1970's Archives - Page 11 of 21 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

70’s Canister Set

We had this canister set, but ours was brown, or whatever that official 1970s brown color was called. You know the one, somewhere between chocolate, coffee, and “everything in the kitchen must look like earth tones.”

Seeing something like this is funny because it is just a simple photo, but it brings back a flood of childhood memories. I remember our tea canister stacked on top of the coffee canister, and the other three were all the same size. For some reason, I thought that was pretty cool. Then again, back then, most things seemed pretty cool.

The 1970s kitchen definitely had its own look. Avocado green, harvest gold, burnt orange, and those deep browns seemed to be everywhere, from appliances to countertops to dishes and canister sets like these. Nothing matched today’s idea of “modern,” but somehow it all felt warm, familiar, and homey.

It is amazing how one little thing from the kitchen counter can take you right back. You can almost picture the percolator, the Tupperware, the patterned wallpaper, and someone telling you not to touch anything because company was coming over.

Did your family have a canister set like this, and what color was yours?

Laugh-In Favorites

I still can’t believe my Marine sergeant dad, the same dad who hated hippies and anti-war protesters, the same dad who tuned into Lawrence Welk and Hee Haw, actually enjoyed Laugh-In.

That show was loud, weird, colorful, and full of the exact kind of counterculture humor you would think he’d complain about. But somehow, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In worked its way into living rooms like ours. Maybe it was the fast jokes, maybe it was the pretty girls, maybe it was the one-liners, or maybe it was just goofy enough that even the strict dads could laugh before they realized what they were laughing at.

For all the things my dad would not tolerate, somehow Laugh-In got a pass. And that may be one of the funniest things about the show. It was strange enough for the kids, fast enough for the adults, and somehow ridiculous enough to bring everybody into the same room.

Which of these lights did you own back in the day?

Before LED light strips and remotes, we had to do it the old-school way in the 1970s. If you wanted to make your room look cool, you went with black lights, lava lamps, strobe lights, flicker lights, and if you were really lucky, a color organ. This old Spiegel catalog page is a great reminder of just how different mood lighting was back then.

For me, it was number 7, the Listen-Light, also known as a color organ. You plugged it in, played your music, and the lights changed with the sound. Back then, that felt futuristic. Today it seems simple compared to all the LED lighting options out there, but in the 70s this stuff was magic. Which lights did you own?

Hey Grandpa! What’s For Dinner?

It still wasn’t as bad as when Dad turned on Lawrence Welk, but Hee Haw always felt like the country cousin of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. It had the same quick jokes, blackout skits, silly one-liners, and regular cast bits, just with more overalls, cornfields, banjos, and country music stars dropping by.

The show first aired in 1969, right around the same era when Laugh-In was still the cool, fast-moving comedy show everyone was talking about. Hee Haw took that same rapid-fire style and gave it a country spin, and somehow it stuck around for years. Even if you weren’t a big country music fan, you probably remember the corny jokes, the haystacks, the “salute” segments, and someone in the house laughing at lines that made the rest of us groan. And who can forget Grandpa?

Super Friends

Super Friends was one of those Saturday morning cartoons that made DC superheroes feel like they all lived in the same neighborhood. It first aired on ABC in 1973 and was produced by Hanna-Barbera, bringing together Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and later other heroes from the Justice League world.

The show was definitely made for kids, so the action was toned way down compared to the comic books. Instead of darker superhero stories, you got teamwork, moral lessons, danger, science-fiction plots, and everybody meeting at the famous Hall of Justice. Early on, the show even had kid sidekicks Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog, before later seasons brought in the much better-remembered Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, with their monkey Gleek.

For a lot of us, the best-remembered version is probably Challenge of the Superfriends from 1978. That’s the one that gave us the Legion of Doom, led by Lex Luthor, with villains like Cheetah, Riddler, Bizarro, Scarecrow, Captain Cold, Black Manta, and Solomon Grundy. Their creepy swamp headquarters, the Hall of Doom, was almost as memorable as the heroes themselves.

Looking back, Super Friends could be corny, stiff, and sometimes unintentionally funny, but that was also part of its charm. For a whole generation, this was the first time we saw Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the gang teaming up every Saturday morning. Before the big movies, before the modern animated Justice League shows, this was our superhero universe.

