together. Those wide collars and earthy colors certainly take me back! Johnny could make even an outfit like this look relaxed and sophisticated.
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The ad promoted coordinated pieces that men could mix and match, emphasizing easy-to-wear Fortrel polyester double-knits. A shirt was advertised at $27.50 and straight-leg slacks at $37.50. It was selling more than clothing—it offered everyday men a little of the polish associated with television’s king of late night.
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Looking at this, I can understand why Johnny was such a fashion icon. He made dressing well seem approachable, even when the fashions got adventurous. Would you have worn the jumpsuit, or would you have stuck with Johnny’s classic suit and tie?
Category: 1970’s
Halloween at Woolworth’s: Plastic Masks and Five-and-Dime Memories
Now this is Halloween shopping, 1970s style! Woolworth and Woolco had the costumes, the candy, and even a record to supply the spooky sounds. Complete costumes for $1.83 to $3.99—and somehow those plastic masks could make the Bionic Woman look scarier than the monsters!
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I always get a kick out of those old costumes with the character’s picture printed right on the front. You weren’t simply dressed as Superman—you were wearing an advertisement explaining that you were Superman. There was actually a reason for that: Ben Cooper considered the costume front a wearable billboard, designed to make the character instantly recognizable.
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Those inexpensive costumes took more work than you might think. According to Ira Cooper, whose family ran the company, developing one normally took about nine months. Artists, sculptors, engineers, and fabric workers all had a hand in turning a familiar television or comic-book face into Halloween merchandise.
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And that Sounds to Make You Shiver record wasn’t something created just for the commercial. Pickwick was already promoting it in 1973. Before we could pull up spooky sounds on a phone, we could put a haunted house on the turntable!
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Woolworth’s American stores disappeared in 1997, but commercials like this bring back an entire way of shopping. What was your favorite Halloween costume growing up—and did it come in a box with a plastic mask?
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#Woolworth #Woolco #VintageHalloween #HalloweenNostalgia #BenCooper #1970s #TheRetroSite
BLACULA — DRACULA’S SOUL BROTHER
That’s exactly how the 1972 trailer introduces him, and William Marshall makes Prince Mamuwalde much more than just another version of Dracula.
Mamuwalde is an African prince who travels to Count Dracula’s castle with his wife, hoping to enlist Dracula’s help in fighting the slave trade. Dracula refuses, attacks him, turns him into a vampire and gives him the insulting name “Blacula.”
What I found especially interesting is that Marshall helped shape the character into the dignified, tragic prince we see on screen. The original concept was reportedly much more stereotyped, and Marshall wanted Mamuwalde to have intelligence, history and real stature.
Marshall was a classically trained actor who had earned acclaim playing Othello, and that deep voice and commanding presence gave the character a seriousness the title alone probably wouldn’t lead you to expect.
Blacula was also a financial success. Made for roughly $500,000, it earned about $1.2 million in U.S. and Canadian theatrical rentals and did well enough to bring William Marshall back for Scream Blacula Scream the following year.
The soundtrack is another great part of it. Gene Page created the funky soul-horror score, and The Hues Corporation performed three songs for the movie, calling Blacula their first big break before “Rock the Boat” went to number one in 1974.
Blacula even became the first winner of the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.
And if you want to see the whole movie, it’s still available on several streaming services today.
Do you remember Blacula — or did “Dracula’s Soul Brother” get your attention first?
Betamax: When Watching TV on Your Own Schedule Felt Like Magic
I remember when Betamax came out, before the format wars became something we all worried about. Mine cost almost $1,000, had a wired remote, and those giant piano keys for controls. Depending on the year, that’s roughly $5,500 to $6,200 in today’s money. It was a serious purchase!
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But being able to record television and watch it when I wanted felt incredible. Before that, the television schedule pretty much decided your evening. Miss something, and you could only hope it would come around again.
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Sony introduced Betamax in 1975 and called this freedom “time-shifting.” The early machines recorded only an hour per tape, but even that opened up possibilities we hadn’t had before. This early commercial captures that feeling of bringing a little magic into the living room.
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Then a video store opened about ten miles away, and I thought it was the best thing going! Imagine being able to go pick out a movie, bring it home, and watch it on your own television. Today that sounds ordinary. Back then, it was something to get excited about.
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VHS eventually won the format war, but Betamax lasted longer than many people realize. Sony kept making recorders until 2002 and shipping blank Beta tapes until 2016.
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I remember the excitement of what that machine let me do more than which format eventually won. Did you start with Betamax or VHS, and do you remember your first trip to a video store?
Friday Night 1975
It’s Friday night, 1975. No school tomorrow, the whole weekend is still ahead of you, and the biggest question is: what are you doing tonight?
Maybe you’re staying home with the TV Guide open on the floor, trying to figure out what everybody is watching. Dad already has his chair, somebody’s making popcorn, and once you picked a show, that was it. There was no streaming it later.
Or maybe you’re headed to the roller rink. The music is loud, the lights are flashing, and you’re hoping your favorite song comes on while you’re out there trying not to wipe out in front of everybody.
Maybe it’s the drive-in. A carload of people, the speaker hanging on the window, a trip to the concession stand, and if you were a kid, there was a pretty good chance you were asleep before the second movie ended.
We didn’t have phones in our pockets telling us where everybody was. If you wanted to find your friends, you called their house, made a plan, and hoped somebody’s parents didn’t change it.
Friday night just felt different back then. It felt like the beginning of something.
So let’s go back for a minute. It’s Friday night, 1975. How old are you, where are you going, and what are you doing tonight?
What memories does this conjure up from your past?
