1970's Archives - Page 8 of 23 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Did You Have A Thumbelina?

Thumbelina was introduced by Ideal in 1961 and quickly became one of those baby dolls that stood out because she actually moved. The original was a wind-up doll, and once wound, she would wiggle and squirm like a real baby, making her feel more lifelike than many dolls of the time.

Thumbelina stayed popular through the 1960s and into the 1970s, with different sizes and versions along the way. Then in 1992, the name was brought back with Tyco’s Twinkling Thumbelina, but that version was updated for its time as a battery-operated doll rather than the original wind-up style.

For many, though, the classic 1960s Thumbelina is the one they remember best — the baby doll that moved just enough to make a child believe she was almost real.

Billy Martin, George Steinbrenner, and Miller Lite

The 1978 Miller Lite commercial with Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner worked because it was barely a joke. It was almost real life.

The ad played off Miller Lite’s famous “Tastes Great / Less Filling” campaign. Steinbrenner and Martin are sitting together, acting like they are finally getting along, until they start arguing over whether the beer’s best feature is the taste or that it is less filling. Then Steinbrenner gives the line everyone expected: “Billy, you’re fired.” Martin’s answer: “Not again.”

That was the whole joke. Everyone watching knew Steinbrenner and Martin had one of the strangest boss-manager relationships in sports. Martin was fiery, emotional, and a winner. Steinbrenner loved that until he didn’t. Then he would fire him, cool off, and eventually bring him back.

Their Yankees relationship was truly on again, off again. Martin managed the Yankees five different times, and each stint seemed to come with drama. He won a World Series with them in 1977, but by 1978 the tension with Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson was boiling over. Martin left the team that summer after his famous “one’s a born liar, and the other’s convicted” remark.

That is what made the commercial so funny. It was not just two celebrities doing a beer ad. It was Steinbrenner and Billy Martin making fun of the exact thing everyone already knew about them.

Looking back, it is one of those commercials that could only have worked at that exact moment. The Yankees were huge, Miller Lite ads were everywhere, and Steinbrenner firing Billy Martin had practically become a running gag before running gags were a thing.

Small Shots: Mattel’s Hot Wheels Dolls

Small Shots was one of those 1971 toy ideas that sounds strange now, but made sense once you see it. Mattel basically took the Hot Wheels idea and put little dolls on skates, wagons, carts, and other rolling stands that could run on Hot Wheels-style track.

The commercial is pure early ’70s toy advertising. Everything moves fast, the kids act amazed, and the announcer makes it sound like this was the next big thing. It was not just a doll, and it was not just a car. It was Mattel trying to mix both worlds together.

That was probably the real idea. Hot Wheels was huge with boys, while dolls were usually marketed to girls. Small Shots tried to pull both sides together — little fashion-style figures that could race, roll, and crash down a track. It was a clever idea, even if it also feels a little odd today.

Another interesting note: one of the early Small Shots commercials is listed among Jodie Foster’s early TV commercial work. She was still a child actor at the time, years before most people knew her name.

Small Shots did not last very long, but it is a great example of how toy companies in the 1970s were willing to try almost anything. Dolls on Hot Wheels track? Why not. In that era, if it rolled, launched, flipped, or crashed, somebody was going to put it in a commercial.

Big Jim’s Rescue Rig: Backyard Adventure in a Box

This is the Big Jim a lot of kids remember: not just the action figure, but Big Jim’s Rescue Rig from Mattel. The 1973 commercial had everything a kid needed for instant backyard drama — a rock slide, danger, a crane, a ladder, and Big Jim rushing in to save the day.

The Rescue Rig was basically a rolling rescue headquarters, with enough parts and gadgets to turn a pile of dirt or rocks into a full emergency scene. It was the kind of 1970s toy that did not need batteries, screens, or sound effects. You supplied all of that yourself.

For kids who had it, this was more than a truck. It was the whole adventure.

Before We Called Them STDs, TV Warned Us About VD

Before most people used the term STDs, television PSAs warned viewers about VD, short for venereal disease. And one of the most unforgettable ones was the 1970s spot remembered as “VD is for Everybody.”

The message was serious: venereal disease could affect anyone, and people should not be embarrassed to get information or see a doctor. But what made the PSA so memorable was how oddly cheerful it was, with upbeat music and everyday people smiling along to a topic that was not exactly dinner-table conversation.

A lot of kids probably remembered the song before they had any idea what VD even meant. Looking back, it is one of those very 1970s public service announcements that was awkward, catchy, and impossible to forget.

As The World Turns

As The World Turns. This post will never go viral, but if someone remembers their mom or grandma watching this, it is well worth the effort for the post!

