1980's Archives - Page 7 of 10 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Forgotten Hit: Holdin’ On

I have over 5,000 songs on my mp3 player from the ’60s through the ’90s. I like putting it on a mix to hear a large variety. It also gives me ideas for this page.

Holdin’ On came on and it had that driving sound from the ’80s but I couldn’t remember who performed. Turns out to Be Tane Cain. At first, I thought that was the band name but that is the performer.

She is the daughter of actor Doug McClure and she first appeared in the TV series The Virginian when she was just 5 years old. In the 1970’s she met and married Journey’s keyboardist Johnathan Cain. Now known as Tané Cain she got a record deal with RCA. The first release Danger Zone failed to chart but his song Holdin’ On made it to number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard described her as “an artist to watch” She hated when people compared her to Pat Benatar even though her music was produced to sound like Bentar’s. She prefers the comparison to her idol Grace Slik. RCA never renewed her contract and she never recorded again. She went on to play Elle Woods in the 2001 movie Legally Blonde.

Mini NFL Helmets

Oh, the money I spent on collecting these mini helmets, twenty-five cents at a time. Of course, you would get duplicates and never the team you wanted it seemed. Fortunately, I grew up with four other brothers that I could trade with but these weren’t like the baseball trading cards most of my friends collected. Today, you didn’t have to buy them a couple at a time but you can go to eBay and buy the whole collection for just twenty-five bucks!

Gentlemen Prefer Hanes

In the 1970s and ’80s, Hane used the slogan “gentlemen prefer Hanes” in a catchy song. Yes, I know, you have it stuck in your head now even without watching this video! The commercial always changed with different actors and themes like at an art auction, magic show, or some other social setting. In the 1990’s they changed the slogan to “The lady prefers Hanes”

My question is do women still wear pantyhose? I don’t see it in public or even on tv anymore.

Max Headroom To Return

The co-creater of Halt and Catch Fire (great series!) Christopher Cantwell recently tweeted “I’m writing a new Max Headroom series for @AMC_TV” . Originally introduced in 1985 as the British TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future. In short, Max was a fictional reporter fleeing enemies in a parking garage on a motorcycle that crashed through the structure’s warning sign that reads “Max. Headroom 2.3 meters. For an interesting, detailed report on Max Headroom’s history see this Youtube video.G

Max Headroom was an artificially intelligent character created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Advertised as computer-generated, Max Headroom was played by actor Matt Frewer while wearing prosthetic make-up and wearing a plastic molded suit. Harsh lighting while sitting in front of a blue screen, gave viewers the illusion of artificial intelligence that was not possible at the time.

Max Headroom was featured by HBO and Cinemax and also replaced Bill Cosby as the spokesman for New Coke. Ironically when Marty McFly went to the 80’s Cafe in Back To The Future II it featured an artificial intelligent portrayal of Michael Jackson and President Ronald Reagan here in this YouTube clip. But Back To The Future II sponsor this time was Pepsi!

I’m certain technology has caught up with the idea and can replace the actor but AMC said Matt Frewer will return as the host.

Here is a clip from Youtube from the 1986 Mox Headroom show featuring an interview with Howie Mandel (while he still had hair!) >

Remember Morris The Cat?

Before there was Grumpy Cat or cat memes we only had Nine Live Morris The Cat commercials to look forward to. Morris the Cat was the mascot for Nine Lives from the ’70s through the ’80s. Known to be the “world’s most finicky cat” with snarky voice-over comments.

The first Morris The Cat was discovered by Bob Martwick in 1968 at the Hindsale Humane Society in the Chicago area. Martwick worked at the Leo Burnett advertising company where Morris was featured in 58 television commercials from 1968 to 1978. Morris was Martwick’s family pet.

John Erin was the voice for Morris and also He-Man in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

The original Morris died in 1978. Since then there have been 2 other Morris cats, all were rescue cats.

McAshtrays

Not all memories are happy ones. I remember as a kid thinking to myself that if McDonald’s was mostly for kids, why did they have smoking in the restaurants? I hated when they were at a table we were at or near! The glass ones were really old school with the tin ones taking over in the 80’s. Smoking was banned in 1994.

Classical Music Commercial

If you grew up in the 70’s and 80’s you probably have all these songs committed to memory. The 120 Music Masterpiece collection was first offered by Time/Life and then to Vista Marketing which you can heard dubbed in in this commercial. It is said that this is longest running commercial in TV history which ran from 1971 to 1984, mostly during daytime TV on local stations. John Williams was the actor in this commercial which ran longer than he did, he passed in 1983. You might remember Williams in Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder. He was also the original Mr. French in Family Affair in the opening season of 1967.

For many of us, this was our education in classical music. I can remember each song in memory and what song was next.

Cheers – Death Of Eddie Lebec

Jay Thomas, who appeared as Eddie Lebec in nine episodes of the TV sitcom Cheers, died from cancer on August 24, 2017 at the age of 69. On Cheers, Lebec was a French-Canadian goalie for the Boston Bruins whom Carla (Rhea Perlman) meets while he is riding a hot streak. However, as soon as Eddie and Carla start dating, he slumps badly. (To thwart the jinx, Eddie and Carla continue to date, but they go through a ‘breakup’ ritual before every game.)

The Eddie Lebec character was popular, so the show’s writers decided to have Carla and Eddie marry. However, Thomas, who hosted a radio show, got himself into hot water one day when a caller innocently asked him what it was like to be a Cheers cast member. The irrepressible Tomas replied, “It’s brutal. I have to kiss Rhea Perlman.” Perlman happened to be listening to the broadcast–and Thomas never made another appearance on Cheers. The show’s writers had to come up with a way to drop Eddie Lebec from the show.

In his final episode on Cheers, Eddie’s hockey career was over so he had gotten a job in an ice show as a skating penguin. The writers came up with the memorable idea of killing Eddie off in a Zamboni accident in an episode cleverly titled “Death Takes a Holiday on Ice.” (The premise is quite ridiculous: Have you ever seen how slowly a Zamboni moves? Its design makes it almost impossible for a Zamboni to run over anyone.) Despite the absurdity of the plot twist, Cheers fans loved it. Eddie’s death also led to a further plot development: At Eddie’s funeral it was revealed that he was a bigamist whose second wife was strikingly similar to Carla! According to writer Ken Levine, this idea worked well as it made Eddie look like a heel, thus viewers were happy he was no longer part of the show.

This article first appeared in our former website YouRemeberThat.com on August of 2017 and written by member Lava1964. Eddie LeBec played by Jay Thomas died on Thursday at 69 after a battle with cancer.

Howard Johnson Restaurant Specials

What was your favorite item or special at Howard Johnson’s? Who didn’t love their clams? My all time favorite was the strawberry ice cream, the only brand that I chose over chocolate ice cream!

Howard Johnson chairman, George Carter was quoted as saying back in 1987 to the Orlando Sentinel “We have the concept, but it desperately needs to be modernized, internally and externally. Howard Johnson was allowed to become tired and stale. We must get rid of that plastic image… Anything can be salvageable if a great deal of time and money and effort is put in it. And Howard Johnson needs all those same things.” So they just let the restaurant chain die. Sadly, only the hotel chain remains.

Crazy Foam

Who remembers Crazy Foam from their childhood? It did make bath time more fun! They were mostly popular during the 60’s. A couple of sources say it was popular through the 80’s but by then I didn’t need any bath aids!

Crazy Foam was just recently purchased and reintroduced with Justice League and Looney Toons. We really didn’t need them to be licensed to like them!