DO THE FONZIE — WHEN HAPPY DAYS GAVE THE FONZ HIS OWN DANCE
I had forgotten that Happy Days actually gave Fonzie his own dance.
This is from the 1979 episode “Stolen Melodies,” and the setup is pure Happy Days. Leather Tuscadero, played by real-life rocker Suzi Quatro, has written a song called “Moonlight Love.” After auditioning for the television show National Sok Hop, the song suddenly turns up credited to another group.
Naturally, Fonzie isn’t going to let that slide.
He shows up at the TV studio, confronts the people involved and eventually takes over the microphone himself. Instead of letting the other band introduce its new dance, Fonzie brings out Leather and announces a brand-new one:
“Do the Fonzie.”
And then the Fonz actually has to dance.
The song was written especially for the show by Jim Dunne and performed by Suzi Quatro. The dancing was choreographed by Shirley Kirkes, so somebody really did have the job of figuring out exactly how Fonzie should dance without making the coolest guy on television look completely ridiculous.
Quatro was already a successful rock singer and bass player when she joined Happy Days as Leather Tuscadero. She later recalled that she was touring Japan when the show called her back to audition for the role.
By this point Fonzie had become such a pop-culture phenomenon that Happy Days could invent an entire dance around him and it somehow made perfect sense.
And just about a year later, one of Henry Winkler’s famous Fonzie leather jackets went into the Smithsonian.
Do you remember “Do the Fonzie” — and would you have tried this dance at a sock hop?
WENDY’S IS GOING YELLOW AGAIN — AND THIS 1977 COMMERCIAL SHOWS WHY
I just read that Wendy’s is bringing back the classic yellow, and this old commercial suddenly seems very timely.
To clarify, they’re not turning the restaurants yellow again. Starting September 28, Wendy’s began rolling out the old yellow packaging at U.S. locations — cups, burger wrappers, fry cartons, nugget boxes, Frosty containers and more. It’s expected to continue into 2027.
And apparently I’m not the only one who remembers it. Wendy’s says fans have been asking for the yellow to come back for years.
Take a look at this commercial from 1977. This was Wendy’s “Hot & Juicy” era, and the chain had only just launched its first national television campaign. The yellow cups and that red-and-yellow restaurant look were becoming part of the Wendy’s identity most of us would remember for years afterward.
I also found something I didn’t know. The very first Wendy’s opened in Columbus, Ohio in 1969, but the original restaurant exterior was actually blue and white. Yellow became much more prominent as Wendy’s grew through the 1970s and eventually became one of those things you instantly associated with the place.
And Wendy’s was growing fast. In March 1978, less than nine years after opening the first restaurant, they opened location number 1,000.
This commercial also reminds me of what Wendy’s was selling back then — “Hot & Juicy” hamburgers made to order with whatever toppings you wanted. A few years later came the salad bars, baked potatoes and, of course, “Where’s the beef?”
Funny how something as simple as the color of a cup can bring all of that back.
Do you remember the yellow Wendy’s — and would you like to see them bring back more of the old restaurant look too?
Put Yourself in Bruce Jenner’s Shoes—1978
I remember Bruce Jenner on the Wheaties box, but this sneaker line had slipped past me. This 1978 ad promoted “Bruce Jenner Footgear by Roblee,” turning the fame of the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion into a pitch for everyday footwear.
These were Brown Shoe Company products, and the selling points were surprisingly practical. The shoes came in narrow, medium and wide widths, with leather, suede and nylon styles, cushioned insoles and rubber soles. One gray jogging shoe even featured a silver reflective strip for nighttime runners.
What catches my eye is how the ad brought Olympic glory down to the neighborhood level. You didn’t have to compete in ten events—or even be much of a runner—to buy into the image. The copy welcomed weekend athletes, too. And that outfit! The striped pants, open-collar shirt and colorful sneakers make this a little time capsule of late-1970s sportswear.
Roblee appears to have faded away as an active shoe brand, but its parent company survived. Brown Shoe Company is now called Caleres, the company behind familiar names including Naturalizer, Allen Edmonds and Sam Edelman. A forgotten sneaker line, but a company whose shoes are still around.
Do you remember these shoes, or was Jenner’s Wheaties box the one that stuck with you?
Far Out in the Kitchen with Frigidaire
Dig that avocado green! Between the wood cabinets, flower-power wallpaper, and a microwave big enough to look like mission control, this kitchen was the happening place to be. Frigidaire promised “quality and value,” but let’s be real: the appliances had the whole pad looking groovy.
Who remembers when every kitchen seemed to come in avocado green or harvest gold?
WHEN SATURDAY AFTERNOON SPORTS HAD EVERYTHING
Looking back at this 1977 CBS promo, I’m reminded how different Saturday afternoon sports TV used to be. One edition of CBS Sports Spectacular gave us world championship boxing, NHRA drag racing, professional arm wrestling and The World’s Strongest Men — all on the same show.
The hot rods are what caught my attention. The footage came from the 1977 NHRA World Finals, a historic season that saw Shirley Muldowney become the first woman to win an NHRA world championship.
The arm wrestling has a story too. Promoter Steve Simons had formed the World Professional Armwrestling Association in 1974, hoping to move the sport out of bars and present it as a legitimate competition. By 1977, it had made its way onto national television through CBS.
And the strongman competition was brand new. This was the first year of World’s Strongest Man, won by Bruce Wilhelm. One of the competitors was Lou Ferrigno, right around the time America was getting to know him as The Incredible Hulk.
Even the boxing featured WBC welterweight champion Carlos Palomino.
That’s what I miss about shows like CBS Sports Spectacular. You might tune in for the drag racing and end up discovering boxing, arm wrestling or strongman competition.
Do you remember spending Saturday afternoons watching shows like this?