As the World Turns was a long-running CBS daytime soap opera that aired from 1956 to 2010, centered mainly around the lives, loves, scandals, and struggles of families in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois. At its heart was the Hughes family, with stories built around romance, marriage, betrayal, illness, family conflict, and the everyday drama that made soap operas part of the afternoon routine for generations. It was slower and more character-driven than some later soaps, which helped make it feel like viewers were checking in on people they knew every day.

Dondi, the Sunday Comics, and the Bicentennial Newspaper I Saved

The newspaper shown here is the actual paper I brought home for my family and saved because it marked the Bicentennial of the United States.

Back then, bringing the newspaper home was part of the routine, and the comics were always one of the first places I looked. I remember reading Dondi on those walks home from the store. I enjoyed it, maybe not as much as some of the others, but it still stayed with me. It certainly caught me more than Dick Tracy, which I never really got into.

At the time, I was about the same age as Dondi, so I think that made him stand out. He looked like a kid I could understand — wide-eyed, innocent, and always seeming like he needed someone to look out for him. What I did not understand then was the deeper background of the strip.

Dondi was a long-running newspaper comic about a war orphan taken in by American soldiers. It was created by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen and ran from 1955 to 1986. The story changed with the times, but the heart of it stayed the same: a young boy trying to find safety, kindness, and a place to belong.

I’ll be sharing more from this saved Bicentennial newspaper, including how the newspapers and the comics celebrated America’s 200th birthday. Looking back now, it is not just a newspaper anymore. It is a little piece of the country, the comics page, and my own childhood all folded together.

Do you remember saving a special newspaper or reading the comics before anyone else got to them?

When a Wine Ad Sounded Like Theater

The commercial was simple, but that was the power of it. Welles sat there with that unmistakable voice, making wine sound important, serious, and almost theatrical. He did not have to do much. He just had to speak, and suddenly a bottle of wine felt like it belonged on a stage.

The line worked because it sounded classy and a little over-the-top at the same time. It made patience sound elegant. It made the product feel refined. And, like so many great old commercials, it gave people something they could repeat for years.

Of course, the ad became even more famous later because of the outtakes, where Welles had trouble getting through the lines. That only added to the legend. The serious commercial became funny in a whole new way.

Looking back, it is a perfect piece of old TV advertising: dramatic, memorable, quotable, and just a little ridiculous.

When Plymouth Turned a Cartoon Into a Muscle Car

The Road Runner was already a Saturday morning favorite before Plymouth got involved. Kids knew the bird, the desert, the endless chase, and that famous “Beep Beep!”

Then Plymouth did something that still feels almost unbelievable: they named a real muscle car after the cartoon.

The Plymouth Road Runner arrived for 1968, and it was not just a car with a cute name. Plymouth actually licensed the Warner Bros. character, put the bird on the car, and even gave it a horn that went “Beep Beep.” How many cars can say their personality came from a cartoon?

That was the genius of it. The Road Runner cartoon meant speed, fun, and always staying one step ahead. That fit perfectly with a stripped-down, affordable muscle car built for younger drivers who wanted performance without a lot of fancy extras.

So when Plymouth used the Road Runner in commercials, it was more than a gimmick. It connected Saturday morning cartoons to the muscle car era in a way that made instant sense. The bird was fast on TV, and now Plymouth was saying their car was fast on the street.

Looking back, it may be one of the best matches between pop culture and automobiles ever made. A cartoon character, a muscle car, and a horn that could make everybody smile.

Beep Beep!

“Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop”

I remember my mom calling it the “Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop,” and for years I wondered where that came from. Now I know she wasn’t just making up a funny name — that was actually part of Wham-O’s marketing.

The original Hula Hoop craze took off in 1958, but like most fads, it cooled down. Wham-O later tried to bring it back by adding a new twist: sound. They put small ball bearings inside the hollow plastic hoop so that when you spun it around your waist, it made a swishing, “shoop shoop” kind of noise. TIME described the 1967 version as the New Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop, with bright colors and ball bearings inside to give it that “whirry” sound.

That explains why the name stuck with so many parents. It wasn’t just a hula hoop anymore — it was the one that made noise. Toy collectors and nostalgia sites still point to the Shoop Shoop version as Wham-O’s attempt to freshen up the craze, and later versions from the 1970s kept the name alive.

It’s funny how those advertising names became part of everyday family language. A kid might have just called it a hula hoop, but Mom remembered the commercial name: Shoop Shoop Hula Hoop. And once you hear that, you can almost hear the sound of it spinning again.