Oscar Mayer Weiner Ad

Another jingle to get stuck in your head! The Oscar Mayer wiener jingle was written by Richard D. Trentlage, a Chicago advertising jingle writer. He came up with “Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener…” in 1962 for an Oscar Mayer contest, and it became one of the most famous commercial jingles ever

Who Remembers The Flying Nun?

If you grew up flipping channels back in the late 60s, there’s a pretty good chance you landed on The Flying Nun at least once… and probably did a double take. I mean, a nun that could fly? Even as a kid, you knew this one was a little different. The show starred a very young Sally Field as Sister Bertrille, a small, light nun whose cornette—those big winged headpieces—would catch the wind just right and lift her right off the ground. And just like that, she was flying over the convent in Puerto Rico like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Now looking back, it was one of those shows that didn’t try too hard to explain itself, and honestly, that was part of the charm. It ran from 1967 to 1970, right in that era where TV was full of quirky, feel-good concepts. And believe it or not, Sally Field wasn’t exactly thrilled about the role at the time, but it ended up being the stepping stone that launched a pretty incredible career. For a lot of us, though, it’s just one of those “you had to be there” kind of shows—simple, a little goofy, and something the whole family could sit around and watch together.

Sammy Davis Jr. Puts His Spin on “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz”

If you grew up in the early 1970s, you didn’t just watch commercials… you experienced them. And when Sammy Davis Jr. showed up singing “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz,” it felt less like an ad and more like a mini performance right in your living room. This wasn’t just someone reciting a jingle — this was Sammy bringing that full stage presence, the same energy he gave in Vegas, and dropping it into a few unforgettable seconds of television.

By 1973, the Alka-Seltzer jingle was already a household staple, written by Tom Dawes back in the late ’60s. But Sammy’s version gave it new life. He added swing, personality, and that unmistakable charm that made you stop what you were doing and watch. In an era when commercials leaned heavily on catchy tunes and big personalities, this one hit the sweet spot. You remembered the performance first… and somewhere right behind it, the product.

That was the magic of those days. The whole house would pause — parents, kids, whoever was in the room — because you knew something fun was coming. And decades later, it still works. Just reading the words “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz” probably brought the whole thing rushing back.

Free to Be… You and Me.

This whole thing was put together by Marlo Thomas, and you’ve gotta give her credit—it wasn’t just entertainment, it was a message. She wanted something different for kids… something that said you didn’t have to fit into a mold.

Now I’ll be honest, I didn’t realize until later just how many big names were actually part of this. We’re talking a young Michael Jackson—before he became the global superstar—teaming up with Roberta Flack on “Be a Lion.” And then you had Cicely Tyson in the TV special, bringing that powerful, grounded presence she always had.

But what really made this stand out wasn’t just the names… it was the message.

This came out in the early 70s, a time when things were starting to change, and instead of just entertaining kids, it was actually talking to them. It was telling you it’s okay to be yourself, okay to feel what you feel, and you didn’t have to fit into some box just because that’s how things always were.

And the way they did it—with music, stories, and voices you recognized—it just stuck. You might not have even realized what it was doing at the time, but looking back, it was kind of ahead of its time.

So before we even get into it… how many of you remember this one? And did you realize back then who you were actually listening to?

The FBI- And Who The Heck Was Efrem Zimbalist Jr?

If you grew up in the late 1960s, chances are you remember The F.B.I.. It wasn’t flashy—it just felt real, and that’s what made it work. It was more or less my mom’s show; she watched it, and for me, it was the only decent thing on TV.

What made it stand out was Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. He brought a quiet authority to Inspector Lewis Erskine—calm, believable, and never over the top. While other actors leaned into drama, he leaned into restraint, and that made him unforgettable. Now here’s something a lot of people don’t realize. Zimbalist didn’t come from a typical Hollywood background. His father, Efrem Zimbalist Sr., was one of the most respected classical violinists of his time. Born in Russia, he became an international music star and later served as director of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. So while the son became a television icon, the father was already a legend in a completely different world.

The show aired on ABC from 1965 to 1974, starting on Sunday nights before moving around the schedule. Its realism was helped by cooperation with the real FBI, giving it a grounded, procedural feel.