This sketch is from one of the most popular TV comedy shows in the UK. It ran for almost seventeen years and regularly drew a large audience. The Two Ronnies as it was called starred Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett and in my house was required Saturday night viewing.
Category: 1970’s
East German Steroid Swimmers
At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, American Shirley Babashoff was supposed to be the female version of Mark Spitz. Babashoff was a threat to win six gold medals. Instead, she won just one gold medal and four silvers. In every race she lost, she lost to an East German. The star of the East German women’s swimming team was Kornelia Ender (pictured here). Babashoff was immediately suspicious of the East Germans because of their muscular builds and deep voices. She claimed the dressing room ‘sounded like a coed room.’ At the time, Babashoff was criticized as a sore loser. The press dubbed her ‘Surly Shirley.’ After East Germany collapsed in 1989 the truth came out: East German athletes were regularly given steroids via injections to increase their athletic capabilities. Babashoff now campaigns to have the East German medal results nullified.
Festus Parts the Waters
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.
Great Ads from Bud Light and DHL
Concert Scene 1976
Check out these bands playing in the Bay Area of California back in July 1976. An eye-opener is to look at the prices to see big-name entertainment. $8 a ticket was the highest ticket? I checked the same paper a decade later and the highest price was $16. The Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator says $1 is now worth $4.66 in 1976 dollars, so an $8 ticket would be $37.28 in today’s money. $1 in 1986 has $2.37 buying power in 2020. So a $16 ticket is the same at $37.28. When did ticket sales get outrageous? BC (Before Corona) concert tickets would be going for hundreds of dollars if you could get them. What happened?
So, does anyone have memories of seeing these groups in concert?
Milk And Cereal
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!
Andy Kaufman Imitates Elvis on Johnny Carson
From his March 3, 1977 appearance on The Tonight Show, Andy Kaufman segues from his “foreign man” shtick to a terrific impersonation of Elvis Presley. Elvis himself said that Kaufman did the best imitation of him.
Julie Andrews on Dick Cavett Show
Here’s a gem: From a 1971 episode of The Dick Cavett Show, Julie Andrews is persuaded to sing Wouldn’t It Be Loverly? from My Fair Lady.
In 1963, Andrews began her work in the title role of Disney’s musical film Mary Poppins. She was hand picked by Walt Disney, who liked her performance as Queen Guinevere in the musical Camelot, she initially declined because she was pregnant, but Disney insisted saying “We’ll wait for you.”
Andrews next appeared in two of Hollywood’s most expensive flops: Star! (1968), a biopic of Gertrude Lawrence; and Darling Lili (1970), which is quite amusing as it is in this time that she appears in the clip above.
Unfortunately, in 1997 she developed a hoarseness in her voice, which resulted in surgery to reportedly remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat. In 1999, she filed a malpractice suit against the doctors who had operated on her throat. Originally, the doctors assured Andrews that she should regain her voice within six weeks, but Andrews’ stepdaughter Jennifer Edwards said “it’s been two years, and it [her singing voice] still hasn’t returned.” The lawsuit was settled in September 2000 for an undisclosed amount.
In recent years her career seems to have had quite a bit of a revival, taking on many modern roles in film series such as The Princess Diaries, Shrek, and Despicable Me.
Aladdin School Lunch Boxes
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.
Lorraine Warren Interview Part 1
Both videos were recorded on October 29, 2009 at their home in Monroe – Stepney home. I don’t know why she had a WV pillow behind her.
Since 1952 the Warrens have been the directors of the New England Society for Psychic Research and they have investigated over 4,000 hauntings. Here is a detailed early history of how they met. Here is Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJeUcyS82g