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
How many of you kept watching Mayberry after Andy Griffith left? Mayberry R.F.D. continued the familiar small-town setting, but shifted the focus to farmer and town councilman Sam Jones, played by Ken Berry, and his young son Mike
The series still included many familiar faces, including Aunt Bee, Goober, Howard and Emmett. Its first episode even featured the long-awaited wedding of Andy Taylor and Helen Crump, giving longtime viewers a proper goodbye before the new chapter began
What may surprise many of us is how successful the show remained. Mayberry R.F.D. ranked among television’s top ten during its first two seasons and was still number 15 when CBS canceled it as part of the network’s move away from rural programming
This short clip also reminds us of the days when sponsors like Sanka and Post were announced as part of the program itself. Did Mayberry still feel the same to you after Andy left, or was something important missing?
“I can’t believe I ate that whole thing!” became one of those commercial lines everyone seemed to repeat, even if they had forgotten it came from Alka-Seltzer. Milt Moss played the painfully overstuffed Ralph, while Lynn Whinic delivered the perfectly dry response that made the 1972 spot so memorable.
The idea reportedly came after advertising writer Howie Cohen overate at a celebration dinner and complained about eating the whole thing. The commercial later entered the Clio Awards Hall of Fame and was even recreated decades later with Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts. Do you remember quoting this commercial around the house?
How many of you remember hearing “Hooray for Beefaroni” and suddenly wanting a bowl? This 1970s commercial turns a simple ride home for lunch into a little Italian adventure, with the young bicyclist speeding past markets, crowds and landmarks before finally reaching his Beefaroni
The commercial was part of a much larger campaign created by Young & Rubicam. Composer Roy Eaton wrote the memorable Beefaroni jingle, and it remained connected to the product for more than 30 years. An earlier commercial featured children charging through Venice while singing, creating an image that advertising writers later compared to the running of the bulls
The chef pictured on the can was not an invented mascot. Ettore Boiardi was a successful Italian-born chef who opened a Cleveland restaurant in 1924. Customers enjoyed his sauce so much that they began asking to take it home, eventually helping turn his restaurant recipes into a nationwide grocery brand. The spelling “Boy-Ar-Dee” was created simply to help Americans pronounce Boiardi correctly
Was Beefaroni a regular lunch in your house? Are you singing the jingle now?
How many of you immediately heard that little tub say “butter” before Vic Tayback even finished arguing with it? This 1976 Parkay commercial is one of those advertisements where a single word can bring the entire routine back
Tayback appeared in the commercial during the same year Alice premiered on CBS, introducing television audiences to Mel Sharples and his famously short temper. What many of us probably never knew was that Michael Bell supplied the voice of the Parkay tub. He later became one of animation’s busiest performers, voicing characters in G.I. Joe, The Transformers, The Smurfs and Rugrats
What I love about this campaign is how simple it was. A person said “Parkay,” the package insisted it was “butter,” and eventually the person became convinced. The tub then switched sides and proudly announced “Parkay!” That little argument became so recognizable that other television programs began parodying it
Parkay kept bringing the talking package back for decades. In 2002, the company even placed computer chips under thousands of lids so selected tubs could actually say “butter.” Did anyone in your family ever repeat the commercial whenever Parkay appeared on the breakfast table?
Yes, this commercial was introducing what looked like a new credit card, but it was actually announcing that BankAmericard was becoming Visa. The ad shows the new Visa card placed directly over the older BankAmericard and ends with the line, “We’re keeping up with you.”
Bank of America had introduced BankAmericard in 1958. By the 1970s, many banks inside and outside the United States were issuing versions of the card, sometimes under different regional names. The organization adopted Visa in 1976 because it was a simple international name that sounded similar in different languages.
This appears to be the 1977 “Becoming Visa” campaign. The scenes of travel, restaurants, boating and shopping were meant to show that the card was becoming more modern and useful wherever customers went.
Existing BankAmericard holders did not need to open a completely new account. New cards gradually carried the Visa name, while older BankAmericards remained valid during the transition, reportedly until October 1, 1979.
This short CBS promo was advertising a surprisingly historic Sunday night on March 19, 1978. All in the Family said goodbye to Mike and Gloria as regular characters, Alice welcomed country star Jerry Reed as himself, and The Carol Burnett Show featured Steve Lawrence and Bernadette Peters in a musical salute to Cole Porter
The three programs represented an incredible stretch of television history. All in the Family aired from 1971 to 1979, Alice from 1976 to 1985 and The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1978. Carol’s series was nearing its emotional finale, while CBS was still using Archie Bunker and Alice Hyatt to build one of Sunday television’s strongest comedy blocks
Even the music carried impressive credentials. Broadway composers Charles Strouse and Lee Adams created “Those Were the Days,” Linda Lavin sang an Alice theme written by David Shire and the Bergmans, and Carol’s familiar closing song was written by her husband and producer, Joe Hamilton
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?
“Give a hoot, don’t pollute!” Those six words made Woodsy Owl one of the most memorable public-service characters of the 1970s.
The U.S. Forest Service introduced Woodsy in 1971 to teach children that preventing pollution was everyone’s responsibility. Harold Bell helped create the character with Forest Service advisers Glenn Kovar, Betty Conrad Hite and Chuck Williams while they were working on the television series Lassie. Williams supplied the slogan that turned an owl’s “hoot” into an unforgettable environmental message.
Woodsy appeared in television and radio spots, educational films, posters, coloring sheets, bookmarks, decals and classroom kits. The Forest Service even sent a costumed Woodsy into schools to teach children about littering and conservation.
One of Woodsy’s familiar voices belonged to Sterling Holloway, whom generations also knew as Disney’s Winnie the Pooh. Woodsy became so popular that he received his own Gold Key comic-book series and was soon recognized by most American families with children.
His message later expanded to “Lend a Hand, Care for the Land,” encouraging people to do more than simply avoid littering. Even so, the original slogan remains the one many of us immediately remember.
Did Woodsy Owl make you think twice before dropping something on the ground?
How many of our viewers became EMTs, first responders or entered another medical field because of the television show Emergency!?
The series premiered on January 15, 1972, and followed Los Angeles County firefighter-paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto as they treated patients before rushing them to Rampart General Hospital. Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe starred as Johnny and Roy, while Julie London, Bobby Troup and Robert Fuller played the hospital staff.
When Emergency! premiered, North America reportedly had only 12 paramedic units. Just four years later, about half of Americans lived within 10 minutes of paramedic care. The show introduced millions of viewers to defibrillation, intravenous medication and radio contact with emergency-room doctors, helping the public understand and support modern emergency medical services.
The series ran for six seasons and produced 122 episodes, followed by six television movies. Station 51 was played by the real Los Angeles County Fire Station 127, and the original Squad 51 remains preserved today.
National EMT and Paramedic Appreciation Day is observed on April 15, while National EMS Week is held each May. Chime in and let us honor you! Tell us where you serve, and feel free to brag about your station, department or hospital.
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?
